Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: connecting to a midi keyboard (Read 18229 times) previous topic - next topic

connecting to a midi keyboard

I'd like to move on to connecting my computer to a keyboard.
What do I need to purchase other than a midi cable? What
specs should I look out for in buying the cable? I'read
some messages in the forum that they had to learn the hard
way that they bought the wrong cable. Thanks. Noel

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #1 –
In short, nothing! Some sound cards (e.g. Soundblaster AWE32) actually come complete with a Midi cable, which was certainly compatible with my (quite old) Technics Keyboard and my sound card MIDI port. The connectors follow a standard, nevertheless if a cable didn't come with your Sound Card it would be sensible to check with the card maufacturers that (a) their card has a MIDI input (it most certainly should) and (b) the connection is standard.

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #2 –
In general, there are two types of cards that you might have in your computer to support MIDI:

1 - A dedicated MIDI I/O card which contains one or more true MIDI inputs and outputs. The original card in this area was the Roland MPU-401. Many other cards have been marketed since the MPU-401, some including additional MIDI ports and varying degrees of support for time synch features. This is generally not the solution used by most MIDI hobbyists (which usually use option 2).

2 - Sound cards generally include some rudimentary MIDI I/O support through their joystick port. This is possible by using a special cable that converts the pinout of the joystick port into a MIDI input and output connection. In most cases, the sound card is "SoundBlaster compatible", which means that the required cable is pretty much standard. Hoever, I think that there used to be other cards that were not SoundBlaster compatible, and required a different adapter cable to get MIDI functions.

If you already have a sound card in your computer, then it is probably SoundBlaster compatible. If it is, your least expensive solution is probably the second approach. Find a SoundBlaster to MIDI adapter cable, and use it to connect your sound card to your MIDI keyboard.

If you do not have a sound card, then you probably want to buy one. If not, then option 1 above is a very high quality approach. You may also be able to find other MIDI solutions that utilize the parallel or serial ports on your computer. If you elect to go this route, then you should explore this with your retail outlet or wherever you plan to shop for this equipment.

Once you get MIDI setup, you then need to switch to the External MIDI driver to play back into your MIDI keyboard's synthesizer (if it has one). You can also select the External MIDI Input driver in the NWC record tab. If you keyboard does not have a synthesizer, then you can use the Echo feature in NWC to play from your keyboard directly through your sound card in real-time.

One last word of warning: Beware that some sound card implementations that are supposedly "SoundBlaster compatible" actually do not implement the external MIDI features properly. At least some of the new inexpensive computer systems include sound card feature support directly from the motherboard (these are typically Cyrix CPUs that have graphics card and sound card support directly on the motherboard). In my experience, these systems tend to misbehave when you try to use their external MIDI device drivers to access the joystick port. This seems to indicate that the systems do not implement the external MIDI capabilities on their sound card emulations. If you have one of these systems, you may have additional difficulties, but you will not know this until you give it a try.

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #3 –
Well that certainly fleshes out my reply doesn't it! Perhaps I was just lucky - I connected up and away I went! The only hiccup was that the instruments chosen in Staff Properties didn't match the playback on my keyboard, but trial and error soon found the correct channel settings. I haven't got round to setting up a patch list specific to my keyboard - it only has a handful of intruments anyway, but perhaps someone could give some tips on how to go about it?

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #4 –
noel: As Peter points out, a couple of the Create Labs soundcard products include the MIDI adapter cable, which makes the process very simple. However, if you already have a soundcard in your system, and do not have the adapter cable, then you will need to make sure that you acquire the correct cable for your equipment (assuming that the existing card actually can be operated as an external MIDI port).

Peter: The instrument list used by NWC is defined from the NTWPATCH.INI file. We include the standard patch lists used by most equipment. If your keyboard only includes a few instrument patches (which is rare in the current environment where even inexpensive keyboards include hundreds of sounds), then you should have an easy time adapting the NTWPATCH.INI file to suit your needs. Just follow the example of the ones in there now.

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #5 –
Beware: If you do adapt NTWPATCH.INI, make sure you back it up before any upgrades (esp if you need to delete an old version before installing a new one), as it may be overwritten.

Andrew P

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #6 –
The NWC setup program will not overwrite an existing copy of your NTWPATCH.INI file. However, if you uninstall NWC, the file will be removed if it did not exist when the NWC setup program was original run.

Bottom line: Andrew makes a good point. It is a great idea to back up your current NTWPATCH.INI and TOOLBARS.DAT if you customize your patch lists or toolbar setup.

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #7 –
Thank you both. I have now customised my patch list. My venerable keyboard (Technics SK350) which cost nearly £500 in 1986 - what would the equivalent buy now, I wonder - has four channels (Polyphonic, Solo, Accompaniment and Bass) so I can set up quite interesting playbacks, albeit limited to a choice of eight polyphonic or solo instruments. Fun!

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #8 –
Oops! K350, not SK350. (Just in case someone out there has one!)

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #10 –
hello, i would just like to ask if anyone of you knows the pin configuration of the midi cable for soundcards
thankyou

please reply to
<regin_rodriguez@hotmail.com>

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #11 –
Question: I have a midi compatible keyboard and have purchased two midi cables, but can not find any outlets in the computer to connect them to. I see only a rectangular outlet. Is there some kind of converting appliance I need? Anyone please help!

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #12 –
Hi, Mardell -
That rectangular port is the game port. It's where you would connect a joystick. You do need to adapt it for midi connection. I had to stretch my memory, but I believe this is where I bought my setup.

http://www.cablesnmor.com/midi-cable.html

It provides a sort of Y-connector that comes off the game port with midi connections on one arm and the joystick connector on the other. Depending on how you're set up, I would also recommend the cable extensions. They're cheap and they allow you a lot more latitude in placing your keyboard.

Good luck,
Keith

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #13 –
Joystick-to-midi cables are generally also available both at music stores and computer stores. Generally they'll be a bit cheaper at computer stores, for whatever reason.

Once you've got it set up (usually the cable marked IN has to go to MIDI OUT on your keyboard, and the one marked OUT has to go to MIDI IN), you also have to select the suitable devices for midi in/out in Control Panel -> Multimedia -> Midi (for midi out) and in your client program (e.g. NoteWorthy) for midi in. (Or choose both directly in NoteWorthy Tools -> Options -> Midi and Record tabs). These will usually have names that make it obvious, e.g. "Foobar external midi in".

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #14 –
If you have one of the PCs that do not have a joystick port (some PC motherboards that have integrated sound do not offer any compatible joystick port), then you will have to either:

- buy and add a sound card to your system (and probably need to shut off motherboard version in the bios)
- buy a USB or Serial MIDI box

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #15 –
Commercial hardware is available that will connect MIDI cables to an ordinary parallel printer port. The hardware comes in several varieties and price ranges (not cheap). It can be found on-line by the usual search-engine techniques. I have one for my laptop, since I cannot change any internal hardware. I rarely use it, so I'm not a source of useful advice on this topic, other than to mention that the capability exists.

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #16 –
I have the MIDI cord and it is connected to my joystick port and everything is hooked up correct but It wont record. I am using Cubase. This is the Problem. I press record but it doesn't pick up in the track that I press record on. nothing shows up and it is supposed to loop and play what I recorded. Every time I press record the button goes down and everthing but when I stop recording nothing is there. I just got the program and the cord I hooked up the cord and installed the program and I have been unable to do anything with it. . . .HELP!!!! Im frustrated as %^&$ because I want to start producing. What do I need to do?

SNO

Southurn Mennace Productions

Re: connecting to a midi keyboard

Reply #17 –
I am using Cubase. This is the Problem.

Yes, I would have to agree. Cubase uses its own method of accessing midi ports, and does not use the native Windows midi mapper.

Since this is specifically a support forum for the NoteWorthy Composer program, you might have more luck getting an answer to your problem by using one of the support options at the Cubase Forums site.