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Topic starter
Hello.
I am brand new to MIDI and have a few questions which I hope some kind person can answer... before I go on, I should point out that I have not yet recorded anything... I'm still trying to get to grips with the software and so on. I decided to use Cakewalk as my DAW, and purchased recently a secondhand Komplete Kontrol A49 keyboard. Things are going very slowly (partly due to an enormous lack of time and peace to get on with things!)
However, I shall persevere.
My questions today concern keyboards.
After having purchased the A49, a very kind soul who I know through work, gave me an old Roland E 500 keyboard. I gratefully took it and thought I might be able to use it as a piano. However, when I took a good look at it, I noticed that it has MIDI capability.
I would be very interested to know if anyone out there has used one of these? I can see that I'd need to buy a MIDI to USB cable in order to connect it to my computer, but am not sure what specification I would need.
Again,if anyone could tell me, I would be grateful.
Well, thank you for reading this, and I hope to be enlightened.
All the best.
Posted : 31/01/2023 6:34 am
Yes, you need a USB/MIDI interface. It requires a microcontroller to handle the USB protocol, but this can be integrated in a large plug.
The only requirement is that it must actually work. In theory, this should be self-evident, but there are still devices based on the broken CH345 chip (it does not handle SysEx or running status correctly). Avoid any devices that look like this, i.e., that have a case with LEDs, in exactly this form, and cables with metallic-lookling shielding:
Any other USB/MIDI interface should work. (All operating systems have built-in drivers for USB MIDI devices.)
Posted : 31/01/2023 8:16 am
Topic starter
Hello.
Thank you very much for your reply.
The only thing I am not sure I understand is this : "It requires a microcontroller to handle the USB protocol, but this can be integrated in a large plug."
Could you possibly explain a bit more?
Many thanks to you.
Posted : 01/02/2023 12:56 am
A USB/MIDI cable is not a simple cable (with nothing but wires), but contains some chips. So strictly speaking, it is not a cable but an interface. But such nitpicking does not matter for you. 🙂
Posted : 01/02/2023 4:42 am
Topic starter
Ah! I see what you mean now.
Thank you again.
Posted : 01/02/2023 7:56 am
