If you get one with a standard MIDI DIN output, you'd just need whatever MIDI In on your computer that works with Win 98. You could use the MPU401 on a soundcard, but there were early MIDI to USB cables around that time as they first came out with the iMac if I remember correctly.

Stay away from keyboards that only do USB MIDI. These need drivers for Win98, and most hardware at the time used the standard MIDI DIN connectors, and MIDI to USB cable mentioned above is how you'd connect to a PC so they probably don't have Win 98 drivers. Though you could always check the manufacturer's website to be sure.

Thanks. Will definitely try it out. Also, what software that plays DAW as well as wav files on a midi worked on Windows 98? In other words, which software compatible with windows 98 allows me to play sound samples?

Braca862 wrote on 2022-05-28, 21:26:

Thanks. Will definitely try it out. Also, what software that plays DAW as well as wav files on a midi worked on Windows 98? In other words, which software compatible with windows 98 allows me to play sound samples?

Take a look at Voyetra Digital Orchestrator (either Plus or Pro) - it's was a Windows 3.1/95 port of the famous Sequencer Plus that adds support for digital audio tracks. It might let you trigger sample playback from a MIDI keyboard.

So I recently bought a Roland PC-200 MKII Controller and a MIDISport 2x2 USB interface. My win98 computer recognized the interface via usb and installed its drivers. The controller is MIDI only, so I connect it to the interface via the 5 pin midi cable. However, nothing happens; my computer doesn't seem to recognize the controller. Am I doing something wrong or do I need to use a software? My AWE64 gold sound card doesn't even have a MIDI port to connect to.

Braca862 wrote on 2022-06-09, 22:11:

The controller is MIDI only, so I connect it to the interface via the 5 pin midi cable. However, nothing happens; my computer doesn't seem to recognize the controller. Am I doing something wrong or do I need to use a software?

That's normal, you're not doing anything wrong.

In order to use the controller, you need to use some sort of software that has MIDI input and ensure that the software is configured to receive MIDI from the MIDISport interface.

You also need to ensure that the MIDI controller is sending on a MIDI channel that is being received by the software (although usually there is an option to set to receive on all MIDI channels).

Shponglefan wrote on 2022-06-09, 22:37:

That's normal, you're not doing anything wrong. […]
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Braca862 wrote on 2022-06-09, 22:11:

The controller is MIDI only, so I connect it to the interface via the 5 pin midi cable. However, nothing happens; my computer doesn't seem to recognize the controller. Am I doing something wrong or do I need to use a software?

That's normal, you're not doing anything wrong.

In order to use the controller, you need to use some sort of software that has MIDI input and ensure that the software is configured to receive MIDI from the MIDISport interface.

You also need to ensure that the MIDI controller is sending on a MIDI channel that is being received by the software (although usually there is an option to set to receive on all MIDI channels).

Do you know which software I can use?

Braca862 wrote on 2022-06-09, 22:51:

Do you know which software I can use?

Not specifically, no. You'll need some sort of older DAW software that supports Windows 98.

You might want to visit http://www.oldschooldaw.com/ and see what they recommend over there.

Braca862 wrote on 2022-06-09, 22:11:

My AWE64 gold sound card doesn't even have a MIDI port to connect to.

The joystick port doubles as a MIDI port with a special cable.

Braca862 wrote on 2022-06-09, 22:11:

My AWE64 gold sound card doesn't even have a MIDI port to connect to.

It has though. But you need a cable like this that plugs into the game port:

Windows 98 sees your USB MIDI interface but not your keyboard, this is perfectly normal, you won't see anything that's connected via 5-pin MIDI DIN in the Windows Device Manager or anywhere else.
If the software you are using doesn't let you select which MIDI input it will respond to, I think you need to set your USB MIDI interface as the default Windows MIDI device somewhere in the Windows control panel, it should work then. I don't remember where or how exactly, it's been a while.