MIDI keyboard \ VOGONS

MIDI keyboard

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First post, by elfuego

Posted on 2012-02-28, 13:03

elfuego Offline

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On Valentines day my gf told me how she always wanted to learn to play piano, but never had an, lets say, "opportunity" to do so. So I had an idea - as I already have Roland SC55 I wondered if I could just get a decent MIDI keyboard, connect it to SC 55 and let the girl play a bit.

1st question: is this possible ( I pretty much presume so)?
2nd: what exactly is needed? I presume with an external MIDI module nothing else is needed, but maybe I'm wrong. Also, in case I go for the cheap alternative of SB Live! + soundfonts - what is needed in terms of software?
3rd: Can anyone name a decent keyboard that I should probably try to get? On top of that, would an old gameport MIDI keyboard be recognized in Win7 at all (I vaguely remember that I had problems with gameport in Win7)? BTW, the keyboard should be roughly the size of a real piano 'keyboard' (I have absolutely no idea how large a regular piano really is 😵 )

Thanks! 😊

Reply 1 of 8, by F2bnp

Posted on 2012-02-28, 13:48

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Hey, this interests me as well. I've got a couple of MIDI synths and I'd like to learn to play piano and was thinking of getting a MIDI keyboard this summer. From what I saw though, most MIDI keyboards had their own synth... I'm not sure if it's built into the keyboard or if it's done through software on the PC.
Also, a "normal" piano typically has about 6-7 octaves. 5 octaves would probably be enough for a MIDI keyboard!

Reply 2 of 8, by megatron-uk

Posted on 2012-02-28, 14:43

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Get a MIDI keyboard, connect the MIDI out to the MIDI in of the SC-55... start playing.

You can get keyboards that are simply that; keyboards, with no synth built in.

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Reply 3 of 8, by sklawz

Posted on 2012-02-28, 16:37

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additionally to what megatron has said, if you want
to use an internal computer synth (Eg. the microsoft
wavetable) you can use MIDI-OX as a frontend to
that routing your midi controller keyboard (Eg. EDIROL)
to your internal computer synth.

cya

Reply 4 of 8, by jmrydholm

Posted on 2012-02-28, 18:11

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I've done this with mine. I have a SC-55 mk. I and an M-Audio Axiom 49, 2nd Gen. Midi keyboard. I love that thing! It has pressure sensitive keys, mod and a pitch wheel, drum pads, equalizer bars...you name it. I couldn't afford/fit a full length 88 key version on my little desk, so I opted for the 49 key. It's worked well for me whether I'm using a hardware synth like the Sound Canvas or a VST instrument.

When I'm on the go with my laptop or need to practice something "quick and dirty" without lugging the Axiom around, I use a cheap-o Korg Nanokey. That one's built like a toy, though.

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Reply 5 of 8, by elfuego

Posted on 2012-03-01, 02:38

elfuego Offline

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sklawz wrote:
lo […]
Show full quote
lo

additionally to what megatron has said, if you want
to use an internal computer synth (Eg. the microsoft
wavetable) you can use MIDI-OX as a frontend to
that routing your midi controller keyboard (Eg. EDIROL)
to your internal computer synth.

cya

This I also planned to do, but I still didnt get the third question answered. Will an old gameport keyboard work correctly within Windows 7?

Reply 6 of 8, by Sune Salminen

Posted on 2012-03-01, 04:49

Sune Salminen Offline

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Officially, the gameport has been deemed "legacy hardware" and support has been cut since Windows Vista.

You can find some interesting things with google though, like this:
http://www.deysquad.com/DEY/component/option, … d,35/Itemid,29/
and this
http://forums.creative.com/showthread.php?t=5 … b3f5219be59b77b

From what I have seen it looks like there's no hope for 64-bit Windows.

Reply 7 of 8, by sklawz

Posted on 2012-03-01, 05:21

sklawz Offline

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elfuego wrote:
sklawz wrote:
lo […]
Show full quote
lo

additionally to what megatron has said, if you want
to use an internal computer synth (Eg. the microsoft
wavetable) you can use MIDI-OX as a frontend to
that routing your midi controller keyboard (Eg. EDIROL)
to your internal computer synth.

cya

This I also planned to do, but I still didnt get the third question answered. Will an old gameport keyboard work correctly within Windows 7?

I just plugged an EVOLUTION MK-7 into the game/midi port on an AUDIGY2 (kX project drivers) switched it on (no external PSU needed) and fired up midi-ox and it works. This is in Windows 7 64-bit. I have now rebooted into Linux where it works also.

So, the answer to that question is yes. Whether the game part of the game/midi port works or not is not relevant if you have a working midi driver for it.

bye

Reply 8 of 8, by elfuego

Posted on 2012-03-01, 10:29

elfuego Offline

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Awesome! Thanks a lot! 😀

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