Help with my MIDI Keyboard

[bonnietheband]

Last Christmas I got the m-audio keystation pro 88 (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/KeystationPro88-main.html)because I've used MIDI before and absolutely loved it. The problem is, I can't get it to WORK. I no nothing about setting MIDI controllers up. It has the USB hookup and i've got the software and programs installed. Two people told me they said it sounds like I need a soundcard(which is apparently $200), but I want to be sure. Can anyone help me out?

[shreddy]

Hi,

Thats a nice controller, I almost got one too but I prefer the stick style pitch bender vs the wheels, anyway.

You need some form of sound generation for that keyboard. There are 2 routes you can go.

1. Use an external sound module. There are a number of decent sound modules that are rather inexpenive on ebay. If you just want the standard instrument type tones you can get a Roland XV series or the Emu series rack modules, you need more power like sampling then look at a Korg Triton rack. A Roland XV-5050 is a rather decent rack and they're not too expensive.

2. Use your computer for your sound source. This can be a cheaper route to go or it can be more expensive. First off you need a software synth and/or other software based sound modules. This is a program that reads the midi signal and outputs the relative notes through your sound card on your computer. If you have a Mac you dont need to worry about this too much you can use Garage Band. If your on a PC you will need to use a better sound card than the default "video game/home pc" sound card that comes with most computers (if your running a mac you should be ok). There are various styles of sound cards, USB, internal, some with line inputs for hard disc recording etc.. Of course when going this route you will want to make sure your PC has some power to run these types of synths, the better the sound card the less the latency. Latency is a rather annoying aspect of softsynths, its a delay when you hit the key on the keyboard and when the sound comes out of the computer are not synced in real time. If your not running too much on the computer and your soundcard has some decent drivers you shouldnt expect any latency but when you start to use layers of recording applications with effects and software synths you may experience some latency.

The pros and cons of hardware (rack) vs software generated sounds.

When you go the route of a rack unit you can easily take your setup out of your house. The rack units are rather simple to work with in most cases as well, you plug the MIDI Out from your keyboard into the MIDI In on your rack unit and hook up your audio connections to the rack unit and thats your setup.

When you go the software route you have a wide open range of what you can do with your synths. For example you can get Reason a great software synth emulator, B4 a brilliant Hammond Organ emulator and even get software based samplers. The controllers on your keyboard will interface to all these applications rather nicely and you can have full real time control of your sounds. You should be able to just use the USB interface to drive any of these software synths.

What was all the software that came with your keyboard, you might of gotten a light version of a software synth that you can use right now.

Whats your style of music?

Ed

[CuShMaN]

It has the USB hookup and i've got the software and programs installed. Two people told me they said it sounds like I need a soundcard(which is apparently $200), but I want to be sure. Can anyone help me out?


First question. What type of computer do you have? Mac or Pc?

Ghost Notes (http://ghostnotes.blogspot.com/)

[shreddy]

I think Bonnie forgot about us here.

Ed

[bonnietheband]

First question. What type of computer do you have? Mac or Pc?

Ghost Notes (http://ghostnotes.blogspot.com/)
I have a pc.It's a hp laptop, but we have several other computers in the house -- all pcs

[bonnietheband]

I think Bonnie forgot about us here.

Ed
haha no i didn't! things have just been a little insane around my parts.

I'd like to go the software route. The software I have from the company is enigma. I've tried my controller with Acid and Noteworthy. The only program out there I've worked with is ProTools. I'm completely lost.
My style of music is...indie rock? I write most stuff for piano, but I want to experience more with some synth sounds.

[shreddy]

She lives LOL

The Enigma application is a librarian for the your midi controller, it wont produce any tones. Its used so you can easily program out all your controllers and map them to the software your using.

The main thing that your going to need right now is a decent USB sound card. Many of the sound cards come with software too, I'm pretty sure if you get the Digi Design cards they come with a lite version of Pro Tools. My Tascam US-122 came with a lite version of Gigastudio which is a software based sampler however, it didnt come with any sample discs.

Here is a site with a number of links to software synth sites.
http://www.synthzone.com/softsyn.htm

ed

[CuShMaN]

Shred,

What's with the soundcard? I thought that an hp laptop would have a decent enough soundcard already built into it that she could use.
The controller seems to have a built in midi to usb conversion so it's just plug and play.
I would think that all she would need is a tone generating software.

Bonnie.. have you tried something quick and free like sampletank? (http://www.sampletank.com/Main.html?STRTPlayerLE)

Just download it, install it, and forget about all the other software for now.. just hook up your keyboard and see if you can use the basic sounds on sampletank.

Let me know if this works.




Ghost Notes (http://ghostnotes.blogspot.com/)

[PlayRecord.Net UK Music Shop]

Hi there,

I've got a lesser model keyboard by the same company - you should be fine using it with the most basic soundcard, as Windows comes with a basic MIDI sound file included (or at least it does on XP!).

You should then be able to make noises and get going with some of the software included (NOT the Enigma software, like shreddy says - this will not produce any sounds).

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