USB Keyboards (the musical kind)

fuxorfuxor i live in a giant bucket
edited January 2006 in Internet & Media
Last year I picked up an M-Audio Keystation 49e USB keyboard (I hesitate to call it a midi keyboard, but that's supposedly its function) after being wowed by the simplicity and effectiveness of Apple's GarageBand. My main reason in the purchase was to be able to play music without a lot of hassle, and yet that's what I've gotten from it. For you see, I'm a PC user.

The device is simple plug-and-play, in fact there are no drivers for it. It shows up as a "USB audio device" in the device manager. I have tried all kinds of programs from cheap freeware and shareware to Sound Forge to Cakewalk, Nuendo, Cubase and Sonar, and I can't even get them to recognize it as a MIDI input device. Only through some convoluted combination of options and settings was I able to finally play a bit in Sonar, but it was way more work than it should have been, and the program is way more than I really need.

I don't even care about recording what I play, I just want to be able to play old nintendo songs on the keyboard when the fancy strikes me, and maybe in the voice of a steel drum. Why isn't there anything comparable to GarageBand for Windows?

Comments

  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited December 2005
    Well I got one of my Sons Cubase as a package with this keyboard - http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/options.php?id=67624
    It works fine with XP.
  • fuxorfuxor i live in a giant bucket
    edited December 2005
    All I'm looking to do is to fire up a program, maybe hit a button or two and be able to bang away on the keyboard. What version of cubase came with the keyboard?
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2005
    Are you sure it is a Midi Keyboard and not some "Obscure that needs a special type of program" keyboard?
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited December 2005
    It was the latest one a couple of months ago, think it was SE. It's a very 'complete' prog that seems to do everything. It may be too complicated for your needs but the keyboard is very good.
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited January 2006
    Enverex wrote:
    Are you sure it is a Midi Keyboard and not some "Obscure that needs a special type of program" keyboard?

    You shouldn't need to get any special software as MIDI is technically a networking standard and has no audio content what so ever.The USB connection is mearly the keyboard interface with the PC

    I bought a midi controler keyboard a few years back for similar use to what you want as I write music in cubase. Unfortunatley I could never get mine working with Cubase.

    I believe it was down to my sound card as I was running two cards. A Turtle Beach, Santa Cruz and the onboard card which used Creative drivers.

    I had no success with the Santa Cruz card, but it work stright away with the onboard card... Only problem was there was a massive delay between pressing the key and hearing a sound.

    The software I had the most success with was Lagic Audio. Unfortunatly Logic didn't do what I wanted and I couldnt get a sausage out of cubase.

    My opinion is that is was down to the sound card and drivers interpretation of the MIDI code as my mate could plug the keyboard straight into his Creative, Audigy card and "bang away" to his hearts content.

    In the end I gave up and now compose a riff on my guitar then use cubase's matrix editor to create a sample which I loop.

    Incidently, my keyboard came bundled with a cut down version Cakewalk which was A: Crap and B: didn't work with my keyboard.

    I'd suggest update your divers and if that doesn't work have a look on ebay for a new card from a large manufacturer who can provide regular driver updates.

    in short MIDI can be a pain in the ass.
  • fuxorfuxor i live in a giant bucket
    edited January 2006
    Well the keyboard I have is USB, and doesn't use the conventional connectors (though it does have a MIDI plug in the back, I'm guessing this would also mandate an external power source that I would have to scrounge up, as it's self-powered through the USB cable).

    It recognizes as a "USB audio device" under the device manager, which according the manual is what it's supposed to be. The problem is getting any software to recognize the damned thing. I've futzed around with cubase and it doesn't see any MIDI instruments. I was just hoping for a program that I could run in the background and "bang away," as it were, whenever the fancy strikes me. I'm not even terribly interested in recording what I play. I'm shocked at how user-unfriendly a plug-and-play USB keyboard this has turned out to be.
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited January 2006
    It seems a lot of audio problems with Cubase are down to audio drivers. We had latency problems, you have to get an ASIO 4 ALL audio driver. That fixed most things.
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited January 2006
    bothered wrote:
    It seems a lot of audio problems with Cubase are down to audio drivers. We had latency problems, you have to get an ASIO 4 ALL audio driver. That fixed most things.

    Exactly. I would say the keyboard is working fine. It is more likely to be a software issue. I woul still try upgrading soundcard drivers.

    AHHHHH. I just remembered. Cubase (SX 2) use to have an option from one of the drop down menus which disabled all audio output and when you first intall it it comes switched off so no matter what you try and do you don't get any sound. Have a look and see if that is there.

    Try that first if no luck let me know what soundcard and drivers you have and what your experience with cubase is (I don't want to try and teach you to suck eggs).

    P.S. I may not post back for a couple of days as I will be reliant on my works internet connection for a while.

    oh and midi will work with USB. Most devices use USB over the old MIDI connections for ease of use.
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