Newbie with questions about Cakewalk and MIDI

Big Yellow

New member
Hi. I'm relatively new to home recording and very new to MIDI, and I'm
hoping someone here can answer a few questions for me. I have a Gateway
2000 solo laptop running Windows 95. I'm using Cakewalk Guitar Studio.
My computer also tells me that I have Yamaha OPL3-SAx Sound System,
Yamaha SXG50 driver, and Yamaha SoftSyth S-YXG50, although I don't
really know what any of that means, which is part of my problem. My main
instrument is guitar, and I play mostly roots-rock, alt-country type
stuff. I record with a Roland VS-840EX. What I'm hoping to do is use
Cakewalk to sequence (I believe that is the correct term) MIDI bass
lines, drums, keyboard parts, etc. and synch them with vocals, acoustic
& electric guitar, and mandolin that I record on the VS-840EX. I don't
have a MIDI keyboard or controller, so I've been entering notating the
stuff I want Cakewalk to play in the note staff, which is working ok for
me for now, although I hope to get a midi controller soon. Here are my
questions:

1)I'm having a problem accessing the XG drum kits and banks in Cakewalk.
If I select an XG drum kit or bank, I get General MIDI sounds. Any idea
why this might be?

2)Right now I don't have a MIDI interface, so I've been sequencing bass
tracks in Cakewalk, running that through a line out into the VS840EX,
recording it, and then overdubbing guitar and vocals. What I'd like to
do is be able to synch Cakewalk and the VS840EX, so I can go back and
add stuff later. The laptop doesn't have a MIDI port or a joystick port,
but it does have a USB port. What type of MIDI interface should I
consider? Midisport 1X1? 2X2? Portman? Any advice would be very much
appreciated.

3)Any suggestions on a relatively inexpensive MIDI controller?

Thanks in advance
 
USB midi interface

Check out the USB interfaces from Roland via Edirol.com. If you are interested, make sure your USB port is compatible as Universal Serial Port is far from universal. I believe all of the Roland USB products require USB connector which conforms to USB specification Version 1.1 although I could be wrong about this (but I don't think so).
Check out what others are saying about USB audio. There is plenty of skepticism out there.
 
Tascam USB

Or if you want to record more than two tracks at once, get the Tascam US-428 because it can do four simulataneously. The only real difference between these two boards is that the Roland has effects on it - which you really don't need because you can always get plugins. However, if you don't need the extra tracks and want some effects, the Roland is the way to go.

Eric
 
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