USB or not USB; that is the question!

[eviljoker7075]

Hey, this is a really quick question. My PC doesn't have a midi connector and I'm looking at buying this keyboard/controller. Will it be able to run soley through my USB ports?

click here for keyboard

[thane1200]

Yor PC probably does have a joystick/game port......that can be used as a MIDI I/O, you just need this .

[eviljoker7075]

Cool, er but if I don't have a joystick port thingie, could I get a midi cable to line in port?

[Halion]

Nope. Midi is data, line in is audio, but I have yet to see a computer without a gameport.

[eviljoker7075]

hehe, is my face red! Can you show me a picture of a game port?

[DonF]

Originally Posted by Halion

... I have yet to see a computer without a gameport.

Come to my house and I'll show you three of them. The game/joystick port seems to have gone extinct. I never had much success with MIDI through a game port, so for me it's good riddance. MIDI via USB is much more stable.

eviljoker7075, I think you'll be much happier with the Edirol keyboard than you ever would be with a game port MIDI adapter.

[eviljoker7075]

Thanks, so it will work through USB without any other cables or anything?

[DonF]

You will need something that makes sounds, too. MIDI data by itself is extremely boring, musically.

[lumbago]

Edirol (Roland) make a USB to midi adaptor (UM-1) which can send and accept midi data.

So you can actually have a laptop running a sequencer sending midi out data to your external synth modules, and then connect the audio out from the modules to your audio interface / sound card inputs and record on a second program (a recording program like n-track) running under the same copy of Windows. (I actually run audio back in through a second USB port).

Some sequencers (like n-track etc) enable midi and audio tracks to live side-by-side. So you can import a midi sequence into one track, then route this midi note data to an external synth module and record the module audio on a different track.

[eviljoker7075]

Yeah, I can download programs that will turn the midi signals into different sound though? yeah?

[brzilian]

Originally Posted by eviljoker7075

Yeah, I can download programs that will turn the midi signals into different sound though? yeah?

I suggest you learn MIDI basics and what you're dealing with before going any further.

http://www.midi.com/questions/midi_basics.asp

[bonzxylophone]

I would definately go with one with USB. I haven't tried USB yet, but I'm sure the latency is much better than through a sound card. I get like 27ms of latency when I use my RS-50 through midi cables going into my sound blaster live (only asio 1.0). USB has to be much closer to realtime than that.

[Vectron]

If you don't have a good audio card and can afford it, I suggest you spend almost $100(instead of $50 on a USB midi adaptor) and get an M-audio 2496 Audiophile card. In addition to great audio, it has midi connectors that are better than gameport or USB MIDI.