Midi controller confusion

[shem]

i have a cheap yamaha keyboard and i want to use it as a controller for all the cool sounds in the soundcard of the computer, but when i do I have to turn the volume of the keyboard all the way down because its still playing its sounds. So when i turn it down the midi note is delayed and i cant play well because of it being delayed. Is this a common problem? Shouldnt I be able to use a standard keyboard as a controller of the soundcards midi info? Why would there be that lag time? Thanks for any thoughts.

[Senor Cactus]

Well, if you want a keyboard to play your soundcard's patches but not the keyboard's, you have to change the control mode. It would by default be in "Local Control On" mode. Local Control needs to be off.

Good luck on making that happen. I used to have a cheap Yamaha too (a PSR-300x) and you couldn't change the control mode on it, but maybe yours can.

As far as the latency problem goes, I'm not sure. I have a SB Live soundcard that came with two sets of midi instruments. I can play one set of them just fine from my keyboard without any delay, but the other set has about a half second delay.
Maybe someone else can answer that question for us.

[AlChuck]

As far as the latency problem goes, I'm not sure. I have a SB Live soundcard that came with two sets of midi instruments. I can play one set of them just fine from my keyboard without any delay, but the other set has about a half second delay.

I suspect the two sets you refer to are the Creative SW Synth or WaveSynth or whatever they call it (it's a software synth), and the regular SB Live MIDI Synth. The former, being a software synth, means the computer is uses its audio device as the sound-generating hardware, as opposed to the latter, in which the chip that's on the soundcard is the sound-producing hardware. It, of course, is much faster. Newer software synths with WDM drivers, though, are getting to the point where they can be played with a very small amount of latency.

[shem]

you guys, I appreciate the answers but im still confused, I have a wdm card "crystal" and it has a roland 401 or somthin and then the wavetable synth, so which should i try to use to get the fastest response? And then with the keyboard i dont have a control off or anything having to do with that, if its midi capable you would think they would make it easier to program itself or something, there is alot of mumbo jumbo in the back of the manual about "midi implementation" with transmitted channels, modes and recognized numbers but none of this info. is telling me how to make the keyboard stop playing its sampled sounds and just play the midi info. Any more ideas? Thanks

[AlChuck]

The Roland 401 is no doubt the Roland MPU401, a particular design of MIDI interface; many interfaces call themselves "MPU401-compatible." The Crystal wavesynth might or might not be a software synth, I'm pretty sure the ESS chip in my laptop is like that -- just an audio chip, so the MIDI synth engine is done via software.

As to the Yamaha keyboard, well, what can we say? There's MIDI capable and there's MIDI capable. Maybe a lot of normal stuff is just not implemented, like Local Off. By the way, you say there's a MIDI Implementation Chart in the back, and it lists MIDI Modes. Perhaps you can get it to switch modes remotely if there's no internal way to do it.

If you can't find someone that can tell you precisely what to do, you'll have to bite the bullet and get a book on MIDI and learn what all those things mean. It's complicated but not that hard once you get the basic ideas down.

[shem]

Thank you AlChuck, I appreciate your advice. I just wish there was a business or someone who could come over and hook and program all the midi stuff, show me how to do some cool stuff and then Id be set! Id even pay the going rate for software service (50$+ per hr.) It would be better than actually finding out myself, course im one lazy bastard.