Starting Up MIDI

[Whyte Ice]

How would I go about making my computer system MIDI ready? What hardware/software do I need? Whats recommended? I have a keyboard with MIDI Ins/Outs and I heard I could use that as a controller.

A few days ago I pretty much had no idea whatsoever what MIDI is so please bare with me.

[nattn]

midi tutorial

click here for a good introduction to mid & H/T set it up on yer puter

[Whyte Ice]

I don't have any MIDI I/O's on my PC and I can't install another card because my 2 PCI Slots are filled (1 Modem, 1 Delta 44). Is there any external devices that I could plug into for MIDI. And just to note that my USB ports do not work so I can't use that.

[AlChuck]

There are parallel port MIDI interfaces too...

[Whyte Ice]

Do you mean serial ports (aka printer ports)??? And where can I find one of these?

[Whyte Ice]

Would a WinMan 1x1 MIDI interface work with what I want to do? I just want to start up doing MIDI, I don't want to do any big projects or anything, just play around.

[AlChuck]

Printer ports are parallel ports (well, most new printers can also use USB).

A WinMan 1x1 a dedicated ISA card... make sure you have an ISA slot available in your PC (most newer motherboards don't).

Midiman also has the Portman in parallel and serial port models for $10 more list than the Winman card....

http://www.m-audio.com/midiman/html/...ts/portman.htm

Before I leave, do you have a "regular" consumer soundcard in your PC? These typically have a game port connector that doubles as a MIDI interface with an adapter. The adapter costs about $25 or less. This would be the cheapest way to get started.

[Whyte Ice]

Yea, I have a soundcard that came with the computer still installed. What does the game port look like? In the front of my computer there is this connection that resembles the printer/parallel port but smaller (8 holes on the top, 7 on the bottom). Would this work?

Where can I find an adapter ?

[AlChuck]

What does the game port look like? In the front of my computer there is this connection that resembles the printer/parallel port but smaller (8 holes on the top, 7 on the bottom). Would this work?

On the front of the computer? Usually they're in the back Well, that is what a game port looks like (at least, it looks like a small parallel port; I'm not getting down on my hands and knees to disconnect the joystick and count the holes, though...

Would this work?

It would work, if it is indeed a game port and if the sound card does in fact follow the Creative standard and have a MIDI driver that talks to the gameport... you can probably find out from the card manufacturer.

Where can I find an adapter?

A music store might carry one, maybe Radio Shack, even a computer store like CompUSA or Fry's. At worst you can order one from Creative or from other companies that make sound cards... the connections are standard.

[Whyte Ice]

I purchased one of those MIDI Adapters that go into your joystick slot but I don't know where to go from here.

How do I go about setting up my MIDI settings in Multimedia Preferences? Under single instrument there is two things listed (Crystal FM Sythesis & Roland MPU-401) and don't know which one to choose.

I have a freeware program that I have that works with MIDI and DXi/VSTi instrument plugins and its called SynthEdit but have no clue how to set up my stuff.

As you can most obviously tell, I am new to the world of MIDI so please bare with me.

[AlChuck]

The MIDI interface is the Roland MPU-401; the other is the soundcard's onboard synth.

I know nothing about SynthEdit, never heard of it...

And it's not "bare with me," it's "bear with me."