PC keyboard a MIDI controller?

[Anthropod01]

I just got N-track studio a few days ago. Thought it would be neat to have a cheap/free (preferably) utility to let me turn a row of keys on my laptop keyboard into a MIDI controller keyboard, either notes or percussion depending on the channel selected. Anyone know of such a thing? It's a pain putting notes on the piano roll with a mouse...and I am operating on a negative cash flow basis at the moment.

[moskus]

I haven't tested it, but try this:
http://www.analogx.com/contents/down...dio/vpiano.htm

[Anthropod01]

Hmmm...just lost the first cut reply, I guess. Anyway, thanks for the link to analogX, moscus. The vpiano.exe app does indeed allow you to hit a computer key and send MIDI channel, velocity and program data to the Windows wavetable synth, which then generates audio on the sound card. Haven't been able to get the MIDI data to go directly to N-track yet, but just started looking at it. In any case, I can record the wav audio generated off the mixer into N-track--but I would like to Shanghai the vpiano MIDI messages and get them directly into N-track, i.e., to get N-track to recognize it as a MIDI input device (it doesn't yet)