Need help with Casio CTK 611/Optimus Concertmate 990

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wailer247

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Hey guys. New user here. I need some help connecting my optimus concertmate 990 to my computer, which is identical to the casio ctk 611. I have the keyboard connected to the computer via a midi to usb interface. I connected the keyboard to my windows 7 computer, which installed drivers right away. I am using cakewalk music creator 5, and have exhausted all options within the midi devices panel and controllers/surfaces. I am getting no sound into cakewalk, or windows as far as I can tell. Also, I have tried putting the keyboard into General Midi mode, which still doesn't produce anything. Am I missing some specific drivers or something, or am I setting the keyboard up incorrectly within cakewalk? Any and all help getting this keyboard set up will be very much appreciated.
 
MIDI is only data, it's not actual audio.

Try creating a MIDI track in cakewalk and then record something with the keyboard. See if you get anything showing up in the track.
 
thanx for the quick response. just tried starting a new project in cakewalk with blank tracks, then inserting a midi track. tried to record with the keyboard in general midi mode and still no sound is coming through in cakewalk. are there any tips for setting up midi interfaces in cakewalk?
 
wailer247 said:
thanx for the quick response. just tried starting a new project in cakewalk with blank tracks, then inserting a midi track. tried to record with the keyboard in general midi mode and still no sound is coming through in cakewalk. are there any tips for setting up midi interfaces in cakewalk?
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You aren't going to get sounds from Midi. Tetra was asking if you see any data when you recorded a midi track.

To get sounds from midi, you need something to generate the sounds. Think of midi as your fingers hitting the keys on your keyboard. Your keyboard generates the sound, your fingers are just telling the keyboard what notes to play. That's what midi is, just instructions for which notes to play, when, how long, etc. Not the sounds themselves. So, if you're recording midi, you're only recording the instruction data. Your computer needs something to generate sounds/notes based on that instruction data.

Tetra was just trying to see if cakewalk was recognizing the midi connection.
 
wailer247 said:
thanx for the quick response. just tried starting a new project in cakewalk with blank tracks, then inserting a midi track. tried to record with the keyboard in general midi mode and still no sound is coming through in cakewalk. are there any tips for setting up midi interfaces in cakewalk?
Click to expand...

You say you've exhausted all options in the MIDI preferences, so I'll assume you've set your interface as your MIDI interface in Cakewalk.

Make sure your MIDI track is armed for recording and receiving the signal (don't know how it works in Cakewalk, but in Reaper you can see red lines bouncing in the track when you send MIDI information)

As was stated in the first reply, MIDI will not give you any sound itself. You have to use it to drive a VSTi or send it back to your keyboard to trigger sounds in it.
 
Ok. I understand that midi is just data sent into the program coming from the keyboard. Still, I have armed the track and recorded and yet there is still no data showing up in the program after I am done. In the midi devices popup, the usb 2.0 midi device is definitely checked as my input device. However, there are three options in that same popup for output devices, one is "microsoft gs wavtable synth", one is "usb 2.0 midi", and one is "midiout2 (usb 2.0 midi)". Not really sure why there would be two options for usb 2.0 midi as the output device.
 
I dont use cakewalk so im just guessing. Is there a place to set the input for each track? In cubase you can just select all inputs and it usually works.

EDIT: Weird! I posted this more than an hour before it showed up. It should have been before Chilis last post.
 
wailer247 said:
Ok. I understand that midi is just data sent into the program coming from the keyboard. Still, I have armed the track and recorded and yet there is still no data showing up in the program after I am done. In the midi devices popup, the usb 2.0 midi device is definitely checked as my input device. However, there are three options in that same popup for output devices, one is "microsoft gs wavtable synth", one is "usb 2.0 midi", and one is "midiout2 (usb 2.0 midi)". Not really sure why there would be two options for usb 2.0 midi as the output device.
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Yeah, don't worry about the USB showing up in output more than once. My M-Audio MIDI sport does that for some reason too.

Do you have a midi track you can import into your project and then select the USB 2.0 for output and see if it's controlling your keyboard.
 
The input/output settings for each track are accessed through a dropdown menu under the track itself. I am guessing that the top row are the input settings and the bottom are the output. Top row - From top left the settings are set to "omni", "channel" with nothing selected, "bank" with nothing selected. Bottom row from the left are set to "usb 2.0 midi", and then "patch" with nothing selected. I am going to read the help settings since I am not sure about this table layout. Also, I do not think I have a midi file that i can import on hand.
 
wailer247 said:
The input/output settings for each track are accessed through a dropdown menu under the track itself. I am guessing that the top row are the input settings and the bottom are the output. Top row - From top left the settings are set to "omni", "channel" with nothing selected, "bank" with nothing selected. Bottom row from the left are set to "usb 2.0 midi", and then "patch" with nothing selected. I am going to read the help settings since I am not sure about this table layout. Also, I do not think I have a midi file that i can import on hand.
Click to expand...

Omni means it will record all the channels sent from your MIDI device, selecting a channel will only record that one channel (MIDI can send up to 16 channels at once if I remember correctly) Make sure omni is selected for now.

Make sure your keyboard is actually sending out MIDI information when you play, not familiar with your keyboard but make sure there isn't a switch or menu option you've forgot to click on.

Make sure your cables aren't crossed (as in MIDI out should be patched to MIDI in, MIDI in to MIDI out...that was my problem when I first started working with MIDI :o )
 
ok. sorry for the stupid question here. you said that I need to patch midi out to midi in. not really sure what you mean by that. I only have one cord going from midi out to my computer's usb port. also, another thought...I guess I could download a trial version of a recording program that you guys are more familiar with, just to help isolate the problem.
 
When your connected via USB don't worry about the MIDI in to MIDI out thing.

You could try reaper which everyone seams to like. You should be able to do what you want with what you have though.
 
ok. i am going to download reaper, just to try and isolate the issue i'm having. i will let you know what happens.

EDIT: Alrite. now i have reaper installed. i am not really sure about how to set the program up correctly, even after reading the help files. there are tons of options in the reaper preferences under audio.
 
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TetraFish said:
When your connected via USB don't worry about the MIDI in to MIDI out thing.
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That would depend on what interface he's using.

Which begs the question, can you elaborate on how you're connecting your gear? What interface are you using?
 
FunkDaddy said:
That would depend on what interface he's using.

Which begs the question, can you elaborate on how you're connecting your gear? What interface are you using?
Click to expand...

I assumed that he was connected direct via USB but now that I reread the OP he does mention a MIDI to USB interface.

So yeah, how are you connecting to the PC?
 
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