MIDI is a world of weird, but I'd advise you/your friend to get one of these:
http://m-audio.com/products/en_us/Uno.html M-Audio stuff has excellent cross-platform compatibility, in general, and excellent software support. Any decent music package will automatically detect the MIDI driver that comes with the device and talk to your keyboard. If the keyboard is an older one, or a less popular one, you may have to fiddle around to map the MIDI commands and such, but it can be done with patience. I have one of the older 2X2 Midisports and I used it under Windows before moving exclusively to Mac. It worked just fine with the Mac driver. Ignore the MIDI-through jack, by the way. Only useful if daisy-chaining devices and nobody does that anymore. Full in/out channels are just too cheap to need daisy-chaining (plus stock serial MIDI runs insanely slowly, about 38Kbps). He might consider someday moving up to a keyboard with a USB connector that supports MIDI over USB. Pretty much the modern standard. Look around the M-Audio site. On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 7:36 AM, Carlos R. <crls.p...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I know this a completely off-topic question, but I bet there is someone in > the PDML who can help a friend of mine to solve his doubts. He's 75 and a > computer illiterate. I've been helping him to grasp the basics of Internet > and Windows use since last summer. So far I've taught him how to browse web > pages, send e-mails and now I'm trying to introduce him to the basic > administration of folders, files and disk space. I haven't been very > successful so far and I'm beginning to think he should have bought an Apple > computer instead. > > He's also a classical music fan and a bit of an amateur musician and > having downloaded a programme which allows him to play music using his > laptop keyboard, now wants to go a step further and link his Casio MIDI > keyboard to a USB port of his laptop and use it to play music, as it is much > more comfortable than using his laptop's keyboard. > > As I am his "computer advisor", he asked me if that was possible. I have > looked at the instruction manual of his Casio keyboard, and it has both MIDI > IN, OUT and THROUGH connectors. I have seen that MIDI to USB converter > cables are easy to find, but knowing nothing about MIDI my questions are: > What more is needed for his intended purpose?, Does he need any special > software or controllers?, Do I have to perform any configuration changes for > Windows 7 to recognize his MIDI keyboard? > > Thanks to all on his behalf, > > Carlos > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. -- -bmw -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
