Ever Wonder What Those USB and MIDI Connections On Your Keyboard Are For?
Posted in August 4th, 2008 by admin | Filed under Instrument Tips | Comments (0)
If you look at the back of a keyboard, you will see a bunch of connectors. Each connector has a specific function. Today we will look at the USB connection and the MIDI connections and how you can use them with your keyboard.
To begin with, the USB Port on a keyboard lets you talk directly to a computer. It lets you actually connect your PC or your laptop to the keyboard. Now there are two parts to this connection. The first part is the hardware part and that consists of connecting the cable. The second part is the software part and that involves installing some software onto your computer.
The software part is installing what is called drivers. The drivers allow the recognition of the keyboard. When you get the keyboard and the cable, there is usually a CD-Rom that contains the correct drivers. If you do not see a CD-Rom, you can go to the manufacturer’s website, find the correct drivers for your keyboard, download and then install them to your computer. Here are some of the things that you can do once you have that connection:
Send and receive MIDI messages
Change the sounds your keyboard will produce
Store data that you have recorded on the computer’s hard drive
Install a new keyboard operating system
Download new songs, styles and sounds to your keyboard
The next area that we will look at is the MIDI IN and the MIDI OUT connections. MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. MIDI, in case you are wondering, is a protocol. In laymen’s terms it is a type of language that allows a musical type keyboard to “speak” to your computer, to help create a particular sound. Now the MIDI communication doesn’t actually record sound. If you record through MIDI, you are actually recording the note that was played, how hard it was played and how long it was held.
With any MIDI work, it is necessary to have a sequencer. The sequencer actually records your events or sequences that occurred on the keyboard. This is then communicated through the MIDI connections. The MIDI connections on the back of the keyboard are the 5-PIN DIN connectors. One will say “in” and one will say “out”.
If you use the MIDI connections, you also need a cable known as a MIDI interface cable that will be connected to your computer. With the MIDI cable you will be able to do the following:
Record songs into a sequencer, play them and store them
Play software synthesizers that might be running on your computer. This will allow you to add some new sounds to your keyboard.
This article has discussed the USB connection and the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT connections that are on the back of your keyboard and given you some ideas on what you can do when you connect your keyboard to the computer.
Courtesy of Cyndie King
