Midi controllers / recording

[[email protected]]

Hi

Sorry this isnt exacly a 'pro' question but I'm struggling to find an
answer and was wandering if anyone here could help please.

I have an echo layla soundcard with a midi input (running vista x64 +
sonar 6) - can I hook up any midi keyborad controller (thinking m-
audio keystation ) to it and my card / recording studio will be able
to see it / understand it / be able to record from it?

I thought the midi interface would be standardised so the soundcard/
studio would understand any midi controller in a generalised fashion,
but have read about class compliance and the m-audio keystation 88es I
was thinking of buying apparently only has drivers for vista x32 (when
I have vista x64). Are they talking about some sortof 3rd party
software / usb interface with it or should the midi actually just work
with any midi complient interface? CME, they a good brand?

Thanks for any help. Jon.

[Jos Geluk]

schreef:

> I have an echo layla soundcard with a midi input (running vista x64 +
> sonar 6) - can I hook up any midi keyborad controller (thinking m-
> audio keystation ) to it and my card / recording studio will be able
> to see it / understand it / be able to record from it?

Yes.

>
> I thought the midi interface would be standardised so the soundcard/
> studio would understand any midi controller in a generalised fashion,
> but have read about class compliance and the m-audio keystation 88es I
> was thinking of buying apparently only has drivers for vista x32 (when
> I have vista x64). Are they talking about some sortof 3rd party
> software / usb interface with it or should the midi actually just work
> with any midi complient interface? CME, they a good brand?

I see that the M-Audio Keystation comes with both MIDI and USB
connectors. For what you want to do, MIDI will work just fine. You won't
need to install any drivers for the keyboard controller. As long as the
Echo Layla has been properly installed (i.e. does show up as a MIDI
In/Out port in Vista), it will talk to your M-Audio.

Jos.

--
Ardis Park Music
www.ardispark.nl

[Mike Rivers]

On Dec 9, 6:56 pm, "
> wrote:

> I have an echo layla soundcard with a midi input (running vista x64 +
> sonar 6) - can I hook up any midi keyborad controller (thinking m-
> audio keystation ) to it and my card / recording studio will be able
> to see it / understand it / be able to record from it?

Yes, as long as you're using a program that understands MIDI.

What you may not understand is that MIDI isn't sounds, it's a data
protocol, and the data that's recorded is instructions about what
sound to play and when. So you can record your playing as MIDI data,
play it back into the keyboard, and the keyboard will then repeat what
you played.

Today, many instrumental sounds controlled by MIDI are what are known
as "soft synths" - the sounds are stored on the computer and rather
than the playback going back to a MIDI synthesizer through the MIDI
interface, it tells the computer what stored sounds to play, and you
hear those through the AUDIO (not MIDI) output of the sound card.

Your setup, assuming you have some "soft" sounds on your computer,
will do both - send MIDI back to your keyboard or play soft synths out
your sound card output,