USB MIDI Cable Converter PC to Music Keyboard Window Win Vista XP, Mac OS X
from: HottestDealsEver
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: USB MIDI Cable Converter PC to Music Keyboard Window Win Vista XP, Mac OS X |
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Rating:  - * Does Not Work ... I hate to give any product a one star, but I've tried for hours to see if there's any way to get this midi interface cable to work on my Acer laptop running Windows XP. I have a Yamaha psr-36 keyboard and no matter what midi sequencing software I run, the software says it "can't find midi input". The red light on the cable does come and and the "in" light does light, but I'm thinking the "built in" driver to this is not correctly sending the message to the computer sofware. The "out" light never has come on. I've tried all kinds of combinations in the control panel sound hardware section and nothing works to get the software to recognize the midi interface signals. Rating: - * Does Not Work ... Can not get product to work. Windows will not recognize it. Driver will not self-install properly. NO website or support information. Disaster of a product. Rating:  - * Inexpensive Midi Interface ... I ordered this item with fingers crossed that I could get into computer-based music recording without spending a fortune. I have an older Korg SP-100 keyboard and used this cable to connect it to my computer which runs Tracktion 3 recording software. Having installed the software and some VST plugins for instrument sounds, and having connected my keyboard via this usb/midi cable and done a few rounds of simple recording to test the setup, I am happy to report that everything seems to be working well. I can't really comment on the quality or longevity of the cable since I've only had it a short while, but at less than $10 my expectations won't be hard to exceed. If you need a simple & cheap way to use a midi controller with your computer, this seems like a great way to go. And for the record, my computer runs Vista Home Premium and there have been no compatibility or driver issues. Rating:  - * May not work with your equipment ... I hate leaving reviews claiming something's "broken", but in this case there were some serious problems. So my problems: 1. The device does not handle run-on MIDI commands properly. I doubt that many modern MIDI devices use run-on commands, as they were a somewhat confusing bit-saving mechanism from the 20th century. The keyboard I used was a Kurzweil SP-88. I suspect this is a design-defect in the product. More on this below. 2. The device would not enumerate on my main PC. That box is a custom-built machine using a P5B Deluxe motherboard which has never had any problems with any other USB devices. I even tried clocking the box down to normal speeds; Vista gives me a vague error about the device malfunctioning, and Ubuntu gives me a read error during enumeration in dmesg (which, to be fair, wasn't any more useful in this context.) 3. For all the reviewers who said the cable was labeled backwards: MIDI cables are always connected so that the "OUT" of one device goes to the "IN" of another device. MIDI supports a ring-shaped daisy-chain of devices that way. This cable was not labeled backwards. Elaborating on point 1: On the wrong equipment, when you do this: 1. Press-and-hold key1. 2. Press-and-hold key2. 3. Release key1. 4. Release key2. You get this: 1. Press-and-hold key1. 2. Press-and-hold key2. 3. Release key1. 4. Press-and-hold key2 again. For those technically inclined, here's the data stream from my SP-88 using the old serial cable I was replacing (I had to resurrect a dead machine to get this; I'm forging note velocities for easier comparison): 90 40 45 3c 48 80 40 62 3c 61 Here's what this product read: 90 40 45 90 3c 48 80 40 62 90 3c 61 Here's the nearest valid sequence it could have provided: 90 40 45 90 3c 48 80 40 62 80 3c 61 Note the 80 instead of 90 in the third-to-last byte - "80" means "note off", "90" means "note on". This was a deal-killer for me; your mileage may vary. I replaced the cable with an M-Audio cable from a local shop for 3x the price; that cable also reprocesses run-on commands, but does it appropriately (the third sequence above is what I would get.) The seller was courteous and provided a full refund, including shipping, so all I lost to them was time. I'd buy from these guys again, just not this product. Rating: - * Inexpensive and easy to use ... This is definately a handy little product and well worth the few bucks compared to other midi to usb converters. |
