Help plz!

Setun

Just want to interrupt all this nerdy guitar speak for a moment

I've got a Behringer UMX49 midi-keyboard. It's not making any noise - I presume it has to be hooked up to speakers. What else do I need, if anything, and how will this affect my wallet?

Cheers!

-Freebird-

It should just give sound from the keyboard without being hooked up? But if you wanna get leads they aren't overly expensive... At least that's what I think...

Quattroste

For any sounds included on the keyboard you just need speakers. These can cost from €10 to (enter number here). If you have a pc you need midi inputs and you can control a whole host of midi devices with the keyboard and have endless sound possibilities.

These things generally affect your wallet by making it lighter

Setun

I don't need another keyboard with midi compatibility at all then no?

Btw freebird there are no built in speakers on the keyboard. There's just a midi output and USB connection at the back, and a power and a switch in connection.

feylya

Eh, it might be cos I just woke up but isn't that keyboard just a midi controller? You'll need to plug it into a sequencer to get sound.

Eoin Madsen

Eh, yeah, it just sends midi signals. You need a sound module or a computer to take said signals and playback sounds.

Setun

Yeah admittedly I'm a complete noob to the electronic aspect of music. So what do I need to get it going? A decent computer or midi-compatible keyboard?
Com-pletely clueless here.

-Freebird-

Daddio wrote:

I don't need another keyboard with midi compatibility at all then no?

Btw freebird there are no built in speakers on the keyboard. There's just a midi output and USB connection at the back, and a power and a switch in connection.

Oh sorry if you've got a USB then just hook it up to a computer, I've no doubt you'd find some software to help you run it... Apparently I'm not much better with the keyboard side of things than you are lol...

Beecher

Daddio wrote:

Yeah admittedly I'm a complete noob to the electronic aspect of music. So what do I need to get it going? A decent computer or midi-compatible keyboard?
Com-pletely clueless here.

You need to plug the keyboard into the USB port into your computer. You then need to get either a stand alone virtual instrument or a sequencer with VSTi (Virtual Studio Instrument) or DXi (Direct X Instrument) support. There are millions of freeware VSTi's available but you will need a host sequencer/program to run them.

Bear in mind without a soundcard with Asio support there will be a noticable latency between when you press a key and when you hear the note.

Rustar

As Eoin Madsen mentioned, another alternative is sound modules. I didn't price them, but expect to shell out some cash.

Roland Module

The big advantage here is that you can use them for home recording (MIDI or USB) or just out them to an amplifier and use the controller and module live. That particular model has USB, 1/4", and RCA jacks.

When I worked in a music store 14 (egad!) years ago, we had the earliest Roland modules for sale, and they were class acts even then. I can only imagine the quality has gotten better.

Setun

Cheers folks, thanks much.

The_g-man

I didn't see that module listed on thomann or musicstore, musician's friend lists it as discontinued. There is one in musicmaker in town, didn't see the price. Waltons has it for €751.
http://waltons.ie/shop/product_info.php?products_id=1241
http://namm.harmony-central.com/SNAMM02/Content/Roland/PR/XV-2020.html
If you have a pc or laptop then check out gigastudio.
http://www.thomann.de/ie/tascam_gigastudio_3ensemble.htm
Might be worthwhile checking out a few €4-500 keyboards with sounds and speakers built in, this controller idea seems very limiting for portability.
Maybe one of these could do the trick though:
http://www.thomann.de/ie/cat.html?gf=sound_modules_expanders&oa=pra

Potentially ask this guy:
http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=11697&cat=16

Rustar

The_g-man wrote:

musician's friend lists it as discontinued

Wow. Roland better update their site then. You'd think they'd be the first to know!

jimi_t

If you have a computer - you've everything you need to get going for free on the web. Get the VSTi host Reaper (earlier versions were free) and get your ass over to kvraudio.com. They've hundreds of amazing free VSTi's which you can use, and also have some other freeware synths which are stand-alone applications (i.e. they don't require a host). Here's two oldies to get you going straight away

http://glenstegner.com/softsynths.html