Mistermaarten150 Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Hello, I'm a complete beginner in keyboard music and Cakewalk in general. I've found the interface a bit daunting and I couldn't easily find a tutorial on how to connect my MIDI keyboard to Cakewalk. When I start the program, it does automatically recognize my USB-connected keyboard, but I don't get any sound when I press the keys afterward. Could someone please explain how I can get sound? And perhaps how I can choose different instruments? (e.g., I'd like to play with piano, harpsichord and Moog-like sounds). My model is a (very cheap) Alesis Q49. Thank you in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 (edited) Welcome to Cakewalk! For starters, have a look at Hardware setup in the documentation. Then have a look at Controlling which sounds you hear in the documentation. You can also download the documentation as a PDF document from the "Cakewalk by BandLab" menu at the top of this page. Edited January 18, 2020 by Eddie Additional info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 If you prefer to watch a video, have a look at How to Connect a MIDI Keyboard to a Computer in the tutorials section of this forum. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsinger Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Also you need a software instrument to generate sound. http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=SoftSynths.08.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 13 minutes ago, Eddie said: If you prefer to watch a video, have a look at How to Connect a MIDI Keyboard to a Computer in the tutorials section of this forum. ? That video is geared toward hardware sound sources. A better video from the same source for MIDI controllers like the Q49 and softsynths is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 That is a better fit. Thanks for chiming in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistermaarten150 Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 17 minutes ago, scook said: That video is geared toward hardware sound sources. A better video from the same source for MIDI controllers like the Q49 and softsynths is Thank you for the suggestion. I have been able to follow the video up until the point when the guy starts playing his MIDI-keyboard. Mine doesn't make sound yet. I get this notification: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistermaarten150 Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 Edit: now I can see it is registered when I press a key, but I can't hear the notes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistermaarten150 Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 Wow, I don't know what I did exactly, but it's working!! Thank you guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 That is a MIDI track. A MIDI track is used to hold MIDI data but must be routed to a sound source (either a soft synth or hardware sound module) to interpret the MIDI data. The video shows setting up TTS-1 (a softsynth) using an instrument track starting around 3:45. An instrument track is a combination of a MIDI track, an audio track and the soft synth used to create the sound. The other problem may be the program does not have audio properly configured. If you are using the integrated PC sound chip here are the instructions https://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/Audio-Hardware-Setup-Guide?productId=CSPT100&audioDeviceId=135 If you are running Windows 10 instead of using MME driver mode (step 3 in the instructions) try one of the WASAPI settings. If you have a dedicated audio interface there are instructions available for those too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 3 minutes ago, Mistermaarten150 said: Wow, I don't know what I did exactly, but it's working!! Thank you guys! If you are still using the MIDI track as shown in the above image and no corresponding audio track, you managed to route the MIDI output to the Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. This is enabled by default. In the long run you will probably want to disable this MIDI output option in preferences and learn how to use soft synth plug-ins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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