My First Post: Can't Hear My Oxygen 8 Options

[kidliquid]

Hi everyone-I'm a first time poster here, but hopefully I'll use this forum a lot. I'm also brand new to MIDI, having just bought an oxygen 8 keyboard, (which connects via USB) and installed oms and the keystation software that came with it. I can't hear the notes I record in protools, or any other audio software I use it in. It shows input from the keyboard, so I know it's communicating with the computer, but no sound.
OS 9.2.2.
Help?

[Bonitap]

If I were you, I would return the Oxygen and go to another store to buy a MIDI keyboard with sounds and amplifers on board. My first keyboards were Casio and Yamaha -- the Yamaha PSR series is pretty good for the price. There are 5 or 6 available, each a bit more involved as the series' number increases. And it's possible to find some at non-music stores. (But a trusted music shop with knowledgable, honest people is the best way to go.) Having amps already in a keyboard can make life easier so you don't need to have or haul amps with you.

Be sure to read the manuals for software. And then read them again as you sit atg the 'board to work through the instructions. Most of the time they are helpful. If you are a MIDI novice, go to the library for books or search online for MIDI tutorials.

Some keyboards come with software -- full versions of sequencing programs. It's already 12 years ago that I bought an entry-level, inexpensive but just fine sequencer app called MusicShop. When I moved up to a Yamaha PSR 510, it included FreeStyle by Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) which is a step-up from MusicShop in its capabilities. I like FreeStyle though I've just moved up to eMagic Logic which is more professional with many more features. But FreeStyle has been good to me.

Keep in mind that you have a Mac with USB. If the keyboard you get is USB, you'd get away without needing a MIDI interface to connect it to the Mac. Not all keyboards have been made for USB but still are serial. So you'd need a serial MIDI interface for the keyboard to communicate with the Mac. And if your Mac has no serial ports anymore, there are serial adapters for USB Macs.

Be sure to take your time getting into MIDI. It takes commitment to begin to understand the INs and OUTs, so to speak. There won't be online tutors who can spend the energy and time with you that you need to dedicate to the learning process yourself.

But it all surely can be worth the investment of time and a couple of hundred dollars (and up!) to be able to express yourself musically and to be able to share it through recordings.

Bonnie