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Posted by: benocandelon Sun 20 Nov 2011, 22:24

Hi;
I'm new to music on the Mac. I bought a Yamano roll-up keyboard. It has a midi out port. I bought a midi-to-usb cable and attached it to my Macbook. With power up, it doesn't show up in System Preferences/Sound/Input. What do?
TIA,
Beno

Posted by: houstonmusic Mon 21 Nov 2011, 05:34

Hi beno,
don't confuse midi in with audio in.
your interface SHOULD show up in your Utility App "Audio Midi setup".

if you'd like to play garage band sounds with your roll up keyboard, you may need to create a device that represents your keyboard, and attach it to the interface icon. all this is done in Audio MIDI setup.

this is basic stuff, and there may be better on line resources to step you through this process.
good luck.

Posted by: benocandelon Mon 21 Nov 2011, 17:11

Agreed. However, I've googled, I've posted to discussions.apple.com and nobody has answered. I did what you suggested and the device did not show up. Googling seems to indicate that if the device doesn't have a USB port--and mine does not--then it is not class-compliant. That would mean that there must be a driver somewhere I need to download. However, Yamano, the company that makes this, has no English-speaking website. I managed to figure out how to get to their Japanese email inquiry page and send them an email but who knows if anyone there can read it. I've googled for a driver download and can't find that either. It didn't come with a CD. Everyone's selling these keyboards like hot cakes, so I have a hard time understanding why I'm having such a hard time with this. Suggestions?
TIA,
Beno

Posted by: mastarandja Tue 22 Nov 2011, 07:55

If your keyboard doesn't have a usb port, it cannot connect idirectly to the mac, you need to connect through a mac compatible midi interface, like the M-Audio Uno - 1-In/1-Out USB Bus-Powered MIDI Interface, if you just have only one midi device or a MOTU Microlite Midi I/O 5/5 Bus Powered, if you plan to connect more than one midi device to your system (trigger pads, external fx, etc.).

Good luck.

Posted by: benocandelon Tue 22 Nov 2011, 08:39

THANK YOU!!! Why is this information so hard to find? You'd think About.com or HowTo.com would have some information about this!
Thanks again,
Beno

Posted by: gdoubleyou Thu 1 Dec 2011, 05:32

I played around with one for a few minutes, some of the models do support midi, if you have the proper model the issue may be with the usb to midi cable, and or how you have them connected.
Midi out to Midi In/ Midi in to Midi out.

In the audio/midi setup utility does the USB/ Midi adapter show up?

It is nothing like a REAL keyboard, so it will not help a beginner learn technique.
You can trigger the sounds but it's clunky

If your goal is to learn keyboard, get a USB controller with full-size keys.
Several companies make them.