Jordan

Newbie Baffled By Panther Midi Setup For Keyboard

Hello! I'm an absolute newbie at MIDI (though a long-time Mac user), and I could really use a little help getting started.

My wife has an interest in learning to play piano, so I bought her eMedia's Piano& Keyboard Method software and an M-Audio Radium 49 keyboard. She has an iMac running OS X (Panther), and I just can't seem to get them to play together.

I installed the Panther patch for the keyboard from M-Audio and connected the keyboard to the iMac via USB. The power switch is set to draw power over the USB line. Things start to go wrong in Apple's Audio MIDI Setup control panel. Often, nothing shows up under devices at all. If I unplug the USB cable from the keyboard and reattach it, a device identified as [1x1] will appear. The device's properties show that it is recognized as an M-Audio "Keystation Series." Nothing is visible in the Properties tab, and the Ports tab shows a "Port 1."

If I click on "Test Setup", the cursor changes to a musical note. Otherwise, I get no reaction except that the "out arrow" from the device turns red when I click on it. I'm baffled by this interface ... should I be hearing music? Should anything happen when I click "Test Setup?"

When I click "Rescan MIDI", invariably the device dims, which I gather means that it is no longer recognized. It goes without saying that I can't seem to get it to work with any music program. What am I missing here?

Any help is appreciated!