Ask the expert – problems with midi keyboards & Finale connections

David Hughes posted on Musicademy’s Wall.
“I have an old e-volution MK-149 midi keyboard which has a single midi out socket. I recently got a Logilink midi-USB cable to try using the keyboard on my new (Windows 7) laptop, but I’m not getting any signal through to Finale PrintMusic or MuseScore. How can I test that something is actually coming out of the keyboard?”

Tim Horton from Sound Foundation Limited replies:

My only suggestion would be to follow the signal chain through:

• Does the keyboard link with another midi device, such as another keyboard or midi brain?
• Is there a way to test the cable works correctly? Perhaps link a different keyboard up with the setup to eliminate a fault there…
• Does the PC have the appropriate drivers to handle the midi feed via USB?
• Does it need to be a USB 2.0 port?
• Can the notation software accept an input from a midi device?

David contacted us to say that re-installing the notation software and allowing its plug and play midi detection had fixed the problem.