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Is my MIDI controller dead?
Mi-ssippiBoynBuffalo
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
Last October I bought a used M Audio Keystation 61es MIDI controller from a seller on eBay for my 50th birthday. It worked fine except it would not stay connected via USB. I bought an M Audio MIDISport Uno USB adapter and a power adapter that matched the voltage/amperage. Afterward, it was working flawlessly.
I'm 100% disabled due to Chronic Kidney Disease, Stage III Renal Failure and 35 years of Juvenile Onset Diabetes. Between medical complications and being inundated with work (I comprise the IT Department for the village in which we live) I have not been able to even touch the keyboard. On top of that, I lost my primary hard drive during a <1 minute power outage last month and am still trying to restore my data from the cloud storage service I use--that's another story...
Anyway, I decided last week I would restart my piano lessons again. Before the 4 month hiatus, I was using the EVM Grand Piano VST plug-in with VSTHost v1.52. I used the MIDISport Uno for the input and ASIO4ALL v2 for the output through the onboard audio chip on my PC. That's exactly the way I set this up again. I have tried every conceivable combination of settings and have been unable to get a single sound from my speakers/headphones.
The 61es hasn't been dropped or knocked over or suffered any type of abuse (that I know of) other than just being shuffled around the room it has been in since it was delivered by UPS 6 months ago. Could it have just died? I wouldn't have thought that possible prior to losing my first EVER hard drive to a power blink after nearly 20 years of working with at least my own computers. So I wouldn't be at all surprised at the inexplicable death of the 61es. But I'd like to get some other "sets of eyes" on the issue just in the highly likely event that I'm just missing something simple.
My custom-built PC specs follow:
Mainboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L (rev. 1.1)
Processor: Intel Core2Quad Q9550 @ Stock 2.83GHz
Memory: 8 GB G.Skill DDR21066
Audio: RealTek Onboard Chip
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
Don't know if you need any other specs. I think I've covered about all the involved hardware and software. Please let me know if I can supply any other info that can help in the diagnosis of my problem. I'm going crazy looking at the keyboard every day and not being able to play it even with my limited skills. I have my lessons awaiting!!
Thanks very much!!
JG
I'm 100% disabled due to Chronic Kidney Disease, Stage III Renal Failure and 35 years of Juvenile Onset Diabetes. Between medical complications and being inundated with work (I comprise the IT Department for the village in which we live) I have not been able to even touch the keyboard. On top of that, I lost my primary hard drive during a <1 minute power outage last month and am still trying to restore my data from the cloud storage service I use--that's another story...
Anyway, I decided last week I would restart my piano lessons again. Before the 4 month hiatus, I was using the EVM Grand Piano VST plug-in with VSTHost v1.52. I used the MIDISport Uno for the input and ASIO4ALL v2 for the output through the onboard audio chip on my PC. That's exactly the way I set this up again. I have tried every conceivable combination of settings and have been unable to get a single sound from my speakers/headphones.
The 61es hasn't been dropped or knocked over or suffered any type of abuse (that I know of) other than just being shuffled around the room it has been in since it was delivered by UPS 6 months ago. Could it have just died? I wouldn't have thought that possible prior to losing my first EVER hard drive to a power blink after nearly 20 years of working with at least my own computers. So I wouldn't be at all surprised at the inexplicable death of the 61es. But I'd like to get some other "sets of eyes" on the issue just in the highly likely event that I'm just missing something simple.
My custom-built PC specs follow:
Mainboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L (rev. 1.1)
Processor: Intel Core2Quad Q9550 @ Stock 2.83GHz
Memory: 8 GB G.Skill DDR21066
Audio: RealTek Onboard Chip
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
Don't know if you need any other specs. I think I've covered about all the involved hardware and software. Please let me know if I can supply any other info that can help in the diagnosis of my problem. I'm going crazy looking at the keyboard every day and not being able to play it even with my limited skills. I have my lessons awaiting!!
Thanks very much!!
JG
Mi-ssippiBoynBuffalo on
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I'm barely even a novice pianist and do not even qualify as a "Noob" in electronic music creation and production. I'm beginning to regret even having purchased a MIDI controller rather than an out-and-out electronic keyboard with a headphone jack! It seems my dreams of learning both piano and building full scale songs around it were just a bit too lofty.
Sorry to bitch. I'm just really bummed out over this issue and several other downer things going on in my life right now. :? Anyway, if anyone out there can get me started down the path to discovery of my controller's output, I'd really appreciate it!
Thanks,
JG
When you plug in the keyboard does it make the usual windows sound for finding a new USB device?
Are you seeing the lights come on on the keyboard itself?
Did you install any kind of driver for the keyboard on your PC? As a general rule windows doesn't know what to do with hardware until it has a driver installed that lets windows know what the hardware is.
As for the VSThost side of it. Basically the problem you should be telling us about is 'my midi controller isn't showing up in the hardware list' not 'I hear nothing from my speakers'. I'm 95% sure there was a virtual MIDI keyboard in VSThost you could pull up on-screen to click on notes. I'd recommend testing that to be sure you can get sound out of the program at all.
Anyway basics for VSThost are to make sure the devices are all showing up and selected, meaning the midi controller and the sound output via asio4all. Beyond that I'm a little fuzzy on remembering details of the software.
Other simple software that uses MIDI input:
http://download.cnet.com/NoteID/3000-2133_4-10394411.html
http://synthesiagame.com/