garage band (2.0.2) and MIDI - weird sound problems

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garage band (2.0.2) and MIDI - weird sound problems

hi, i have just bought a new keyboard (Yamaha PSR 450), as well as a USB-to-MIDI cable, to connect my keyboard to my mac, for garage band. the cable is "m-audio midisport UNO" (MIDI IN/MIDI OUT-to-USB).

when i connect my keyboard to my mac, open up garage band and try to play or record and play, the sounds coming out of garage band are weird. the track was the default software track (piano), but when i played, only about 30% of what i played came out right, the rest was either this (very) high-pitched piano sound or nothing at all, and at random intervals too, e.g. i press 'middle c', and no sound comes out my computer, i press it again, this time it plays, but high-pitched. i press it again, now it plays right etc. etc. there doesn't seem to be any pattern. also, most of the time when it actually played the 'middle c', once i let go, the sound continued for ages, like i had a huge sustain on or something.
what's more weird is, if i have a recording on my keyboard (it has 6 tracks) and press play, the sound comes out perfect on garage band, so it's just when i play "live".
I've been messing around with settings on both my keyboard and mac, but nothing seems to work.
i read in the Yamaha manual that if the USB - MIDI cable is longer than 15ft, there can be "noise and data errors". this sounds exactly like what im getting, but the cable is not 15ft. its about 7-8ft. maybe the cable is low-quality? it cost me £32! - _-

any info or help would be extremely appreciated.

thanks

peace

iMac G5 20", Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Posted on Feb 3, 2006 10:59 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Kurt Weber

Level 6

13,969 points

Feb 3, 2006 5:48 PM in response to cartoonfox

Go here and make sure your driver is the newest for your operating system:
M-AUDIO - Drivers

You could also try deleting your setup in the Audio MIDI Setup utility and try setting it up again.

Kurt

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Answer 2

cartoonfox Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 3, 2006 6:31 PM in response to Kurt Weber

hey, thanks.
i downloaded the latest driver, but it still has the same problems.

maybe my MIDI setup is wrong.
when i open my MIDI setup panel in the utilities folder, it has:
IAC Driver (don't know what this is, can't really change anything anyway)
Network (again, i don't know what this is for, i havent touched anything)
USB Uno MIDI Interface. i can't change any info on this either, but i clicked it and then pressed "Test Setup" and this short continous bleep noise went off, untill i clicked "Test Setup" again to turn it off. im guessing this means it's working?

i even double checked that the MIDI IN/OUT plugs were in the right sockets in my keyboard!
either garage band doesn't properly support my keyboard or the cable
or
the cable is low-quality and i need to get the recomended yamaha one.
i cant think of anything else that could be wrong. of course i know next to nothing about MIDI so there may be loads of things i have not figured out yet.

are there any free/demo MIDI music software for mac i could download to test it?

thanks for helping

peace

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Answer 3

Kurt Weber

Level 6

13,969 points

Feb 5, 2006 4:33 PM in response to cartoonfox

Just in case you do not have it this way:
The MIDI out on your keyboard should be connected to your MIDI In on your interface. This is the most important of the two connections because Garageband sends no data to your keyboard. You can only use your keyboard to control the software instruments in Garageband.

In the Audio MIDI Setup utility try clicking on the 'add device' button. When the device appears label it your Yamaha. Then drag from the arrows on the device to the arrows on the MIDIsport so it looks like this:

Example

Then see if things work normally.

Kurt

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Answer 4

cartoonfox Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 6, 2006 3:01 PM in response to Kurt Weber

hey, thanks for replying.

hmm, trouble is i dont have a MIDI interface. i didnt think i needed one.

i just have the MIDI IN/OUT cable in my keyboard, and then the other side of the cable is a USB, which is plugged into my mac (the back ones, not the ones on the keyboard).
maybe because MIDI IN and MIDI OUT plugs are plugged into the sockets on the keyboard, and its confusing garageband?

i'll try taking out the IN one out. (or is it the OUT? ugh all this midi stuff confuses me!)

thanks

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Answer 5

Kurt Weber

Level 6

13,969 points

Feb 8, 2006 7:59 AM in response to cartoonfox

Your MIDI to USB cable is a MIDI interface.

Are the cables labled?

You should connect it as follows:
MIDI Out on Keyboard: MIDI IN plug on cable.

Once you get everything set up correctly you will not have to worry about it...MIDI just works. OSX, believe it or not, is far simpler to set up than older operating systems. It does a lot of stuff automatically and works flawlessly for me.

Kurt

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Answer 6

cartoonfox Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 8, 2006 9:51 AM in response to Kurt Weber

hmm, now at first i thought you had it! because i have been putting the "OUT into the "OUT" socket, and "IN" into the "IN" socket.
but i tried swapping them, and no sound came at all.

i then realised that my MIDI cables are labeled weridly.
" to MIDI OUT" and " to MIDI IN" which means that " to MIDI OUT" is realy the MIDI IN cable!
confusing!

so anyway, i have the cables in the right places.

still makes weird noises.
im convinced it's just garagband2 not supporting either my keyboard or the cable properly. wonder how much it is to upgrade...

here's a pic of my MIDI - USB cable.
[img] http://www.music-town.de/onlineshop/bilder/recording/midimanmidisportuno.jpg[/img]

thanks anyway : ]

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Answer 7

Kurt Weber

Level 6

13,969 points

Feb 9, 2006 6:32 AM in response to cartoonfox

According to the driver page I linked to, your interface is compatible to your operating system.

Did you try deleting your set up in the Audio Midi utility and then set it up again?

I Googled the web to see if anyone else has had problems with the interface. The interface is actually recommended in this article.

Try starting a new post in this section with the title: "Anyone using the MIDISPORT Uno in Tiger?"

If others are using it without problems then the solution is something else.

Kurt

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Answer 8

cartoonfox Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 9, 2006 3:10 PM in response to Kurt Weber

ok thanks, i will do that.

hope i figure this out soon...

peace

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