Midi In and Out to GarageBand?

First of all, the System Sound Preferences will not list any MIDI devices because MIDI devices don't produce sound, they produce data, MIDI data.

Your issue is similar to the other post that I responded to

Whatever MIDI device you try to connect to your computer, there are two sides that you have to consider:

Hardware Side:

You have to connect your keyboard to your computer. There are two options

• a) Your keyboard has a USB jack: You can plug it directly to your computer
• b) Your keyboard has a MIDI jack: You have to plug into a separate box, a so called "MIDI interface". That MIDI Interface then connects to your computer (via USB, Firewire, etc

Software side:

• c) Whatever you connect to your computer (Keyboard or MIDI interface), it has to be recognized by your operating system (OSX). If that hardware is "class compliant" (as Chrisoph pointed out), then you have a "plug-and-play" situation. OSX recognizes the device
• d) If your hardware (Keyboard or MIDI Interface) uses special features or protocols, then you have to install a special software (called "Driver") first, so OSX can recognize the device and properly communicate with it. This Driver is automatically installed during the installation of the software that comes with device.

Whatever combination you have, you can check in the Audio MIDI Setup application if OSX "sees" your device:

Go to your Utilities folder inside your Applications folder and launch the "Audio MIDI Setup" application. Under the Window menu select "Show MIDI Studio". Every MIDI device that OSX recognizes, will show up in this window. If not, then you have to do some troubleshooting.

Use the "Test Setup" button in the MIDI Studio toolbar to check if your MIDI keyboard sends any MIDI information. This button can be toggled on or off. If on, play your Keyboard and the window will have a visual and audio feedback if it receives MIDI information.

Hope that helps

Edgar Rothermich

http://DingDingMusic.com/Manuals/

'I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.'

What Edgar wrote boils down to: what you call a "Midi In/Out cable that connects via USB to Mac" is actually a midi interface, and it might need the latest driver software to make it work with your computer. If it's the Yamaha midi interface, the driver page ist here:

http://download.yamaha.com/usb_midi/

To record the keyboard sounds plug a line out or headphone out on the keyboard to the audio input on your mac. Record to a real instrument track.