MIDI-OX User Forum - Print Page


    
      
        MIDI-OX User Forum
        (http://www.midiox.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl)
      

        MIDI-OX >> Questions and Discussion >> Help me I'm stupid
        
(Message started by: TinMan666 on Jan 11^th, 2002, 2:08am)

Title: Help me I'm stupid
Post by TinMan666 on Jan 11^th, 2002, 2:08am

hi

I'm having some problems getting my midi gear hooked up to my new (newish anyway) PC. My old PC had a soundblaster awe64 card in it, and the midi stuff worked fine. On the new pc, I'm using the on board sound chip - also I am now using windows 2000.

Anyway... my problem is that windows simply would not let me specify anything other than "microsoft GS wavetable synth" as the midi device. Which of course means that I can't send midi signals to my synths and drum machine etc.

So I've been going around BEGGING for help for the past few days... and finally someone told me to try Midi Yoke. So I have installed Midi Yoke, and sure enough, I now have the choice of the 8 Midi Yoke ports as well as the Microsoft wavetable thing.

My question (forgive me if it's a stupid one) is: HOW do I get midi yoke / windows / cakewalk etc to go out through the midi/game port and into my stinking drum machine?

This is driving me nuts. I'm *this* close to ditching my new PC and going back to using my old P200, and that's really gonna suck.

Thanks.
Dave

Title: Re: Help me I'm stupid
Post by Jamie OConnell on Jan 11^th, 2002, 10:11am

I am guessing you can't use the AWE64 in your new machine because there are no ISA slots? If you could use it it would be the best solution.

You need to find out if the motherboard sound chip has a built-in MIDI interface. Many do, but the lack of installed drivers is not a good sign. Having a game port is no guarantee that there is also a MIDI interface.

If there is no built-in MIDI interface, you could look into other options: USB, parallel, serial or pci MIDI interfaces. You could disable the onboard sound chip and install another PCI sound card that has a MIDI interface built-in (SB Live! for instance).

Title: Re: Help me I'm stupid
Post by TinMan666 on Jan 11^th, 2002, 6:11pm

thanks for the reply jJamie!

You are correct, the AWE64 won't work in the new machine, as the new one only has PCI slots.

I've got the user's manual for my motherboard in front of me, and the port in question is listed as "Joystick / Midi connector" - so I'm pretty sure that means it SHOULD work for midi... it'd be pretty bloody stupid if it didn't! ha!

I'm having some other audio problems on this PC, so perhaps the answer is just to go out and buy a new soundcard. The only problem with that is that I don't have a spare slot to put it in. The motherboard only has 3 slots, which seems ridiculous to me... but I guess that's what I get for not doing my homework a bit better before buying a system.

I've posted on the MSI help forum as well but so far that hasn't helped.

:(

Title: Re: Help me I'm stupid
Post by TinMan666 on Jan 11^th, 2002, 6:14pm

oh yeah I also have a (serial?) portman PCP midi box, but it's a piece of junk that has never worked on any PC that I've owned over the past 4 years, and apparently it's not supported by win2000 anyway.

They have a USB box out now, but I'm reluctant to fork out another few hundred bucks on something that I don't expect to work anyway.

hmmmph!

Title: Re: Help me I'm stupid
Post by Jamie OConnell on Jan 11^th, 2002, 10:14pm

on 01/11/02 at 18:11:27, TinMan666 wrote:

I've got the user's manual for my motherboard in front of me, and the port in question is listed as "Joystick / Midi connector" - so I'm pretty sure that means it SHOULD work for midi... it'd be pretty bloody stupid if it didn't! ha!

In that case, look around your install CD's or the manufacturers web-site for drivers. Do any other drivers show up in Control Panel | Multimedia (Or Sounds) applet?

Title: Re: Help me I'm stupid
Post by TinMan666 on Jan 12^th, 2002, 12:57am

well.. I've just updated my drivers, but that hasn't solved any of my problems.

I think I give up :'( :-/

Title: Re: Help me I'm stupid
Post by TinMan666 on Jan 12^th, 2002, 7:55pm

wooohoo I fixed it!

I went into my system bios, and found a thing that said "mpu401 disabled", and changed it to "enabled".

I'm sure if that means I am smart for figuring it out, or an idiot for not checking there sooner!

Either way I'm just happy that it seems to be sorted out now.

Thanks for your help Jamie.

Title: Re: Help me I'm stupid
Post by Jamie OConnell on Jan 12^th, 2002, 9:50pm

I'm glad to hear that it is working.