How to Connect Midi Keyboard to PC?

/ Digital Piano Advice / By

Do you have a musical keyboard (eg Roland, Yamaha, Casio, etc …) that you want to use by connecting it to your PC and doing various operations? Or are you a karaoke lover and want to connect the keyboard to your PC to use its sounds in the performance of your midi files?

In this article we see how to connect midi keyboard to PC. What you need are essentially two things:

  1. MIDI-USB connector to connect keyboard to computer
  2. Software that allows PC and Midi keyboard to communicate

Guide: How to Connect Midi Keyboard to PC:

First make sure that your musical keyboard has MIDI input and output. Once you’ve verified this, you’ll need to get a MIDI-USB cable like the one pictured below:

If you don’t have it, you can also buy it online from Amazon from this link.

Once you have obtained this cable proceed to connect the keyboard to the PC (the USB connector goes into the USB port of your PC). If the connection is made correctly, a green light on the cable should illuminate (if available).

Evergreen Keyboard You might be interested in

Now on your PC download and install a program that allows you to communicate with the keyboard. For example, you can download and install KANTO KARAOKE a program that allows you to play midi, kar, mp3, video karaoke, etc. files to make karaoke on your PC. By connecting your PC to the keyboard you can take advantage of the sounds of the keyboard itself.

Once Kanto Karaoke is installed and started on your PC you will see this main window:

To make the program communicate with the keyboard and make the sounds come out of the keyboard, click on the EDIT menu at the top

Select the MIDI OUT box and then, from the drop-down menu select the name of your keyboard connected to the PC.

Now play any music file via Kanto Karaoke (midi, kar, mp3, cdg, etc…) and check that the sound comes out from the keyboard.

If by chance it Does not work, There is this other Solution:

  1. Download and install Cool Soft Virtual Midi Synth (http://coolsoft.altervista.org/download/CoolSoft_VirtualMIDISynth_1.13.2.exe) and in the configuration go to the “Midi Mapper” tab and from the drop-down menu relating to the “Default Midi Device” select the keyboard sound card
  2. Then open Kanto Karaoke and choose the “Microsoft Midi Mapper“ as the Midi Out device.
  3. Close and reopen Kanto Karaoke and try playing a music file. This way the sounds will pass through virtual midi synth on the keyboard.