Keyboard controller not detected by Hauptwerk.

My Hauptwerk project has two manual keyboards and a pedalboard. One of the manuals (Great) is a Yamaha PSR 500 keyboard and is connected to my PC via a MIDI-USB cable (on a side of the cable there is a DIN connector and the other end of a USB cable connector). It works perfectly. My pedalboard has 32 notes and was midified with a card of Midi Boutique Gadget and also works normally.
I bought a keyboard controller for use in the Swell. This keyboard is a Acorn Masterkey 61. This keyboard does not have a MIDI output (DIN). It has a USB output. So I have to connect it to my PC with a USB cable, but the cable is different from the other cable from my Yamaha does not have the DIN connector. I called all and set the keyboard as I did with the Great and Pedalboard, but it is not recognized in the "auto detect". What's happening? Will have incorrect configuration settings? I need help. Thank you very much. Alex.

[mdyde]

Hello Alex,

Check whether your keyboard manufacturer has a driver for it on their website, and make sure you have the latest version of that driver installed if so. Also make sure that all current operating Windows updates are applied. (Use Windows Update to check for updates, apply all available, reboot, then keep repeating until there are no more. Note that you might need to click the 'check for updates' button *twice* before Windows actually performs the check.)

Reboot, then launch Hauptwerk and make sure that you have the device's MIDI IN port ticked in the *left-hand* ('Console MIDI IN') column on the 'General settings | MIDI ports' screen in Hauptwerk.

Does that allow the keyboard to be auto-detected?

Hi Martin,
Thank you for your prompt reply.
I tried the driver on my keyboard manufacturer's website, but there is saying that this keyboard does not need drivers. It's all automatic. My PC recognized the keyboard so I connected it via USB. I checked the settings in the Hauptwerk in General Settings / MIDI IN. Still did not work.
My Yamaha keyboard and my pedalboard function normally.
What do I do now? Please help me. I really want everything to work well.
Thank you.
Best Regards.
Alex

As you mention "The Masterkey 61 is USB class-compliant, which means that no drivers are needed for supported operating systems. Simply plug the keyboard into a USB port on the computer and the operating system does the rest."

Some questions.

Which operating system are you using? Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7?

Since the keyboard is USB Bus Powered, assume it is operating (lights up, etc)?

Which MIDI channel have you assigned your keyboard to play on ("The three-digit LED display provides navigational feedback making it quick and easy to find the right menus for changing MIDI channels, sending out program changes, transposing or programming the real-time controls.")

BTW, you can use MIDI Ox http://www.midiox.com to verify the MIDI messages (and channel) being sent by the keyboard/controller. Have you moved the USB cable from one port to another? Once established, Hauptwerk looks for each device to be connected in the same place each time. Are you connecting your keyboard directly or thru a hub?

Rgds,
Ed

[mdyde]

I checked the settings in the Hauptwerk in General Settings / MIDI IN.

Hello Alex,

To add to Ed's reply:

Hauptwerk doesn't support 'hot-plugging' MIDI devices, so you mustn't plug in or unplug any device whilst Hauptwerk is actually running (make sure you exit and relaunch it if you need to do that, since it queries the list of MIDI device names from Windows when Hauptwerk launches and expects them to remain the same until it exits).

Just to verify -- after re-launching Hauptwerk you do see an entry for the device on the 'General settings | MIDI ports | MIDI IN ports' screen tab, and you have ticked that entry in the left-hand ('Console MIDI IN') column?

If so, with St. Anne's loaded, do any MIDI activity virtual LEDs flash on the 'Audio, MIDI and Performance' large control panel when you press keys on that USB music keyboard? Which ones, if so?

Have you moved the USB cable from one port to another? Once established, Hauptwerk looks for each device to be connected in the same place each time

Just to clarify: Hauptwerk itself doesn't (and can't) actually have any knowledge of which USB port a device is connected to; all it can know is the name of the MIDI port that Windows reports for it, which in turn is defined by its driver. In the case of a device that uses Windows' default MIDI driver then it's Windows that decides the device name and thus it's actually Windows that causes the USB-MIDI devices sometimes to change names if plugged into different USB ports (rather than Hauptwerk itself). Unfortunately that isn't something we have control over, but connecting all USB devices to a good-quality, powered (not bus-powered) USB hub does indeed usually seem to stop Windows doing that. I use a Belkin hub for the purpose, which works well.

Hello Ed and Martin.
I would like to thank the valuable information you have given me. I checked again in MIDI Ports / General Settings / MIDI IN and then appeared one more USB port that was disabled. I enabled this port and it worked well.
Now the ports that appear there are USB (Pedalboard) / USB2 (Great) / USB3 (Swell). Just so that this topic can help other people, I am using Windows XP and a high-speed Hub.
Once again many thanks for the help.

Best Regards.
Alex

[mdyde]

Thanks, Alex.

Glad to hear you have it working now.