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4.4.1) How do I do MIDI with my laptop PC? What is the Key Electronics Midiator?




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This article is from the Electronic and Computer Music FAQ, by Craig Latta Craig.Latta@NetJam.ORG with numerous contributions by others.

4.4.1) How do I do MIDI with my laptop PC? What is the Key Electronics Midiator?



Date: Mon, 17 Aug 92 11:18:24 +0200
From: ruprecht@corse.informatik.uni-freiburg.de (Nick Ruprecht) Address: Rheinstrasse 10-12, D-7800 Freiburg i. Br., Germany
Phone: +49-761-203 3884, fax: +49-761-203 3889

The Key Electronics MIDIator is a good interface for portable
PCs. warrant mention of the Key Electronics MIDIator under a separate
topic. I think that the MIDIator 101 will actually do the baud rate
transformation from 38.4 kBaud to 31.25 kBaud. The MIDIator 101 goes
for about $US 120. Key Electronics also distributes a sequencer for
MS-DOS PCs for it. The MS-DOS sequencer Cakewalk supports it as well.
Key Electronics' address is:
Key Electronics, 7515 Chapel Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76116
Office: (817) 560-1912, FAX: (817) 560-9745
Toll Free: 1-800-533-MIDI (1-800-533-6434)
**

Date: Mon, 9 May 94 08:02:08 PDT
From: tonyf@ims.com (Antonio Freixas)
There are several vendors providing both serial and parallel port
connections to MIDI which will work with a laptop. The three vendors
I know about are:

Key Electronics 1-800-533-6434
7515 Chapel Avenue
Fort Worth, TX 76116

Midiman 1-800-969-6434
236 West Mountain St.
Suite 108
Pasadena, CA 91103

Music Quest 1-800-876-1376
1700 Alma Drive
Suite 330
Plano, TX 75075

I have both a Key MS-101 serial interface (also known as a MIDIator) and a Midiman Portman PC/P parallel interface.

For DOS systems, you are dependent on the music software vendor to
support the particular device (some of the hardware vendors supply
drivers to Cakewalk with their products).

For Windows 3.1 systems, the hardware vendor supplies a Windows driver
and all Windows software vendors that I know of will use the driver
(there may be a few shareware programs that still assume you have an
MPU-401 which will not work with these MIDI devices).

The current Key Windows driver for the MIDIator loses bytes on some
systems. I am one of those unlucky ones -- with the MS-101, I cannot
do reliable SysEx dumps. Real-time recordings wind up with very long
notes as Note Off events are lost. Key claims that the problem occurs
due to other Windows programs misusing the clock interrupt; they are
working on a fix but have not released one as of 7-23-93.

I have used the Key MS-101 under DOS without problems (using the
notation package SongWright).

I believe that each of the above vendors supplies BOTH serial and
parallel versions of their products. If you have a laptop without a
mouse port separate from the serial port, the parallel versions are
the way to go, as you will be able to use the mouse and MIDI. Windows
programs are easier to use with the mouse; some programs cannot be
fully used without a mouse.

-- tonyf@ims.com
(503) 626-7117 x1349

 

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