So my 7 year old daughter has decided she wants to learn to play the piano, after an unsuccessful (read: hates practicing) stint at the violin. Tonight was her first lesson and my wife brought her home after renting a keyboard. A Roland EXR-5 to be exact.
Naturally, since I play the bass, six string and flute, I'm excited my daughter wants to play music, but I'm also excited about the prospect of hooking this bad boy up to my MacBook and tinkering with GaragBand.
The only problem is, I've never really played around with keyboards much, so how exactly do I do this? I know I can simply use the audio outputs to plug into the input of the MacBook, but this keyboard has USB and MIDI ports as well.
Do I need a midi "box" between the KB and the Mac or can I go USB to Mac. What are the advantages/disadvantages of this?
I would like to use the KB to lay some drum tracks etc. into GarageBand and just have a little fun.
Any information is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Russ
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Relax, thanks for the quick reply, but that driver is for the EXR-5s - we have the EXR-5. I'll try it out, but it our model isn't listed in the supported devices.
So assuming it works - that's it? no fancy midi cables etc? Almost seems too easy
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-= You haven't lived until you have ridden a 90kph hairpin with your knee scraping and nothing but a few millimetres of cowhide between you and the asphalt. =-
As long as it's in the same line, it should work ok. Regardless, it's worth a shot. If not, you could always buy a USB MIDI interface and do it that way. This here would do the job: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...T1x1-main.html however it's a bit overpriced if you ask me. Hopefully the direct USB solution will work for you.
Well, I have no idea how to hook this baby up, but I am VERY fluent in GarageBand. If you don't know how to lay down different tracks, for other instruments, or have trouble, just ask!
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Relax, thanks for the quick reply, but that driver is for the EXR-5s - we have the EXR-5. I'll try it out, but it our model isn't listed in the supported devices.
Looks like there's just a Windows USB driver for the EXR-5. Hopefully the Mac EXR-5s will work with it. After all, the only functionality you really needs is for it to act as a MIDI controller.
Looks like there's just a Windows USB driver for the EXR-5. Hopefully the Mac EXR-5s will work with it. After all, the only functionality you really needs is for it to act as a MIDI controller.
Have you tried just plugging it in with USB? I used an M-Audio USB keyborad awhile ago, and it worked right out of the box.
I may be wrong but I don't think you can trigger sound modules with garage band (for that you need Logic) So you will be stuck using your Roland EXR-5 as a controller for the garageband instruments and won't be able to access it's sounds. can anyone confirm this?
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