Getting a MIDI keyboard to handshake with RMS Keyboards or Sinfonia involves 2 steps: setting up your MIDI keyboard to work with your computer, and then selecting it in RMS Keyboards or Sinfonia.

Setting up your equipment so that it is recognized by your computer

The best way to get your keyboard working with your computer is to follow the setup process detailed in your equipment's manual. This usually involves establishing the proper cable connections, as well downloading and installing any necessary drivers or software that your equipment requires to work. If you don't have the manual booklet for your equipment, you can usually find it, as well as the drivers by doing a web search. To find the appropriate driver for your hardware, simply do a web search for the manufacturer and model of your keyboard; and the term "midi driver" - i.e. "yamaha CP33 midi driver". Be sure to download and install the driver that corresponds to your operating system version.

A proper setup will usually involve a MIDI keyboard that is connected to the computer either A) by a USB cord connected directly to the computer, or B) with MIDI cables into a MIDI interface, whcih is in turn connected to the computer. Drivers are usually required to be installed in order for the computer to recognize the equipment. A great resource for testing to see if your computer is receiving MIDI data from your keyboard is MIDI View. These programs will report any MIDI data that the computer is receiving, so if you are playing the keyboard and nothing is registering, chances are the keyboard is not yet properly setup with your computer. If you are unable to get your computer to recognize the keyboard, call the keyboard manufacturer to troubleshoot the setup process.

• If you have a Yamaha Keyboard, believe it is setup properly, but the computer is not receiving MIDI data, click here

• if using an external MIDI interface, make sure the MIDI cable is plugged into the correct ports on the interface and the keyboard. To understand how it should be connected, follow the flow of data: it will go out of your MIDI keyboard from the "MIDI out" port, and into the "MIDI in" port on your interface. Therefore, one end of your MIDI cable should connect to the MIDI out port on the keyboard, while the other end should connect to the MIDI in on the interface. Note that in rare cases, some interfaces might label their ports as "to MIDI out" in which you would connect that port to the MIDI out port on the keyboard.

Selecting your keyboard in RMS Keyboards or Sinfonia

Once you have confirmed that your keyboard is properly setup and recognized by the computer, you may then select it in RMS Keyboards or Sinfonia. To do this, launch the program, and be sure to run the Setup Wizard (located in tools menu). Then follow the instructions for specifying which MIDI device is to control which keyboard window in the software.

• You can also select your MIDI Keyboard device directly in the keyboard windows of the main interface. With the main RMS Keyboards interface open, look at the upper left hand corner of your keyboard window. You will see a dropdown box that can be used to select your MIDI device.

• Make sure to launch RMS Keyboards or Sinfonia after the keyboard/computer setup steps are completed. If you have already launched our software before connecting or turning on your MIDI devices, quit the application and restart it once everything is plugged in and turned on.