Connecting synths/keyboards to computers/laptops

[eastern spin doctor]

Hi i have just purchased a new laptop and i am looking to start producing my own tunes. i have a keyboard with a midi output but was just wondering the best way to connect it to my laptop. would it be best through a USB interface? or are there any other ways that are better? how do you connect yours?

Any insights would be greatly appreciated

[faun2500]

Hi, Does your midi controller (keyboard) have a USB on it?

If it does, you should conect it to the laptop using a UAB cable.

If it doesn't, you will need to buy a MIDI interface. I use a edorial uno for this and it converts the MIDI - USB.

Otherwise, you need to buy a soundcard with Midi.
You really do need a soundcard anyway for your laptop.

[martello]

And if you experience a long latency via usb and haven't got any external soundcard, just use asio4all driver to get quite sufficient results.

[eastern spin doctor]

Will i need an external sound card then? i was told its better if you have software with your interface wether it be sound card or midi interface as this helps latency problems?

[manray]

You just need a USB Midi interface so you can connect your Midi keyboard to your laptop.

They are cheap.

[faun2500]

Latency comes from your sound card. Also depends how high the soundcards buffer is.

I would advise anyone serious about music production to get a soundcard that is made for music. You dont have to spend £1000 but If you could get something like a Audiophile2496 (think it is) it would do the job.

If you have a laptop - dont even bother thinking of using an onboard soundcard unless you really have no choice. Check out the many soundcards for laptops.

Somewhere like Digital Village (dv247.com) would have them.

[eastern spin doctor]

ok thanks everyone for all your advice. I think i am going to get an external sound card as i think i will need one anyway for the future and i have also heard not to use the ones that come with laptops.

Cheers guys