Tue, Jan 06, 2009 at 05:22:46PM +0000, andy baxter
wrote:
Is there a usb standard for midi keyboards which
linux knows about? The
other thing I'm looking into is a friend of mine has a Nord Electro 61
which he wants to be able to play into his linux machine. It has a usb
out - is there a reasonable chance that if I just plugged it in with a
standard usb cable I could get it working?
Hi Andy,
The Nord is a great instrument, a poor man's alternative to
a B3. At a time when I was looking for an organ to play
with, I was thinking of a Nord, or figuring out how to get
the beatrix B3 emulator to work for me. (Anyone corresponded
with the developer lately?)
According to the advertising blurbs, the USB in the Nord is
for _downloading_ new sets of instrument samples. The MIDI
interface is an _input_ for connecting a second keyboard. So
it seems that the only certain way for your friend to play
into his linux machine would be via an analog out into a
decent soundcard's line in.
It's a lovely keyboard for sure. I think things aren't quite as bad as
you're saying - from memory it has both MIDI in and out connectors, so
will probably play through a MIDI cable. But you're probably right about
the usb interface - I found the manual on line and it sounds like it's
just for loading samples.
andy