USB device option not showing

[lucasclay]

i apologize if this has already been covered but i looked around and didnt see it. im using a Alesis QS6 synth and downloaded audacity just so i could throw some stuff over. im using a cable thats plugging into the MIDI ports of the synth and then into the USB of my computer. when i go to choose the device off prefrences it only shows "line in/mic in" and "primary sound capture driver." neither of which work to record the keyboard... maybe its just the cord but the computer recognizes when its plugged in. any help on how i could get this to work would be great. thanks -lucas

[steve]

MIDI is not audio - it's just controller messages for synths, sequencers and other MIDI devices/software.
Audacity is an audio editor - it does not understand MIDI.

[lucasclay]

thanks... like i said i dont know that much about all this... but what ur saying is that im using the wrong cord and option/expantion of my synth?

[steve]

what ur saying is that im using the wrong cord and option/expantion of my synth?

It depends on what you are wanting to do.

If you want to record a "sequence" of notes/sounds which the synth will play back, then you need a MIDI connection to the computer. A MIDI connection will allow the synth and a suitable program on the computer to send MIDI messages to each other. These are not sound, they are "instructions" about what note to play, how loud to play it, which sound bank to use, and so on. A "MIDI Sequencer" is a program that can record and edit these messages.

If you want to record "sound" coming from the synth, then you need to make an "audio" connection from the synth to the computer. The usual way to do this is to connect an audio output on the synth to an audio input on the computers sound card. The audio output on the synth may be called "Line" or "Aux". If it does not have either of these connections you may need to use the headphone output from the synth, but the other option are preferable if available. Th required input on the computer for this configuration will be a "Line Input". PC laptop computers frequently do not have a "Line Input". It is sometimes possible to use a "Mic" input on the computer but this has a major problem that it is about 1000 x too sensitive for a line level signal and will distort horribly unless the synth output is really low.

Some synths have a USB audio output which allows the synth to send audio to the computer through the USB port instead of using the computer sound card. This is very uncommon - if your synth has this it will say so in the manual. I doubt that the QS6 has one of these.

I can't check the manual as Alesis do not allow the download without registering, but if you don't have the manual you can get it here: http://www.alesis.com/contentmgr/showde ... /4899/tt/5

Having looked at the picture of the QS6 I would expect there to be a headphone output and a "Line" output. The Line output may be just called "Output" and will probably be a pair of 1/4" jack sockets. These are the same sockets that you would use to connect the synth to an amplifier.

If your amplifier has a "Line Out" (may be called "Aux Out" or "Tape Out") then you may be able to use that as the output to your computer.

If your computer does not have a "Line In" then you need to add a sound card that does have a line in connection.