Audacity Forum

Hi,

I'm new to the whole recording process but basically I want to use a music keyboard to record a piece of music as I play it, and then change the sound on the keyboard to add drums, a base line, etc. I downloaded Audacity today, no problem there. I have a midi to USB cable, which has midi input & output plugs on one end and a usb connection on the other end. I connect the usb plug into the computer, and the midi plugs to the keyboard, but the problem is that the computer doesn't seem to be recognising the keyboard. Consequently, when I go to "Preferences" in the "Edit" menu, under recording devices, it says "no device found". Does anyone know what I am doing wrong?
(I have tried midi in to midi out and midi out to midi in, as well as midi in to midi in and midi out to midi out on the keyboard end)

I also have a Firepod recording interface and regular jack leads if this is any help. In a nutshell, what is the best way to record directly from a keyboard to Audacity?

Any help would be much appreciated.

MIDI is not audio - it is controller messages for sending data between synths, sequencers, keyboards and suchlike.
Audacity is an audio editor - it does not understand MIDI (because MIDI is not audio).

To record sound from the keyboard with Audacity you need to connect an audio output from the keyboard to an audio input of a sound card and use Audacity to record from the sound card. Setting up and recording from a keyboard is then very much like recording from a tape deck - as described here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Trans ... uter_or_CD

If you want to record MIDI sequences, you need to use a MIDI sequencer program.