My USB Alesis Q49 Controller Keyboard Won't Play Music (Audacity 3.0.2)

This Alesis Q49 is an older model. It does not have a display panel. The only reason I bought it is for my co-writer to compose music on. I write lyrics, I do not compose, so I know very little about setting up a controller keyboard.

The set up here is simple. USB cable is plugged into my Lenovo Ideapad 3 (Intel Core i3 processor). No sounds/music is heard when I press any key on the keyboard. My Q49 is installed in Device Manager under Sound, Video and Game Controllers. I am running Windows 10.

I am not sure what to do from here to get my keyboard to play music.

Please help.

One might think Audacity could be used to do this. Unfortunately, Audacity’s MIDI support is quite limited. Audacity does NOT currently support MIDI over a USB connection. And since this is a keyboard controller, NOT a keyboard, there is no audio output that you might otherwise be able to pipe to Audacity. You will need to use another software package that supports MIDI over USB.

Have you asked Alesis? Did your Q49 ship with software such as Ableton? Have you tried this?

There may be other free software that DOES support a USB-MIDI connection. Have you tried Musescore, Piano Time, Piano 10, MidiEditor, Cakewalk…

Yes I called Alesis and they emailed me a link to Pro Tools. I bought the controller board used, so no CD came with it, unfortunately. Since I am using a laptop, I was trying to avoid loading a huge program onto my laptop, taking up space. But yes, I could download Pro Tools in a heartbeat. Additionally, Pro Tools seems excessive for me since I will probably never use all of Pro Tools features. I’m a lyricist, not an arranger junkie.

No, I have not tried or heard of Musescore, Piano Time, Piano 10, MidiEditor, or Cakewalk. I will try them. Which one is simplest to use, do you happen to know?

This is great. Thanks for sending. I am excited to try one of these.