nimrodon
asked on
can I connect midi keyboard to an onboard ac97 sound card?
hi.
I have a motherboard for pentium 4 and it has an onboard AC97 sound card. I want to connect a midi interface to the joustick port , so I can use midi software with my keyboard.
but the midi software won't recognize a "midi in" or "midi out" driver.
I installed the sound driver's in the motherboard cd I got. there are 2 drivers under "sound, video , and game controllers":
1. Avance AC'97 audio for VIA (R) audio controller
2. gameport joystick
in my old computer I had drivers like: sb16 midi in
and sb16 midi out, and everything worked fine.
my question:
is it possible to connect midi to this onboard sound card, and if it is where do I find ther drivers?
thanks,
Nimrodon.
btw, I'm using windows 98 SE.
I have a motherboard for pentium 4 and it has an onboard AC97 sound card. I want to connect a midi interface to the joustick port , so I can use midi software with my keyboard.
but the midi software won't recognize a "midi in" or "midi out" driver.
I installed the sound driver's in the motherboard cd I got. there are 2 drivers under "sound, video , and game controllers":
1. Avance AC'97 audio for VIA (R) audio controller
2. gameport joystick
in my old computer I had drivers like: sb16 midi in
and sb16 midi out, and everything worked fine.
my question:
is it possible to connect midi to this onboard sound card, and if it is where do I find ther drivers?
thanks,
Nimrodon.
btw, I'm using windows 98 SE.
I don't believe so. You would need a MIDI port to do this. The AC97 is a low-end sound card.
ASKER
anyone else thinks different?
nimrod
slink9 is right. There is no MIDI on the chip. You an get the whole spec at ftp://download.intel.com/ial/scalableplatforms/ac97r22.pdf
======
Werner
slink9 is right. There is no MIDI on the chip. You an get the whole spec at ftp://download.intel.com/ial/scalableplatforms/ac97r22.pdf
======
Werner
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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Griffon, the latest Creative card is the Sound Blaster Audigy, just so ya know :->
Creative cards (the newer ones like Live! and Audigy)are ok, but have flakey drivers, and cause TONS of problems on a VIA chipset based MoBo. (Seeing as how nimrodon is using a P4 he is prob using an intel chipset, but he mat be using one of the new VIA p4 chipsets...)
I'd get the el cheapo SB 16 bit or if you do want a highend, get a better quality card like the Hercules Game Theatre XP or the "Best" sound card money can buy, the Turtle Beach Santa Cruze
Best=best audio quility and besd signal to noise ration there is for a consumer card.
The Turtle Beach card is cheaper than an Audigy last I checked.
Creative cards (the newer ones like Live! and Audigy)are ok, but have flakey drivers, and cause TONS of problems on a VIA chipset based MoBo. (Seeing as how nimrodon is using a P4 he is prob using an intel chipset, but he mat be using one of the new VIA p4 chipsets...)
I'd get the el cheapo SB 16 bit or if you do want a highend, get a better quality card like the Hercules Game Theatre XP or the "Best" sound card money can buy, the Turtle Beach Santa Cruze
Best=best audio quility and besd signal to noise ration there is for a consumer card.
The Turtle Beach card is cheaper than an Audigy last I checked.
Griffon, the latest Creative card is the Sound Blaster Audigy, just so ya know :->
Creative cards (the newer ones like Live! and Audigy)are ok, but have flakey drivers, and cause TONS of problems on a VIA chipset based MoBo. (Seeing as how nimrodon is using a P4 he is prob using an intel chipset, but he mat be using one of the new VIA p4 chipsets...)
I'd get the el cheapo SB 16 bit or if you do want a highend, get a better quality card like the Hercules Game Theatre XP or the "Best" sound card money can buy, the Turtle Beach Santa Cruze
Best=best audio quility and besd signal to noise ration there is for a consumer card.
The Turtle Beach card is cheaper than an Audigy last I checked.
Creative cards (the newer ones like Live! and Audigy)are ok, but have flakey drivers, and cause TONS of problems on a VIA chipset based MoBo. (Seeing as how nimrodon is using a P4 he is prob using an intel chipset, but he mat be using one of the new VIA p4 chipsets...)
I'd get the el cheapo SB 16 bit or if you do want a highend, get a better quality card like the Hercules Game Theatre XP or the "Best" sound card money can buy, the Turtle Beach Santa Cruze
Best=best audio quility and besd signal to noise ration there is for a consumer card.
The Turtle Beach card is cheaper than an Audigy last I checked.
ASKER
I Posted a comment but maybe it was deleted, so I'm writing again.
everybody is wrong. the ac97 does have a midi interface.
I found out that the midi port was disabled in the BIOS setup, so I switched it on. windows found new hardware, and installed roland mpu-401 driver.
now that midi OUT works, but not the midi in.
there are 2 more parameters in the BIOS setup concerning the midi port:
IRQ number (5 or 10) and port address (290 or 300 or 330)
I tried all the possibilties of these settings , and the result was always the same:
midi out - working
midi in - not working
what can I do now?
is the mpu-401 driver the correct driver?
what about the IRQ number and port address? don't they mean something?
help.
Nimrodon.
everybody is wrong. the ac97 does have a midi interface.
I found out that the midi port was disabled in the BIOS setup, so I switched it on. windows found new hardware, and installed roland mpu-401 driver.
now that midi OUT works, but not the midi in.
there are 2 more parameters in the BIOS setup concerning the midi port:
IRQ number (5 or 10) and port address (290 or 300 or 330)
I tried all the possibilties of these settings , and the result was always the same:
midi out - working
midi in - not working
what can I do now?
is the mpu-401 driver the correct driver?
what about the IRQ number and port address? don't they mean something?
help.
Nimrodon.
ASKER
I Posted a comment but maybe it was deleted, so I'm writing again.
everybody is wrong. the ac97 does have a midi interface.
I found out that the midi port was disabled in the BIOS setup, so I switched it on. windows found new hardware, and installed roland mpu-401 driver.
now that midi OUT works, but not the midi in.
there are 2 more parameters in the BIOS setup concerning the midi port:
IRQ number (5 or 10) and port address (290 or 300 or 330)
I tried all the possibilties of these settings , and the result was always the same:
midi out - working
midi in - not working
what can I do now?
is the mpu-401 driver the correct driver?
what about the IRQ number and port address? don't they mean something?
help.
Nimrodon.
everybody is wrong. the ac97 does have a midi interface.
I found out that the midi port was disabled in the BIOS setup, so I switched it on. windows found new hardware, and installed roland mpu-401 driver.
now that midi OUT works, but not the midi in.
there are 2 more parameters in the BIOS setup concerning the midi port:
IRQ number (5 or 10) and port address (290 or 300 or 330)
I tried all the possibilties of these settings , and the result was always the same:
midi out - working
midi in - not working
what can I do now?
is the mpu-401 driver the correct driver?
what about the IRQ number and port address? don't they mean something?
help.
Nimrodon.
ASKER
I Posted a comment but maybe it was deleted, so I'm writing again.
everybody is wrong. the ac97 does have a midi interface.
I found out that the midi port was disabled in the BIOS setup, so I switched it on. windows found new hardware, and installed roland mpu-401 driver.
now that midi OUT works, but not the midi in.
there are 2 more parameters in the BIOS setup concerning the midi port:
IRQ number (5 or 10) and port address (290 or 300 or 330)
I tried all the possibilties of these settings , and the result was always the same:
midi out - working
midi in - not working
what can I do now?
is the mpu-401 driver the correct driver?
what about the IRQ number and port address? don't they mean something?
help.
Nimrodon.
everybody is wrong. the ac97 does have a midi interface.
I found out that the midi port was disabled in the BIOS setup, so I switched it on. windows found new hardware, and installed roland mpu-401 driver.
now that midi OUT works, but not the midi in.
there are 2 more parameters in the BIOS setup concerning the midi port:
IRQ number (5 or 10) and port address (290 or 300 or 330)
I tried all the possibilties of these settings , and the result was always the same:
midi out - working
midi in - not working
what can I do now?
is the mpu-401 driver the correct driver?
what about the IRQ number and port address? don't they mean something?
help.
Nimrodon.
This one wasn't deleted. It was posted three times.
You may have a port, but you still won't get good performance from it. A Volkswagen has an engine, but a Porsche runs better and sounds meaner, too.
You may have a port, but you still won't get good performance from it. A Volkswagen has an engine, but a Porsche runs better and sounds meaner, too.
Though a whole year later, I still gained from your posting, nimrodon.
I had the same problem, and thanks to your discovery I managed to turn on the MIDI I/O (MPU401) support on my motherboard
by enabling it in the BIOS setup.
Even both MIDI IN and MIDI OUT work fine now, on my system!
I have an ASUS P4PE and I selected port address 330H-331H (the only other choice was 300H-301H)
All who need better audio performance can buy Porsches under the soundcards, alright, but who just needs the MIDI
controls to work is better served by those useful tips found out by other experts and posted in forums like this.
Thanks
Fitz_
I had the same problem, and thanks to your discovery I managed to turn on the MIDI I/O (MPU401) support on my motherboard
by enabling it in the BIOS setup.
Even both MIDI IN and MIDI OUT work fine now, on my system!
I have an ASUS P4PE and I selected port address 330H-331H (the only other choice was 300H-301H)
All who need better audio performance can buy Porsches under the soundcards, alright, but who just needs the MIDI
controls to work is better served by those useful tips found out by other experts and posted in forums like this.
Thanks
Fitz_
Hello.
Thanks to Fitz_ for your message. but I have a question.
What operating system do you use?. I have the same problem.
I have Asus P4PE.
OS - Win2k.
I have turned on my MIDI I/O on mainboard and installed the drivers from
Asus CD. (soundMax Integrated Audio).
IRQ - 5. adress 330H - 331H.
I have no sound from my external midi controller. I dont see the MPU-401 or other MIDI In devices in any music programs. ( Cakewalk 8.6 - for example)
Do you use Win98, Win2k or winXP?
What driver do you have for MPU-401 support on your mainboard?
Thanks
L_7
Thanks to Fitz_ for your message. but I have a question.
What operating system do you use?. I have the same problem.
I have Asus P4PE.
OS - Win2k.
I have turned on my MIDI I/O on mainboard and installed the drivers from
Asus CD. (soundMax Integrated Audio).
IRQ - 5. adress 330H - 331H.
I have no sound from my external midi controller. I dont see the MPU-401 or other MIDI In devices in any music programs. ( Cakewalk 8.6 - for example)
Do you use Win98, Win2k or winXP?
What driver do you have for MPU-401 support on your mainboard?
Thanks
L_7
ASKER
hi.
the problem wasn't solved so I bought a very simple sound blaster just for the midi interface.
sorry.
the problem wasn't solved so I bought a very simple sound blaster just for the midi interface.
sorry.
L_7,
I´m using WinME.
The only drivers I installed were from the original CD that came along with my ASUS P4PE board. The sound drivers are from SondMax.
The driver shown in System/Hardware/MPU401 however is: msmpu401.sys from Microsoft.
After I turned MIDI on in BIOS setup, MPU401 installed itself without any further.
The music program I use is Capella.
When I change to a different Win version and get MPU401 to work there too, I can drop you a note.
Fitz_
I´m using WinME.
The only drivers I installed were from the original CD that came along with my ASUS P4PE board. The sound drivers are from SondMax.
The driver shown in System/Hardware/MPU401 however is: msmpu401.sys from Microsoft.
After I turned MIDI on in BIOS setup, MPU401 installed itself without any further.
The music program I use is Capella.
When I change to a different Win version and get MPU401 to work there too, I can drop you a note.
Fitz_