What is it?
The UX16 USB-MIDI Interface is about the
easiest way to connect your musical keyboard to your computer. If your computer
has a USB jack (most computers in the last few years do), you simply connect the
UX16 to your USB connector on your computer and plug the MIDI in and out cables
(shown shortened in the photo above - the actual length of the USB cable is 2
feet and the length of the MIDI cables is a little over 4 feet) into your
keyboard. You will have to install a "driver" so that your computer
knows about the UX16 and the driver is included with the interface on a CD-ROM.
What are the Advantages of Connecting my Yamaha
Keyboard to my Computer?
Many people that purchase keyboards would love
to be able to save and edit their songs in the computer, the same way that they
use Word Processors. Having a graphical display, whether you choose the Piano
Roll view or Notation view, makes it very easy to fix any errors you may have
made playing your song. Of course, composers like the fact that they can print
their masterpieces. Once you are connected to your computer, you will need some
kind of music software. There are many kinds of software available for handling
music, from very inexpensive to thousands of dollars.
Yamaha makes a reasonably priced product called XGworks that works on PCs or
Macs. Follow the link to find out more about this wonderful piece of software
that allows you to change the voices or volumes on individual tracks, score any
track(s) you like (PC only) and edit pitch, volume and timing of individual
notes on those tracks. Once you get the song the way you want, you can e-mail it
to your friends and relatives so that they can hear you at your best!
What kind of computer do I need?
Your computer must have a USB jack. The System
Requirements are as follows:
Windows:
OS: Windows 98/ME/2000
CPU: Pentium® 166MHz or higher processor (Including Celeron®)
Memory: 32MB or higher (64MB or higher recommended)
Hard disk: 2MB or more of free space
Macintosh:
OS: Mac OS 8.5 through 9.1
Memory: 64MB or higher (128MB or higher recommended)
Hard disk: 2MB or more of free space
Other: OMS 2.3.6 or later (Included on the CD-ROM that
comes with the UX16) Use only with the OMS compatible application software of
Opcode® Systems, Inc.
NOTE
With some iMac® models, you need to install "iMac Update 1.1",
provided by Apple® Computer.
This program improves the USB software. For more information, visit the Apple®
Computer Website at www.apple.com.
What Yamaha Keyboards can use the UX16?
All Yamaha portable keyboards made in the last
few years have MIDI jacks on the back (5-pin din jacks). Most of our digital
pianos, including Clavinova, also have MIDI jacks on the back. Any keyboard, it
doesn't have to be Yamaha, that has MIDI connectors will work with the UX16. If
your keyboard does not have a disk drive, one of the only ways you can save a
performance permanently is to connect your keyboard to a computer and play it
into the music software. If you do have a disk drive, you could record your song
to your floppy disk and then open that file in your computer. At this point, you
do not have to actually connect your keyboard to your computer. The song would
play back on your internal sound card in your computer (provided you have one).
If you want to be able to make changes (edit) to the song and hear in real-time
what it will sound like on your keyboard, then you would want to have the
computer and the keyboard connected together. That's where the UX16 comes in.
How many channels of MIDI does the UX16 support?
The UX16 can handle 16 channels of simultaneous
playback. This will support your music production system with one MIDI OUT port
(16 channels) and one MIDI IN port (16 channels). This is the number of channels
you need to create and playback General MIDI files.
What are the advantages of USB?
With a USB connection, you can connect and
disconnect the USB cable while the power to the computer is on. The UX16
operates on USB bus power and does not require a power adaptor or batteries. The
indicator lights show if the UX16 is connected properly to your USB jack and
there are also lights to indicate when it is receiving MIDI IN & OUT. This
is very handy to verify operation. You can easily expand the number of ports by
using a USB hub to connect multiple UX16 units. A maximum of 32 units can be
connected, but this would depend on your system.
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