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Configuring Your Soundcard and Midi Equipment
When Composer runs for the first time after installation, it automatically detects the type of soundcard that is installed on your computer. For most systems, you can immediately start playing MIDI files that you have opened. You should hear sound through the speakers connected to your soundcard.
If you do not hear sound, then use the Quick MIDI Device Setup command in the Setup menu. Use it to test the playback of alternative MIDI playback devices on your system, and choose a device for which you do hear sound. If that does not work, then follow the advice in What To Do If You Do Not Hear Sound.
If your soundcard's is connected via a cable to a MIDI keyboard, then you should also be able to play at your keyboard and hear sound through the speakers connected to your soundcard. If you do not, then follow the advice in What To Do If Recording Does Not Work.
If the MIDI playback and recording capabilities of your system are simple, Composer makes it very easy for you to set up your MIDI devices. See Procedures for Common MIDI Configuration Tasks. The topics in that section are:
Assigning
Device Names That Make Better Sense to You
Changing
the Default Playback Device
Installing
a MIDI Cable Between Your Soundcard and Keyboard
Adding
a New MIDI Keyboard to Your Configuration
Deciding
Whether or Not Your Keyboard Should Directly Produce Sound
Composer has been carefully designed to avoid overwhelming music enthusiasts with many of the underlying technical details of MIDI. However, if you have a sophisticated MIDI studio, Composer provides a powerful, but intuitive MIDI Device Configuration Window, in which you can describe to Composer exactly how your MIDI studio is arranged. Common tasks for managing MIDI studios that are more complicated than a single soundcard and keyboard are described in the section Procedures for Advanced MIDI Configuration Tasks, which includes these sub-topics:
Installing
a Software Synthesizer
Anticipating
the Delay on Some MIDI Output Devices
Configuring
a New External MIDI Sound Module
Exchanging
Device Descriptions With Other Computers and Users
How
to Handle Devices Connected with MIDI Thru Cables
How
to Save Effort If You Rearrange Your MIDI Equipment Often
The final section of this chapter provides a detailed guide to using all of the features in the MIDI Device Configuration Window. Again, if your music equipment consists of no more than a soundcard and a keyboard, then you will find it easier to use the Quick MIDI Device Setup window. However, if you want to utilize the full performance capabilities of Composer on your computer, then these topics will be interest to you.
The topics in this chapter's final section, Using the MIDI Device Configuration Window, are:
Understanding
the Details of the MIDI Device Configuration Window
Testing
Playback and Recording Devices
Watching
Device Activity While Playing a Song
Assigning
Bank and Patch Names to a MIDI Device
Managing
Alternative MIDI Device Configurations
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