Help Connecting a Midi Keyboard

[Bussells]

Hey so I'm pretty new at ableton and midi, but I would like to get into making electronic music. I play piano, so I figured I would buy a midi keyboard. My friend was selling a Roland A-37, so he let me borrow it to try it out so I could decide if I want to buy it, but I can't get it to work with ableton on my computer (which is running vista).

I bought a generic MIDI to USB cable, that has three lights (a red, a yellow, and a green), and the red light is illuminated. Does this mean it's not connecting properly? When I open ableton and go to preferences, then MIDI, the input and output drop downs only list "VIEWCON" as a device. Is this my keyboard? I've tried putting VIEWCON as the input and output, but then I am stumped at to how to make it so that I can actually use the keyboard with ableton.

Sorry for the beginner question, I'm pretty new to this so any basic explanation of how to sync this up would be greatly appreciated.

[markmakingmusic]

Were there drivers that came with the MIDI/USB cable?. I remember reading something about how those needed to be updated or something (haven't used them specifically so not really sure).

Yea, VIEWCON might be the MIDI cable being recognized so you may already be in good shape.

Go into PREFS and after you set the input/ output for the VIEWCON, do you see some buttons below that under "track, remote, sync"? If so, make sure they are set to on. Then try the keyboard with one of the Ableton instruments and it should do the trick.

[Bussells]

There weren't any drivers included with the cable, so I've been researching and installing many drivers that have fixed the problem for other people. So I download the driver and set it to VIEECON so my computer recognizes it as a midi keyboard, then set the input and ouput to VIEWCON (and leave control surface to none?), then turn track remote and sync on (just for the input or for both the input and output?), and open , for example, a grand piano in a midi track in ableton then when playing the keyboard it should play like a grand piano?

Is there any additional midi mapping that needs to be done?

Oh and also when I put the input and output to viewcon, underneath the drop downs in the listing under "MIDI Ports" the input and output for VIEWCON turn orange, is this a good sign?

[markmakingmusic]

I'm not familiar with the product so I can't help with the colors...there should be some sort of documentation that either came with it or online somewhere that describes whether the different LED's lighting up is a good sign or not.

Did you Record enable the track?

When you press keys on the keyboard, in the upper right corner there is a "D" with 2 small squares next to it. Is one of the squares lighting up when you press keyboard notes? This indicates that MIDI information is indeed being recognized by ableton.

[Bussells]

It's not the LED on the wire that's orange, its the actual input and output under midi ports in the midi tab of the preferences. I think it means that they're unavailable, meaning this cable that I got is shit. I guess I'll return it and order a different one. Have any recommendations?

Would something like this work better? http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/XMIDI1x1Tab/

And the squares don't light up, affirming that the cable and keyboard aren't being recognized.

[markmakingmusic]

Hmm, sorry I can't be of more help. I have heard a lot of bad things about those midi to usb cables...Not sure if there are certain ones that are better or worse. I would contact Ableton support to see if they are even supported and if they recommend them.