Help with ancient Casiotone CT 460 MIDI keyboard

[snugglesnacks]

Hi, I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the Casio board, but here goes!

I inherited a Casiotone CT 460 keyboard ( https://soundprogramming.net/keyboards/ ... ne-ct-460/) recently and discovered that it has MIDI in/out ports. I thought this would be a good opportunity to use for learning music production, so I bought the cheapo-est MIDI-USB interface cable I could find (https://www.amazon.com/Interface-Adapte ... B01MDTDNC1) and downloaded Tracktion 6 and some VST plugins.

Here are the specs for what I'm using:
Castiotone CT 460 keyboard
Prozor USB-MIDI interface cable (no driver to be installed, just "plug-and-play")
Windows 10 64 bit
Tracktion 6 for audio editing (but that shouldn't matter?)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I started having problems right off the bat. No matter which key I pressed, the sound would either translate as a low B or high E flat. In addition, a tone would play upon both pressing the key down AND releasing it back up into the resting/"off" position.

I downloaded MIDI-OX and sure enough, confirmed that the keyboard inputs are only registering as one of two tones (no matter which keys I play), and duplicate tones are registering each time I press a key down and release.

I can't for the life of me figure out how to fix this. For the record, I've tried messing with the MIDI channel settings on the keyboard and only plugging in the MIDI out port (to avoid audio feedback). There is no issue with the keyboard itself, as when it plays on its own the keys work fine. So I'm thinking it has to be either a driver or compatibiity issue? Does anyone else have any experience with something like this? Should I just throw up my hands and buy a MIDI keyboard from the current decade (or century)?

Thanks in advance if anyone is willing to lend a hand!

 

[SeaGtGruff]

It could be the cheap USB-MIDI interface cable you're using, as the inexpensive ones seem to be very prone to weird data glitches. One time a person posted a screenshot from MIDI-OX showing the crazy data he was getting, and it looked like one of the data bits in the messages was always high-- always the same bit, and in every single message, even the MIDI clock messages.

I don't know if you know someone locally who has a different USB-MIDI interface cable that you can try out, but if so, do that.

You might also want to see if you can verify that there's nothing wonky about the MIDI ports on the keyboard. For example, you should be able to run a MIDI cable from the keyboard's MIDI OUT port to its MIDI IN port, turn off the keyboard's Local Control (so it doesn't make any sounds when you play on the keys), and then be able to play sounds on the keyboard by sending the keyboard's MIDI data back to itself. If you can do that and everything seems to be okay, then the MIDI ports should not be the problem.

 

[snugglesnacks]

Thanks for your reply -- I too am suspecting the stupid cheap cable (you get what you pay for -- but the amazon reviews were good)! Unfortunately I don't know anyone who is also into music production much less MIDI, so I don't have any other interfaces to try. I'm thinking of picking up a used Minisport box (eg., https://www.ebay.com/i/173156318575?rt=nc) which is still cheap but seems to be more reliable than the cables.

I'd like to clarify your suggestion about testing the MIDI ports - I'm not sure how I would disable "local control" on this thing. Is it a button that some keyboards have, or some sort of setting that I'm not aware of ... ? (sorry if this is a dumb question).

Thanks again for your time!

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Okay, I found the manual online (at the web site you'd linked to originally) and looked at it. I hadn't realized that the keyboard is as old as it is; it appears to predate General MIDI. The manual doesn't contain a MIDI implementation chart, so I can't tell what types of MIDI messages the CT-460 responds to; but I don't see any mention of a Local Control setting, so I'm guessing it doesn't have anything like that.

You could still try to run a MIDI cable from MIDI Out to MIDI In, as I'd suggested, but I don't know how it will work. The main idea is to see if the same sorts of issues occur that way as far as the notes which are received, etc. So perhaps you can still tell whether or not something seems noticeably off.

 

[snugglesnacks]

Yeah, it's a pretty much a relic of its time at this point Although no point letting its MIDI capability go to waste, if I can help it!

I don't have any MIDI cables lying around at the moment, but I think your idea is a good one (to see if it's a MIDI port vs interface issue). Maybe I'll pick one up next week to have a look-see -- I'll let you know what I find. Thanks again!

Cheers!