Playing virtual MIDI

[tintintini]

Hello everyone.
I have Sibelius software for writing sheet music.
As you know, there is an option to connect to the software a keyboard controller and write with it the notes in the software.
In addition, I am looking for a "Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard" software, which can type the notes I want through, and Sibelius will recognize this software as an input device - instead of connecting a real keyboard to my computer (which also occupy space on my table),
Does anyone have any idea how to do this?
Thank you!

 

[tjw]

VMPK is available from SourceForge. I know of it, but have never downloaded or tried to use it.

 

[happyrat1]

I have an old version of Cakewalk which shipped with a virtual MIDI keyboard and I have to say it is worse than useless. If you plan to click in note by note with a mouse it will take you forever.

I'd suggest instead a small two or three octave MIDI controller that plugs into USB and gives you an interface that musicians understand and know how to work with. They all come with octave transpose buttons so you do still have access to the entire MIDI range of notes.

I use one of these with one of my computers.

https://www.amazon.com/Arturia-430201-KeyStep/dp/B01BPSBU40/

It is an amazingly solid little piece of hardware with a metal housing and great feeling, albeit mini keyboard.

Otherwise if You prefer full sized keys there's this model from Akai that's also highly rated.

https://www.amazon.com/Akai-Professional-MPK225-Keyboard-Controller/dp/B00IJ77TRI/

Neither one takes up any more desk space than the average laptop.

Gary

 

[tintintini]

Hi Gary, Thanks for your reply. As for what you wrote: "it is worse than useless. If you plan to click in note by note with a mouse it will take you forever"
My plan was to click on the same key, using the keyboard (there is usually an option for such programs), and then simply change the pitch manually. My hard part is writing the rhythm and intervals between the note, so it's super useful to me.
My question is how to make the software you mentioned and the guy before you mentioned (VMPK) appear in the "input device" of the Sibelius software; That is, the software will recognize this feature as if it were a real keyboard.
do you have an idea?

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I think you might need to use a "virtual MIDI cable" so to speak, or a MIDI routing utility that can connect two or more MIDI programs together as though you were connecting physical MIDI devices with MIDI cables.

If you're using Windows, try MIDI-OX or MIDI Yoke.

 

[tintintini]

Hey SeaGtGruff, thanks, but I did not understand - what to do with the programs mentioned here (MIDI-OX / MIDI Yoke)?
What is the relationship between them and VMPK? And then to Sibelius?

 

[happyrat1]

Basically if your Sibelius does not see the virtual device as a bona fide MIDI port (Check the configurations of both programs) then you need to use MIDI Routing software to connect the two.

MIDI-Ox is one example of a freeware version of such software.

If that doesn't work I'm fresh out of answers.

In my case, the Virtual MIDI port that shipped with my Cakewalk was designed to work with the program already and all that had to be done to enable it was to select it from the MIDI devices list in the options menu.

Gary

 

[tintintini]

I'll check it out. Thank you vey much guys.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I couldn't do anything with MIDI-OX by itself, so I installed MIDI Yoke NT on my 64-bit Windows 10 computer to see if it would help.

The installation process didn't display any errors that I could see, but it apparently didn't do anything-- that is, it acted like it was installing, but afterward there appeared to be no changes to my system.

I found a silent YouTube video where someone showed an error message that came up when trying to install MIDI Yoke NT on a Windows 10 computer (which I did not get), and how to get around the error. At the end of installation there was a message saying that the computer needed to be rebooted, but I never got that message.

So I went through the installation again as shown in the YouTube video, after which I received the "reboot" message. The "trick" is to right-click on the MIDI Yoke NT installation file (MSI) and choose "Troubleshoot compatibility." When the troubleshooter is finished, select the "test" option (I forget the exact wording) and it will install MIDI Yoke NT. Then you can reboot as instructed to complete the installation process.

Afterward, I was able to assign VMPK's MIDI output to the MIDI Yoke 1 port. However, I cannot get any MIDI Yoke ports to show up in the programs that I want to send VMPK's MIDI output to. That might be because there's another step that I need to do, but I don't know. MIDI-OX does display the MIDI Yoke ports under both MIDI In and MIDI Out, but I can't get my DAWs to see MIDI Yoke.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I found out why I couldn't get my DAW to recognize MIDI Yoke NT.

It turns out that MIDI Yoke NT does not work with 64-bit MIDI programs, only with 32-bit MIDI programs.

I tried it with Anvil Studio 2015 and it works-- I can send Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard's output to Anvil Studio 2015 via MIDI Yoke NT.

 

[tintintini]

I found out why I couldn't get my DAW to recognize MIDI Yoke NT.

It turns out that MIDI Yoke NT does not work with 64-bit MIDI programs, only with 32-bit MIDI programs.

I tried it with Anvil Studio 2015 and it works-- I can send Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard's output to Anvil Studio 2015 via MIDI Yoke NT.

I understand ... how great this problem solved
Thank you !!!!!

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I found out there are some other options besides MIDI Yoke, so I'm going to try them out to see how they work. I know you've decided to get a MIDI keyboard controller, but after I've checked out the various alternatives I'll post a summary in case anyone ever needs to use virtual MIDI connections between two or more programs.

 

[happyrat1]

Personally I'n running Linux so these apps are native. However there are windows ports.

Gary