Anyways, I can't get the darned thing to work. It is getting power, and my MIDI setup works with the synth that I already have. I'm wondering if it has to do with the pedals.

The CMS-61 has two jacks for pedals: one a sustain pedal, the other a volume pedal. Unfortunately, the unit did not come with the pedals (and my wife didn't know it was supposed to have them...) So I'm wondering if the lack of a pedal, perhaps the volume pedal, could be preventing the unit from working.

And on a related note: If someone could explain to me how a keyboard volume pedal works, I'd appreciate it. This is a pedal that simply plugs into the keyboard via a 1/4" jack. It's not the kind where the instrument plugs into the pedal, then comes out the output and plugs into the amp. I know how they work. Instead, this is more like a voltage control pedal or something like that. (They recommend a VP-26 pedal, if that helps...) The keyboard has no audio output, it is simply a MIDI controller.

Anyways, I'd really appreciate any input. Do you think not having the pedals connected is what's causing the problem? Does a volume pedal of this type send MIDI messages into the keyboard? Or does it do its work some other way? And if I do have to get a pedal for this, exactly what kind of pedal am I looking for? (I.e., what specs should I look at to know it would work?) I did try the one guitar effects pedal I have, but that didn't do anything.

Thanks for any insight you can provide!

--- Ed

Are you certain that you are sending and receiving on the same midi channel?

If you are usingamidi patch bay, or a computer, I would recommend that you plug the Fatar directly inot one module. simplify. Then see if it works. Try to determine, on the most basic level, if the controller is sending midi. If it is, then you have some match-up problem in your system. If it isn't, then it's broke, or has a bad setting somewhere.

The problem, just to clarify, is that the keyboard does not appear to be sending MIDI data. But I am finding that difficult to verify, partly because I don't have a whole lot of equipment to test on. I just plugged into my computer, brought up my sequencing software, hit some keys, and nothing happened. So I pulled the "MIDI In" plug out of the keyboard, plugged it into my other synth, hit some keys there, and out came music.

I did check that the send and receive were on the same channel. Unfortunately, this keyboard has NO display! So you punch some buttons to set a MIDI channel (or anything else), and you just have to go on faith that it did indeed change the setting like you asked it to. Supposedly it resets to channel 1 when you first power on, so that's at least a little objectivity.

Part of my thought on the pedal was that, suppose the last person to play it brought the volume pedal down to zero, then unplugged the pedal. Would that volume setting then stay at zero until you plugged in another pedal and cranked it up higher? Since I didn't even understand how the pedal worked, I had no clue.

There is also a wheel on top that you can set to control volume (or a few other settings). I did set it for volume control and turned it all the way up. Still nothing.

The manual, which I downloaded from the web, is less than helpful on all this stuff....

At least now I know that the pedal sends electrical signals rather than MIDI data -- that could be some help. I didn't have a chance to tinker today, I'll try a few more things and see what happens.

Thanks again!

--- Ed

The keyboard has no memory of where the pedal was. In any case, the pedal position does not prevent MIDI messages from being sent.

Your sequencer probably has a MIDI Monitor function somewhere. Use that to see what is arriving.

And, yes, my other keyboard works just fine. I can just pull the MIDI cable out of the bad keyboard and plug it into the good one -- voila! music, without making any other changes. So obviously the problem is in my new keyboard somewhere.

I think it's pretty clear that the keyboard is not sending the MIDI data. I'm just stumped as to why. I suppose there is always the possibility that the church people were not completely honest when they said it worked....

Thanks for all the help, I'll let y'all know if I ever do figure this out.

--- Ed