Yamaha's UX16 USB-MIDI Interface cable. Connect your MIDI keyboard or any MIDI device to a PC computer or Apple Mac.

The UX16 USB-MIDI Interface is about the easiest way to connect your musical keyboard to your computer. If your computer has a USB jack (most computers in the last few years do), you simply connect the UX16 to your USB connector on your computer and plug the MIDI in and out cables (shown shortened in the photo above - the actual length of the USB cable is 2 feet and the length of the MIDI cables is a little over 4 feet) into your keyboard. You will have to install a "driver" so that your computer knows about the UX16 and the driver is included with the interface on a CD-ROM. The indicator lights show if the UX16 is connected properly to your USB jack and there are also lights to indicate when it is receiving MIDI IN & OUT. This is very handy to verify operation.

 Many people that purchase keyboards would love to be able to save and edit their songs in the computer, the same way that they use Word Processors. Having a graphical display, whether you choose the Piano Roll view or Notation view, makes it very easy to fix any errors you may have made playing your song. Of course, composers like the fact that they can print their masterpieces. Once you are connected to your computer, you will need some kind of music software. There are many kinds of software available for handling music, from very inexpensive to hundreds of pounds.Yamaha makes a reasonably priced product called XGworks that works on PCs or Macs. This wonderful piece of software allows you to change the voices or volumes on individual tracks, score any track(s) you like (PC only) and edit pitch, volume and timing of individual notes on those tracks.

What Yamaha Keyboards can use the UX16? All Yamaha portable keyboards made in the last few years have MIDI jacks on the back (5-pin din jacks). Most of our digital pianos, including Clavinova, also have MIDI jacks on the back. Any keyboard, it doesn't have to be Yamaha, that has MIDI connectors will work with the UX16. How many channels of MIDI does the UX16 support? The UX16 can handle 16 channels of simultaneous playback. This will support your music production system with one MIDI OUT port (16 channels) and one MIDI IN port (16 channels). This is the number of channels you need to create and playback General MIDI files. What are the advantages of USB? With a USB connection, you can connect and disconnect the USB cable while the power to the computer is on. The UX16 operates on USB bus power and does not require a power adaptor or batteries. You can easily expand the number of ports by using a USB hub to connect multiple UX16 units. A maximum of 32 units can be connected, but this would depend on your system.

(Download USB-MIDI drivers for Windows and Mac)