Many keyboards communicate with a computer via a USB port instead of two traditional 5 pin din connectors for midi-in & midi-out. If your keyboard has a USB port visit the manufacturer's website, you may find midi driver available for download or that the keyboard uses drivers already available in your computer's operating system.

If your keyboard has 5 pin midi connectors, midi to usb adaptors are hard to beat. Do a web search and you can find no-names to brand names for between $10 - $50 . The drivers are what makes them special and most of the no-names rely on operating system drivers.

Many people find latency (the time from when a key is depressed to when the sound reaches your ears) is an issue and decide to use a hardware sound source such as the general midi sound module in a keyboard, Keytron SD2, Roland sound canvas, etc. If so then the hardware midi-in port will be connected to the midi out port of your computer.

If you are going to use software synths there are two types multi-timbral software like Forte, Omnisphere by SampleTank and the Roland TTS-1 or VSC or instrument specific. Both have their merits and disadvantages but if cost or cpu resources are important then the multi-timbral products are most likely the better choice.

It is increasingly difficult to find a soundcard that has midi ports or uses Soundfonts. No Creative cards include midi ports. Soundfonts use a standard EMU, Creative or Microsoft no longer support.

Jim Fogle - 2025 BiaB (Build 1128) RB (Build 5) - Ultra+ PAK
DAWs: Cakewalk Sonar - Standalone: Zoom MRS-8
Laptop: i3 Win 10, 8GB ram 500GB HDD
Desktop: i7 Win 11, 12GB ram 256GB SSD, 4 TB HDD
Music at: https://fogle622.wix.com/fogle622-audio-home