Casio LK-45 Keyboard and MIDI

[steveofsandiego]

Hello,

I  have a CASIO LK-45 keyboard with a MIDI  in/out port. I am pretty tired of the pre-loaded songs in the song bank. I was wondering if I could load MIDI songs onto the keyboard to save to play from the song bank and have the keyboard lights light up, so I can follow along? Or do they have something where I can hook up my laptop to the keyboard and have the keyboard light up to follow along to play a MIDI song without downloading to the keyboard? Would I need  a music software program to do this and which one is good? Or could I just go to a website and buy or get a MIDI song that will light up the keys once I have my MIDI cable all hooked up? Sorry for all the quetions, but just would like to learn to play a few new songs from the lighted keyboard.

Thanks,

Steve

[- T -]

Steve

 

The LK-45 is not equipped with on-board user memory for downloading and storing additional song files, and the pre-set song bank is permanently "burned" into read only memory (ROM), at the factory, and is not changeable.  However, it is possible to connect those MIDI-IN/OUT ports, on the LK-45 to a USB port on your laptop with a USB-MIDI adapter, then download and store MIDI song files on your laptop and "play" them to the LK-45 via the adapter with MIDI player or sequencer software on the laptop.

 

The adapter you need is something like this:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Converter-LiDiVi-Professional-Keyboard-Adapter/dp/B071KLC884/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1525637562&sr=8-3&keywords=usb+to+midi+cable+adapter

 

Amazon sells this one for $14.99 USD.  There are less expensive units, but they are not very reliable, and it is not unusual to have to return them several times to finally get a working one.  There are also much more expensive units, but for what you are looking for with the LK-45, one like this should suit your needs.  Most of these units are now "Class Compliant".  That is, they will work with the generic device driver that is built into Windows and MAC-OS, and do not require the installation of special drivers.  If you get one that DOES require a proprietary driver, it will come with the adapter, or the mfr will give you a download address for obtaining the driver.

 

When connecting the adapter to the LK-45, the connectors on the adapter are labeled according to the function they perform, NOT by what they connect to on the keyboard.  That is to say, the adapter connector labeled "IN" or "MIDI-IN" is an INPUT so it connects to the MIDI OUT port of the keyboard.  Likewise, the adapter connector labeled "OUT" or "MIDI OUT"  is an OUTPUT, so it connects to the MIDI IN port of the keyboard.  If, like so many, you assume that the adapter connectors are labeled according to what keyboard ports the connect to and connect MIDI-IN to MIDI-IN and MIDI-OUT to MIDI-OUT, that will not work.

 

Once you get the LK-45 connected to your laptop, and download some MIDI files, you are going to need a MIDI file player for your laptop.  I strongly recommend vanBasco's  Karaoke Player.  Don't let the name Karaoke fool you.  It's basically a MIDI file player, and one of the best I have ever come across.  You can download it from:

 

http://www.vanbasco.com/

 

Now, just about any MIDI file you download and play with this setup should work just fine with the LK-45   -   from a sound standpoint   -   BUT the key lighting feature is a different matter entirely.  I believe the LK-45 wants the bass clef notes on MIDI track/channel 3 and the treble clef notes on MIDI track/channel 4, but at its age, it may want these notes on MIDI tracks/channels 1 and 2 (respectively) instead.  If you decide to get into this, you may need to do some experimenting to determine the correct MIDI tracks/channels for the bass and treble clef notes.  If your downloaded MIDI file(s) already have the bass and treble clef notes on the correct tracks/channels, then you are all set, and the key lighting feature should work fine, but this is SELDOM, IF EVER, the case.  The MIDI file normally needs editing to get the bass and treble clef notes onto the correct tracks/channels for the key lighting to work properly.  The worst (AND USUAL) case is MIDI files with the bass and treble clef notes BOTH on the SAME MIDI track/channel, but this is just a simple matter of cloning the "combined" track to a duplicate track with the editing software, then using it to batch delete all notes Middle C and above from the bass clef track, and all notes below Middle C from the treble clef track.  This may sound pretty involved, but once you have done it a couple of times, you will be able to knock it out in a couple of minutes, and be on your way, with key lighting that works great - BUT that is the extent of the "learning" features that you can access with generic MIDI files.  The onscreen "fingering" and the lesson "wait" features work ONLY with the internal pre-set songs, as these features rely on internal programming, rather than MIDI, to work.  For initial editing (SEQUENCER) software, I recommend Anvil Studio, which can be downloaded from:

 

http://anvilstudio.com/

 

It is fairly straightforward, and has a minimal learning curve.

 

Good luck!

 

- T -