M211K Electronic Keyboard MIDI

Some time ago I bought a M211K keyboard. I found it at the local ALDI general store, good price, interesting features. You can find HERE the detailed description. In short, it’s a 61 keys keyboard with touch response, 580 voices, 32 sounds polyphony and USB-MIDI interface. This last one was the feature that hit my fantasy. I thought: “I will connect it to my PC and I will be able to create multi track music!”. 

The keyboard satisfies my needs, considering that I’m barely able to put my hands on a keyboard. Indeed, it’s much above my real capabilities, and I’m still unable to get some good result. My fault, of course. The instrument by itself it’s good enough for a beginner like me. Remember Ray Charles in the “Blues Brothers” movie? “Uh, Excuse me. I don’t think there is anything wrong in the action of this piano“. No matter the quality of the instrument, the key is in your hands.

If you’re interested in the instrument itself, you’ll find lot of reviews and details on the net. Look at those video for some insight:

Angela Piano shows how it sounds

Tom shows some more features

And HERE the user manual.

But let’s talk now about the MIDI side of the story. Behind the instrument you’ll find a USB-B male connector where you will insert the USB-B female connector of a USB-B to USB-A cable.  Connect the other end of the cable (the usual USB-A) to your PC or laptop.

 

 

Now the software side of the story.

I made an unsuccessful attempt to connect the keyboard to my Audacity program, the one that I use to record my poor musical multi track attempts. Later I understood that Audacity does not provide MIDI recording and editing

So I switched to LMMS, a very powerful DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) that runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS. 

I will not explain how to use LMMS, there is plenty of tutorials on the web. I will just explain how to connect and use the M110K keyboard. Anyway I think that what I’ll write here would be the same also for any other MIDI keyboards.

  1. T urn off the keyboard and stop the LMMS program if it’s running.
  2. Connect the USB cable to the keyboard and the PC
  3. Turn on the keyboard
  4. Start the LMMS program
  5. Open the Edit Menu, Settings, MIDI and verify that the WinMM MIDI interface is selected. 
  6. The program usually starts with the Song Editor and four tracks: Triple Oscillator, Sample track, Beat/Bassline and Automation track. Let’s focus on the Triple oscillator. 
  7. Click on the gear icon (left side of the Triple Oscillator) and select MIDI, input, USB Audio Device. Make sure that the USB audio device is active (mark sign). This will allow the MIDI keyboard to control the Triple Oscillator. Repeat the same procedure for the MIDI Output, so that the LMMS will be able to control the MIDI keyboard. 
  8. Now click on the Triple Oscillator name. This will open the Triple Oscillator configuration dialog. Click on the little keyboard section (see red circle below). Now make sure that the ENABLE MIDI INPUT is green (click on it) and the channel value is 1. 
  9. Make also sure that the ENABLE MIDI OUTPUT is green (click on it). The value in the PROGRAM field will select the sound that the keyboard will play driven by the LMMS edited music.

What now? Well, you have two main streams available:

  • RECORD FROM KEYBOARD TO LMMS: You play on your keyboard and the LMMS (or any other DAW) will record the MIDI stream. No matter what sound you select on your keyboard, LMMS will apply the sound that you selected on that track. So: 
    • you create a track with the sound (preset or sample) that you like.
    • you enable the MIDI input of that track 
    • you start the recording
    • you play on your keyboard. What you play will be recorded on the selected track. You can also select more than one track: what you play on the keyboard will be recorded at the same time on multiple tracks. 
  • PLAYBACK FROM LMMS TO KEYBOARD: You playback the recorded music on LMMS. If the MIDI output of one or more recorded tracks is enabled you will hear the sound coming out from the keyboard. What kind of sound will you hear? Will it be the sound (preset or sample) of the instrument selected on the LMMS? Not at all! You will hear the sound of the keyboard! Which one? Your keyboard has hundred of sounds! You will hear the sound selected by the “program” value on the LMMS instrument. There are 128 sounds available, selected among hundreds of sounds (580) of your keyboard. That means that not all the sounds of your keyboard are available through the MIDI interface, only 128. Below you’ll find a correspondence table between M211K sounds and MIDI codes. 

The RECORD stream is useful to record a background music. When you have it recorded on your LMMS project you can modify it (edit) to obtain a final version that can then be used as it is (export it in mp3 or midi format) or sent to you keyboard.

The PLAYBACK stream is useful to play or sing using a “prerecorded base” on the LMMS that will be reproduced by your keyboard. 

KEYBOARD SOUNDS AND MIDI CODES

The M211K keyboard offers 580 different sounds (voices) that you can select by the numeric pad. Some of them are also available through the MIDI input function, i.e. they can be “played” by an external MIDI sequencer, like your PC and the LMMS program. 

The complete excel file is here

Number MIDI INPUT # English Name LCD Name
PIANO
1 1 Acoustic Grand Piano GrandPno
2 2 Piano Dark GrdPnD
3   Piano Dark 2 GrdPnD2
4 3 Octave Piano OctPno
5   Octave Piano 2 OctPno2
6 4 Piano & Choir Pno&Cho
7   Grand Piano / W GrandPnW
8   Analog E.Piano AnEPno
9   Analog E.Piano 2 AnEPno2
10   Analog E.Piano Wah AnPnoWah
11   Bright Piano BritPno
12   Bright Piano 2 BritPno2
13   Stereo Bright Piano BritePnS
14   Detuned Piano DetunPno
15   Chorus Piano ChoPno
16   Chorus Piano 2 ChoPno2
17   Bright Piano / W BritPnW
18   Bright Piano 2 / W BritPnW2
19   Piano & Vibraphone Pno&Vib
20   Electric Grand Piano EPianoG
21   Electric Grand Piano / W E.PianoW
22   Stereo Synth E.Piano StSyElPn
23   Stereo Synth E.Piano 2 StSyEPn2
24   Honky-Tonk Piano HnkyTonk
25   Honky-Tonk Dark HnkTonkD
26   Honky-Tonk / W HnkyTkW
27   Honky-Tonk 2 / W HnkyTkW2
28 5 E.Piano E.Piano
29   Stereo E.Piano EPianoS
30   50’s E.Piano 50’sEP
31   E.Piano / W EPianoW
32   E.Piano 2 / W EPianoW2
33   E.Piano 3 / W EPianoW3
34   E.Piano 4 / W EPianoW4
35 6 E.Piano 2 E.Piano2
36   E.Piano 3 E.Piano3
37   Detuned E.P. DetunEP
38   Detuned E.P. 2 DetunEP2
39 7 Harpsichord Harpsi
40   Harpsichord / W HarpsiW
41   Harpsichord 2 / W HarpsiW2
42   Harpsichord Octave HarpsiO
43   Harpsichord Octave 2 HarpsiO2
44   Harpsichord Off HarpsiOf
45   Digital E.Piano DigiEP
46   Digital E.Piano 2 DigiEP2
47 8 Clavichord Clavi
48   Clavichord 2 Clavi2
49   Stereo Clavichord ClaviS
50   Clavichord / W ClaviW
51   Clavichord Wah ClaviWa
52   Synth Clav SynClav
CHROMATIC PERCUSSION
53 9 Celesta Celesta
54 10 Celesta 2 Celesta2
55   Dark Celesta CelestD
56   Dark Celesta 2 CelestD2
57   Celesta & Sine Cele&Sin
58   Reecho Bell ReBell
59   Reecho Bell 2 ReBell2
60   Celesta & Music Box Cel&Mbox
61   Glockenspiel Glocken
62   Glockenspiel & Sine Glkn&Sin
63   Children’s Song ChilSong
64   Analog Bell AnaBell
65   Stereo Analog Bell StAnaBel
66 11 Music Box MusicBox
67 12 Vibraphone Vibra
68   Vibraphone / W VibraW
69   Vibraphone & Bell Vibr&Bel
70   Vibraphone & Harpsichord Vibr&Hrp
71 13 Marimba Marimba
72   Marimba 2 Marimba2
73   Marimba / W MarimbaW
74   Marimba 2 / W MarimbW2
75   Sine Marimba Marm&Sin
76   Stereo Marimba MarimbaS
77   Marimba & Vibraphone Marm&Vib
78   Wood Drum WoodDrum
79   Rotating Rotating
80   Dual Attack DualAtta
81   Stereo TRI StTRI
82 14 Xylophone Xylophon
83   Xylophone 2 Xylphon2
84 15 Tubular Bells TubuBel
85   Tubular Bells 2 TubuBel2
86   Tubular Bells 3 TubuBel3
87   Rotate Octave RotateOc
88   Synth Organ Staccato SyOrSta
89   Synth Organ Staccato 2 SyOrSta2
90 16 Dulcimer Dulcimer
91   Dulcimer 2 Dulcimr2
ORGAN
92 17 Drawbar Organ DrawOrg
93   Stereo Drawbar Organ DrawOrgS
94   Soft Stereo Drawbar Organ DrawOgSf
95   Mellow Drawbar Organ MellDOrg
96   Bright Drawbar Organ DrawOrgB
97 18 Percussive Organ PercOrgn
98 19 Percussive Organ Detuned DePerOrg
99   Rock Organ RockOrgn
100   Rock Organ 2 RokOrgn2
101 20 Church Organ ChurOrgn
102   Detuned Church Organ DeChuOrg
103   Octave Church Organ ChrOrgO
104   Octave Church Organ 2 ChrOrgO2
105   Finale Finale
106   Finale 2 Finale2
107   Digital Organ DigiOrg
108   Analog Organ AnaOrg
109   Analog Organ 2 AnaOrg2
110 21 Reed Organ ReedOrgn
111   Reed Organ 2 RedOrgn2
112   Stereo Reed Organ ReedOrgS
113 22 Accordion Acordin
114   Accordion 2 Acordin2
115 23 Stereo Accordion AcordinS
116   Harmonica Harmnica
117   Dark Harmonica HarmnicD
118 24 Tango Accordion TangoAcd
119   Dark Tango Accordion TangAcdD
GUITAR
120   Nylon Guitar NylonGtr
121   Chorus Nylon Guitar NylonGtC
122   Stereo Nylon Guitar NylonGtS
123   Stereo Nylon Guitar 2 NylnGtS2
124 25 Steel Guitar SteelGtr
125   12 String Guitar 12StrGtr
126   Detuned Steel Guitar DetStlGt
127 26 Jazz. Guitar JazzGtr
128 27 Clean Guitar CleanGtr
129   Clean Guitar 2 CleanGt2
130   Stereo Clean Guitar CleanGtS
131   Soft Clean Guitar ClnGtSof
132   Chord Clean Guitar ClnGtCho
133 28 Muted Guitar MutedGtr
134   Muted Guitar 2 MutedGt2
135 29 Stereo Muted Guitar MutedGtS
136   Chord Muted Guitar MutGtCho
137 30 Overdrive Guitar Ovrdrive
138   Dance Lead DancLead
139 31 Distortion Guitar DistGtr
140   Analog Distortion Guitar AnDistGt
141   5Th Distortion 5ThDist
142   5Th Distortion 2 5ThDist2
143   Analog Distortion AnaDist
144   Analog Distortion 2 AnaDist2
145   Analog Distortion Wah AnDisWah
146   Analog Distortion Wah 2 AnDisWa2
147 32 Guitar Harmonics GtrHarmo
BASS
148 33 Acoustic Bass AcoBass
149   Acoustic Bass 2 AcoBass2
150   Acoustic Bass Detuned DetAcoBs
151   Velocity Crossfade Bass VelCroBs
152   Jazz Style JazzSty
153   A.Bass & Mute G.T. ABs&MtGT
154 34 Finger Bass FngrBs
155   Finger Bass 2 FngrBs2
156   Finger Bass 3 FngrBs3
157   Dark Finger Bass FngrBsD
158   Detuned Finger Bass DetFngBs
159   Velocity Bass VelBass
160   Bass & Distortion Guitar Bs&DisGt
161 35 Pick Bass PickBs
162   Pick Bass 2 PickBs2
163 36 Pick Bass 3 PickBs3
164   Mute Pick Bass PickBsM
165   Pick & Finger Bass Pk&FgBs
166   Pick Bass & Clean Guitar PBs&ClGt
167   Detuned Pick Bass DetPkBs
168   Fretless Bass Fretles
169   Fretless Bass 2 Fretles2
170   Fretless Bass 3 Fretles3
171 37 Slap Bass SlapBas
172 38 Slap Bass 2 SlapBas2
173   Slap Bass 3 SlapBas3
174   Slap Bass 4 SlapBas4
175   Slap Bass 5 SlapBas5
176 39 Synth Bass SynBass
177 40 Synth Bass 2 SynBass2
178   Synth Bass 3 SynBass3
179   Synth Bass 4 SynBass4
180   Synth Bass 5 SynBass5
STRINGS AND ORCHESTRAL
181 41 Violin Violin
182 42 Violin 2 Violin2
183   2 Violin 2Violin
184   Viola Viola
185   Viola 2 Viola2
186   2 Viola 2Viola
187 43 Cello Cello
188   Cello 2 Cello2
189   2 Cello 2Cello
190   Contrabass Contrbs
191 44 Contrabass 2 Contrbs2
192 45 Tremolo Strings TremStr
193   Tremolo Strings 2 TremStr2
194   Tremolo Strings 3 TremStr3
195 46 Pizzicato Strings PizzStr
196   Pizzicato Strings 2 PizzStr2
197   Pizzicato Strings 3 PizzStr3
198 47 Orchestral Harp Harp
199   Orchestral Harp 2 Harp2
200   Orchestral Harp 3 Harp3
201   Stereo Harp HarpS
202 48 Timpani Timpani
203   Timpani 2 Timpani2
204   Timpani 3 Timpani3
205 49 Strings Ensemble Strings
206 50 Strings Ensemble 2 Strings2
207   Strings Ensemble 3 Strings3
208   Boiling Life Boiling
209   Stereo Strings StringS
210   Stereo Strings 2 StringS2
211 51 Synth Strings SynStrs
212 52 Synth Strings 2 SynStrs2
213   Synth Strings 3 SynStrs3
214   Stereo Synth Strings SynStrS
215   Stereo Synth Strings 2 SynStrS2
216   Analog Orchestra AnaOrch
217   Analog String AnaStr
218   Analog String 2 AnaStr2
219   Slow Strings SlowStr
220   Slow Strings 2 SlowStr2
221 53 Choir Aahs ChoirAah
222   Choir Aahs 2 ChoirAh2
223   Dark Aahs ChoAhD
224   Dark Aahs 2 ChoAhD2
225   Stereo Aahs ChoAhS
226   Stereo Aahs 2 ChoAhS2
227   Mellow Choir Aahs ChoAhMel
228   Aahs & SynStr Ah&SyStr
229   Big Aahs BigAahs
230   Analog Sound AnaSound
231   Analog Sound 2 AnSound2
232   Analog Sound 3 AnSound3
233 54 Voice Ooh VoiceOoh
234 55 Synth Voice SynVoic
235   Synth Voice 2 SynVoic2
236   Stereo Synth Voice SynVoicS
237   HK 80’s HK80’s
238   Homesick Homesick
239   Child Interest Interest
240   Child Interest 2 Intrest2
241   Mechanical Voice MechanVo
242   Power Voice PoweVo
243   Child Interest Wah InterWah
244 56 Orchestra Hit OrchHit
245   Orchestra Hit Stereo OrchHitS
246   Orchestra Hit Octave HitOctO
BRASS
247 57 Trumpet Trumpet
248 58 Trumpet 2 Trumpet2
249 59 Dark Trumpet TrumpetD
250   Dark Trumpet 2 TrmpetD2
251   Wah Trumpet TrumpetW
252   Trombone Trmbone
253   Trombone 2 Trmbone2
254   Tuba Tuba
255   Tuba 2 Tuba2
256 60 Muted Trumpet MuteTrp
257   Muted Trumpet 2 MuteTrp2
258 61 Horn Horn
259   Horn 2 Horn2
260   Horn 3 Horn3
261   Stereo Synth Brass StSyBras
262   5th Horn 5thHorn
263 62 Brass Ensemble Brass
264   Majestic Unison Unison
265 63 Synth Brass SynBras
266 64 Synth Brass 2 SynBras2
267   Synth Brass 3 SynBras3
268   Synth Brass 4 SynBras4
269   Synth Brass 5 SynBras5
270   Sharp Brass SharpBra
271   Analog Brass AnaBrass
272   Analog Brass 2 AnaBras2
273   Dynamics Analog Brass DyAnaBra
274   Octave Synth Brass SynBrasO
REED
275 65 Soprano Sax SprnSax
276   Soprano Sax 2 SprnSax2
277 66 Alto Sax AltoSax
278 67 Alto Sax 2 AltoSax2
279   Tenor sax TenoSax
280 68 Tenor sax 2 TenoSax2
281   Baritone Sax BariSax
282   Baritone Sax 2 BariSax2
283 69 Oboe Oboe
284   Oboe 2 Oboe2
285   Sweet Oboe SwetOboe
286 70 English Horn EngHorn
287   English Horn 2 EngHorn2
288 71 Bassoon Bassoon
289   Bassoon 2 Bassoon2
290 72 Clarinet Clarine
291   Clarinet 2 Clarine2
PIPE
292 73 Piccolo Piccolo
293   Piccolo 2 Piccolo2
294 74 Flute Flute
295   Flute 2 Flute2
296 75 Recorder Recordr
297   Recorder 2 Recordr2
298 76 Pan Flute PanFlut
299   Pan Flute 2 PanFlut2
300 77 Blown Bottle Bottle
301   Blown Bottle 2 Bottle2
302 78 Shakuhachi Shakchi
303   Shakuhachi 2 Shakchi2
304 79 Whistle Whistle
305   Whistle 2 Whistle2
306 80 Ocarina Ocarina
307   Ocarina 2 Ocarina2
SYNTH LEAD
308 81 Square Lead SquarLd
309   Square Lead 2 SquarLd2
310   Square Lead 3 SquarLd3
311   Analog Lead AnaLead
312   Lead Sine SineLead
313   Lead Sine 2 SinLead2
314   Analog Electric AnaElect
315   Slow Square Lead SlowLead
316   Analog Classic Lead AnClasLd
317   Thick Square ThickSq
318   Quint Quint
319   Sine Solo SineSolo
320   Pulse Lead PulseLd
321   Pulse Lead 2 PulseLd2
322   Mellow Wind Wind
323   80’s Digital 80’sDig
324   Classic TRI ClassTRI
325   Stereo Analog Wind StAnWind
326   Stereo Analog Wind 2 StAnWid2
327 82 Sawtooth Lead SawLead
328   Sawtooth Lead 2 SawLead2
329   Sawtooth Lead 3 SawLead3
330 83 Stereo Sawtooth SawLdS
331   Stereo Sawtooth 2 SawLdS2
332   Stereo Sawtooth 3 SawLdS3
333   Electronic Lead ElecLead
334   Psychedelic Psyched
335   80’s Synth 80’sSyn
336   5Th Analog 5ThAna
337   5Th Analog 2 5ThAna2
338   Vitality Vitality
339   5th Sawtooth 5thSaw
340   5th Sawtooth 2 5thSaw2
341   Comedy Comedy
342   Comedy 2 Comedy2
343   Fazli Lead FazliLd
344   80’s Sawtooth 80’sSaw
345   Wind Chimes WindChi
346   5Th Digital Age 5ThDigAg
347   5Th Digital Age 2 5ThDgAg2
348   5Th Square 5ThSqu
349   5Th Square 2 5ThSqu2
350   Stereo Pulse StPulse
351   Stereo Pulse 2 StPulse2
352   Analog Signal AnSignal
353   Analog Signal 2 AnSignl2
354   Stereo Electronic Lead StElecLd
355   Stereo Electronic Lead 2 StEleLd2
356   Stereo Electronic Lead 3 StEleLd3
357   Stereo Electronic Lead 4 StEleLd4
358 84 Calliope Lead CalipLd
359   Calliope Lead 2 CalipLd2
360   Calliope Lead 3 CalipLd3
361   Grand Grand
362   Grand 2 Grand2
363   Octave Pad OctPad
364   Classic Lead ClassLD
365   Sawtooth Wah SawWah
366   Chiff Lead ChiffLd
367   Chiff Lead 2 ChiffLd2
368   Chiff Lead 3 ChiffLd3
369 85 Charang Lead CharnLd
370   Charang Lead 2 CharnLd2
371   Fruity Lead FruityLd
372   Fruity Lead 2 FrutyLd2
373 86 Voice Lead VoiceLd
374   Voice Lead 2 VoiceLd2
375   Robot Robot
376   Robot 2 Robot2
377   Modulation Distortion ModDist
378   Modulation Distortion 2 ModDist2
379   Control Control
380   Vague Vocals VagueVo
381   Singl Synth SinglSyn
382   Analog Filter AnaFilt
383   Analog Voice AnaVo
384   Analog Voice 2 AnaVo2
385 87 Fifths Lead FifthsLd
386   Ninja Ninja
387   Ninja 2 Ninja2
388 88 Bass & Lead Bs&Lead
389   Bass & Lead 2 Bs&Lead2
390   Bass & Lead 3 Bs&Lead3
391   Classic Synth ClassSyn
392   Classic Synth 2 ClassSy2
393   Classic Synth 3 ClassSy3
394   Electron Impac EleImpac
395   Elastic Across Across
396   Single Sawtooth SinglSaw
397   Analog Wind AnaWind
398   Electron Saw EleSaw
399   Boring Sine BorSine
400   Steel Wire SteelWir
401   Steel Wire 2 SteelWr2
402   Analog Pulse AnaPulse
403   Happiness Happines
404   Happiness 2 Happine2
405   Happiness 3 Happine3
406   Deformation Pulse DefPulse
SYNTH PAD
407 89 New Age Pad NewAgPd
408   New Age Pad 2 NewAgPd2
409   New Age Pad 3 NewAgPd3
410   Rise Rise
411   Praise Praise
412   Intangible Intangi
413   Warm Day WarmDay
414   Warm Day 2 WarmDay2
415   Warm Day 3 WarmDay3
416   Dunhuang Dunhuang
417   Free Space FreeSpa
418   Plump Sawtooth PlumpSaw
419   Square Wah SquaWah
420   Double Pulse DoubPul
421   Comedy Wah ComeWah
422   Phase Shift PhaShift
423   Phase Shift 2 PhaShit2
424 90 Warm Pad WarmPad
425   Warm Pad 2 WarmPad2
426   Overture Overture
427   Verve Verve
428   Fulness Pad FulnesPd
429   Overture Wah OvertWah
430   Digital Age DigitAge
431 91 Analog Pad AnalPd
432   Analog Pda2 AnalPd2
433   Analog Pad 3 AnalPd3
434   Analog Pad 4 AnalPd4
435 93 Analog Pad 5 AnalPd5
436   Analog Wah AnaloWah
437   Sharp Sharp
438   Warm Pulse WarmPul
439   Warm Pulse 2 WarmPul2
440   Happiness Pad HappiPd
441   Sawtooth Pad SawPad
442   Sawtooth Pad 2 SawPad2
443   Poly Synth Pad PlySyPd
444   Poly Synth Pad 2 PlySyPd2
445   Poly Synth Pad 3 PlySyPd3