Fred, Barry and Dennis, thank you so much for your replies.

Quote:
Originally posted by freddynl:
I am not quite sure what you want to do?

Anyway based on your post as I read it;
I did not know the UF-8 midi controller, so I looked on their website.
Found out that it is just a midi controller with advanced options but with NO SOUND board.
This means that the only sound you will hear at your current configuration are the sounds of the Soundblaster Audigy, that is IF the audigy can receive midi-in messages?
I don't have one so cannot confirm that.


Apologies for my post's lack of clarity, I guess that reflects my own difficulty in pinning the problem down.

Yes, the UF8 is merely a controller that leaves all the sound processing to the computer and concentrates on telling the computer what keys have been pressed and how hard. It does this via a single USB lead that substitutes for the traditional MIDI cables. It also has one MIDI Out port but does not ship with a MIDI cable.

I now reckon that the problem lies with the USB connection - I finally got a response from Cakewalk with the Input Port set at "UF MIDI In", which would let me play for a couple of minutes at a time before the sound sort of faded and, then, the "UF MIDI In" disappeared. With no predictability, it would sometimes reappear if I restarted the app and/or unplugged and re-plugged the USB cable.

I now believe that Cakewalk's initial lack of response, as described in my original post, was down to this USB problem - Cakewalk just wasn't seeing the keyboard.

Quote:
Originally posted by quietDIN:
... or somehow the USB connection isn't being seen by Cakewalk.


Yup, Barry hit the nail on the head.

Quote:
Originally posted by manic2257:
hey donnacha, a question for you if i may? wi am thinking of getting one of these keyboards, but as yet none are available in australia...what is it like as far as feel and the weighting of the keys? is it graduated, ie, do the keys get lighter as you go up the board? as far as your midi goes...firstly the only drivers you should need would be USB and are not needed for XP, manufacturers usually only include them for windows 98 and earlier users..they may have some template driver files etc etc but these are not needed for midi transmission..


Thanks for the breakdown on how the sound card interacts, Dennis, I'm not sure exactly which Audigy, I somehow managed to lose the bloody drivers disk a year or so ago and re-installing the OS has been a hassle ever since - Creative don't make easy for their customers.

I'm in the UK and ordered my UF8 online back in June, what was meant to be a 2 week wait stretched to almost 2 months, a real headache but understandable, all the positive reviews that greeted it's introduction must have caused a rush of orders and I guess their priority was to cater to the US market. I imagine that initial rush will have abated by now, so, you shouldn't have to wait anywhere near long as I did. Also, yours won't have to travel as far - China to Australia must be faster than China to the UK.

As for the keys, I am of course a newbie but it feels very nice, solid and smooth. General impressions online seem to be that the keys are excellent, with the UF8's hammer action provoking a very positive reaction. Graduation? I'm not sure, it might be that I haven't broken the keyboard in enough yet, I've heard that it takes a few days, once I have broken it in a bit any graduation might become more apparent.

One thing I would say is to check the cme-pro.com forums to see how responsive CME support are with regard to the glitches that every new product suffers. For my part, if they can't help me to clear up the USB problem, I won't be able to recommend the UF8 but, apart from that (fairly major) problem, it seems to be a superb keyboard, I'm certainly delighted with it's feel and presense.

[This message has been edited by donnacha (edited 08-25-2005).]