Recording music

Q I have an old Yamaha keyboard with two midi sockets on the back. I would like to use the keyboard to record music on the computer that I can edit and then print out the musical notation. Is there any software that can do this? I am using Windows XP Home.
Vic Jenkins

A There are two stages to doing this. The first is to connect the keyboard to the computer and the second is to translate the signals from the keyboard into the actual musical notation.

The easiest way to connect to a computer is to buy a MIDI interface. While you can record the keyboard using the audio input, it is not possible to edit the notes or create musical notation. The EMU Xmidi 1x1 connects the two MIDI sockets on the keyboard to a USB socket.

Some sounds cards fitted to desktop computers have a yellow joystick plug (with 15 pins) that can also be used to connect to a MIDI keyboard. An adapter cable costs around £15 from Et Cetera. Once the keyboard is connected to the computer some software is required. Musescore can record the music from the keyboard, edit it and then print out musical scores. It is an open-source program and can be downloaded at no cost from here.