New To Controller Use

[JacobT]

So, this is kind of gonna be a smorgasbord of questions, hopefully I can condense them.

1. I have access to an M-Audio Pro 88 controller and have hooked it up to my PC (via USB), downloaded Pro Tools and hit a significant roadblock. All in all, I just want the thing to make sound and have no clue what I'm doing.

2. I have the volume jack hooked over to an ION tailgater speaker, the only other occupied slot on the back are power and USB (I'll be using the sustain ports once I actually get a pedal), the MIDI IN/OUT ports are untouched. Is any of this absolutely required to get it going?

3. I'm sure this'll get answered along with what I'm going for, but different modules and samples are a necessity and don't quite understand how to get access to those without GarageBand (former MacOS user gone Windows)

I'm sure I'll come up with other questions as I move forward, but for now, getting started is what I need. Thank you in advance for helping!

[albee1952]

"I just want the thing to make sound and have no clue what I'm doing." Truth in advertising sorry, no offense is intended, but when you say "I have the volume jack hooked over to an ION tailgater speaker", nobody here has ever heard of a volume jack

I'm going to make some assumptions here, so please correct anything I get wrong:
1-you have Pro Tools First?
2-you have no interface?(the keyboard is not an interface)
3-you have installed the basic(included) instrument plugins(like MiniGrand)?

Step #1 is; go buy a real interface(the smaller USB boxes from Focusrite and Presonus are solid options). I know you CAN run Pro Tools without an interface, but the experience is going to stink(so don't torture yourself).
Step #2-using any mic with an XLR connector and either headphones or powered studio monitors, get things working to a point where you can record and playback with a mic(which means you have a functioning setup)
Step #3-configure the keyboard to work as a midi controller in Pro Tools.

[albee1952]

(sorry for the split reply, but the DUC is messing with me posting)
Since you are on Windows, here is how its done:
Open Pro Tools(with the keyboard powered ON and connected to a USB port) and go to Setup>Midi>Midi Studio. In this window, create a new "instrument"(which in this case really means "controller") and name it as you like. Where it says Brand and model, you can skip these 2 as it doesn't matter. The Input Path is what really matters and it will look something like "M-Audio Pro 88 on USB[Emulated]"(and will likely be the only choice on the list).

[albee1952]

Output path doesn't matter(because you don't need to route midi back to the keyboard). For now, you can leave all 16 midi channels selected(in blue). Now close the window and create a new stereo instrument track and insert MiniGrand in the top insert slot. Let it load(if you click on the plugin "keyboard" and you hear piano, its loaded). Put the track into record-ready and play the keyboard. You SHOULD hear the piano(fingers crossed). If you hear a lot of delay(aka "latency"), then change the playback buffer to 64 or 128.

[JacobT]

Thank you for the quick detailed response, I'll let you know how it goes next paycheck when I can get the interface :)