Setting up FR-7x to midi to computer

[JasonW]

Hi all,
Apologies, but I'm struggling with really basic setup.
I've had a Roland FR-7x for a while, and have always played it without connecting to anything, with great pleasure. Now, to help me learn, I want to see if I can connect to my computer (Mac OSX, El Capitan, 10.11.6). In particular, I'd like to try a web-based tutoring app called PianoMarvel.
PianoMarvel claims to support any midi-enabled piano or keyboard. I figure the FR-7x is the latter, right?
So, I bought a midi to USB cable: it's a 'TIE Studio Professional Midi to USB Interface 1I1O' which claims plug and play ability with Mac and PC.
I connected the (male) midi IN end to the (female) midi OUT socket on the Roland FBC7 (the foot unit, with charger and sockets, etc) and the midi OUT end to the midi IN socket on the foot unit. I connected the (male) USB connector to the computer (a powered socket on the main tower) and noticed that a blue LED lit up when I did so, indicating (presumably) power in the cable.
PianoMarvel has a connection tester which should light up if the connection is working, but this does not light up.
I tried swapping the connections over (thus, IN-IN and OUT-OUT) to no avail.
I'm now trying an app called Midi Monitor and the Mac's built-in Audio Midi Setup to test the connection but haven't had any joy with these yet.
Questions: is it always this difficult? Has anyone out there used PianoMarvel with a Roland (or other midi-enabled accordion)? Or any other tutoring apps? How on earth do I connect the accordion to the computer, anyway?

Grateful for any pointers,

Jason

 

[JerryPH]

It should go from your accordion to your pedal... from there on your FBC7;s MIDI OUT to the MIDI IN on your adapter and your adapter to the computer. That is all you need to capture from your accordion to your computer. To get the accordion to play what you have recorded, it goes from your computer to the USB adapter and from there to your adapters MIDI OUT to the FBC7s MIDI IN.

Now, I am not a Roland FR-7x owner so I cannot tell you how to set up your accordion to send/receive, you will have to refer to your manual for that part. If you dont have a manual, it is available online for free from Roland.

 

[JasonW]

Hey thanks Jerry,
It seems that the problem is that PianoMarvel doesn't work with accordions, and that it wasn't my setup that was at fault. Darn - I was hoping to use it for sight reading.
Has anyone had any success using any midi-based tutoring apps?

Cheers

Jason

 

[pentaprism]

It seems that the problem is that PianoMarvel doesnt work with accordions,...

Yes. I think it is, or it will be, the problem.

In other words, even the hardware connection is correct, you will still have problem using PianoMarvel software with your accordion.

Example:

By default, Roland KR-7 piano uses MIDI channel 1 for Tx. The listening device (in this case, PianoMarvel on your Mac) will monitor channel 1 for signals from the piano.

The Roland FR-7x, on the other hand, uses different Tx channels for different parts of the accordion:

Treble: channel 1
Bass/Free Bass: channel 2
Chord: channel 3
Orchestra (Treble): channel 4
Orchestra Bass: channel 5
Orchestra Chord: channel 6
Orchestra Free Bass: channel 7
Basic channel (for selecting Sets and sending program changes): channel 13

I dont think PianoMarvel is equipped to deal with that. It may be able to receive the treble signals, but will ignore everything else.

Has anyone had any success using any midi-based tutoring apps?

My wife used some tutorial software (I cant recall the name) when learning piano. She liked it.

But I dont know of any tutorial software for accordion.

 

[JerryPH]

What if we changed

Treble: channel 1
Bass/Free Bass: channel 2
Chord: channel 3
Orchestra (Treble): channel 4
Orchestra Bass: channel 5
Orchestra Chord: channel 6
Orchestra Free Bass: channel 7
Basic channel (for selecting Sets and sending program changes): channel 13

To...

Treble: channel 1
Bass/Free Bass: channel 2
Chord: channel 3
Disable the other channels... is that even possible?

... and had the application listen to channels 1-2-3? (can the application even do that?)

 

[Glenn]

Most midi aware devices can also select the mode where the midi channel plays no role. In other words all channels are listened to. It used to be called omni mode but modern systems using usb as their virtual midi interface may call it something else.

 

[acordiansam]

Here is what I have used with only one channel that can receive at a time. If you're program has split points you can put bass, cord and treble sounds on one set up.