Software Quickstart Guide

eKeys 37

Introduction
Thank you for choosing eKeys 37, a 37-note compact music station. eKeys 37 includes Picture Board, a fantastic early learning tool to introduce children to music, the alphabet and more; Music Teacher, a tool for learning to use the keyboard; and Sound Studio, a private multi-track studio that allows you to produce your own music. This QuickStart Guide is designed to give you a basic overview of these software programs in order to get you up and running quickly. Even if youre an experienced computer user, we suggest you take the time to read the accompanying Users Manual. It will familiarize you with all of the units features and help you to get the most out of your eKeys 37.

Sound Studio

Sound Studio II is a powerful audio/MIDI sequencer with integrated digital audio recording and playback facilities. You can record and arrange music for a MIDI synthesizer and record digital audio patterns such as vocal riffs, drum loops, ambient background sounds and more. The sequencer now supports VST 2.1, which means you can use Sound Studio II along with VST plug-ins to create a whole virtual studio on your PC. Sound Studio II also has a Chord Track feature so you can add instant accompaniments in a variety of styles to your music. Used in conjunction with the Virtual Keyboard (VK-61), this can save hours of arranging time. Sound Studio II supports up to 256 MIDI tracks. Using Sound Studio II is like having your own band or orchestra - except you have much more control over your music with Sound Studio II than you have over a band. To set up Sound Studio II with your keyboard, make sure your eKeys 37 keyboard is connected to your computers USB port, and then launch Sound Studio II. Click on the Options menu and select MIDI Devices. The left side of this window will show you all devices that can send MIDI messages to your computer. In this window, the eKeys 37 is called USB Audio Device. Make sure that on the left side of the window, this entry is the only one highlighted in blue. The right side of this window will show you the MIDI synthesizers that are available on your computer. What you see here depends on the soundcard that you have installed on your computer and whether it has an onboard synthesizer chip or not. Avoid entries that have Out in their name, as this would send the (silent) MIDI signal outside of your computer without giving you a chance to hear it. Anything that has Synth, FM or Wavetable in its name is a probably a good choice. You might have one or more such entries, but for now, only highlight one of them. Click OK to apply the changes

and close the window.

Now we have to make sure that Sound Studio II knows about your audio soundcard for the playback of your audio recordings. Click on the Audio menu and select Audio System Settings. On the right side in the section ASIO Settings is a field labeled Driver. Unless your soundcard comes with its own ASIO driver that was written particularly for this card, make sure to select ASIO Multimedia Driver. To activate this driver for Sound Studio II, put a tick mark next to the Active checkbox in the left upper corner of this
section. Click Close to return to the Arrangement window of Sound Studio II.

Please refer to the full manual if you experience difficulties hearing audio playback from the program during the following examples since all options and eventualities are explained in detail there.

Picture Board

Welcome to Picture Board, a fun program that lets you play songs and learn about music and the keyboard.
Setting Up Your Keyboard With Picture Board
This section assumes you have already connected your keyboard, following the instructions in the eKeys 37 Users Manual. To use your keyboard with Picture Board, the keyboard must be connected and turned on before running the software. In Picture Board, select Preferences from the Options menu. You should see the eKeys 37 listed in the preferences as the MIDI Input. If you are using the default drivers of Windows XP, the keyboard will be listed as USB Audio Device. If it is not selected,
you should select the eKeys49 as the MIDI input.
Now, press a key on the keyboard. You should see the corresponding key light up on the Picture Boards onscreen keyboard. If this is the case, you are ready to go! If you have any problems setting up your keyboard with Picture Board, please consult the trouble-shooting section of the Users Manual.

Loading a Sound Set

A Sound Set is a selection of sounds, pictures and a background picture. We have provided 14 demo Sound Sets for you to try out for yourself. To open a Sound Set, select Open from the File menu. The browser should automatically default to the Sound Sets directory in your Picture Board folder. If it does not, find your Picture Board folder on your hard drive and open the 'Sound Sets' folder. For example, lets open the file Animals.PB. The Animals Sound Set contains a selection of photos, sounds, and names of various animals. You will see a number of animals listed on the keys of the Picture Board keyboard. Press the bottom key, C, labeled Antelope. You will hear the name of the animal and see a photo of an Antelope. Now try some of the other keys. The name of the animal on the key describes the sound you will hear. The small picture on the key is a reduced version of the picture you will see when the key is pressed. You can select the background from the Preferences menu (from Options). Now load the Sound Set file House & Home.PB. You will see new sounds and pictures on the keys and a different background. Note: Depending on your graphics card, photos and pictures may look slightly distorted. In this case, view in Full Screen mode, as described in the Picture Board Help file.

Music Teacher

Welcome to Music Teacher 3, your private instructor to playing the keyboard. Music Teacher 3 is a program designed to improve your musical skills and keyboard technique through simple tests and games. To get started, connect your new eKeys 37 keyboard to your computers USB port. Now connect your speakers or headphones to your computers soundcard output. In the Music Teacher software, click on the Options menu and select Devices. The left side of this window will show you all devices that can send MIDI notes to your computer. Here you will find your new eKeys 37 keyboard; it will show as USB Audio Device. Make sure that on the left side of the window, this entry is the only one highlighted in blue.
The right side of this window will show you a list of devices that can generate sound when you hit a key on they eKeys 37 keyboard. What you will see here will depend on the soundcard that you have installed on your computer and whether it has an onboard synthesizer chip (thats the Sound Generator) or not. Avoid entries that have Out in their name, as this would send the notes back to the outside of your computer without giving you a chance to hear them. Anything that has Synth, FM or Wavetable in its name is probably a good choice. You might have one or more such entries; only highlight one of them. Click OK to apply the changes and close the window. Feel free to start experimenting with the program. When you first run the program, a file called INITIAL.MID will be loaded automatically. This is the song we will use to get to know all the main teaching tools of Music Teacher 3. You should see 4 bars of music on the screen with the play position (the vertical line) at the beginning of the first bar. You should be in Listen mode (as indicated by the button on the right hand side of the main screen.) Now press the Play button. This will start the playback of the song. You will hear the music as displayed on the screen. As the song is plays, each note will turn red in the score display. This is designed to help you get the feel of the rhythm of the song.
If the notes appear in red but you cannot hear any sounds coming from your speakers, please take a look at the trouble-shooting information in the Help menu of the program before continuing with this tutorial. (The Help menu is located in the upper right corner of the screen.) At the end of the song, the play position will return to the start of the song automatically. Press Play again to listen to the song once more. Now that you are familiar with what the song sounds like, we can listen to the melody with an accompaniment. Press the Recital button. Then, when you press Play, you will hear the same melody again but with a backing band. Again, you will see the notes on the top stave appear red as they are played. The keys on the onscreen keyboard will also turn red when they are played. Press the Listen button and repeat the process of playing and rewinding the song until you are happy with how the melody sounds. Then rewind the song to the start and press the Teach button. You can now decide which of the three teaching modes to work with. You can choose to learn the rhythm, the notes or both. This lets you find the best method for you to learn. You have now seen some of the basic music teaching tools of Music Teacher 3. You can go on to load another song to learn, or try learning both tracks of the INITIAL.MID song. Please refer to the relevant sections of the Help text for more information on these features. Twenty excellent Alfred MIDI files of well-known songs are installed in the same directory as Music Teacher 3. These files are ideal for testing purposes and each one has a backing track. First listen to them in Recital mode to hear the complete arrangements. Music Teacher 3 provides thirty lessons to teach you which fingers to use to play the notes, and what all the symbols on the score mean. The program cannot test you on these so you will have to honestly assess your own progress. Feel free to load up Lesson 1 and begin learning now!

Evolution eKeys Keyboard User Manual

EVOLUTION

e-Keys37
Tested To Comply With FCC Standards

FOR HOME OR OFFICE USE

Modifications not authorized by the manufacturer may void users authority to operate this device. Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: -Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. -Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver. -Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. - Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help. VST is a trademark of Steinberg Soft und Hardware GmbH ASIO is a trademark of Steinberg Soft und Hardware GmbH DirectX is copyright 2002 Microsoft Sound Studio II, PictureBoard and Music Teacher are copyright 2003 Evolution Electronics Ltd. All rights reserved

Introduction

Congratulations on your purchase of the Evolution eKeys computer music package. The package contains the eKeys USB music keyboard along with software covering diverse approaches to learning and making music on your PC computer. PictureBoard is an exciting tool for general early learning and musical fun. You can play sounds and trigger pictures using the eKeys keyboard which helps to teach essentials such as numbers, animal names and the alphabet. Comes with a huge collection of pictures and soundsets to keep everyone entertained. Music Teacher contains lessons and practise guides so you can learn from scratch or simply run through a quick refreshment course. Use the software to grade your ability to play both notes and rhythm. Sound Studio is your complete PC recording studio. Record tracks using both MIDI and audio, and use the extensive editing tools and other features to make professional sounding compositions. We hope you will have as much fun playing and working with eKeys as we had creating it. Now it is time to unleash your creativity.

Whats In The Package?

Your Evolution eKeys package should contain the following items: Evolution eKeys USB keyboard User Manual eKeys Installer CD-ROM
If any of the above listed items are missing, please contact the retailer you purchased the product from.

About The Manual

This instruction manual covers the operation of the eKeys USB keyboard. We do not explain how to set it up, however with third party music software. Most programs will work straight away with the eKeys keyboard. To learn about the included software PictureBoard, Music Teacher and Sound Studio, please insert the eKeys Installer CD-Rom and click Software Installation. Once installed you can read more about how to operate these great programs in their respective help menus.
Before You Connect Your Keyboard
You are probably eager to plug in your eKeys keyboard and get started, but its sensible to check the installation documentation first. The single USB cable not only powers the keyboard but also sends MIDI data to and from your computer system.
Windows XP & Mac OS X
If you are using Windows XP or Mac OS X you can now simply plug the keyboard in to an available USB port. Because the eKeys keyboard is class compliant it will work with out any further installation.
Installing Drivers For Windows 98/ME

1. 2. Power up your PC. Insert the eKeys Installer CD-ROM. The installer should open automatically. If not, select run from the start menu and type d:\setup.exe where 'd' is your CD-ROM drive, then press ENTER. Click on 'install drivers'. Follow instructions on screen. When finished exit setup. Plug in the eKeys.

3. 4. 5. 6.

Windows will proceed with the installation of a USB driver and a MIDI driver. Please restart your PC once the installation is complete.
Installing Drivers For Windows 2000
1. 2. Power up your PC. Insert the eKeys Installer CD-ROM. The installer should open automatically. If not, select run from the start menu and type d:\setup.exe where 'd' is your CD-ROM drive, then press ENTER. 3. Click on 'Driver Installer'. 4. Follow instructions on screen. 5. When finished exit setup. 6. Plug in the eKeys keyboard. Windows will automatically recognise the keyboard and ask for the Evolution Installer CD-ROM. 7. Select the CD-ROM drive and click OK. Windows will then ask you to select the CD-ROM drive again for the MIDI driver. 8. If Windows reports the drivers have not been digitally signed, click on 'Continue Installation'. 9. Select the drive once more. 10. Click OK. Please restart your PC once the installation is complete.

Getting Started

Assuming the installation process was completed successfully, it is now time to have a closer look at the eKeys keyboard. However, at the moment, when you press a key you will not hear any sound. This is because when you press a key, the keyboard sends out MIDI data. MIDI data gives instructions on how a sound should play, but in order to hear that sound you need some software which can read this MIDI data, and play sound back accordingly. We have provided such software on the Evolution eKeys Installer CD-ROM. If you have not done so already, install 'PictureBoard from the CD-ROM. To do this insert the CD-ROM and click on 'Software Installer'. Make sure 'PictureBoard' is selected for installation. When the installation is complete, open PictureBoard. PictureBoard is a great piece of software that will play a sound, and trigger an image when a key is pressed. The piano set should automatically have been opened for you. If not, click on 'Open' and select the 'Piano.MB' file. Press a key on the keyboard. You should now hear a piano, and see a key on the onscreen keyboard in PictureBoard light up. If you do not see this, click on the preferences menu and select 'MIDI devices'. Select USB MIDI in, or if you are a Windows XP user, USB Audio Device as the MIDI input. The Piano set in PictureBoard enables you to play the keyboard like a grand piano. Go on give it a try!

About the Keyboard

Each white key on the eKeys is labelled with a letter. The letter represents the note you play. Although the black keys are not labelled, they also have names. The name of a black key will be something like F# or Eb. If a black key is expressed with a # sign, it is referring to the black key above the white note. For example F# refers to the black key above F. If a black key is expressed with a b sign, it is referring to the black key below the white note. For example Eb refers to the black key below E. So, as an example, the black Key between C and D3 is both C# and Db. The keyboard is sectioned into octaves. There are 12 notes in an octave, 5 black notes and 7 white notes. Play the bottom key labelled F on the keyboard. This will light up the corresponding key on the onscreen keyboard in PictureBoard. Now press the next F along on your eKeys. The key that now lights up on the PictureBoard keyboard is 1 octave higher.

Setting up the Software

Before you use the software, it's a good idea to set up it up so that it is communicating with the eKeys properly. Once you have set this up, your settings will be saved so that each time you open the software, it will be communicating with the eKeys straight away. If you have not done so already, install Music teacher v3.0 and Sound Studio II. Open up Music Teacher or Sound Studio II by double-clicking on the icon on your desktop. Play the eKeys keyboard. Can you hear any sound? If so all is good and you can go on to set up the other program. If not select 'Devices.' from the Options menu ('MIDI Devices' in Sound Studio II). Here you have a list of MIDI inputs and outputs. Make sure the eKeys is selected as the MIDI input device. If you plugged the eKeys straight in to Windows XP and are not using Evolution's drivers, the eKeys will be called 'USB Audio Device'. In all other cases, the eKeys will be called 'USB MIDI in'. In the MIDI Outputs you should select the output with 'synth' or 'synthesis' in the name. Make sure it is the only MIDI output that is selected. Selected devices are highlighted blue. Click on 'OK' to save the settings. You should now be able to hear a piano sound when you play the eKeys. If not, go back in to Devices and select the next MIDI output. Click to de-select the previous MIDI output and click 'OK'. Try the eKeys again. Repeat this process for each MIDI output in turn until you can hear sound.

Useful MIDI data

General MIDI Instruments Piano
0 Acoustic Grand Piano 1 Bright Acoustic Piano 2 Electric grand Piano 3 Honky Tonk Piano 4 Electric Piano Electric Piano Harpsichord 7 Clavinet
64 Soprano Sax 65 Alto Sax 66 Tenor Sax 67 Baritone Sax 68 Oboe 69 English Horn 70 Bassoon 71 Clarinet Pipe 72 Piccolo 73 Flute 74 Recorder 75 Pan Flute 76 Bottle Blow 77 Shakuhachi 78 Whistle 79 Ocarina Synth Lead 80 Syn Square Wave 81 Syn Sawtooth Wave 82 Syn Calliope 83 Syn Chiff 84 Syn Charang 85 Syn Voice 86 Syn Fifths Sawtooth Wave 87 Syn Brass & Lead

Synth Effects

96 SFX Rain 97 SFX Soundtrack 98 SFX Crystal 99 SFX Atmosphere 100 SFX Brightness 101 SFX Goblins 102 SFX Echoes 103 SFX Sci-Fi Ethnic 104 Sitar 105 Banjo 106 Shamisen 107 Koto 108 Kalimba 109 Bag Pipe 110 Fiddle 111 Shanai Percussive 112 Tinkle Bell 113 Agogo 114 Steel Drums 115 Woodblock 116 Taiko Drum 117 Melodic Tom 118 Syn Drum 119 Reverse Cymbal
32 Acoustic Bass 33 Electric Fingered Bass 34 Electric Picked Bass 35 Fretless Bass 36 Slap Bass Slap Bass Syn Bass Syn Bass 2 Chromatic Percussion Strings/Orchestra 8 Celesta 9 Glockenspiel 10 Music Box 11 Vibraphone 12 Marimba 13 Xylophone 14 Tubular bells 15 Dulcimer Organ 16 Drawbar Organ 17 Percussive Organ 18 Rock Organ 19 Church Organ 20 Reed Organ 21 Accordion 22 Harmonica 23 Tango Accordion 40 Violin 41 Viola 42 Cello 43 Contrabass 44 Tremolo Strings 45 Pizzicato Strings 46 Orchestral Harp 47 Timpani Ensemble 48 String Ensemble String Ensemble 2 (Slow) 50 Syn Strings Syn Strings Choir Aahs 53 Voice Oohs 54 Syn Choir 55 Orchestral Hit

Guitar

24 Nylon Acoustic 25 Steel Acoustic 26 Jazz Electric 27 Clean Electric 28 Muted Electric 29 Overdrive 30 Distorted 31 Harmonics
56 Trumpet 57 Trombone 58 Tuba 59 Muted Trumpet 60 French Horn 61 Brass Section 61 Syn Brass Syn Brass 2

Synth Pad

88 New Age Syn Pad 89 Warm Syn Pad 90 Polysynth Syn Pad 91 Choir Syn Pad 92 Bowed Syn Pad 93 Metal Syn Pad 94 Halo Syn Pad 95 Sweep Syn Pad

Sound Effects

120 Guitar Fret Noise 121 Breath Noise 122 Seashore 123 Bird Tweet 124 Telephone Ring 125 Helicopter 126 Applause 127 Gun Shot

Trouble-Shooting

Caution : Electro Static Discharge, Electrical Fast Transient and Conducted RF interference may cause the unit to malfunction. In such case unplug the unit and plug in again to restore normal operation.
My Evolution hardware suddenly stopped working after having been working fine since installation. Switch off the unit and leave for 10 seconds. Then restart your computer and try again. If the problem persists you may have to re-install the drivers for the unit. My drivers are listed in the Device Manager and are said to be working OK, but the keyboard is not recognised in any software. Win2000 and XP have a limitation to how many MIDI device drivers you can have installed at any one time. There is no indication that you are using the maximum number of drivers - the drivers will install as if there is not a problem. To fix this problem: Go to http://www.evolution.co.uk/support/faq/index.html and locate the above question. You will find a link to an exe file that will solve this problem for you. I have plugged in a sustain pedal to my Evolution keyboard, but it works the wrong way round. The polarity of the sustain pedal is calculated by the keyboard when it is powered up. On power up, the sustain pedal is assumed to be in the OFF position. So, if you want the sustain pedal to be off when it is unpressed, make sure the pedal is unpressed when you power up. When I press a key, there is a delay before I hear any sound. This delay is known as latency. Latency with MIDI signals is usually due to the soft-synth you are using. MIDI data is simply control data. The MIDI is read by the soft-synth. The soft-synth then completes a large number of complex calculations, in order to produce the sound you hear. All this takes time. We recommend getting a proper soundcard. You can get a decent one these days for under 30. If you already have an adequate sound card, try re-installing the latest drivers for the sound card, or try reducing the buffer sizes of the audio drivers. You can do this in the Sound Studio II and Sound Studio Pro II programs by going to 'Audio' 'Audio system settings' where you can reduce the buffer sizes of the MME or ASIO drives. I cant get any sound from my Evolution Software. In your software go to Options|Devices. Here you will see a list of MIDI Inputs and MIDI outputs. If you have MIDI inputs available, if no driver names appear in the Output column, you need to re-install your soundcard or update the soundcard drivers. The output column allows you to choose which output driver you want for generating the MIDI sounds. Most soundcards will have an option such as "FM synth" or "SBLive Synth". Click on these driver names to use the sounds of your soundcard for playback of MIDI data. If you just have a sound chip, the software synth to select may be similar to "Microsoft SW synth". Click on the driver name of your choice. Rule of Thumb: Go back in to Devices and select the next MIDI output. Click to de-select the previous MIDI output and click 'OK'. Try the keyboard again. Repeat this process for each MIDI output in turn until you can hear sound.

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Contact Details

For additional files, help or drivers for this product, it is best to look on our main website http://www.m-audio.com. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about this product, or any other MAudio or Evolution product, we invite you to contact us directly by using the following information: M-AUDIO US 45 E. Saint Joseph St. Arcadia, CA 91006-2861 U.S.A Sales information : 626-445-2842 Sales information (e-mail): info@m-audio.com Technical Support: 626-445-8495 Technical Support (e-mail): techsupt@m-audio.com Fax: 626-445-7564 Internet Home Page: http://www.m-audio.com M-AUDIO UK Unit 5, Saracen Industrial Park Mark Rd. Hemel Hempstead, Herts, HP2 7BJ England Sales Information: 590 Sales Information(e-mail): info@maudio.co.uk Technical Support: 301 Technical Support (e-mail): support@maudio.co.uk Fax: 832 Internet Home Page: http://www.maudio.co.uk M-AUDIO Japan 2-18-10 Marunouchi Naka-Ku, Nagoya 460-0002 Japan Tel: 81-52-218-3375 Email: support@m-audio.co.jp Internet Home Page: http://www.m-audio.co.jp M-AUDIO Deutschland (Germany) Kuhallmand 34 D-74613 Ohringen Germany Sales Information: 7000 Sales Information(e-mail): info@m-audio.de Technical Support: 70030 Technical Support (e-mail): support@m-audio.de Fax: 70070 Internet Home Page: http://www.m-audio.de M-AUDIO Canada 1400 St. Jean-Baptiste Ave., #150 Quebec City, QC G2E 5B7 Canada Tel: 1-866-872-0444 Fax: 1-478-872-0034 Email: techcanada@m-audio.com Internet Home Page: http://www.m-audio.ca
Evolution Electronics Ltd. (UK)
8 Church Sq. Leighton Buzzard, Beds, LU7 1AE United Kingdom Sales Information: +44 (0) Sales Information (e-mail): sales@evolution.co.uk Technical Support: +44 (0) Technical Support (e-mail): support@evolution.co.uk Fax: +44 (0) Internet Home Page: http://www.evolution.co.uk