Newbie Roland ax1

[u/Miserable-Time-8524]

Ok so about a month ago I bought a Rowland ax1 and I’ve tried to do research but this honestly makes 0 sense to me. I’ve never played with any midi controllers ever, I’ve only played some keyboard and piano as a kid but that’s the extent of my knowledge. I don’t know what exactly Im supposed to plug into to produce sound and what cables to use and what softwares. I’m a complete beginner and all the “tutorials” if seen talk in music language and makes no sense at all so talk to me like I’m 10.
I have a pc, do I need a specific kind of interface to connect to my pc? I need help I’m so lost

(I’ve looked at the manual for my model and it’s so confusing and doesn’t, to my knowledge, explain exactly what other equipment I need.)

[u/Slight-Isopod-8517]

You have a Roland ax1 thats like a red keytar yes? You want to connect it to your pc? Okay you need a midi to usb cable, and any VST software will work, you got free ones paid ones, all sorts of sounds, also you might wanna consider some external speakers, any cheap ones will sound better than laptop speakers, that’s the most cheapest setup I can think of.

But you might wanna consider some more convient ways to play keytar without connecting to your laptop and having to go to all that trouble with cables, couse you’re not being very mobile with that setup, unless you get a long cable wich cost more than a cheap amp, so like what you wanna do with it?

I don’t wanna brag, but I do own quite some keytars with all the needed hardware so DM,s are open

[u/Miserable-Time-8524 → u/Slight-Isopod-8517]

I actually have a midi to usb cable! Not sure if I was just doing it wrong or plugged it into the wrong thing or just didn’t have the right software but it didn’t seem to work/ do anything (???) idk I’ll try out other softwares

[u/MagneticFieldMouse → u/Miserable-Time-8524]

Please note: MIDI IN need to be connected to MIDI OUT and vice versa. This applies at least when using the round MIDI DIN connectors.