Other software recognizes keyboard, Synthesia doesn’t.

Trouble with Synthesia, your keyboard, or adapter? Think you found a bug?
When describing problems, always mention your OS and game version (shown at the bottom of the title screen).

If your keyboard has USB or MIDI ports, there is a tremendously high chance (>99%) it will work with Synthesia. See what you'll need on the keyboards page.
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smbkmb
Posts: 1

Post by smbkmb »

I have an iPad Air running version 12.5.1 hooked up to Yamaha 235 circa 2007. I used a 2.0 usb plugged into 3.0 camera
Adapter. MIDIculous, flowkey, and simply piano recognized the keyboard instantly, but I get nothing from an unlocked
Synthesia. I’d rather use Synthesia, can you help? Thanks
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

The Synthesia 10.7 update just went out yesterday. If you grab that from the App Store, do you have any better luck with your keyboard showing up on Synthesia's Settings screen?
ketchup
Posts: 2

Post by ketchup »

I am having the same issue in version 10.7.5567 on an iPad (6th Generation) with the keyboard (Yamaha P-45) plugged in using a USB-B to Lightning cable (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FLWN6G4). I am able to use the keyboard as a MIDI controller in GarageBand and the Moog Synthesizer app. Any advice is appreciated.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Are either of those apps still open in the background? I've seen strange behavior when more than one app tries to talk to the same MIDI device.

The gold standard for debugging this problem is to power off the keyboard, restart the iPad, wait about 20 seconds on the home screen to make sure everything has settled down in the background, start Synthesia, tap Settings inside the app, power on the keyboard, and wait a few seconds for it to appear in the list.

It seems silly that in 2021 the advice is still to "turn it off then back on again", but I've seen that cure problems like this on the iPad a dozen times now.
ketchup
Posts: 2

Post by ketchup »

I had tried your suggestion of closing all of the apps and rebooting the iPad, but this did not solve the issue. I resolved my issue by purchasing the official Apple camera connection cable and using a standard usb A-B cable as suggested on the main website in the keyboard hookup guide.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

Thanks for the follow-up.

How bizarre that other apps would work with a third-party adapter but Synthesia wouldn't. Synthesia uses an absolutely bog-standard, nothing-out-of-the-ordinary MIDI implementation using Apple's own built-in CoreMIDI framework. I am completely at a loss what would make us stand out in that case. Hrm.
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