Bluetooth on PC Windows 10

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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silvrica
Posts: 40

Post by silvrica »

I have been using Synthesia for years using my PC and a Casio keyboard. Since I bought a new computer with Windows 10 I have had problems connecting my keyboard to the computer. The keyboard sometimes is not recognized. I tested the MIDI-USB cable with other devices and it is fine. I am thinking to make a wireless communication between my PC and the Casio keyboard. In this forum, it has been mentioned that one of the new dev is able to use Bluetooth on Windows 10. Do I need to buy the USB-BT400 adaptor and the UD-BT01 adaptor? Is this adaptor only for Yamaha keyboards or is a universal adaptor?
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

We just released Synthesia 10.4 a few days ago and it includes the new Windows 10 Bluetooth MIDI support. So you should be all set just by downloading and installing the latest version.

And yes, the UD-BT01 adapter should be universal. We tested it with all of our USB keyboards and it worked with every one of them. (I can't speak to the USB-BT400, but it looks like every other Bluetooth adapter and it's from a reputable brand, so it will probably work just fine.)
alkaloid
Posts: 2

Post by alkaloid »

Hello everyone,

before opening a new thread I thought I might talk about my issue in here.

I recently bought Synthesia and was quite happy to see that Bluetooth-MIDI-functionality has been included.

I want to connect my Kawai ES110 (with built-in Bluetooth-MIDI) to my Surface Pro 2017 via Bluetooth. The device is getting recognized by the Surface Pro without issues, however it is impossible for me to find the device in Synthesia. Since this is the only software I own that (supposedly) supports Bluetooth-MIDI on Win10 I cannot say with certainty that it's a definite issue with Synthesia, but that is what comes to mind at first.

The connection via MIDI-TO-USB-adaptor works just fine, but it would be nice to use the BT-feature instead (for obvious reasons).

Is anyone able to help me out?

Thanks in advance

alkaloid
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

It is definitely a tricky situation. Synthesia appears to be a very early adopter of Microsoft's new MIDI API (the one that supports Bluetooth MIDI), so our usual advice of "try it in a different app to see if it's the system having trouble or Synthesia" doesn't work yet because I don't know of any other Bluetooth MIDI enabled Windows 10 apps! :?

That said, I've been in quite regular contact with a couple of the project leads at Microsoft responsible for the new MIDI stuff. We've already helped them identify a couple bugs! :lol: Hopefully over the course of the next couple Windows 10 updates, these things will start to be ironed out. Sorry I don't have much other advice in the meantime!
alkaloid
Posts: 2

Post by alkaloid »

Thank you for your insight, Nicholas!

It's unfortunate, but hey.. overall not a big deal (tethered works just fine).

Let's hope this will be addressed in the (not so distant) future. Something to look forward to ;)
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error
Synthesia Multiple Donor!
Posts: 18

Post by error »

I had this working yesterday, Win 10 x64, MD-BT01, I played a song and everything worked.

Today I upgraded to 10.5.1.4900 and I can't see the Bluetooth device in Synthesia any more, though it appears connected in my Bluetooth control panel.
Nicholas
Posts: 13135

Post by Nicholas »

First, make sure the "Midi.UseWinRtMidi" option is enabled:
  1. Hold your Shift key while launching Synthesia (to open the configuration window).
  2. Find the "Midi.UseWinRTMidi" entry in the Setting drop-down box.
  3. Add a check mark to the "Value" box.
Now, because of a change Microsoft made in a recent Windows 10 update:
  1. Download this updated version of win10-midi.dll.
  2. Copy it over the existing win10-midi.dll file in your Synthesia install folder (usually "C:\Program Files (x86)\Synthesia").
(EDIT: No longer needed since Synthesia 10.6.)

The next time you start Synthesia, does your MD-BT01 show up again?
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error
Synthesia Multiple Donor!
Posts: 18

Post by error »

Yes, that fixed it!

Thank you so much for your fast response!

I'm going to make another donation.
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