Sound input Roland JV1010 & Logic Pro

Dear all,

I have the following setup:

Macbook Pro 13” , mid 2012 (2,5 Ghz, 4GB RAM, 500 GB harddisk) running OSX Mountain Lion and Logic Pro 9.1.8

I also have a full size midi-keyboard hooked up to my Roland JV1010 synth module which is then connected with a midi cable to USB to my Mac.I have found the soundbanks for the Roland JV1010 on the internet, so I can select/see my Roland instruments in Logic Pro. Selecting them though does not change the sounds as I can only change the sounds by using the Roland JV1010 itself.

When playing my midi keyboard I can only hear the sounds when I plugin in my headphones directly into the Roland JV1010 as for some reason I can not just plugin my headphones in my Mac, select a JV1010 instrument and play. When my headphones are connected to the JV1010 I can indeed record (and hear what I am playing) and midi data is registred in Logic Pro. Of course when playing it back it does not create an output for some reason not even when re-connecting my headphones to the Mac.

Do I need to change something in my settings or is there something else I should do? Or do I need an adapter of some sort to hear the midi-sounds directly on my Mac I am recording while using the soundbanks from my Roland JV1010 (the latter does not work for the moment)

Any advice would be helpful! (I did look around first using Google but could not find something specific)

So when you play the midi performance back, you aren't getting any sound out of the computer's headphone port?

It could be any number of things but I'm inclined to go ahead and suggest these two standard checks:

Under the I/O settings on the track's channel strip, make sure "Output 1-2" is selected for output.

If it already is, go to Logic Pro -> Prefrences and select the audio tab then make sure "built in output" is selected as your audio device. Logic might have the Roland synth module selected as the output device in which case you wouldn't be getting any sound out of the computer's speakers or headphone port.

Hi there,

Thank you so much for wanting to help out.

Below an overview of Logic as on my Mac:



Even though it say ”no in” on the transport bar, when playing the midi keyboard it does react with regards to input right away

So when you play the midi performance back, you aren't getting any sound out of the computer's headphone port?

That is correct.

It could be any number of things but I'm inclined to go ahead and suggest these two standard checks:

Under the I/O settings on the track's channel strip, make sure "Output 1-2" is selected for output.

If it already is, go to Logic Pro -> Prefrences and select the audio tab then make sure "built in output" is selected as your audio device. Logic might have the Roland synth module selected as the output device in which case you wouldn't be getting any sound out of the computer's speakers or headphone port.

I am not sure where I can find the I/O settings on the track channel strip. If I select the JV1010 input (1st track in the screenshot) it states that the Core Audio is using input 5-6 and it is greyed-out (not allowing me to select anything else). When selecting track 2 (St.Concert) for example the Port it is using is Midi Out (the other option I can choose is ”all”). I dont see any other ”output” settings.

I did check Preferences/Audio Tab and the built in output is selected as my audio device. I also checked the Mac internal Midi setup which shows the following:



Can you advice further? (or if you need specific other screenshots, let me know)


PS1: In this setup that I have I indeed can record Midi in Logic (as it records the midi data I input but can not hear any sound).

PS2: For the moment I can hear the actual JV1010 sounds only when plugging my headphones directly into the JV1010 . But I want to use my headphones directly on my Mac to hear the same sound (when playing/recording/playing back recordings). I need to mention that in a previous Windows setup, I had to connect the output (audio!) of the JV1010 to the Audio input of the PC with a big-jack to small-jack audio cable to hear myself playing (and to hear the playback through the headphones connected to the PC's headphone ouput. I am guessing that I would need to connect a cable to my Mac to an audio input, but the my Mac does not have an audio input (as a soundcard of a PC would have in the back).

PS3: Below the back of the JV1010 (the ports used are Midi In/Out/Through) and the slider for computer is set to PC (setting it to Mac does not make a difference either). On the front of the JV1010 there is an audio output as well (big jack)



PS4: the Midi to USB cable I am using (apart from the midi cable that connects my Midi-Keyboard to the JV1010 midi-in)

Sorry, I forgot that output 1-2 is actually labeled "stereo out". I was mixing that up with "Input 1-2".

Either way it's moot because I don't see the I/O settings anywhere on the track to begin with.

This is where they normally are:




After looking at the setup, it seems like the soundbank is located in the Roland itself so what is happening is the computer is sending the midi performance to the JV1010 but it sounds like you don't have any audio going back from the Roland to your macbook pro which is why you aren't getting any sound out of the computer.

To get the Roland to work with Logic, you'll need to do the same thing you did with the Windows setup. You need to use the module's audio outputs to connect to the audio input on the computer.

Connect the computer's MIDI output to the Roland's MIDI input, then connect the Roland's audio output to the computer's audio input and select "External MIDI" under the new track window. Make sure to match the MIDI port and channel to the port that the Roland is set to. Also make sure the audio inputs on the track are matched to the audio inputs that you have the 1010 plugged into on the computer.

It should work after this.


Thanks for the pictures BTW! It really helps.

Thanks for the advice, very much appreciated


To get the Roland to work with Logic, you'll need to do the same thing you did with the Windows setup. You need to use the module's audio outputs to connect to the audio input on the computer.


The problem is: how can I connect my JV1010's audio output (with a cable) to the audio input on my Macbook Pro? As far as I can see I do not have an ”audio input” on my Mac. Any suggestions how to solve this?

Buc021 said:

Thanks for the advice, very much appreciated


To get the Roland to work with Logic, you'll need to do the same thing you did with the Windows setup. You need to use the module's audio outputs to connect to the audio input on the computer.


The problem is: how can I connect my JV1010's audio output (with a cable) to the audio input on my Macbook Pro? As far as I can see I do not have an ”audio input” on my Mac. Any suggestions how to solve this?

Click to expand...

What does the audio cable look like that you plugged into the windows machine?

You'll probably just need to purchase an audio interface which will have all sorts of audio inputs and outputs. Honestly, I would recommend purchasing one anyway. They're the first thing that anyone doing any serious audio recording should purchase and a lot of other audio peripherals won't work without one.

For example, this is what the front and back of my audio interface looks like:


Edit: I just saw that you had a sound card on the windows machine that had the appropriate input for the Roland's audio out. Yeah, I'm afraid you will need an external USB or FireWire sound card on the Mac or an audio interface. I recommend springing for an interface and never looking back.

When you do get one, select the external card/interface for output under the OSX system prefs/sound and make sure Logic has it set as the output device as well. Then you can plug your headphones into that and hear the entire mix (Roland sounds included).

Hi Adric

Thanks again for your (quick) response!

The setup I had on my Windows PC was pretty simple:

Midi-Keyboard to JV1010 -> midi to PC (Terratec EWS64 Soundcard)
Audio-out of the JV1010 (big jack, on the front) to mini-jack of the Audio input of my PC (at the back)

In this setup I was able to hear myself play when using the JV1010 sounds (in Cubase that was), but also the playback would allow me to hear the recordings using the sounds of the JV1010

I did some more research, and it seems the Macbook Pro audio out (headphone jack) can also be changed to an audio-in. So in principle I could hook up my JV1010 with a supplementary audio-cable directly into my Mac.

But..... where do I plugin my headphones? I do not want to record using the Macbook Pro's speakers.

The audio interface that you mentioned might solve the problem in my case, but is there not some sort of a cheaper solution to use? For instance, I have an additional USB port left. Could I connect a USB headphones to my Mac (not sure if that is even possible). Or is there some sort of small adapter that I can use that inputs the audio sound, but at the same time allows me to use headphones to listen to it.

Note: Another option I have in mind (see the back of the JV1010) is to connect the stereo output (2 big jacks) to a small jack connect to the audio input from my Macbook Pro, and then use the front big jack of the JV1010 to plugin my headphones. The problem that remains is that I will be then limited to only using the JV1010.

Buc021 said:

Hi Adric

Thanks again for your (quick) response!

The setup I had on my Windows PC was pretty simple:

Midi-Keyboard to JV1010 -> midi to PC (Terratec EWS64 Soundcard)
Audio-out of the JV1010 (big jack, on the front) to mini-jack of the Audio input of my PC (at the back)

In this setup I was able to hear myself play when using the JV1010 sounds (in Cubase that was), but also the playback would allow me to hear the recordings using the sounds of the JV1010

I did some more research, and it seems the Macbook Pro audio out (headphone jack) can also be changed to an audio-in. So in principle I could hook up my JV1010 with a supplementary audio-cable directly into my Mac.

But..... where do I plugin my headphones? I do not want to record using the Macbook Pro's speakers.

The audio interface that you mentioned might solve the problem in my case, but is there not some sort of a cheaper solution to use? For instance, I have an additional USB port left. Could I connect a USB headphones to my Mac (not sure if that is even possible). Or is there some sort of small adapter that I can use that inputs the audio sound, but at the same time allows me to use headphones to listen to it.

Note: Another option I have in mind (see the back of the JV1010) is to connect the stereo output (2 big jacks) to a small jack connect to the audio input from my Macbook Pro, and then use the front big jack of the JV1010 to plugin my headphones. The problem that remains is that I will be then limited to only using the JV1010.

Click to expand...

Yeah that's the conundrum. I wonder if Bluetooth headphones would work? Might be worth looking into that.

External sound cards will probably have the headphone output separate from the audio input for a lot less money than an interface. I've seen external usb sound cards go for 30 or 40 bucks.

Perhaps I should use an adapter like this (to hear myself playing when connecting the JV1010 through audio cables to my Mac)



But I am not sure that if the audio-out (headphone jack on my Mac) is changed to audio in (connecting the JV1010's output to my Mac's audio input) if through such USB adapter I am still able to hear the sound when connecting headphones to this USB adapter. Would the Mac mute the sound for output through USB (in case I changed the audio-out to audio-in on the headphone jack) ?

A Behringer UCA222 would do that, and it's about $30. 2 in, 2 out (in this scenario you probably won't be using the out) interface.

It's a pretty crappy interface, but better than most options at that kind of price I would imagine.

Buc021 said:

Perhaps I should use an adapter like this (to hear myself playing when connecting the JV1010 through audio cables to my Mac)

But I am not sure that if the audio-out (headphone jack on my Mac) is changed to audio in (connecting the JV1010's output to my Mac's audio input) if through such USB adapter I am still able to hear the sound when connecting headphones to this USB adapter. Would the Mac mute the sound for output through USB (in case I changed the audio-out to audio-in on the headphone jack) ?

Click to expand...

Sorry I've been absent for a while. Been busy with work and I had a wedding to attend to out of state.

Anyhoo... when your Mac detects more than one sound card / audio device, you have to select which one you want to use in the sound preferences window in system prefs. Selecting the USB sound device will disable that internal device which includes the speakers on the computer and the headphone port as well. All of the computer's sound will be re routed through the USB card.

So in other words, the audio input/output on the computer will be disabled while you are using that USB device. You have to select one or the other in system prefs.