Xperia Z tablet - MIDI Keyboard - NO AUDIO

[Sman7215]

I just got the Xperia Tablet Z and was hoping it would be a good MIDI setup for Caustic.  I already updated to 4.4.4.

As soon as the MIDI keyboard gets connected to the USB OTG cable, the audio on the Xperia shuts off for ALL apps.  No touch sounds, no nothing.  I tried with an M-Audio and an AKAI - both USB powered.  Same results.

I tried an app called MIDI monitor and indeed the keyboards are seen as MIDI devices and send proper MIDI data when played however since there is no sound coming out of the Xperia (speakers or headphones) it does little good.

I guess the Xperia sees the MIDI keyboard as an audio device and thus routes audio to it???

Has anybody been able to get the Xperia Z Tablet working with a MIDI keyboard and actually making sound?

[Sman7215]

FIgured this out.

Sony, like a number of other manufacturers have written bad MIDI drivers for their tablets.  These drivers see many MIDI keyboards as audio peripherals and attempt to route audio to them.  This does not work and on top of that often causes crashes with apps that need access to audio.

There is an app in the Play Store called SoundAbout which is designed to help with this.  It seemed to work but in the end serious lag and delays made things unusable with a MIDI keyboard.

MIDI has been important in the iOS world for a long time.  

Sony, if you want to make a tablet that's just as good as an iPad (and I hate iPads) then you better cover ALL the bases and test things.

Your latest software 4.4.4 for the Tablet Z simply does NOT work with MIDI keyboards like it is supposed to.

[swampnoodle]

I too bought a Z3 tablet thinking it would be great for music production with a midi keyboard..i read this post after getting no sound at all after plugging in a midi keyboard...I too installed sound about from google play and it now works fine..i am using caustic app and have only changed the api setting to opensl es  and just ticked the headphone only box on sound about and left everything else unticked hope this helps others.i have low latency and have the tablet plugged into the magnetic charging port and use the usb port for the keyboard all at the same time thus never running out of power....also i have a cheap bluetooth keyboard which i tried after getting no sound from the midi connection, and it played the keys in caustic but as i tried sound about i didn't need to test it further but i think it could be used as an alternative too.