All electronic devices that are connected to a Windows PC by either firewire or USB will require a driver to be installed so that the device can talk to the computer. In the case of audio interfaces and keyboards, they usually require a driver that is made by the manufacture, and can be either found on the included installer disk or downloaded from the manufactures website. In order for your new device to work properly you will need to confirm that the driver is installed correctly. This is a good skill to have since the process of checking and installing a device driver is the same for any computer device, be it a digital camera, printer, or audio interface.

1. Before connecting any device you should first install the driver program. Be sure to check your manual for specifics on how to install your device driver. Most devices come with a installer CD that will automatically launch when you put it into your computers disk drive. Follow the prompts to finish the installation.  Some people prefer to download their drivers from the manufactures website to ensure that they have the newest driver. Drivers are always free to download and are usually found in the Support section of their manufacture's website.

2. After you load the driver, the next step is to connect the device and let the driver install the device. When you first connect the device to your computer you should get a "Found New Hardware" wizard that pops up asking for you to install it.  In this "New Hardware" window, choose "No, Not at this time." and then "Next" to install automatically.  You should now see files moving from one folder to another. This means that the drivers are installing your device.  For audio interfaces, it is normal for the "Found New Hardware" window to pop up two or three times since they need more than one driver.

3. Once your drivers are installed you can double check to make sure that they did load properly. Since Windows sometimes loads some of it's generic drivers by accident,  it is possible that they were not loaded correctly.  This is a common cause that results in a call to tech support. You can check the driver install by doing the following Steps:

Go to Start > Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager

In the Device Manager window hit the "+" next to Sound, Video, & Game Controllers. This is where all the audio and music devices will be located.  If your new device is not listed by name or shows a "!" this means that it was not loaded correctly.  You can right click on the unknown device or "!" then select Update Driver. If this fails, you can go back to it and right click on the "!" and select Uninstall. then reboot your PC to force a reinstallation.

If you can not get the driver to properly load, then give tech support a call.