This is, by far, the cheapest option right now for a comparable length USB MIDI interface cable: a measly . For those who want a straight answer: yes, it works. For me. If yours doesn’t, HDE has a great return policy.

PROS:
– Very easy setup, driver installs automatically within seconds
– Windows XP, Vista 32 and 64-bit compatible
– Very cheap, while offering an authentic USB MIDI interface

CONS:
– Cord is a little too short for me–about 5 feet
– High latency. Latency is the time it takes for input from your keyboard to reach your computer, and in my experience the latency for this interface is really high–around a quarter to three quarters of a second. This makes it very hard to play live accompaniment to background music you’ve created. However, if you disable MIDI playback in your sequencing program and just listen to the notes as they’re played on your keyboard, you can shift all of the notes in your program after you’ve finished and it works just fine. It’s a couple extra steps per song, or a couple dozen more dollars for a faster cord :3
– Those lights on the converter are annoying!

NOTES
– When setting up, if you are getting no sound, try switching the MIDI IN/OUT ports on your input device. On Yamaha products, “MIDI IN” goes into the keyboard’s “MIDI OUT” port, etc. so you can’t just match them up!

Quick note: make sure the ‘In’ plug goes into your ‘Out’ on your keyboard and vice-versa.
I bought this to work with a game like guitar hero, but for the piano, Synthesia. The game plays the notes on your computer screen, and then the music comes out your keyboard (best to prevent lag).
I experience practically no lag when working with Mixcraft, using the sound driver “Wave-RT” in the settings. Mixcraft is a fun music recording studio program.

I am a newbie to Garageband and quickly realized that I needed a MIDI keyboard. I already had an old Casio from the ’90’s but no cables to attach to my Macbook Pro. I was close to buying the M-Audio interface that costs , but I didn’t want to spend too much money as this is only a hobby. So I bought this cheapy thing not knowing if it would work. Well, I plugged in one of the MIDI outputs into my keyboard and stuck the USB end into the Macbook, thinking that the next step would be to hunt for and install a driver, but Garageband immediately recognized my Casio keyboard and I was able to use it right away! I was so stoked because I saved myself a lot of money.