Connecting Older MIDI keyboard to newer low-profile PC

This deals with a musical instrument so maybe it’d do better over at Cafe Society, but since it’s mostly a technical question I figure I’ll ask it here.

I’ve got an older (I think maybe late-80’s) Roland keyboard that has the big round MIDI connectors on the back. In the past, I used a cable that went from those connectors to a gameport, but I just got a new HP slimline which has no gameport and only two “low profile” PCI slots that my old soundcard won’t fit in.

So what do I need to do to get this thing connected? I would just get a new sound card, but as near as I can tell none of the ones that will fit in the little slots have gameports. Googling, I’ve seen some adapters that go from gameport to USB-- is this all I need?

Is this or this what you need?

Well, I’m hoping all I need is something like this: http://www.directron.com/gm168199.html?gsear=1

Or I see in terms of direct midi-to-usb cables there are ones that are $60 (like that one), but there’s also ones that are only a few bucks like this one on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/MIDI-Cable-Converter-Music-Keyboar/dp/B001LJUVO4

Is this just a matter of audiophiles being suckers for expensive cables, or is there actually some major functional difference in the $6 one versus the $60? Are the $6 ones just cable adapters that lack some sort of gizmo included in the $60 ones that I’ll need to make this work?

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these devices.

That being said, I would purchase the direct midi-USB cable and get rid of the game port connector completely. yes the cheaper one.

It’s virtually impossible to get a PC with a gameport nowadays, its obsolete. So the few products still supporting it seem to be selling at a premium. Can’t imagine how the $60 cable is superior in anyway to the $6 cable, and it adds the extra inconvenience of a go between port format.

I have an old roland keyboard, and I also have the cheap cable in your last link.

Works just fine.

When I first played using it, the latency was quite high but this is more to do with software, sound card issues etc (which were correctable in my case), than the interface.

First up, a USB game port adapter will not work - Creative started using unassigned pins on the game port to semi-expose the midi interface (to save space) and some other manufacturers followed suit, but a USB game port adapter will not include the midi interface hardware that a sound card might.

You need a USB-Midi interface, and given that a midi interface is just a specific sort of serial interface with opto-isolation, the cheap one should work just as well as the expensive one.

Si