New buyer, need some A,B,C advice...

[Mike Hamilton]

Hi Guys, I am buying a DM48X for a dear old friend of mine who is an avid player, however he has had 2 strokes, losing use of his one hand and he just fell and broke his hip and pelvis, he was almost crippled before from the strokes.  

Anyway I am buying this for him so that he can play while he is in the hospital and to be able to play silently through headphones once he gets home.

My request is simple, which is to know some basic ABC's on how to properly interface this to a computer or mobile device so that it actually works, as I understand it on its own it will not play.  Everything sounds great on the youtube videos, BUT that is after all the interfacing and software packages or integrated, this part I know next to nothing about.....

some simple do's and dont's would be very helpful along with WHAT ELSE I will need to buy beyond the DM48X to actually listen through headpphones either at a computer or away from a computer (via phone? I guess).

If there are any interfacing for dummies kind of video out there I would greatly appreciate anything that can be shared to minimize an extensive learning curve....  I dont want to get caught after purchasing the unit then finding out it wont make a sound with this, that and more and more stuff and tweaking etc.  Please help explain what exactly I am getting into with this idea....

Thank you, Mike

[Rudy Larsen]

Hi Mike

I can tell you what I did last May, but I will add some caveats. The best device to play the Lekholm is with Apple products.
Therefore, I bought a refurfished iPad on Amazon.
 
https://a.co/d/i5eGg3W

I had good luck with this purchase. It almost looked brand new, it still had a phonojack for wired earpods and it had plenty of memory for loading Apple synthesizer music programs purchased in their store once you register the device with Apple.
I updated the operating system in May to iOS 15.
(I believe the latest is now iOS16.)
And I started downloading Apple Apps.
I now have these on the iPad:
Thumbjam
Sensual Sax
Garage Band
ReasonCompact
Heavy Brass
GeoShred Pro (most complicated)
Some of these apps are very simple and have simpler sounds. Some are complicated and more expensive and you must purchase additional sampled instruments, which sound more realistic through the App.

The iPad will connect via Bluetooth to the DM48X. But you must enable that connection through a setting within the App that you select to use. Then the sound will play through the iPad's speaker or through earpads or headphones connected to the minijack on this older generation iPad. You can also connect a portable powered speaker.
The caveat I must add is that as an older iPad (6th generation) Apple may at some point discontinue allowing updates. So you may want to get a newer generation iPad.
The downside is these no longer have earphone jacks and assume you are using the bluetooth for wireless headphones, while you want to use the bluetooth to wirelessly connect your DM48X. There may be a way to get an adapter to connect through the Lightning port. But I have not as yet pursued this.
This is only my setup. I am sure there are many other versions that blog members can recommend.  Please feel free to add comments. Especially, with the newer iPads and iPhones that have no earphone jacks. Thanks all and Happy Holidays.
Rudy aka Rockamonica.