I bought a midi controller how do I set it up ?

i came from reddit but they band me idk why

those bastards

Obvious troll is obvious.
That being said, a MIDI keyboard doesn't produce sounds by itself. The keyboard merely triggers a virtual instrument. Get a DAW like reaper and a freeware VST synth.

Audacity is not a DAW. It's an all purpose sound recorder profram, not a soundboard program.

program*

try multiplayerpiano.com
beware theres tons of javascript geniuses that play midi robots but still a cool site

if its all purpose than i should be able to use a midi controller with it?

you purchased a MIDI controller. you need a piece of software such as a VST or DAW to translate your midi notes into sound. audacity is neither a VST or a DAW (still based though)

It doesn't "trigger a virtual instrument", it just sends and receives MIDI, usually to a sequencer, which then handles sending that MIDI to a virtual instrument. The virtual instrument itself, unless a sampler like LinuxSampler or Kontakt is used, is what actually takes that midi and then triggers the corresponding sample to be played.

RTFM

Pirate Refx Rexus 2. Great synth rompler, tons of sounds to play with

Audacity is an audio editor, not a MIDI editor; it can load virtual effects but not load virtual instruments. To use your controller with a virtual instrument, you either need a stand-alone plugin host, sequencer or a sampler like sforzando/kontakt with a stand-alone interface. Check out sforzando if you're on Windows/Mac, or LinuxSampler and one of its front-ends like qsampler if you're looking for something stand-alone and lightweight.

Here are some free sample banks you can use:
virtualplaying.com/virtual-playing-orchestra/
ivyaudio.com/Piano-in-162
github.com/sgossner/VSCO-2-CE
sites.google.com/site/soundfonts4u/

You'll likely want the SFZ/SF2 versions unless you have Kontakt (I think the player is free?)

ok thank