When you're buying your first keyboard, there are several things you need to keep in mind in order to make sure you're buying the instrument that will suit your needs for years to come. The truth is most keyboards look the same from far away: they have white keys, black keys, and beginners don't see a whole lot different when they look at an entry level model and a serious instrument costing thousands of dollars. What are these essential differences?
The biggest difference might not be immediately detectable with your eyes, but it is with your hands. The weight of the keys separates the low from the high-end instruments. All instruments are designed not just to produce sound, but to be played. With stringed instruments (violins and guitars, technically pianos are string instruments as the hammers hit the strings, but this isn't the case with keyboards) a huge factor is the distance of the strings from the fret board. This makes playing the note easier to do. It's about feel. Similarly, when a keyboard has really light keys, the response is funny.
It's hard to get that right touch. Some pieces require soft, mellow notes at first, but might switch drastically to a bolder sound. If the keys can't account for this sensitivity, it's a basic instrument. Even if you don't have serious musical demands, a beginner can feel the difference right away between a beginner keyboard and something higher up. However, it's a consideration they might not make at first on their own. Get a keyboard that feels right for you.
A keyboard isn't only for playing piano songs anymore. With MIDI, keyboards hook up into computers and are commonly used as synths. This enables the keyboard to produce the sounds of nearly an endless amount of instruments. If you have this software, and this is your primary interest, then the programmed sounds the keyboard offers is less important. But this isn't the case with everybody. If you're a keyboard player and you're not looking to make beats or songs on your computer, you'll need to take time to get used to the various sounds your keyboard offers. The range might include various kinds of grand pianos, organs, harpsichords, and other stringed instruments. Some keyboards go further and offer various percussion sounds and other instruments that aren't strings. Beware of keyboards that offer gimmicks like this: many of them are designed to entice buyers with the novelty, rather than the quality of its sounds. On the other hand, if you're starting out or simply looking to have fun and make music with your friends, this might be perfectly fine. But you'll notice that many of the keyboards with dozens of built in synth sounds also have very light, unresponsive keys.
The important thing is to know what you're looking for and to understand the essential difference between these two grades of m-audio keyboards -those with high quality keys and sounds and those of multiple sounds and low-grade keys. Of course most instruments fall somewhere in between, but this spectrum offers a useful way to consider the relative quality of the instrument you're considering.
The biggest difference might not be immediately detectable with your eyes, but it is with your hands. The weight of the keys separates the low from the high-end instruments. All instruments are designed not just to produce sound, but to be played. With stringed instruments (violins and guitars, technically pianos are string instruments as the hammers hit the strings, but this isn't the case with keyboards) a huge factor is the distance of the strings from the fret board. This makes playing the note easier to do. It's about feel. Similarly, when a keyboard has really light keys, the response is funny.
It's hard to get that right touch. Some pieces require soft, mellow notes at first, but might switch drastically to a bolder sound. If the keys can't account for this sensitivity, it's a basic instrument. Even if you don't have serious musical demands, a beginner can feel the difference right away between a beginner keyboard and something higher up. However, it's a consideration they might not make at first on their own. Get a keyboard that feels right for you.
A keyboard isn't only for playing piano songs anymore. With MIDI, keyboards hook up into computers and are commonly used as synths. This enables the keyboard to produce the sounds of nearly an endless amount of instruments. If you have this software, and this is your primary interest, then the programmed sounds the keyboard offers is less important. But this isn't the case with everybody. If you're a keyboard player and you're not looking to make beats or songs on your computer, you'll need to take time to get used to the various sounds your keyboard offers. The range might include various kinds of grand pianos, organs, harpsichords, and other stringed instruments. Some keyboards go further and offer various percussion sounds and other instruments that aren't strings. Beware of keyboards that offer gimmicks like this: many of them are designed to entice buyers with the novelty, rather than the quality of its sounds. On the other hand, if you're starting out or simply looking to have fun and make music with your friends, this might be perfectly fine. But you'll notice that many of the keyboards with dozens of built in synth sounds also have very light, unresponsive keys.
The important thing is to know what you're looking for and to understand the essential difference between these two grades of m-audio keyboards -those with high quality keys and sounds and those of multiple sounds and low-grade keys. Of course most instruments fall somewhere in between, but this spectrum offers a useful way to consider the relative quality of the instrument you're considering.
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