My first keyboard; what should I get?
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Topic: My first keyboard; what should I get?
Posted By: Aequitas
Subject: My first keyboard; what should I get?
Date Posted: October 11 2005 at 12:53
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Well today I got the huge idea to buy muself a keyboard. The problem is
that I have never done this before, so I tought I'd ask you people what
I should look for. I know that I'll be able to handle the playing to a certain degre. I do have piano fingers and my nerves are quite loosened up seeing as I manage to type farly well on the computer. Yes I do know that there is a different but I tryed out the theory on my curently owned, but very old, keyboard that my dad bought to my sister when she was just a child. I also know the basics of the body parts of these keyboards, however I've allways looked on myself as more of a Guitar or Drumm kind of person and never took much intrest in the keyboard. I have no idea what finger to place on what key, if that mathers at all or not, and if this information plays any importance since this will be the first I'll buy. However I have serious practicing intentions, and I will not get something just for the practice. I started a bit of practice on my sister's the other day and it's really a funny instrument, I must say, alltough the sounds on that one could be bether.  But yea, I'm looking for something that I can also use as I advance in the playing. I have no idea of how many octaves you people would sugest. I'd also like to get something with that cool thing that you bend to make the sound turn lower or higher! that would be awesome! I have no idea wether I'm making a fool out of myself by this thread, or not, but I could pratically care less about that. Please be so kind to tell me what I should check out when I look for these keyboards, what futures I should look on. How do I see that this is a good keyboard, in other words? What kind of futures do you recomend? There arent that many musical shops in my area so dont be so technically spesific here. I could of course order one but I'd rather check the shops first. As for how many money I'd like to spend... well I have no idea, actually. I'm willingly happy to pay a bit for it, atleast, aslong as I get a good instrument for the money. Of course I'm also an avredge middle class studen and have thus an avredge middle class income. Your advices would be really helpfull, I believe. |
Replies:
Posted By: James Lee
Date Posted: October 11 2005 at 15:16
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Things to look for: 1. MIDI - there are some keyboards that don't have MIDI, so make sure the one you get has it. It's basically just a connection that allows you to play and control other synths with one keyboard (and do things like record and play back music with a sequencer, and play sounds from your PC). The great thing about MIDI is that if you find a keyboard that feels good to your hands but lacks good sounds, it can control any number of other synths with better sounds. 2. Velocity-sensitive - this just means when you press a key harder, the sound is louder. Several cheap synths (and some not-so-cheap older synths!) don't have it, and you'll want it if you hope to be at all realistic or expressive with your playing. 3. Keyboard types: "Sample based" is the most common, that just means that all the sounds are based on recordings of 'real' instruments. Roland, Korg and Yamaha are the main brands. If you want to record your own sounds, or have a wider selection to choose from, a "sampler" is the way to go- Emu, Akai, and Yamaha make the best ones. "Analog" refers to the classic synths of prog, the warm and spacey sounds. Moog was the big one, but there were many others as well. You'll probably want to wait before getting into analogs- they're usually pretty expensive and you'll trade ease of use and variety for quality and authenticity. "FM" (frequency modulation) was big in the 80s, and is a bit limited and retro-sounding but fun to experiment with (the Yamaha DX7 was the main one, lots of bells and electric piano type sounds) "Analog Modelling" is a newer high-tech way to recreate analog sounds (classic and modern) using digital technology. Still relatively expensive, but more flexible than classic synths and most of them sound pretty similar to the originals. The Korg MicroSynth is my favorite, but Access and Novation have great models too. Hope this helps! A lot of information, but basically you can just play around until you find something that feels good and sounds good. It's much easier than guitar-shopping, because you can test a synth's sounds without really being able to play.  ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/sollipsist/?chartstyle=kaonashi"> 
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Posted By: Aequitas
Date Posted: October 11 2005 at 19:11
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That really helped, thanks a whole lot! I'll head right in the shop tomorrow and have a look. And wow, I tought MIDI was a horible out dated future.  MIDI files usually fail to sound good on computer, but I see how they could work if they used the keyboard interface as a structure to create sound. Also, I had no idea technology had reached the point where one can record one's own sound! That's quite cool. But how does the sound transfer to the keyboard? Please tell me more about this future. How does it work? :) As you can guess, I'm really out of the technology world of keyboards. I have no friends that play this instrument so I cant really catch up on it all that easily, you see. But thank you kindly, that was big help! :) |
Posted By: Winterfamily
Date Posted: October 16 2005 at 16:41
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Clavia Nord Lead is an interesting analog- modelling synth. Good for
effects and noises and also for melodies, since it has a nice built- in
sound library. You can buy it as a keyboard or as a keyboardless module
(to use with a master keyboard or plugged to a midi sequencer). And NEVER try Yamaha DX7 unless you want to spent your time fighting against the worst control system ever made!!! Create your own sounds with that ugly black'n green b*****d can be a long and frustrating nightmare, and its technology is completely updated (if i remember well, it doesn't even have MIDI). Peter Hammill uses it onstage because it has very realistic piano sounds, however. Hope you find this useful! Good luck! ------------- "If I only had time..." |
Posted By: crazycloud
Date Posted: October 19 2005 at 16:08
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hey i was diggin on the new apple i mac a the mall and they had it set up with garage band and a nice keyboard hooke into it.. garageband sure has a lot of bells and whistles.... if you really want to get good playing the keys get an old electric piano .. i found one like this one at a church sale for 25 bucks in college... it kicked ass!!! it's a fender rhodes suitcase piano circa 1980!
------------- And it's high time Cymbaline It's high time |
Posted By: Runaway
Date Posted: October 19 2005 at 21:49
| Get a mellotron... |
Posted By: King of Loss
Date Posted: October 19 2005 at 22:20
If you have the money, try buying a Kurzwell 
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Posted By: stonebeard
Date Posted: October 23 2005 at 01:57
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^ Really, KOL, a bottom - end Kurzwell isn't that expensive. $600 or thereabouts. Weighted keys (like those on a grand piano) are a very good way to go. I have a pretty cheap Yamaha, but it gets the job done. Whatever the job is, I don't really know, but it great for relating my theory to practical training. ------------- http://soundcloud.com/drewagler" rel="nofollow - My soundcloud. Please give feedback if you want! |
Posted By: Pastasauce
Date Posted: October 23 2005 at 14:35
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I'd go for the synth if I were you or get some synth's on your PC and
get a MIDI keyboard. 61 keys is well enough if it's a keyboard because
you can play in the bass and treble at a different time and you can
transpose, velocity sensitive is a must. I have a Yamaha PRS 295 you could get that, I'm very pleased with it. ------------- Don't invest too much effort in your life, you won't make it out of it alive anyway. |
Posted By: Sam_Carey
Date Posted: November 10 2005 at 05:09
| Buy a Hammond, u cant like prog rock if you dont Like hammonds! |