Digital pianos: A digital piano has the same 88-key keyboard as an acoustic upright piano, but it replaces the metal strings and felt hammers with digital recordings of those strings. When pressed, the keys strike electronic contacts that play the corresponding samples. An amplifier replaces the sounding board that causes the strings of an acoustic piano to resonate, making a digital piano more compact than an acoustic piano. Console models have built-in speakers, while digital pianos for the stage are designed to connect to external speakers.
Workstations: Also called arranger keyboards, workstations are more sophisticated synthesizers that offer music sequencing and recording capabilities in addition to computer interfacing and sound synthesis. These keyboards are most suited for digital music studios.
If you hesitate to practice in front of someone, look for a keyboard with a headphone jack so that only you hear your music when you play.
The more keys, the greater the instrument’s range. A 25-key keyboard has only a 2-octave range, while a 49-key keyboard has a range of 4 octaves, a 61-key keyboard has a range of 5, a 76-key keyboard covers 6 octaves, and an 88-key keyboard spans 7. (Each octave includes 7 white and 5 black keys, or 12 chromatic tones. ) The larger the instrument, the more room there is for other features. The larger the instrument, however, the less portable it is. You may have to sacrifice the 7-octave range of an 88-key keyboard for a smaller unit that you can take with you if you like to jam with friends.
Touch sensitivity means that the strength of the sound is dependent on how firmly you press the keys. On a touch-sensitive keyboard, if you press the keys lightly, the sound is soft; if you hammer the keys, the sound is loud. Touch sensitivity is usually not available on low-end keyboards. Weighted keys require you to press them to move them downward, but they come back up on their own faster than unweighted keys. [2] X Research source The key weights add weight to the keyboard, making the keyboard cost more and be less portable, but they’re easier on your fingers if you plan to play for long stretches at a time.
Lower-end keyboards can play as few as 16 tones at once, while higher-end synthesizers and workstations can play as many as 128. Multitimbrality comes into play if you plan to produce music with the keyboard. It’s a definite asset in layering multiple sounds for a recording.
