Choosing the right digital keyboard piano can feel overwhelming with so many models to consider. I’ll guide you through the different types, helping you make an informed decision whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned performer looking to expand your collection.
Convenience and cost are major reasons why many people today prefer digital keyboards over acoustic pianos. This instrument’s versatility greatly appeals to musicians. Access to hundreds or thousands of sounds is a big advantage for music writers. It’s also lightweight, making it easy to carry, and more affordable.
Types of Digital Keyboards
Most digital keyboards look quite similar, but manufacturers add extra features and frequently upgrade them with more complex mechanisms. I’ll explore each type and highlight the unique features they offer musicians.
Digital Pianos
These digital home pianos come in three types: portable, upright, and grand. The most popular is the portable piano, which you can bring anywhere. It suits beginners, intermediate, and professional pianists. Just place it on any surface since it doesn’t have wooden legs. It also has a retractable metal stand, making it easy to set up.
The digital and acoustic upright and grand pianos share a similar look with their lacquered finish. Digital pianos are lighter, making them easier to move. Although they also feature 88 keys, they use analog sensors and computer chips instead of strings and hammers to create sound. Features depend on the brand, but some digital pianos offer 128-voice polyphony, demo songs, MIDI recorder, lesson functions, and various ports for easy computer connection.
Stage Pianos
Built for the road, the stage piano is a portable digital keyboard that gigging professionals tend to reach for. It looks much like a digital home piano but uses tougher materials so it can take a beating night after night. Its feature set is usually slimmer than what you get on an arranger keyboard. Some brands bundle a keyboard stand and music rack in the box, while others charge for those and the sustain pedal on the side.
Organ Digital Keyboard
The authentic organ uses pipes to create its distinctive sound, and many old churches employed this majestic instrument for special liturgical rites. Today, you can produce vintage organ music with a smaller, compact electronic organ. You don’t need hundreds of metal pipes anymore, as modern organs can mimic a massive pipe organ easily.
Arranger Keyboards
This type of keyboard, often called a one-man-band by musicians, is ideal for solo performers. An arranger keyboard offers access to various instrument sounds at the press of a button. Its built-in auto-accompaniment feature includes bass, drums, and more, making solo performances easy. The recording capability with USB connectivity enhances its appeal for both amateur and professional songwriters.
Workstations
The digital workstation upgrades the arranger keyboard, essentially putting a computer in a keyboard. It includes everything a producer needs to shape song details, including sampling, effects layering, sequencing, filtering, recording, and editing. Many have built-in synthesizers. The workstation keyboard is the total package for songwriters, musical arrangers, and record producers.
Synthesizers
Need new sounds or want to craft unique ones for a song? The synthesizer keyboard is your answer. It offers a library of effects, filters, and tones you can manipulate easily. With numerous presets, mixing sounds becomes simple. While features vary by brand, most provide from basic to advanced keyboards. Synthesizers create special sounds and beats through analog or digital processing, unlike standard keyboards.
Terms Commonly Used in Digital Keyboards
Musical instruments are constantly improving, with new tools and mechanisms regularly introduced. Naturally, this leads to more complex terminology. To fully appreciate modern electronic keyboards, it’s crucial to know the common terms. Familiarity with them helps you explore all options when selecting your keyboard.
Action refers to how keys feel when pressed during play. You’ll often see: Weighted action, Semi-weighted action, Synth-action, and Hammer action. Weighted and Semi-weighted mimic an acoustic piano’s response. Synth-action feels like playing an organ with no resistance. Hammer action uses mechanical hammers, similar to a classic acoustic piano.
Computer Connectivity: Modern electronic instruments come with various ports like USB, Firewire, MIDI, mLAN, and Bluetooth. This lets you easily connect to a computer for audio file transfer, storage, or editing. With Bluetooth, the digital keyboard can access cloud-based music libraries from smartphones or tablets.
Controllers: The wheels, knobs, and sliders on the keyboard console control your music editing, mixing, and playback.
Input/Output: Professional musicians quickly check the input and output terminals at the back of the keyboard. This helps avoid buying a separate interface by using the built-in audio ins/outs. Connect gadgets like speakers, headphones, amplifiers, mixers, and DAWs through this terminal.
MIDI Compatibility: MIDI, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface, was introduced in the 1980s. This technology allows electronic instruments and computers to communicate. No matter the manufacturer, devices like sequencers, drum machines, synthesizers, and computers can share sounds if they are MIDI compatible.
The standard was first shown off in January 1983 at the NAMM show, where a Sequential Circuits Prophet-600 traded notes with a Roland Jupiter-6. That Prophet-600 was the first synth sold with MIDI built in, and the same wiring still lets keyboards from rival brands talk to each other today.
Multitimbrality: The feature of an electronic keyboard to play various sounds with different filters at the same time. Unlike polyphony, which plays multiple notes with individual envelopes, multitimbrality uses a single amplification envelope for all sounds.
Number of Keys: Universal piano keyboards typically have 88 keys. Some models come with 61 keys or even fewer.
Polyphony: This counts how many notes a digital keyboard can sound together at the same moment. A high polyphony count lets one instrument stand in for a whole orchestra. Push past that limit, though, and the keyboard starts cutting or dropping notes to keep up.
Sampler: A sampler is like a recording device, but you can also edit and play back the audio, not just record it.
Sequencer: Think of it as a multi-track recorder with more features. Using MIDI, you can record various files and play them back in any order.
Storage: This is the space where you store audio files. Electronic keyboards come with built-in storage or a USB port for transferring files to external devices like flash drives or smart media cards.
Touch or Velocity Sensitivity: The force or speed required to press the keys and produce sound.