The aim of this article is to help all those who want to undertake the adventure of buying a musical keyboard, either to learn or to improve the one they already have, it is always difficult to make this decision given a large number of options that exist in the market. But if you are on a budget, then you can check out this cheap alternative.
Number Of Keys
The first thing we should do is to segment all the possibilities and characteristics in order to direct our gaze towards a smaller group of products and facilitate the purchase decision ... as it takes time and knowledge is required, we are going to do it for you. It goes without saying that this categorization has a lot of subjective and everyone can do theirs, for our part we start from the basis of our experience on the needs of buyers.
Apart from the number of keys that the keyboard has, these can also be of the normal type or mini-keys, although this is a smaller segment.
25 Keys
They are the smallest keyboards, they allow us to play practically with only one hand and they are useful for the live one in which we only need small support or a shot of sequences or samples using keys. They are easy to transport and economical due to their lower number of keys, although not as much as one might think compared to 49 or 61 keys since the control part is usually common to the various models of a range of brand and the keys they are the cheapest component. You may want to check out Allpianos.com recommendation, to see what they can offer in this segment.
49 or 61 Keys
They allow to play with both hands and the difference of an octave in the 61 is definitely something that who knows how to play the piano will value because it will allow you to make longer phrasing. The extra keys can also be used as control or articulation adjustment keys, which is useful when shooting from the keyboard certain sounds loaded in software samplers.
While the keyboards of 49 keys are usually soft key, in the range of 61 keys we find marks that offer double or triple choice, soft keys (softkey), remastered (semi weighted), or counterbalanced acoustic piano style (fully weighted).
76 and 88 Keys
They are definitely a professional option, given that it is rare for a beginner to buy a keyboard of these characteristics unless the beginning of regulated piano studies is seriously considered, for which one of these keyboards is undoubtedly necessary; not only by the amount of available octaves, corresponding to those of a classical acoustic piano, which will allow him to practice and interpret classical or blues-jazz works with him, but because they are normally keyboards with a counterbalanced touch, also called "fully weighted"
Additional Control Elements
Very often the keyboards, especially those belonging to the group of MIDI controllers, therefore lacking internal sounds and audio outputs, have a large number of extra control elements on their front panel (Pad keys, faders, encoders, controls).
