[sdiy] Buy (bare) keyboard?

[dj hohum]

The short answer is yes, I sequence them. But there's really quite a
bit more to it than that, not in terms of complexity or skill, that
isn't what I'm saying, I mean in terms of the purpose of keyboards and
synthesizers.

Synthesizers make sounds. They are one choice in the studio, Other
choices are acoustic instruments, samplers, the dog, etc.

Keyboards translate human physical motion into a note values and
timing using a standard method. They are but one choice in the studio.
Other choices include drum pads, acoustic instruments, non-standard
controllers, sequencers, chains of sequencers, etc.

You ask, how do you "play" your synthesizers? And I ask you the same
thing. How can one possible play synthesizers with one or both hands
on the keyboards? To play a synthesizer requires changing the sound in
more than one domain. The time and pitch domain are often controlled
by a keyboard in some way, but the timbre domain is controlled by
knobs, jacks, switches, etc (yes, also the keyboard). To create
interesting timbres in real time one cannot, IMNSHO, rely alone on
preset modulation sources.

I have a few keyboards in my studio. But they are typically used as
input devices to a sequencer only. Having one on each synth just means
that they get in the way and force an unnatural form factor on the
synthesizer.

I do use keyboards live. But, I like them for both impromptu sequence
recording as well as soloing. Hence, it makes more sense to me to
think of a keyboard as simply an input device to a sequencer. It is a
simple matter to have the sequencer route the data through if I wish
to use a particular synthesizer as a solo instrument.

That said, I find keyboards are limiting in the same way that every
mechanism designed to extract pitch and timing information from two
human hands is limiting. It is a challenge to play guitar riffs on a
keyboard and keyboard riffs on a guitar (with appropriate midi
converter and sound module). The interfaces themselves enforces
certain limitations imposed by physics.

While one can argue that the timbre of a piano has vast variation,
nonetheless, it pretty much always sounds like a piano. One has to try
very hard to get a vastly different sound out of such an instrument.
This is not true with the synthesizer. Yet, because of the legacy of
the keyboard/piano interface we typically modify timbre mechanically
while controlling pitch and timing manually.

This is but one choice. Sequencers turn this equation around. They
modify pitch and timing mechanically freeing our hands to be divided
equally among pitch/timbre/timing as we see fit.

Basically, I see keyboards as merely a notation input device and they
have little or nothing to do with synthesis. In practice I'm far more
interested in complex dynamic timbre than complex dynamic
pitch/timging and so a keyboard is a physical handicap for playing
simple riffs whose timbre changes dramatically over time.

If I may paraphrase Kraftwerk, I don't want music with human feel, I
want music that sounds like it was made by machines.

To put things in perspective, my desert island record, as it were,
would have to be Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works part 2.


On 6/27/07, BR <phonotron at yahoo.com> wrote:
> This is interesting.. so how do you play your
> synthesizers?  as just sequenced midi-controlled sound
> modules?  I have a bit of a hard time getting used to
> this idea.  I'm learning to play the keyboard now,
> with all the music theory involved, because I'm used
> to thinking of playing the instrument in terms of
> playing a piano.  New types of control are needed, and
> Im always interested to hear of developments in the
> field, but as yet I know of no better way to
> physically interface with the machine...
>
> __________________________________________________________
>
> Well, I certainly can't speak for others, but, I find
> the most
> irritating thing about many of my synths is that they
> have keyboards
> attached. :)
>
> Seriously though, I can't imagine what the value of
> building a CV
> keyboard is? Perhaps someone can enlighten me. I think
> a midi keyboard
> plus midi2cv converter is the most common method of
> connecting a
> keyboard to a diy synth.
>
> Many modern monosynths don't even use a CV keyboard.
> Rather, they use
> a micro and a scanned board along with a DAC to
> generate the CV for
> the synth.
>
>
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