[sdiy] Synth Keybards and Number of Keys

Thu Mar 1 19:04:25 CET 2007

Robert,

I cant speak for anyone else, but from my own design perspective and
experience as a consumer.

One noteworthy aspect of my perspective is that I trained as a pianist
first, but lean towards synths and Digital Audio Workstation Synths most (or
88 key weighted digital ensembles fed to synths via midi because I hate
synth keyboards in general). I guess that how one learns and what they learn
on is as big a factor as any. I play mostly pop and rock (although classical
music does feature on occasion) but I prefer to do so on a synth, but with a
keyboard that has piano style action and weight.

This topic is particularly relevant to me because I have had a number of
components factory built for my own custom-built 88 key keyboard and Im in
the process of assembling and finishing said bits. The motivation for this
was that I dont like the feel of synth keyboards, but I need access to 3
dimensions of expression which I can only get through electronic means.
(velocity, displacement and individual aftertouch). I can also adjust my key
action.

For the record, the construction is as follows:

Keys are all wooden
Chassis is galvanised steel (2mm)
There is one universal pivot point which is 6mm hardened steel rod,
supported every octave and fed through the keys at the pivot point.
The keys have brass bushes so the wood doesnt wear / drag against the rod.
The overall dimensions are: 1447mm x 680mm x 100mm (front) and 160mm (rear)
The displacement sensing is achieved through optical devices, actuated by
steel linkage mounted at the bottom of each key.
Velocity sensing is through normal means (timed changover)
Aftertouch is achieved using QTC pills, feeding multichannel ADC's
MIDI protocol is NOT used at all internally, but a midi handler is designed
to take inputs and outputs and map them to the higher definition signals of
the keyboard internals.
I am also experimenting with recreating string vibrato effects through
sensors on the key tops and would be interested in any work that others are
doing in this area too.

The thing weighs an absolute TON (well actually, its a little over 80Kg)
which raises another point regarding number of keys: Functionality,
ruggedness and reliability have to come at a price. This may be financial
(if you want to use the strongest space age materials) or weight (if you
want to go for wood and steel).

Over the years, I have owned a vast numbert of keyboards, pianos and digital
ensembles.
Obviously I bought them at the time because there was something about each
product that "sold me". Unfortunately though, I have always found that there
things about each product that are as irritating as hell.

There can be little more irritating to take delivery of a brand spanking new
76 key Triton only to fire it up, start to play Chopins Piano Concerto #2
(complete with orchestral backing) and run....out....of....KEYS!
<uncontrollable twitching ensues>

Fact is, over the years, Ive realised a few things (these are all of course
just my opinions based on my needs / wants):

1) Im never going to win the lottery
2) The traditional keyboard (61 / 76 / 88 key velocity sensitive) is too
generic, hasnt progressed in like 30 years and is either too restrictive or
too wasteful of real estate to be a "one size fits all". IMHO MIDI has to
take a fair amount of the blame for the stagnation (and poor scope) of most
modern keyboards. Frankly, I hate it. It does have to be said however, that
what it doesnt do is restrict the number of keys to only 61 or 76.
3) 88 Keys is essential for piano-based parts because even if the piece
you're playing doesnt use all those notes (and lets face it, not many do),
if you decide to get "freaky" and run up and down the machine, it doesnt
hurt to have a little extra room. Synth parts where you want exceptionally
high or exceptionally low notes certainly make use of the extra keys.
4) Most other musical instruments dont need anywhere near as many as 88
notes...so a piano keyboard is a waste of space for these examples.
5) With the above in mind, I decided that a general compromise is probably
the best way to go: 88 key keyboard for piano and synth parts and several
smaller keyboards for other instruments ranging from a 2 octave keyboard for
whistles, pipes etc up to 5 octave for other instruments. It is impractical
to house all of these in the same device unless you're okay with an organ
style setup and have no need or desire to take your machine "gigging".
Getting a flight case for a roland or korg 61/76/88 key keyboard is a darn
sight easier than building a "crate" for a 1 ton behemoth with 4 keyboards a
pedalboard and other bits and pieces....
So having the keyboards external with mounting points / brackets / swivel
arms etc is probably the way to go.

I still dont really get why keyboards were ever sold with 61 keys because -
unless you're only ever going to play TV theme tunes single finger style -
it just doesnt cut it in my view. Of course, some very notable musicians
have achieved great things with smaller keyboards so what do I know....but
its interesting to read through some back issues of magazines where "such
and such" from some group or another reviews a particular machine and says
that it "only has 61 note keyboard" and most professionals were using
Kurzweil 88 key machines as soon as they were available....
Perhaps the desire has been there all along and perhaps the synth
manufacturers are just slow to respond. Who knows. But 30 years is too long
for the same rough spec to survive and I think it should be put out to
pasture.

EK

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "R. D. Davis" <rdd at rddavis.org>
To: "Synth-DIY (list)" <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 7:43 AM
Subject: [sdiy] Synth Keybards and Number of Keys

> Hi Everyone, hopefully the following questions aren't too far
> off-topic, but they'll appear more SDIYish by the end of the
> message. :-)
>
> Something that puzzles me every now and then is the question of why so
> many synthesizers have been designed with less than eighty-eight keys.
> Going from a piano to a synth keyboard with only five octaves can be
> quite frustrating, but I see that many synths have even fewer than
> five octaves.  Organs, on the other hand, have even more keys to play
> with.  Given that synths could use far more keys, to divide the keys
> up into regions of different sounds, and, or, a truly usable range of
> frequencies, on two or three levels of keyboards (manuals?), plus
> pedals, why do 88-key keyboards, seem to be somewhat of a rarity, and
> organ-style keyboards almost unheard of?  One would think that synths
> keyboards would have begun taking on more of the appearance of mighty
> Wurlitzers, with all sorts of additional knobs and switches, by now.
>
> Getting to the SDIY angle of this post, how many here typically use
> more than one keyboard at a time with their SDIY projects, or retrofit
> organs with more than 88 keys for synths?
>
> Happy SDIYing!
>
> Robert
>
> -- 
> R. D. Davis 410-744-4900  Beware & halt the National Animal ID System
> (NAIS)!
> www.rddavis.org             http://nonais.org  http://www.libertyark.org
> www.danglingspiders.com
> http://www.rddavis.org/equitation/freedom-vs-id.html
> Dangling Spiders Electronic Music Studio       http://www.stopanimalid.org 

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