Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with keyboards

Piano, pianissimo.

VikingSword — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:17:02 -0800

Crazy old guy filter: Picking a keyboard. Learning to play the piano. How best? A friend was throwing out a bunch of books while moving, and I picked up "Piano for Dummies" by Blake Neely. I thought "how about delaying senility by exercising the old brain"?

So, I'd like to learn to play the piano - just a little. I realize the insanity of the ambition, but my excuse is that I have no illusions whatsoever, and I'm just having fun. I realize I'm never going to be wowing crowds, merely annoying the cat.

What I'd like to accomplish: learn enough, so that I can doodle out some melodies that rattle about in my head. You see, the extent of my insanity is such, that I'd like to pursue - purely for fun - some electronic music composition. I'm a life-long music lover, but have never ever played any instrument, not even a little. I'm also in my 40's. Yes, I am nuts. But I'd like to have some fun with this, and I am willing to put in the time and effort (60-90 minutes daily practice) for a long time without getting discouraged by meager results.

My evil plan: buy a keyboard, use the book to learn the basics.

The book is old, so I cannot follow any recommendations in it about specific keyboards. I need to go the electronic route on account of space and my ambition to produce some music down the road.

I gather that I need a keyboard, but I'm clueless as to what would work best given my goals (learn basics of piano playing + have something that can be useful in electronic music production).

Would it be a synth? A sampler/sequencer? An X? Which brand, model, configuration? I'm vaguely aware of features such as weighted keys and multi-note polyphony, but really, I'm an utter novice, so speak to me as if to a 5 year old. Is my plan horribly flawed?

Budget for the keyboard: $1,000 or less. Preferably not the size of a couch.

Specific recommendations very welcome!

Upbeat Synthpop

mccarty.tim — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:47:49 -0800

I'm interested in finding more upbeat-sounding synthpop or alt/pop singles with electronic elements for my music library. Good examples of what I've been liking include "Rocket" by Polysics, "Step Step Step" and "Exploding Impacting" by Belaire, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" by The Flaming Lips, and "Microwave" by The Soft Lightes. I also like a few B52 songs, and generally the entire discographies of Beck and REM, in case you wanted an idea of what kind of music I like as a whole. This specific slice of music is a kind I've just realized I really enjoy, but I have not too much of it in my library.

This is all about the melody of the song. Darker lyrics are perfectly fine, and I actually kind of like the dichotomy, so that's a bonus. 80's songs are perfectly fine, as I am a college student and they will (shamefully) probably be new to me.

Thanks for your help, and feel free to ask me to clarify my points. I've never studied music, so I have trouble describing it as nicely as I would like.

Hardware remaping CAPSLOCK to CTR

cm — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:47:12 -0800

Is there a hardware solution that lets me either change the CAPSLOCK key into a CTRL key or swap the CAPSLOCK and the CTRL key? Alternatively, a modern usb keyboard with the same feature would be nice. Even better would be if it used the Natural Keyboard layout.

I'm well aware that there are software solutions that can do this but for various reasons they are not an option. Please don't suggest them.

Is it just me or do Bluetooth mice and keyboards suck?

wfrgms — Mon, 25 May 2009 22:36:12 -0800

Is it just me or do Bluetooth mice and keyboards suck? About a year and a half ago I bought a Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5000 keyboard and mouse combo. It was on clearance and I think I paid about $80 for the combo.

It was near Logitech's top of the line so I felt like I was getting a good deal. Additionally, I've had good experiences with Logitech products over the years. I find the "build quality" and "feel" of their products superior to other manufacturers.

That said, out of the box I had immediate Bluetooth-related problems. The keyboard would spontaneously lockup on certain key presses. So I would be writing something like, "wfrgms rocks" and the s-key would suddenly repeat, "ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss" and this would go on for minutes. It was especially frustrating when the "delete" key would repeat causing a loss of written work. I also experienced frequent disconnects.

The mouse worked well enough, but occasionally would become very lagged. (Additionally, but unrelated to the Bluetooth question, the mouse would only charge in its cradle if positioned "just right," tipped to one side and balanced so that it would take a charge.)

I poured over the Logitech forums and found many other people experiencing similar problems. Some solutions seemed to involve installing the Bluetooth radio dongle onto a USB extension cord and positioning this within a foot or so of the keyboard and mouse. I did this and it seemed to get rid of most of problems, but they would still come back randomly.

Normally I would chalk this up to a bum keyboard and mouse (or Bluetooth radio dongle) but recently I acquired a Logitech V470 Cordless Laser Mouse for Notebooks for use with my netbook. It works fine most of the time, but suffers from occasional random lag.

Additionally the entire pairing and passkey process seems needless for such simple devices. Not to mention that at work and in various other environments I've encountered similar problems with Bluetooth keyboards and mice.

At the same time I've used, in passing, RF based keyboards and mice and found them to work just fine.

In short, I've began to think that Bluetooth sucks. In fact, I've put away my Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and I've been using corded options for the past few weeks.

Is it just me? Will Bluetooth ever work better? Or should I just resolve myself to USB?

Tickling the Ivory

netbros — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:57:19 -0800

Who are the keyboard players who are really wowing you these days? I'm looking to enhance my listening pleasure. Any style or genre is fine. Audio or video samples would be even better. Thanks for your help.

How to connect a keyboard to a stereo?

mtphoto — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 15:55:17 -0800

What's the best and least expensive way to connect an M-Audio 88SX keyboard to a stereo? The keyboard has two 1/4" jacks, one for left and right outputs. I have a new M-Audio 88SX keyboard that has two 1/4" audio outputs, one left/mono and one right.

What is the best way and least expensive way to connect the keyboard to a stereo? (I'd like to get the best possible listening experience for the lowest cost.)

I already have a few 1/8" to 1/4" adapters.
I also have a 3.5mm headphone to RCA adapter (red and white).

Thank you!

Are there any new synths in existence that have true poly-key pressure?

bitterkitten — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:16:21 -0800

HardwareSynthFilter: Is there a synthesizer available today, new, out there somewhere, that has poly-key pressure (like the Ensoniq VFX series had)? Poly-key pressure was(is?) the ultimate, to me, in expressive control for synths, because unlike aftertouch (also called 'channel pressure'), you basically had aftertouch for each individual key. Pressing a single key after hitting it would cause a change in the sound, but would not also affect all the other keys you also have depressed at the same time.

To my knowledge, such a thing has not existed since then. But of course I could be wrong.

I loved my VFX... but I sold it because even with the internal mod I did to hold that puppy together, the thing was poorly built and intermittently freaked out for no reason while it was on.

How to remap Windows XP keyboard shortcuts to standard Apple shortcuts

Frankieist — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:48:45 -0800

I'm used to the keyboard shortcuts on OS X, but I have to use a Windows PC at work. What are some ways that I can remap the keys on XP to get as close to Apple's as possible? I recently set up one of the new Apple Aluminum keyboards on my PC. The drivers are set up fine, so the default windows keyboard shortcuts work on it (Ctrl+alt+del, Command => the Windows key, etc.). I've tried searching google, but many of the options are only partial solutions, and I'm not sure how well they'll work together.

The specific keyboard mappings I'm most interested in changing are:

The ability to use Apple's accent and diacritic shortcuts (e.g. option+e for acute accent, option+c for cedilla). I find the US-International IME on Windows to be a pain.

Some of the OS X shortcuts borrowed from emacs, like Ctrl+A for beginning of line, Ctrl+E for end of line, Ctrl+K for delete to end of line.

Some other text navigation shortcuts, such as option+→ for move forward one word, option+← for move back one word.

I don't really much use the windows key, and I miss the ability to use alt as a meta key (Just using it for menus seems like a waste of a good key). Can any of this be done, or do I just have to deal with using different shortcuts at work and home?

I type $&@^$#! but it still won't let me swear

foxy_hedgehog — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 07:48:08 -0800

Help me find out what magic spell will get my keyboard to play nicely with my computer again. For several years, I used a Microsoft "Natural" Keyboard with my PC without a problem. But now that I just connected it to my new MacBook it's acting out. I went through the keyboard set up dialogue boxes without a problem, but then once I started to try to type on the keyboard some strange things started to happen. "Strange" as in none of the keys produce their letter or perform their function on the screen when they are typed. instead:

Hitting "return" gets me this: ]
Hitting "L" gets me this: .lo-
And so on.
And if I type something on the MacBook's own keyboard, I can't switch back- the MS keyboard won't respond unless I go through setup again.

Is there some setting I need to change? Has the keyboard just reached the age of senility? It's supposedly Mac compatible, according to the packaging, but is it making a MS fuss because it now has to play with a Mac?

One possibly important detail: this keyboard has two connections to plug into your computer, a USB connection and a circular one (sorry, I don't know the technical term for it). I don't have a port for the circular one, so I just plugged in the USB. Is this what's making it screwy? I'd like to be sure before I go to the trouble of buying a converter or new port.

Thank you Metafliter keyboard mavens!

What's a good weighted electronic keyboard for my six year old's piano lessons?

IndigoJones — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 06:28:45 -0800

Daughter (age six) perhaps to begin piano lessons. Considering a weighted response electronic keyboard as a piano substitute. Seeking advice in brands, models, retailers, price, durability, and indeed, overall wisdom of this route over standard piano. All views even slightly extraneous welcome. Thanks in advance. (Also unexpected advice in what to look for in a teacher and what pay is fair in greater NYC metro area.)

tap tap

petsounds — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 12:16:33 -0800

What are the 'springiest' keyboards? I'm not a mac person but I fell in love with my friends old G3 Wallstreet laptop because the keyboard was so soft and springy that writing was almost effortless. I do a lot of writing but I've never used a PC keyboard with this same feel. Does anyone have any recommendations? Is an old mac really the best?

"vintage" computer parts store?

soda pop — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:59:17 -0800

I'm looking for a extremely old used PC component store in the Bay Area. I'm looking for a number of old PC keyboards from the late 1980s, ideally pre-PS/2 ports. I'm hoping to find it at a used computer parts store, hopefully in the peninsula. Ideas of places that carry antiquated computer hardware?

Fixing laptop settings changed by feline random entry

PinkStainlessTail — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 17:07:29 -0800

Two parter about cats walking on computer keyboards and havoc their little toes wreak: 1) One of our cats has managed to hit a random set of strokes on my wife's laptop, such that now every time she clicks on a message in Gmail it opens as a popup. This is really and truly a popup, not just opening in a new window: there's no address bar and the first time it happened, she was actually blocked from viewing the e-mail by the popup blocker in firefox. All of this occured while she had Firefox open to the Gmail page, on a dell laptop running XP home SP2. Can't seem to find the setting to switch them back to just opening in the current tab. Anybody know?

2) In general, is there any application that will let you lock keyboard input with a few keystrokes, or maybe as part of a right click menu to prevent these cat based random entires in the future? (And, speaking preemptively, PawSense is out: I'm not paying twenty bucks for something I can't at least demo before hand.)

Good keyboards for RSI problems

filmgeek — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 12:24:39 -0800

RSI - a dear friend has bad repetitive injuries (carpal tunnel problems)...it gets bad when she types....and allieviates when she stops. Oh, yeah, she's a professoinal writer. No - not RSI advice....keyboard advice. Have you (or someone you know) had comfort (or a reduction of discomfort) from using a particular keyboard? USB is a must; I'm just trying to avoid telling them to try 30 keyboards.

What (musical) keyboard should I buy?

Jack Karaoke — Sun, 25 Sep 2005 21:43:48 -0800

I've played guitar for 10+ years - I want to learn piano, for writing, performing, and to widen my musical understanding. A real piano doesn't jive with my life, what should I buy? I've been writing songs for 10+ years, I have a good ear, and good hands. I'd like to buy a keyboard, and know that I'll be pretty satisfied with it (sound and feel) for a good while.

The undisputed top factors are action and sound. Like I said, I have good ears, but I'm not a pianophile, I'm not going to buy the Vienna Orchestra software or anything. I'm open to a controller with an outboard sample bank. I'm primarily interested in straight piano sounds, but organ/rhodes tones wouldn't hurt.

Portability would be great, but not critical. I'd like to pay $400-$1000, I could spend beyond that, but there should be a compelling argument to shell out anything beyond $1,000. Used is fine, I don't care about scuffs, scratches, or spray paint.

typing accents

Hands of Manos — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 17:43:49 -0800

My wife wants to be able to put Spanish Accents in on our PC Laptop however we have not found a solution. Is there one for a PC Laptop Keyboard without using that Function method?

Slim keyboard?

Specklet — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 14:24:52 -0800

My boss is looking for a good travel keyboard and mouse, so's to avoid the hassles of laptop typing. (He even mentioned a folding one, or maybe a wireless one?) Any suggestions?

MIDI keyboard connection for dummies

Bdave — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 21:07:45 -0800

I just bought one of these keyboards (finally). I want to use it in FL Studio. How? I have NO experience with things MIDI, and after reading the instruction book I still have no idea. I need the theory explained in layman's terms. Because I've got this really nice thing and I can't use it :( I am using the USB connection.

What's wrong with my spacebar?

Polonius — Thu, 27 Jan 2005 07:09:02 -0800

Something has gone horribly wrong with the spacebar on my laptop. You have to hit it in the middle to get it to work. If you tap it towards one side, nothing happens.

I admit, I removed it to clean it. Maybe this damaged it. But all the other keys on my laptop can be safely removed and replaced without damage. It's a Toshiba Portege. I'm weirded out.

Identify this music keyboard

zsazsa — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 07:53:04 -0800

What is this music keyboard? [warning: flash w/ sound, resizes browser window] The keys on it look like those on an accordion. The site's in Japanese, so I can't get anything out of it. [music theory inside] Part two of the question: I assume that this keyboard is "Chromatic." Back when I was a tot and took piano lessons, I remember the chromatic scale, which was all the white keys and black keys. That's the extent of my knowledge. Can anyone elucidate how the keys are laid out on this ChromaTone keyboard, either by musical intuition or knowledge of Japanese? Would it be like this? How does this help in the playing of music? Music theory quickly goes over my head, so be nice.

Keyboard Configuration

Yelling At Nothing — Sun, 02 Jan 2005 01:43:36 -0800

Keyboard configuration question. [the more, it is inside] My keyboard (a wireless Dell keyboard that I acquired secondhand) has a set of little media player buttons on it: play/pause, skip forward and back, and a volume dial. Right now the volume dial controls the system master volume, and the other buttons don't seem to do anything.

What I'd like to do is configure those buttons to work with winamp. I've downloaded a couple of freeware keyboard config applications, but I haven't been able to get it to work so far. New drivers and searching Google haven't given me any help, either.

Keyboard ruined by coffee?

Stylistique — Sat, 18 Dec 2004 07:52:38 -0800

I spilled coffee on my keyboard; at least 6 oz. The caps are locked. The only way to type in lowercase is to hold down the shift key. My cpu keeps beeping. Is all lost? Is there anything that I can do to fix it?

Clicky keyboard with a Windows key

trharlan — Tue, 16 Nov 2004 10:20:51 -0800

Does (Did) anyone make a PS/2 buckling spring keyboard with a Windows Key? Bonus points for model numbers. More bonus points still if your answer has "IBM" in it.

How can I find drivers for this USB hub multimedia keyboard?

skryche — Tue, 29 Jun 2004 11:34:33 -0800

Soon after spilling half of a bottle of Rolling Rock into my keyboard, I ordered the cheapest USB hub multimedia one I could find. It arrived today, sans drivers: only the volume and mute work. Drivers I've downloaded either have no effect or only allow me to program a few of the buttons. If HP's own drivers don't work, am I SOL? Or might one of you know of a solution? Aw jeez: I should mention that it works fine as a normal keyboard and as a USB hub. It's just those tiny grey buttons scattered along the top & sides that are giving me grief.

Seeking Personal Testimonies About Specific Keyboard Models

bshort — Fri, 21 May 2004 10:52:45 -0800

Keyboards: I'm currently using a Microsoft Natural Keyboard, but I'm looking for something new. Does anyone have any recommendations? [mi] Ideally, I'd like one without a number pad, but I'm pretty flexible on that one.

I sit in front of a computer for a living, so I need one that's not going to fall apart too soon, and if it's easy on the wrists / arms / shoulders, that'd be nice as well.

Also, I'm totally agnostic when it comes to connection types, and wireless capability.