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Newbie Keyboard Recommendation?


Xamu

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Hey you all! I've always been horrible at any type of music but now that I am older and have kids ... I'm even more horrible. Given that they are around 8 years old now and past my skill level I was hoping that I could buy a keyboard and we could learn together. What we'd like to do is take a bunch of sound samples from our environment like clanking dishes, dogs barking, (whatever) and use those sounds to make music with. I don't need orchestra quality sound or anything, just a keyboard that does this easily and allows us to create some tracks and post them online for their friends to listen to. It's easy to go online and read reviews about the best keyboards in our price range ($500-$1000) but I don't know the terminology very well so its hard for me to pinpoint a unit that would be new-user friendly and excel at these particular features. I know there are probably some cheaper keyboards that we could do the same thing with but I'd like something we can grow into that has pretty good quality. It would also be a plus if it were a popular keyboard that has a good bit of tutorials available online.

 

Sorry about the long post, we'd just really like some professional opinions! :)

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Welcome to the forum. Some keyboards have those type of sounds (i.e., dogs, dishes) built into the instrument. I have a Korg Kronos that has around five banks (128 programs per bank) of sound effects. Everything from car horns, sirens, jets, bowling pins, to farts (not joking). A new Kronos is pricy, but if you are looking for those type of sounds for inspiration, I bet there are others within your budget. I"m sure you can find third-party samples that can be loaded into many keyboards, as well. I"ve never done much sampling, but if a large portion of the fun you are looking to have is from sampling your own sounds, there are many of those keyboards around. The Roland FA06 is one such keyboard, but again a few hundred beyond your budget (sorry!), although if you are willing to buy used you probably could find one. Many folks around here are more hip to sampling than I am, and can offer better advice. Seems you will also need a keyboard that will allow you to record or sequence tracks...again solidly out of my wheelhouse. Another important question is the type of keyboard action you are seeking (e.g., weighted, non-weighted).

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

 

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Welcome to the forum Xamu. Would I be right that one of the things you want to achieve is "immediacy"? The ability to hit a button to sample a sound, and it's suddenly mapped across the keyboard? My old Casio SK1 did that, and it was indeed great fun.

 

This is not my field, but I wonder whether an alternative approach would be a controller keyboard with an appropriate iPad app (if you have an iPad?).

 

Cheers, Mike.

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Thanks so much for the help you two! and stoken6, yes I'm so new to this that I really don't know the difference between the types of equipment and what they'd be best for. I do have an iPad and an Android tablet but haven't looked at apps. Basically, all I know is I'd like to record (or obtain) real world sounds and use a software to edit those sounds and help layer them into song tracks - and given I can't read music and have no knowledge of really how music is written or produced, I will be leaning heavily on 'something' to help me establish a rhythm, move samples around within the track and you know, go back and forth, play certain sections of a song and tweak them as I go. Maybe there is a desktop app too that would allow me to do all of the building work from there with inputs mapped to a connected keyboard? (again, not sure if that is even a thing) :D
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If you want to explore and assemble sounds with younger folk (hey, that's music!), I'd go straight for iPad apps and a simple midi keyboard. There has to be at least a dozen apps that say they sample anything and assemble your treasures in different ways. Plus all sorts of fun music apps that assume ZERO musical background. Beeps, boops and beats.

 

GarageBand can be used to assemble your sounds into compositions just by dragging and dropping them, as well as simple effects, etc. There are a zillion youtube tutorials. And it's free.

 

Getting sounds into and out of the iPad can be done at the beginning with the internal microphone and speakers. You'd use an adapter to connect the midi keyboard if you like, or use the built-in one. For a bit more $$$, you can get a small audio interface and use a real microphone and attach bigger speakers.

Want to make your band better?  Check out "A Guide To Starting (Or Improving!) Your Own Local Band"

 

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Agree with the iPad And GarageBand suggestions. It is an excellent platform to explore music production.

 

Beware of app addiction, though. I got my first iPad in 2012 and had a wonderful couple of years with explosive creativity and made lots of great music, then got distracted by all of the latest, greatest new gizmo apps that were coming out every few days at that time. I have hundreds of music making apps now, more than will fit in my 128 GB device. I"ve had to delete many big apps to ensure there"s plenty of recording storage available for when those rare moments of inspiration happen. There are many apps that I"ve yet to even learn how to use.

 

Might be best to stick with one platform for a while and explore it for all it is worth. GarageBand is still a lot of fun for me and one I make sure to leave space for.

 

Sounds like you have plans for tons of fun. Best wishes for you and yours.

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