Electronic keyboards

[teamsaint]

I could do with one that feels like a piano, but is battery operated for busking.

All suggestions welcome.

You’ll need something like this as well,these days.

https://www.izettle.com/gb/card-readers?gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=CjwKCAiA_ZTfBRBjEiwAN6YG4fKVLQk5DagkEL2Nygvg1TZTuwBS6yekEq0KbpmcTdFa7262wJcTrBoCK_YQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[MrGongGong]

Not domestic digital pianos and keyboards, for sure. The Yamaha DX7 synthesizer (the first commercially successful instrument to use digital sound synthesis, for those who don't know) had such a feature, but I don't imagine more than a tiny percentage of owners actually used it.

There are quite a few made for other markets that have other tunings. I used to sometimes work with a Kurdish musician who had an electronic keyboard that would play modes with microtonal intervals.

[Richard Barrett]

There are quite a few made for other markets that have other tunings. I used to sometimes work with a Kurdish musician who had an electronic keyboard that would play modes with microtonal intervals.

Now you mention it I remember that I've come across such things too, used in Turkish and Arabic music.

[johnb]

It should be possible to switch between equal temperament and other tunings which might be useful for performing different types of music. I don't know if any instruments provide this feature.

Not domestic digital pianos and keyboards, for sure. The Yamaha DX7 synthesizer (the first commercially successful instrument to use digital sound synthesis, for those who don't know) had such a feature, but I don't imagine more than a tiny percentage of owners actually used it.

My (2010) Kawai CA63 Digital Piano (weighted keys) has Equal Temp (Stretched and Unstretched), Pure Temperament (Maj & Min), Pythagorean, Meantone, Werckmeister III, etc and various further options, e.g. setting the key of the temperament and the degree of stretch.

However, I have only used the default "piano equivalent" Stretched Equal Temperament.

[Pulcinella]

(I'm not sure that that's what an Eek really looks like!)

I've just looked in the User Manual for my Casio GP-500.
It has 16 temperament options, most of which I have never heard of.
Perhaps I should use one when I'm learning my notes for choir, and challenge our director when he says I'm singing flat.


The 16 options are:
Equal temperament
Pure Major
Pure Minor
Pythagorean
Kirnberger 3
Werckmeister
Mean-Tone
Rast
Bayati
Hijaz
Saba
Dashti
Chahargah
Segah
Gurjari Todi
Chandrakauns
Charukeshi

[Richard Barrett]

I've just looked in the User Manual for my Casio GP-500.
It has 16 temperament options

Fantastic. Some but not all of those modes I recognise as containing quartertones, but I guess they're all different from Western tuning in different ways. I wonder if any Western composers have worked with these tunings on electronic keyboards.

[Dave2002]

OK - we're making progress on the tuning/temperament issues.

Next question - can any do "prepared piano" forms, as per John Cage and George Crumb - to suggest a couple.

[Bryn]

OK - we're making progress on the tuning/temperament issues.

Next question - can any do "prepared piano" forms, as per John Cage and George Crumb - to suggest a couple.

Screw that.

[Richard Barrett]

OK - we're making progress on the tuning/temperament issues.

Next question - can any do "prepared piano" forms, as per John Cage and George Crumb - to suggest a couple.

Plenty of prepared piano sample libraries are available for the various kinds of keyboard-actuated software instruments (as of course is pretty much any other instrumental sound you could name) like Kontakt. Most of these are based on the preparations needed for Cage's Sonatas and Interludes - his other pieces used different objects in different places so there's no single "prepared piano". I wouldn't know if any keyboards come with such a sound-set built in - maybe so, but I imagine anyone serious enough to want such a thing will have a setup with controller keyboard and computer.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

For educational uses I find unplugging the headphones and having a large ensemble of "nasty" keyboards can work quite well.

You're just being a very naughty boy.

I'm not convinced that in schools anyone really learns much about harmony by being in the equivalent of a battery chicken farm any more than people learn to speak another languge in a "language laboratory" ? The model of "music as a solitary activity" that rooms full of keyboards with headphones encourage is a bit limited IMV

Linked groups of keyboards with headphones works a treat. Working against a wall of noise is a forerunner of Hell.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I could do with one that feels like a piano, but is battery operated for busking.

All suggestions welcome.

I think that’s a bit tough. For a bit more than £1000 (maybe £1400) some of the Roland portable pianos sound good, and have touch sensitive keys, but I don’t know if they have a convenient battery power provision.

There may be external battery systems which can provide power, but could be heavy. Ideally one would hope for a low voltage source which could feed straight into a portable device, otherwise an inverter would be needed to generate mains voltage. I think there should be an instrument with the features you want, but I don’t know how to find one.

If you don’t mind a noisy accompaniment, you could buy a generator

I've scanned the web, and the only ones that might be OK don't have properly weighted keys. Our trio wants to do some busking for publicity.

Generators? Forget it, though some people do use car batteries, which is rather risky in that a careless mistake could blow the electronics.

[MrGongGong]

Linked groups of keyboards with headphones works a treat. Working against a wall of noise is a forerunner of Hell.

"works a treat" for whom?

When I was at secondary school we had a "language laboratory" in a similar manner. I learnt no French at all BUT did discover that I could get the tape to run backwards and by inducing drag on the spools (it used 1/4" tape) get all sorts of interesting sounds. So in a way, I learnt more about what Pierre Schaeffer was up to than how to buy an ice cream, which has been much more useful in my subsequent life.

[Dave2002]

I've scanned the web, and the only ones that might be OK don't have properly weighted keys. Our trio wants to do some busking for publicity.

Generators? Forget it, though some people do use car batteries, which is rather risky in that a careless mistake could blow the electronics.

I’m guessing that most kit has a DC input. In that case if there isn’t a suitable DC source available for your keyboard or electronic piano, RS may have solutions -

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/power-supplies-transformers/dc-dc-converters/isolated-dc-dc-converters/

[MrGongGong]

Generators? Forget it, though some people do use car batteries, which is rather risky in that a careless mistake could blow the electronics.

Car battery and inverter , no problem at all.
Done many performances in quarries and parks this way including running multiple wireless headphone systems for audiences etc