Recommendations for light touch midi piano keyboard

[concepcion]

My daughter is getting a little bit more energy and we are trying to set her up so she can create music digitally. She would like a 61 key midi keyboard attached to the computer. We bought an M-Audio keyboard, but the keys are spring loaded and require too much exertion to play. Can anyone recommend a super light touch 61 key midi keyboard which she could use instead?

 

[sarah darwins]

My daughter is getting a little bit more energy and we are trying to set her up so she can create music digitally. She would like a 61 key midi keyboard attached to the computer. We bought an M-Audio keyboard, but the keys are spring loaded and require too much exertion to play. Can anyone recommend a super light touch 61 key midi keyboard which she could use instead?

Hi concepcion,

There's a thread on the PianoWorld forum started by someone with tendonitis who had a similar requirement. There are a few suggestions there:

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2153478/Lightest Weight Action in an 8.html

 

[sarah darwins]

Or, as an off-the-wall idea, if your daughter's exertion threshold is really low, there are roll-up keyboards, some of which look okay. Would be a relatively low-cost experiment.

There's a demo of one here by a guy called Igor:

Gentler, but less cool (!), demo here:

I like Igor's verdict: "Really cool keyboard. I like it."

 

[Snow Leopard]

All keyboard playing requires a bit of energy, but... I can't play well either, so I mostly use a keyboard for fleshing out harmonies and glorified data-entry.

I have tried a few keyboards in my time. Most of the low-end keyboards are bad and I have had trouble with M-Audio keyboards too.

Current keyboards I own: Novation Nocturn, which has a very lightweight synth action and aftertouch (I like Novation keyboards, but don't use the 'automap' software), Korg M3 (my favourite synth action keyboard, but they have quality issues with the touch screen) and Ableton Push (it's not a keyboard, but it's fun and requires less energy than keyboard playing - it requires lots of fiddling to use outside of Ableton Live though).

You can buy second hand Nocturn-61s pretty cheap these days. I have no opinion on the keyboard feel of the Launchkey-61 (besides the fact that it is a light-synth action), but all of those sliders and pads are very handy for digital music production too.

In terms of fancy new-fangled controllers:

https://www.roli.com/products/seaboard-rise

 

[concepcion]

All keyboard playing requires a bit of energy, but... I can't play well either, so I mostly use a keyboard for fleshing out harmonies and glorified data-entry.

I have tried a few keyboards in my time. Most of the low-end keyboards are bad and I have had trouble with M-Audio keyboards too.

Current keyboards I own: Novation Nocturn, which has a very lightweight synth action and aftertouch (I like Novation keyboards, but don't use the 'automap' software), Korg M3 (my favourite synth action keyboard, but they have quality issues with the touch screen) and Ableton Push (it's not a keyboard, but it's fun and requires less energy than keyboard playing - it requires lots of fiddling to use outside of Ableton Live though).

You can buy second hand Nocturn-61s pretty cheap these days. I have no opinion on the keyboard feel of the Launchkey-61 (besides the fact that it is a light-synth action), but all of those sliders and pads are very handy for digital music production too.

In terms of fancy new-fangled controllers:

https://www.roli.com/products/seaboard-rise

Thanks so much Snow Leopard. This is great information. The "fancy new fangled controller" is amazing!

 

[concepcion]

Or, as an off-the-wall idea, if your daughter's exertion threshold is really low, there are roll-up keyboards, some of which look okay. Would be a relatively low-cost experiment.

There's a demo of one here by a guy called Igor:

Gentler, but less cool (!), demo here:

I like Igor's verdict: "Really cool keyboard. I like it."

We were looking atvthese as an option at one point. Maybe time to look at it again. Thanks!