Guide to buying a professional keyboard piano such as synths, workstations, stage pianos, electric organs, and pro arranger music keyboards.
Why do you need a Professional Keyboard?
As a beginner, we tend to pick up something that has several features, but not necessarily the best ones, as they can be expensive. That is fine to get started, but in a few months time, you’ll notice that some of the sounds, even though they are good, they don’t seem authentic. And if you happen to hear some of the other instruments live, you would know what authentic means.
The earlier keyboards that you may have bought may not have all impressive features and sounds. This is okay for beginners, but just imagine that you are playing in a band and are asked to provide the trumpet sound as fill-ins at most places. In case, you own a mediocre keyboard, you will not get the best sound. Sure, the audience may not notice it (depending on where you are performing), but deep within you would know that it is definitely not the best sound.
That is where you need a professional keyboard!
Professional Keyboards
Full time musicians and even aspiring ones are always on the lookout for keyboards that will give them the extra edge in terms of sound quality & texture, flexibility of programming the various functions, features that will save them time, and something that will complement their own strengths as a musician.
That is the reason there are so many different categories of professional keyboard pianos available for pro musicians. You can choose from synths, workstations, stage pianos, electric organs, and pro arranger music keyboards.
Though most of the features on these pro piano keyboards may overlap, each of these would still retain their peculiar characteristics that make them different from each other.
In terms of price, we are talking about a few thousand dollars here for the high-end ones. For those who are making a transition from home keyboards to professional keyboards can find great keyboards in the $500 to $1000 price range.
Note: Most advanced users are eventually going to end up having multiple keyboards, in addition to their home based studio that uses a lot of software based sounds as well.
This is because they want to incorporate the best sounds and features from various keyboards/software. This is also the reason that used pro keyboards are so much in demand. Because you may not have the budget to go after new boards all the time, a used one perfectly fits the bill if you are desperately looking for that unique sound or feature and are short on cash.
Enter the World of Synths
You usually have a couple of types of music enthusiasts here; though the objective of both is the same. And that is to create your own music and hopefully make it big in the entertainment world some day.
The first case is that of a piano or a keyboard player who has learnt to play the keyboards or the piano for a few years, and now wants to learn how sound synthesis works or is done on keyboards. So you basically want to move from using just the preset sounds to making your own sounds.
The other case is that of music enthusiasts who have not formally learnt to play piano, but love music and everything related. So if you are one of them I’m sure you would be a fan of electronic gadgets, smartphones, tablets, video gaming, DJing, and so on. And when you like such things, you have a natural attraction towards electronic music. They are really not interested in learning to play the piano at a very high level, but want to learn the basics so that they can quickly get started with music creation. This is where synthesizers fit in; a home keyboard really won’t help their cause.
You may read more here on this topic:
Best Beginner Synthesizer – Entry Level Synths to Create Unique Sounds
Reviews of Popular Analog Synthesizers & Playback Keyboard Synths
Professional Arrangers vs Music Workstations
There is a lot of debate between pro arrangers vs. synth / music workstations. For most studio work, you will usually find a synth or a workstation like the Yamaha Motif whereas a pro arranger like a Yamaha Tyros or the Korg PA keyboards seem to be more apt for performers who want to sound instantly arranged.
Though that is how these professional keyboards are usually used but then there is no reason why you cannot experiment with these boards, since they come with tons of features.
More uses of professional arranger keyboards
Using your music keyboard workstation as a touring gig machine
Electric Organs
Musicians have always looked for new sounds, sounds that had a different texture, to make their music sound more interesting. Though organs were around for several years, in the early nineteen thirties electronic organs started making their appearances in churches as a low cost substitute to pipe-organs, thanks to Hammond Organs.
Soon Hammond organs could be heard in bands, and were heard quite regularly in rock and jazz music. The invention of Leslie rotating speakers was also partly responsible for the popularity of the organ sounds in rock and jazz music.
Electric Organs as Synths: Musicians today can easily incorporate these unique sounds, as well as use a wide range of effects, for their music band or for music creation using some cool Electric Organs from Hammond and the Clavia Nord.
Recommended Pro Keyboards
Reviews of the best pro keyboard pianos here…
Related Posts
- Best Keyboard Pianos across various price ranges for beginners and pros
- Complete keyboard and piano buying guide.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
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