In Defense of Keyboards

[Joseph Garrett]

All,
If we could get ALL the music world to quit calling Keyboards, Pianos, I'd
be a very happy camper!!!!
As far as the merits of keyboards, it's the best thing since peanut butter,
in relation to performing in clubs, etc. Beats the hell out of lugging my
5'1" Brambach w/flight case to the gigs!!!!<G> AND it beats the hell out of
the piles of junk, in clubs, that the club owners don't give a rip about!
The secret to very good sound, out of a quality keyboard, is the
AMPLIFIER!!! That's why Peavy and Fender make such an amplifier. These amps
have the proper frequency range and speakers to reproduce the sampling(s) in
a GOOD keyboard.
Speaking of "sampling", IMO, this is where the keyboards have a HUGE flaw.
If the piano, that is being used for the sampling, is not exactly perfect,
the keyboard's output will not be any better. Many years ago, I did service
for a very instense entertainer, (keyboardist). He bought "the new
technology", at the price of over $30k!!!!! He loved it, for what it would
do, but hated it for some of the sounds that came out of it. He had me check
it out. What I heard was loose hammer clicks, damper noise, action noise,
killer octave sustain problems, false beats, and out of tune
unisons,etc.!!!! Come to find out, the piano that was used, was a RECORDING
STUDIO'S STEINWAY GRAND!!!!!!!! That explained a lot about the problems he
was hearing. <G> hehe. He very quickly got rid of it. Nowadays, the
technology has gotten a lot better, but there's still a long way to go,
before them portable puppies can take the place of ANY REAL PIANO.
Let's face it, when you are "entertaining the troops", so to speak, the
keyboard is the way to go. Just my take on these beasties. <G>

Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon)

Been There, Didn't Like It, So I'm Here To Stay! [G}
P.S. I personally do not consider them a threat to my livelyhood.