What are the good points and bad points about a keyboard?

Answer 1

The term keyboard is used when describing an electronic instrument. They are not the same as a piano, although the sounds emanating from them may sound quite similar.

The piano has 88 keys (except for a Bössendorfer which has 95) and the keyboard may have that many or less.

The keyboard's touch is not the same as a piano - although some manufacturers have tried, the mechanical "feel" of the key depressions working the hammers hitting the strings is very hard to produce electronically, if not impossible.

The QWERTY (named for the key placement of the upper left row) key arrangement has spawned millions of touch typists-and enduring controversies concerning its value as well. Its inventor, Christopher L. Sholes, began its development in 1867; the layout is still dominant today. It was used on the Sholes & Glidden Type-Writer, manufactured by E. Remington & Sons (better known for their firearms) beginning in 1874.

Mark Twain was among the first typewriter users; although he didn't type it himself, he is credited with being the first to submit a novel to a publisher in typed form. That was Life on the Mississippi in 1883.

Answer 2

Early computer keyboards were first adapted from the punch card and teletype technologies. In 1946, the Eniac computer used a punched card reader as its input and output device. In 1948, the Binac computer used an electromechanically controlled typewriter to both input data directly onto magnetic tape (for feeding the computer data) and to print results. The emerging electric typewriter further improved the technological marriage between the typewriter and the computer.

Earlier computer keyboards had been based either on teletype machines or keypunches. There were many electromechanical steps in transmitting data between the keyboard and the computer that slowed things down. With VDT (Video Display Terminal) technology and electric keyboards, the keyboard's keys could now send electronic impulses directly to the computer and save time. By the late '70s and early '80s, all computers used electronic keyboards and VDTs. Nevertheless, the layout of the computer keyboard still owes its origin to the inventor of the first typewriter, Christopher Latham Sholes who also invented the QWERTY layout. However, the computer keyboard does have a few extra function keys.

The roots of the user interface that we know today for keyboard input can be traced back to 1964, when MIT, Bell Laboratories and General Electric created Multics. This system resulted in the video display terminal, which combined the technologies of television and electric typewriters. For the first time, computer users could see what text they were typing on a television screen. The modern keyboards are evolutions from this first step to combine the typewriter and a television screen. As for the layout of the modern keyboard (QWERTY), it was also invented by Christopher Latham Sholes, the inventor of the first typewriter. To see how the computer industry has developed in general, visit Old-Computers.com, an online museum for computers.

The modern computer keyboard layout is little changed from when the original QWERTY typewriters were invented in the late 1800's. The letter layout has remained pretty much the same since then with the exception of the computer specific keys (ctrl, alt, functions, etc).

The odd thing about the modern keyboard is that its QWERTY layout was designed to make people type slower. The original typewriters were mechanical and would jam up if too many keys were hit at once. Different keyboard layouts have been introduced such as Devorak (used sometimes in the US Military) and Colemak.

Though these alternatives are more efficient layouts, most people still use good ol' QWERTY because it's what they're used to, similar to the obsolete design of the H-pattern stick shift on modern manual transmission cars.

Most computer keyboards can now be easily rearranged to support Devorak and Colemak by simply popping the keys off and swapping them around and then changing a setting in the control panel.

Answer 3

Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups.

Digital electronic stage pianos have replaced most of the original electro-mechanical instruments in contemporary usage due to their size, weight and versatility.

Struck strings

Yamaha, Baldwin, Helpinstill and Kawai's electric pianos are actual grand or upright pianos with strings and hammers.

Struck reeds

Wurlitzer electric pianos use flat steel reeds struck by felt hammers. The reeds fit within a comb-like metal plate, and the reeds and plate together form an electrostatic or capacitive pickup system, using a DC voltage of 170v.

Struck tuning-forks

The tuning fork here refers to the struck element having two vibrating parts - physically it bears little resemblance to a traditional type. In Fender Rhodes instruments, the struck portion of the "fork" is a tine of stiff steel wire.

Plucked reeds

Hohner's original Pianet uses adhesive pads made from an undressed leather surface cushioned by a foam rubber backing. The leather is saturated with a viscous silicone oil to adhere to and pluck metal reeds. When the key is released, the pad acts as a damper.

Other electric keyboard instruments

Baldwin's "Solid-Body Electric Harpsichord" or "Combo Harpsichord" is an aluminum-framed instrument of fairly traditional form, with no soundboard and with two sets of electromagnetic pickups, one near the plectra and the other at the strings' midpoint.

As with electric vs. acoustic Guitars, the sound of most electric pianos differs considerably from that of an acoustic instrument, and the electric piano has thus acquired a musical identity of its own, far beyond that of simply being a portable, amplified piano.

Playing technique and styles

Answer 4

keyboards are good because they are quite light and therefore more portable than pianos. they do not need to be re-tuned every few months either. there are usually also a variety of voices you can use on them, and they are also cheaper than pianos.

however, it needs batteries/some form of electrical power. the keys have no weight to them, and they do not have touch sensitivity, and therefore will generally have a worse sound than a piano.