I’m not a musician but I was looking to buy a mid-range, good quality synth keyboard for someone as a gift. I went to two Best Buys, two independent music stores and a Target before giving up and getting something different.
I found that the selection is awful - like we’re stuck in 1985. I was amazed that every store still has those big clunky Casio keyboards with the cheesy canned drum beats that have not changed in 30 years. The only other option at each place is getting a high-end Yamaha $500+ keyboard which is the size of a piano.
Why haven’t keyboards kept up with technology like cameras and phones? I wasn’t expecting miracles, but I thought I would see at least a few snazzy fun options, like a flat keyboard with wireless connectivity or whatever. Hell, I thought every kid with a baseball cap is a “DJ” these days so there should be some demand for it. Guess I was wrong!
They’re using DAW software on their computers, with MIDI controller keyboards.
(Not to say there isn’t a market for keyboard workstations - but for a couple hundred dollars you’re more at the “toy” end of the price spectrum, honestly.)
Yep. I used to have a nice Korg M1 back in the day. Now, I have that on my computer, along with a gazillion other synths, that I could just control through a keyboard controller. (That said, I miss the action on the M1. For an unweighted keyboard, it was pretty sweet. I gave mine away when I didn’t feel like hauling it back to the US.)
But the OP does have an interesting question. Why hasn’t the low-end market improved its products? I’ve seen them at various big box stores and they really don’t seem to be any better than even the late 80s/early 90s.
I think the market for low-end keyboards probably isn’t that big. A keyboard is not very useful to someone who doesn’t know how to play, and someone who does know how to play is likely to want a “real” instrument (whether it be a quality midi keyboard, a digital piano or an acoustic piano). If someone is planning to learn how to play, they’re probably going to be inclined to get something they can grow with (ignoring the fact that most people who take up instruments probably don’t stick with it). So you’re left with people who want them as toys. And while a couple hundred bucks is scraping the bottom end for instruments, it’s a pretty expensive toy.
Interesting. So, why are good keyboards so expensive? Surely a $600 MIDI keyboard doesn’t require any more cutting edge technology or computing power than a $200 smartphone, camera or Ipad.
If it’s strictly a supply and demand thing, it’s too bad this is the area that time forgot - those boxy low-end synth keyboards really don’t need to exist in this day and age.
I don’t think so LC Strawhouse. From reading and in some cases getting to know a little bit some people who work for some of these subsidiaries or outright companies, keys in general is a superniche market, and R&D costs demand full-bird engineers, and all manner of quality assurances (the big 3 all skimp on technical writing, from what I can see!), including quality PEs.
So take a tiny company like Kurzweil or Nord – they’re obviously giants (although less so than Korg/Yamaha/Roland), but they didn’t exactly feature a Nord Electro/Stage like you see every night on the late-night shows (or used to) in Back to the Future.
I thought you were all going to be on about the quality of the “action” of the keyboards (which tend to be made by basically one company – you know, the black and white keys and stuff).
So, that said, I don’t know – not a synth guy, just stick to faux-Hammond, faux-piano, and the real Rhodes.
More importantly, the market for high-end keyboards isn’t that big (as markets go).
Product development is expensive, and when you have a limited market for your latest technology, making it available in bottom-tier equipment would undercut the market for the pricier gear.
I took lessons on a Korg electronic piano and the keyboard was lovely. Not as good as I’ve used, which was a Cable school piano from about 1910 that I coulda bought for $300 if I’da gotten to the sale earlier (absolutely spectacular feel, action, and sound without taking into account its hard life; it did have a bit of 1910 in its sound but I like that), but better than the Italian Kimball electric that my wife bought for three times as much as the Korg because it looked like a proper piano. :smack::smack::smack:
What I like about Yamaha electrics is that they play and sound exactly like their acoustic brethren–horrible. If you think Yamaha pianos play well and don’t sound like absolute shit (the Yamaha sound can even be obvious over the radio) then try one of their keyboards.
Not much to add, except to say that a $500 synth is a cheap keyboard. You might as well ask why, with all the advancements in bike technology, does your $100 Schwinn ride like crap?
**Eonwe **alludes to the fact that there is a disincentive for instrument companies to make good keyboards cheaper, as there is only a limited market and they want to retain the high margins.
I understand what you all are saying about R&D and everything else, but come on now - we are essentially talking about a device that plays tones at a certain Hz when keys are struck. Even if we’re “only” paying $200 or so, the options in 2012 should still be better than those of 1985. Is nobody interested in competing with Casio?
I believe you may be misremembering the quality of gear from the 80’s. In 1985, for a little less than $500 Yamaha could offer you the DX100 in all of its 49 mini-key glory. In 2012, for nearly the same price they can give you the MM6, a 61 key mini-*workstation *(yet still considered entry level). They are as similar as an M1903 Springfield is to an M16.
Electronics always gets cheaper. The more chips you make, the cheaper the next one is.
Mechanisms always get more expensive. Each keyboard requires the same amount of materials and labor to assemble as the one before it, and those increase in cost.
There has not been a breakthrough in physical keyboards comparable to the one that allows you to have something far better then the Fairlight CMI on your iPhone.
Update: I’m sure the very cheap keyboards are assembled on fully automated lines, which is how they can be sold cheap. Good feeling weighted keyboards have a considerable amount of hand labor.
On a related note (pun intended), it’s fairly easy now to find an upright or spinet acoustic piano for free and one in good shape goes for a few hundred dollars.
You will need to pay the cost of moving, tuning, and possibly some repairs (particularly for the free ones). But you will end up with a real instrument rather than a toy.
Compare the price of an amazing synth to an amazing violin. Doesn’t seem that expensive now, eh? I don’t know that much about workstations, but I know you can get very nice synthesizers for cheap on the used market and if you want a new keyboard, you can still find some good deals. $100 - $500 is not that much for a board, old or new anyway. Compared to other desirable instruments, synths keep a comparatively low price. Most desirable vintage synths, fetching higher and higher prices, are usually around the same price as when they were new, without taking inflation into account. Anyway, all rambling aside, my main synth cost me below 300, and with it I got a midi-keyboard for free. In my experience, synths are a way cheaper hobby than for example electric bass guitars.
