The KeyMusician Keyboard

In addition to being a performance-quality synthesizer, it’s an easier way to play all sorts of MIDI-equipped synthesizers, as well as Audio Unit, and VST instruments.  It’s also accessible for the blind.

Watch this quick video, where the performer plays melody on the main section of the keyboard, and chords using the numeric keypad.

Notice how pressing a function-key changes the key-signature, as well as the instrument-sound played.

Watch this quick video, where it is played with both hands on the melody section of the keyboard.

With the KeyMusician Keyboard, we harness the power of the computer to take the boring, ‘grunt-work’ out of music, in the following ways:

1. The fingering is the same in every key-signature (regardless how many flats or sharps it has).  This means there’s no need to practice scales, or practice in all the different key-signatures.  If you learn a piece in one key-signature, you can play it in every key-signature.
2. When you change key-signatures, the chords natural to the new key-signature appear in the chords window, and are accessed using the same fingerings.
3. You can specify the next chord while playing the current chord. The chord will change the next time you release & press the “Play” key.  So you have none of those annoying pauses, common to new guitar players changing chords.
4. You don’t have to know what notes make up a chord. You just name the chord you want, and the computer knows how to play it.  If you click on the “Chords” pane, it will show you the notes it uses.
5. You do only two things at the same time: play melody with your left hand on the main part of the keyboard, and play chords with your right hand, on the numeric keypad.  This is simpler, and easier, than the multiple independent parts you play with the fingers of both hands, on a piano.
6. When you play a chord having accidentals, it automatically selects those accidentals in the melody section of the keyboard – you don’t have to play them manually.
7. You can instantly see all of the notes you’re playing, in the real-time music graphics display, and the notes displayed are in the context of the current key-signature.  This allows you to simply match what you play (shown on the screen) with what is in the printed music.
8. If you’re not playing chords, you can use the numeric keypad to specify the current loudness (as per the markings in the music), as well as do gradually-louder (crescendo) or gradually-softer (decrescendo), or even sforzando (sfz) automatically (you start it, and tell it when to stop).  There’s no need for the hours of practice learning just how hard to hit the keys to play at the different volume levels.  Individual notes, or phrases can also be accented this way.