(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best keyboard instrument accessories & parts

I recommend the piano as a starting instrument. It is very flexible and dynamic. Guitar is good, but count on getting your fingers torn up and doing awkward shapes with your fretting hand. I play both instruments and create music.

I suggest you focus more on improvising and having fun with solid chord progressions and making songs out of them - experiment a lot. I recommend keeping it to one hand for starting out (it can be quite difficult to do two hands.)

A few ideas: Play fast, play slow, press all keys at the same time, or one at a time (arpeggio), only play part of the notes in a chord, and mix with others, etc.


Here are some good progressions:

Am-G-F-G

E-A-E-A

Em-C-G

I actually made a chart that can help you find really good progressions (tells you how to make key changes and everything - if you’re interested please feel free to message me)

There’s also some really useful apps that can help. UberChord for guitar, and AutoChord for Guitar and piano.

I also highly recommend having a “how-to-play” chord chart in front of you so you can easily find the chord quickly in case you forget: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000J6Z9EC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_8xNXDb7SXX1AC

Oh and get yourself some note labels to put on your keys (this will help to easily identify the notes):: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019MF3VCC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0zNXDbZ0TP417

You should ask in /r/WeAreTheMusicMakers but since I'm here anyway...

You should definitely get a MIDI keyboard, it helps so much more to write melodies. Depending on what you want to do depends on the keyboard; have you played much keyboard/piano? Are you planning on composing long, classical pieces? Or are you composing simple, EDM music?

Here are a few different keyboards that are good for different reasons:

M-Audio 25 - Cheap and cheerful, only 25 keys - for EDM and simple melody writing

Samson 61 semi-weighted This keyboard is pretty high quality, 61 keys which is 5 octaves, this keyboard would be for someone that can/wants to play piano pieces that are more complicated than your simple EDM melody line. Semi-weighted keys make it feel closer to playing actual hammer-action piano keys.

M-Audio 88 Weighted Keys this is for a pianist; it has the full range and has weighted keys, it feels like playing an actual piano. Obviously not for the casual EDM producer.

Now, pretty much every single modern keyboard you can buy today will be USB powered, which means the keyboard will be powered by plugging it into your laptop/PC and the USB will also carry MIDI, so you wont need any extra hardware in order to send MIDI data.

Eventually you'll probably want to get some nice headphones, some nice monitors (speakers) and an audio interface to interface between your PC and the monitors.

Head over to /r/WATMM and search for beginner posts. There are thousands.

Hope this helps!

What do you mean by beginner gear? Like, the type of piano?

Well, if you already got one that's decent, get as much mileage as you can out of it. Otherwise you have to find one yourself. The temptation is to get something cheap at first and then, if you feel serious about piano, you get a good keyboard. The trouble is, you'll end up learning some bad habits and possibly discourage yourself from continuing. There are really only two things you need your keyboard to have: (1) 88-keys and (2) weighted touch. Without those, you're ensuring you'll have to buy two keyboards :) I know the FAQ has more info, but I'm a huge fan of anything Yamaha. I have a Motif ES 8 from 2004 that still works perfectly.

This is all assuming you're serious about learning piano, whether classical or jazz or rock. If you're just into having a keyboard for MIDI input, which I guess is a thing, then a small synthesizer will do. Also, make sure that, with your keyboard, you have some way of hearing the music. Some models have built in speakers. Others do not, so you will either use headphones forever or have to buy an amp, which will drive up the cost a bit.

Make sure you also get a sustain pedal. Some keyboards come with built in pedals. Others do not. You only need one, and they look like this. Any type will do and if you plug into the sustain port it will function properly. You do not need a soft pedal or sostenuto pedal (The left and center ones on an acoustic piano), since pretty much no one ever uses them for anything. Trust me, I've been playing for 20+ years, more than half of them professionally. You'll play maybe five pieces in your life that actually need soft pedal, and I've only played one that used the middle pedal.

Aside from that, if you have a DAW then you should be able to plug your keyboard into that for easy, higher-quality recording. That's how I've made most of my tutorial videos for my students. It's not required of course, but if you are using a keyboard that doesn't have its own speakers built in and want to record yourself playing you'll need something like that. Audacity is free - no need to purchase expensive software unless you want to seriously get into recording and mixing.

Oh man, I went through this same transition ten years ago. Grew up in and apartment, and parents only bought me a Yamaha from Best Buy. I eventually saved up and picked up a Yamaha P60.

My Struggle:

• Weighted keys. Learning proper dynamic control. The amount of sensitivity required to play weighted keys properly is insane compared to playing on a non-weighted keyboard. Your fingers may hurt at first, and you may even compelled to force your fingers down in order to get it as loud as you want. My advice to you is to be gentle and patient with the keys, and the strength will come in time. Don't ever try to "force your fingers" down through the keys, or you'll develop some really bad habits. Similarly, make sure you press the key down all the way when you play and not just "play on the surface".
  
  
• Pedaling. If you can, get one of those Yamaha pedals that feel like a real piano, like the Yamaha FC3 which actually offers half pedaling and that sort of thing. It will make the transition to a real piano a lot easier.
  
  
• Learning proper "volume". The downside of having learned on a digital instrument with volume control is that we can turn the volume down in order to play quietly. Try to learn to control dynamics through your fingers. You should be able to play both forte and piano with the volume anywhere from 25% - 50%.
  
  
• Learning to use the weight of your arm to guide your playing. This is applicable to things like arpeggios and phrases / passages that are not playable with a five finger position. I found that this is really hard to learn on a non-weighted keyboard, and a lot of fun once you can do it correctly -- sweeping up and down the keyboard playing fancy sounding licks. It's harder to get a feel for this on a keyboard, but if you practice arpeggios a lot, you'll know what I'm talking about.
  
  As for unlearning habits... patience, and a good piano teacher.
  
  All your theory, sheet music, and hand coordination will carry over easily. Same with moving your fingers. The hard part is properly learning to play the piano, and making it sing. It will feel like an entirely different instrument to you.

I'm getting ready to build a music workstation, too. I was all set to buy this from Ikea until I learned the shelves are only 15" wide so I'm going to make my own with wider shelves and a wider desk. The Ikea desk and shelves screw/bolt together so I'm figuring out how to do that with off-the-shelf hardware.

The advantage of this open bookcase design is that you can get to the backs of the components very easily for rewiring or dis-assembly. You (mostly) don't need to get on your knees; just walk around to the other side of the shelf. No cooling fans needed.

I'm going to position my piano-keyboard on right side of the desk, opposite and parallel to the shelves, using this normal-but-heavy-duty keyboard stand and position my second monitor so it can be seen when I spin my chair to the right to play the keyboard. I already own the stand (great stand BTW) so I figure "why not use it?" Here too the keyboard back is open for easy access to the wiring.

Through research I've learned that when selecting wood for the desktop portion, one must consider the 'sag' factor. One can use a 3/4 plywood with braces/stiffeners underneath but I want the underneath to be clean/smooth so I'm going to laminate 3 sheets of 3/4 finished plywood.

I'm fairy experienced at painting cabinetry so I already know I'll use Bulls Eye 1-2-3 acrylic primer and INSX-L Cabinet Coat acrylic enamel. The INSL-X is available only in white satin but gloss is easier to clean so I'll use Minwax Polycrylic clear full gloss for the final coats.

These acrylic paints are easy to apply, and very durable, and since they are water-based they are low odor and clean with soap and water. That clear doesn't yellow.

I'm thinking $450-500 for all materials.

Edit: clarity

If you end looking into buying a piano, I highly recommend this digital piano. The keys are weighted to feel just like like a real piano's keys and it has a wonderful, accurate sound. It doesn't have lots of different sound settings though, if that is important to you. I got that piano and this stand a couple years ago.

As far as learning to play, the piano is a pretty easy instrument to teach yourself. I taught myself on my dad's old keyboard from videos online. The biggest challenge is learning to play with both hands at the same time. What helped me was imagining both hands as one, as weird as that sounds...

I can take pictures of the piano so you can get a better idea of the size if you're interested.

Ahh, transcription. I've always found this to be the grindiest of the "grind" work. Do it for free this time, but get ready to demand some rates.

• To be efficient at transcription, you really really have to develop skills yourself. It ain't easy. First off, make sure you know exactly what they want in the end, so you don't have to go back and re-do certain work that will take a tremendous amount of time later. Do they want every "uh, uhm, hmm." transcribed? Is there a specific format? How often do they want time-stamps, and how do they want them formatted?
  Make sure you are locked in with that NOW, because going back and re-doing that work, particularly if you have HOURS of interviews to transcribe, will be a significant burden later. Do a couple minutes of it (a few pages) and do the back and forth with them on format now so that from here, you just do it once.
  
  
• Bone up on your typing skills and tricks. Specifically, consider setting up a set of shortcut words, and learn them. You can set up keyboard shortcuts to instantly translate various word combinations into full words in your word processor. For instance, when you type "mky" it would then autocorrect it to "monkey." If you have major, long, difficult words that keep repeating, this will save you significant time and energy, even if you are a fast typist.
  
  
• Bite off small chunks, particularly at the beginning. Break your clips up into 15 minute pieces, or even less. As your skill and speed improves, you'll be able to go through all this stuff more accurately in larger chunks.
  
  
• If this is, in fact, something you think you'll pursue for any amount of time and money, I strong suggest getting a footpedal and perhaps software for transcribing. The footpadal makes it so much easier - you aren't taking your fingers off the keyboard to stop and rewind. Here's what I'm talking about: http://www.amazon.com/Express-Scribe-Transcription-Pedal-Bundle/dp/B009V62AMU
  
  Start slow, take it easy, be patient, figure out how to create an efficient system that will help you to be accurate the first go-around so that you can start tearing through the material.

Here's everything I bought for mine:

• Bench - $30
  
  
• Stand - $60
  
  
• [Garritan CFX VST] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KLFF91O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) - $170
  
  
• Audio Interface - $100 Comes with ableton which can be used to record the midi and also comes with a free addictive keys piano. Pretty nice for the price. There's about 7 ms of latency when I use this setup on my laptop which is completely unnoticeable.
  
  
• [VPC 1] (https://www.musicstore.de/en_US/EUR/Kawai-VPC1-Masterkeyboard/art-SYN0004258-000) - About $1400 dollars after shipping and a duty tax of $76 will be charged if you live in the U.S. Still cheaper than I was able to find it elsewhere
  
  You'll also need a nice pair of speakers or headphones. I use the Audio-Technica ATH-AD700x's which are open back and they sound pretty good. I actually got a set of Sterling MX5 studio monitors in addition to my headphones to set on top of the piano and they sound amazing. If you ever think you will be playing for anyone or performing I recommend getting a pair of the MX5's. It's about $200 and then $10 for a cable. They will hook right up to the audio interface.

She is so adorable! She seems to have a good ear and a good sense of time, but you really should not let her play on a folding chair unless it is the only chair she can sit in where her feet touch the floor. Folding chair seats lean down towards the back, which forces your your body weight backwards. This is really bad for your cello posture and position. A flat seat like one of the chairs behind her in this video are much better. She will learn faster the better her sitting position is, because it will not restrain her motion as much as an optimal position. Tell her she is awesome!

You might consider http://www.amazon.com/JSI-Adjustable-Portable-Piano-Cello-Musician-Stool-Seat/dp/B009OXUN56/ref=sr_1_14?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1458837058&sr=1-14&keywords=musician+chair


or better (and more expensive) http://www.amazon.com/ADJUSTRITE-Musicians-Chair-Vivo-USA/dp/B0016OIIX0/ref=sr_1_2?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1458837058&sr=1-2&keywords=musician+chair

This one is $138.04 used but good condition on amazon lights up and is midi compliant http://smile.amazon.com/Casio-LK165-Lighted-Keyboard-Headphones/dp/B005N4N2GW/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1405829989&sr=8-7&keywords=piano+

This one has a usb port but I'm not sure if it works the same way as midi...http://smile.amazon.com/Yamaha-YPT-240-Premium-Keyboard-Headphones/dp/B00F07YC4S/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1405829989&sr=8-4&keywords=piano+keyboard

If you can deal without the midi and specialty connections and functions (like me. I just stick my laptop on my keyboard and follow with youtube tutorials of songs) there are some good ones on there for under $100 that will work for a general player. This is the one I have and it works like a gem http://smile.amazon.com/Huntington-KB61-Portable-Electronic-Keyboard/dp/B005JK63K2/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1405829989&sr=8-8&keywords=piano+keyboard. Basic but lots of sounds and good portability.

I'm willing to help pitch in a little if your ending price for the one you want is a little over $100.

I used this coffin, and this stand.

Between the coffin and the NS7FX, Its over 100 lbs and sits on the stand very steadily. I take the top of the coffin and put it on the stand, and that makes a "table" to drape the cloth over. The NS7 in the coffin goes on top of that.

This setup is extremely stable, there is nowhere for anyone to put a drink, it looks super professional, and has the added bonus of taking up a lot less room in my car than a table.

Here's a pic of what the setup looks like from the side. At this gig. there was a table there already, and I used it to set my monitor and lighting controller on. I was on a stage here, so I didn't have to worry about a drink being set on my stand. Normally I would put my monitor and lighting controller on the stand with the laptop, and it keeps my area pretty secure.

Solid :) thanks for checking. There’s a switch on the back so you can adjust the settings. I’ll link a picture in case you’re curious https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/aplus-seller-content-images-us-east-1/ATVPDKIKX0DER/ABZJC0ZX82FPL/B073W8P6QY/lIitxlSwGR._UX300_TTW__.jpg

Yeah my goal was to get all the outputs I’ll need, and have zero noise...I bought a cheap Donner Noise gate pedal which seems to work pretty well, so hopefully the set up is all good. Twirling my thumbs waiting for it all to arrive lol

I love my Koowheel but it is by no means a portable board. My rule is to always ride it wherever I'm going, I also carry a spare battery in a small assault backpack. So I say get used to riding it, not carrying it. But if there is no way you can ride it in some circumstances, I remember someone here recommended musical keyboard bags like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Sel-Natural-Keyboard-Electronic-Oxford/dp/B01E6G71M8/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1485838414&sr=1-1&keywords=keyboard+bag

It's less than 20 bucks and measures around 39 inches, plenty of room for a Koowheel. Can carry it like backpack or from handle. It looks like a great travel bag to say the least, and it won't break the bank.

PS,
Yes if you loosen up the trucks it will increase turning ability but decrease stability. Start off with half turns and get a feel for it.

I have a Kawai ES100 that I love. It was around $800 when I got it five years ago, and I honestly prefer it to 90% of the "real" pianos that I play.

It looks like they've now replaced it with a slightly improved version the ES110 - you can see an in depth review here.

It comes with only the keyboard itself (not a stand), so I'd recommend getting a stand like this to go with it, rather than the cheap "X" shaped ones.

You should be able to get the whole setup (stand, bench, pedal, and keyboard) within your $1000 price range easily.

Instrument Maintenance 101

This video starts out discussing some common issues that are caused by not keeping a trumpet clean and lubricated, and then shows how to clean your horn.

If you want cleaning brushes like the ones Monette uses, it's these:

Valve casing brush - The picture is wrong - it shows a mouthpiece brush. But this is the one used in the video, and it is your best friend for cleaning your valve casings. You can use it on lots of the other tubes on your horn as well, even though it looks too big. The bristles are soft enough that it fits into smaller tubes and does a great job.

Mouthpiece brush - Useful for things other than mouthpieces. Works great on piston ports, and you should brush out the mouthpiece receiver on your horn with it as often as possible because that's where lots of gunk tends to accumulate and cause problems with mouthpiece sealing and mouthpiece shank wear.

Snake - It says it's for trombone, but trust me - this is the one you want for trumpet as well.

One thing that worked great for building a rig was 0.051" music wire for the front half, and memory wire for the back half.

http://www.amazon.com/Carbon-Smooth-Diameter-Precision-Tolerance/dp/B000VYHKO4/

You can over bend music wire to a specific shape, and it stays that way. Memory wire is much softer, it generally keeps its shape, but you can bend it easily to a different shape.

I bent the music wire to the track IR shape and then covered it with black tape to make it a little thicker and not be conductive. Then I added the LEDs and wiring and covered that in black tape to protect it. I added the back end using a piece of memory wire bent into an H (double thickness). The left side of the H got black taped to the track IR shape. The right side is for attaching to headphones with velcro straps.

I then covered the whole thing in shrink tubing to seal in the black tape and to give it a nice finish.

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That's a beautiful desk. Thanks for the advice! My desk is adjustable in height but I'm not sure if it has the depth necessary to hold multiple tiers of gear like that. I'd have to find a new place for my mixer/analog heat/deluge/rytm if I used the desk for a keyboard, so I'm thinking that I'm going to get a second tier riser for my keyboard stand (like https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B077J8BRWV/ref=psdcmw_491024011_t2_B0002E3DNU). Cheers

I use this CyberClean goo to clean out keyboards, laptops, screens, stereo equipment and so forth.

Unless your gunk is very lodged in, this will get it off by just pressing it gently on the nooks and crannies. It's awesome.

Actually that's something I vexxed about for awhile while planning the final state for the room. I used to have a Quicklok 2-tier stand, but it was all crooked and problematic.

The stand on the right was bought from a local synth shop owner who didn't need it any more. It's a Pro Line and I paid him seventy five bucks for it. It's pretty sturdy and meant for touring, so the footprint is a big larger than I'd prefer.

I just bought the one on the left last week from Amazon. It's the more durable of the 3-tier Quicklock stands available. I'm really happy with it. Very precisely made and sturdy. Here's a link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JIULCGO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ah, who is asking, OP?

I just replaced mine a few weeks back with Piano wire, it was a PITA job, if you don't like taking apart plastic toys or familiar really with that stuff, it isn't a whole lot of fun. Searched a lot of google to figure out how to tear the thing apart [safely].... it still sucked. It's really down to how that palm rest is attached to the body, it's fitted really weird and you have to twist it off the whole thing.

Anyways, once you get it apart, you can see the twist pot with a rod sticking up from the center, pretty much where you'd expect, and 3 wires that go to a board.
I had to re-solder mine, take a phone picture before, because I did mine backwards (woops!)

but, yeah all said and done, I got on Amazon and bought this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VYHKO4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Found something slightly smaller than what it needed to go into, put it in a vice, WEAR WORK GLOVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
spun it around three times, and gave it a similar shape that the original spring had. My spring had snapped on one of the legs.

Anyways, put it back in, cut the little feet off the spring a little more so it didn't snag and cut a tiny wire, and it's back up and running!


I'm right there with /u/Russiangreyman though, it's exactly how I feel with my X52P
The price we're paying is really just for something that nobody else is filling on the market, probably explains the price.
Tons of buttons, a decent layout, the X52P is insanely comfortable, it's just... nothing else is really similar in terms of ergonomics and layout.

So, what we end up with, are empty spots in the market for cheaper products, that.... may likely have better build quality, again, because they probably fear nobody is willing to spend that much money.

Because when they do see reviews they see all of these negative reviews lol

Buy these. They're super fucking rock solid and actually affordable:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008I5QTQI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It’s a Plixio Z style stand. The second tier is made by Knox. It was purchased separately and added on later. I’m really happy with both.

The stand and second tier were both purchased from amazon.

Stand: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07574VQPQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_..JMDbF2FZK1E

Second tier: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077J8BRWV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_o9JMDbMZSF97S

They're by On Stage. Very sturdy and easy to set up. You can do some cool things with them by adding wood to make shelves for smaller pieces of gear, or other custom tube mounting boards. Here's the link where I picked mine up:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000G3KNT4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.de/Cyber-Clean-Office-Reinigungsmasse-Pop-up/dp/B001NWJS5C/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=cyberclean&qid=1562273705&s=gateway&sprefix=cybercl&sr=8-2

It's called Cyberclean and I think it worked great.

Nope! No wobble at all. I made sure the stand was top notch (stable) before stacking them up that high. I hear ya on the vertigo!

Quik Lok QL-723 Pro Series Heavy Duty Keyboard "X" Stand https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JIULCGO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_GXKRJ8AvSrjrs

It was useful to get this down in text for myself, I've ended up deciding to get this:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/WS7500RBSyst--on-stage-stands-ws7500-complete-system-rosewood
Image

and this:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JIULCGO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Image

This.

But something like this off Amazon (or wherever) and you'll be set. Just check the weight of the keyboard and the weight limit of the stand before you buy it. I personally feel safer with a double braced stand but I've used so how braced stands at my school for some relatively heavy keyboards and I've never had an issue.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0087UPVAO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_5Jt9ybSBPDFSB

I have 2 of these and would recommend them. I use them for stationary studio use, nothing live.

On Stage KS7903 3-Tier A-Frame Keyboard Stand

If you’re looking for a cheaper isolated power supply under $100 check out the Donner Dp-4. I have the Dp-3 and it’s built like a tank but the Dp-4 has a total of 8 9v outputs instead of six.

Don’t get the Dp-1 or 2 because they aren’t truly isolated.

Obligatory link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B073W8P6QY/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

Get a two tier stand. If you want more synths or other gear get one of these.

There is nothing in that respect that will help. People have tried various voice-to-text and speech recognition software and universally report that it takes longer to fix or repair all the errors the software makes than it would to just transcribe the audio in the first place.

If you are serious about transcription, it might be worth looking into some hardware that will assist, such as a transcription foot pedal

try this stuff.. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyber-Clean-Home-Office-145g/dp/B001NWJS5C/

I've used this sort of z-stand for anything under 80 pounds.

Z stands will not have your keyboard as near the wall as an X stand can get it. But you also won't be kicking your stand anymore to access your pedal unit. Usually the Z stands have a higher/lower adjustment without sacrificing stability.

-Also das hier?-

Und wofür bist du jetzt genau 250km hin und zurück gefahren?

For keyboard: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyber-Clean-Home-Office-145g/dp/B001NWJS5C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456835579&sr=8-1&keywords=cyber+clean

I got this z stand for my es8. It is very sturdy and was cheap.



Stellar Labs 555-13830 Heavy Duty Keyboard Stand with Adjustable Width and Height https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008I5QTQI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apap_VIohUVUnnhQWz



/but I am a noob and don't play anything like chopin etudes. All I can say is that for a beginner this stand feels very solid and doesn't move.

depending on your budget

low (~35 bucks): one spot, donner dp

medium (~90 bucks): donner iso, mxr iso brick

a bit higher (~120 bucks and up): truetone cs7, voodoo labs pp2, walrus aetos

all these should cover your current and future needs. the medium and higher priced ones are isolated and will have clean power, the one spot and cheaper donner might introduce some noise depending on what you're plugging in to

Corvo

(I will enter THIS)

1. My Weapon, a Classic
   
   
2. Now, how I would do it? Simple. Sneak up behind em and GARROTE! GARROTE GARROTE GARROTE!