How Has Technology Helped Develop the Music Keyboard?

By Randolph Driblette, eHow Contributor

Many different types of keyboards have existed throughout the history of music. In fact, the modern piano was not the first keyboard instrument. Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the pianoforte, now known simply as the piano, in 1698. Before this, musicians used primitive keyboard instruments with limited ranges and dynamic capabilities, such as the harpsichord. Since then, electric and digital keyboards have become the norm.

Electric Pianos
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Sampling Keyboards
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Electric pianos came to prominence in 1954, with the introduction of the Wurlitzer electric piano, according to Events-in-Music.com. This piano operated by touching a contact to an electrically charged tine, producing a bell-like tone when a player struck a key. While it didn't sound like a piano, it became known for its distinctive mellow tone, sometimes boosted with guitar overdrive pedals to give it an edge. The Fender Rhodes is a similar type of electromechanical piano. The Mellotron was one of the first popular sampling keyboards, according to Mellotron.com. A sampling keyboard is one that plays back recordings of certain instruments when a player strikes a key. The Mellotron concentrated on replicating non-piano sounds, like string sections and a choir. In 1964, Bob Moog had completed the first Moog synthesizer, according to Synthmuseum.com. A synthesizer is a keyboard instrument that creates unnatural tones when a musician plays the keyboard. The type of tone played depends on how the musician manipulates patch cables and knobs on the keyboard's chassis. These early synthesizers, like the Moog, functioned by analog circuits, using cables and electromechanical parts to make sound.

Synthesizers
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Electronic Keyboards

MIDI Keyboards
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The 1980s saw the introduction of electronic keyboards. This revolutionized keyboard instruments by offering many sounds in a lightweight, compact package. These types of keyboards use computerized electronic circuits to create sound digitally. Tones exist in binary form, as a series of 1s and 0s to the computer. By combining elements of synthesis, not different from analog synthesizers, these electronic devices became the first digital instruments. MIDI keyboards are the latest popular type of keyboard. Musicians connect this type of keyboard to a computer with MIDI or FireWire technology and use the keyboard to modify computer-controlled tones. No sounds are actually stored on the keyboard controller, which acts as a simple interface between musician and computer.