Keyboards and synthesizers are useful items for pianists of all ages and stages. While they will never replace the piano, they can simulate a piano's sound and feel. Today, most keyboard companies manufacture eighty-eightkey keyboards. This is the size of a standard piano keyboard. The piano's case (large exterior shell) is discarded in keyboard design, but otherwise, the area viewed and used by the keyboardist is nearly the same. In other words, the keys are arranged on a keyboard exactly as they are on a piano. On professional keyboards, the actual key size and weight also remain the same. No matter what the model, the colors of the keys — black and white — are never altered.

Since digital keyboards deliver nearly the same feel and sound as a piano, students and pros alike have long enjoyed using them. What's more, modern keyboards offer a cache of electronic sounds, which add variety to any musical setting. These days, virtually every sound heard in music has a keyboard equivalent. For example, most keyboards can simulate the human voice, harpsichords, organs, string orchestras, guitars, flutes, clarinets, harps, banjos, French horns, glockenspiels, and much, much more. Other common sounds include bongo and conga drums, timpani, clapping, ocean waves, gunshots, car horns, birds chirping, glass breaking, and other harebrained sound effects. Many companies even offer whole sound libraries, which contain hundreds of presets.

How good are the sounds? It depends on the company and the products themselves. Not all sounds are created equal, and there are many variables that contribute to a sound's quality. As of this writing, the sounds of the trumpet, saxophone, oboe, and individual string instruments (such as violin and viola) are often poor. However, piano and other keyboard sounds such as the DX-7, Rhodes, and Hammond B-3 organ tend to be excellently rendered.

Synthesizers

Synthesizers are considered keyboard instruments since most of them use a standard keyboard layout to produce specific pitches and sound effects. Old fashioned synths make a sound by manipulating and controlling electronic voltage. For example, a variety of sounds can be created by manipulating the sine wave of an electronic tone. Classic analog synthesizers used operational amplifiers (op-amps) as well as potentiometers to change or modify the sound. They also used oscillators and filters to change the frequency or wavelength of a tone. The first synths were referred to as modular since they were a patchwork of independent electronic units.

Bob Moog

Contrary to myth, Bob Moog did not invent the synthesizer. However, he was the first to popularize this keyboard instrument. A brilliant engineer, Moog invented the now-famous Minimoog (1970). This efficient, single unit synth quickly replaced the cumbersome, multiple units of the day. Like earlier synthesizers, the Minimoog was still monophonic, meaning it could only play one note at a time. However, it single-handedly revolutionized the world of keyboards.

More than anything, Moog's synthesizers spurred a greater interest in keyboard technology. By 1979, curiosity with synthetic and nonacoustic sound eventually led to Digital Signal Processing, which converts or manipulates analog information. And despite the advances of the digital age, some keyboardists still enjoy using the old Moog synths. Enthusiasts claim that their warm, analog sounds cannot be imitated by microprocessors or computers.

In 2006, Moog Music unveiled the Little Phatty Analog Synthesizer. A tribute to the late Bob Moog, this sleek keyboard includes all the classic Minimoog features but with a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI).