For a complete beginner like me, this package (keyboard +
stand + headphones + AC adapter) has been ideal. An experienced friend
recommended that I opt for a touch-sensitive keyboard, and it has indeed been
the right way to go. You could surely learn on a lesser keyboard that doesn't
have the touch response, but it wouldn't sound very good, and you'd want to
upgrade pretty quickly.
It has quite a number of alternative tones, which I seldom use other than when
just goofing around, and a large number of rhythm tracks and some other digital
effects that I've not needed either, but they're on there & they work.
I've also not experimented with the USB, MP3 or MIDI I/O functions, as mine
didn't seem to come with any connectors for those. The irony is, I would think
people who need that stuff would probably also get a fancier keyboard, but who
knows...
This keyboard does have some built in "instruction" functions that
are kind of fun and have a very patient way of helping you along, but they are
more geared toward the total newbie, in that they help you familiarize yourself
with using all fingers on your hands and playing in time with accompaniment. An
interesting feature is, when you get stuck in a song, the accompaniment will
stop and wait on you, and a voice will speak the number of the finger you
should be using ("One" = thumb, etc). Once you hit the right key, the
song will move on with you. It doesn't do much for helping you to actually read
music in my opinion, but that would be a lot to ask. The digital readout during
the lesson will show you the proper key(s) to press on a key diagram, which
finger(s) to use on a hand diagram, and does in fact have the note(s) shown on
a staff, but the staff is teeny tiny and not very useful for learning to translate
a note to a piano key. You'll want to seek that level of instruction elsewhere.
It would have been even better to have a package that also included the sustain
pedal, but that omission hasn't at all been a problem at this early stage.
Those are for sale individually if you want one.
I highly recommend this as a starter keyboard. I would not rely on it as your
sole instruction resource. At the very least, get a "for dummies"
book or something to get yourself started reading music.
08/11/2010
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