Apple Keyboard

After using the new Apple keyboard for a while, I still like it a lot. The keys have a buttery smooth action that is nice, and I literally smile every time I use it.

It’s kind of pricy as far as keyboards go ($50), but so far it’s my favorite of all the ones I’ve owned.

I’ve been looking at another kind of keyboards lately – music keyboards.

After playing the sheet music minigame in Brain Age 2, I had Sarah show me how to do scales on a piano, I want to pick up a beginner’s keyboard and start to learn.

Right now I’m torn between getting a MIDI sequencer keyboard and a stand-alone keyboard. The MIDI sequencer plugs directly into my laptop and controls GarageBand, making it super-easy to record and build songs… but it’s like a typing keyboard – without a computer, it doesn’t do anything.

A stand-alone keyboard works without the computer, but might be a little more work to hook up to the computer, and are a bit larger, since they have speakers built-in. They also require an external power supply (the MIDI sequencers are USB-powered).

I’m leaning towards a 49-key basic MIDI sequencer by M-Audio. Real piano players I’m sure would scoff at a 49-key keyboard, but I want something really basic to learn on. I can get that one on sale for around $75, the starting price point for a stand-alone or 61-key sequencer is about twice that.

I figure if I need something better later on, I can move up to something better, but for now I want the most basic model, so I can even see if I’ll stick with it.

I’ll look at what they have at Best Buy, they say they have that model in stock, I’ll look at that and if nothing else there grabs my eye, I’ll go with that.