Comparison M-AUDIO Oxygen 61 MK IV vs Behringer Motor 61

The hardness of the keys on a keyboard is the amount of resistance they provide when pressed.

— Unweighted. Very low rigidity: the keys literally "fail" under the fingers. Found mostly in entry-level keyboards; this is due to the fact that unweighted mechanics are inexpensive, but the low pressure resistance makes it difficult to select the optimal pressure and control the dynamics of the sound.

— Semi- weighted. Keyboards with medium resistance — not as high as on weighted keys, but noticeably higher than on unweighted ones. This option is considered optimal for active keyboards (see "Mechanics"): at a low cost, it gives quite good responsiveness and, with a minimum skill, allows you to accurately control the pressing force.

— Weighted. Keyboards with high resistance, which is comparable to the resistance of classical piano keys. Note that high effort in this case is an advantage: it allows you to bring the response of the keyboard as close as possible to the response of a classical piano and makes it easier to control the pressure and dynamics of the sound. Actually, by definition, all hammer-action models are made weighted (see "Mechanics"), but among active keyboards this option is rare — due to complexity and high cost.

The presence of the aftertouch function in the keyboard (aftertouch). The essence of this function is to track the pressure force on the key after it is pressed. In fact, this means that in models with aftertouch, you can control the sound not only due to the force and speed of pressing the key, but also due to the change in pressure on it after pressing; this gives additional features and allows you to use various specific tricks of the game. The specific ways of changing the sound “tied” to aftertouch can be different, depending on the synthesis settings set: for example, when recording a guitar part, you can tie a small change in tone to this function and imitate string bending, when recording a saxophone, change the volume of notes, and etc.

Relatively inexpensive models use a common sensor to monitor aftertouch, which monitors the average force of pressure on all keys pressed; in more advanced ones, separate sensors are installed for each key.

The presence in the device of the function of splitting the keyboard.

This function, as the name suggests, allows you to divide the keyboard into two parts, each of which will have a different timbre. Thus, on one device, you can play the part of two instruments at once (for example, add the sound of a string orchestra to the violin) or accompany the part of the instrument with various effects (siren, klaxon, thunder, etc.). Some models allow you to select the position of the border between the keyboard zones.

The presence of an arpeggiator in the keyboard.

The name of this function comes from "arpeggio" — a technique for playing chords, in which notes are not played all at once, but in turn. Accordingly, the arpeggiator is a function that allows you to play a taken chord in the arpeggio technique: the musician presses all the keys at once, and the keyboard plays them in turn. This effect can also be achieved manually, but in some cases the arpeggiator turns out to be more convenient: it plays notes at a clearly defined speed and interval, can accompany them with various effects, and provides other additional features. These features vary depending on the model, but some instruments allow you to create entire songs with the arpeggiator by simply pressing a sequence of chords.

Input for receiving MIDI signals from an external device such as an optional keyboard or other controller, sequencer, etc. For MIDI signals, see “MIDI Out”; here we note that such signals received at the MIDI In input can be mixed with signals from the keyboard and output via MIDI Out or another interface of a similar purpose, or they can be sent unchanged to the MIDI Thru output. It is worth looking for a device with this input if you plan to build a complex from several MIDI signal sources and intend to use the keyboard as an intermediate link in such a system.

A specialized output for transmitting MIDI signals to an external device — a sequencer, a computer sound card (if there is a MIDI In input), etc.

MIDI signals are a kind of "digital notation": they tell which key was pressed, with what force and for how long, and also carry information about various additional parameters: timbre, tempo, key, etc. To convert such signals a "ready" sound requires an external sequencer (software or hardware).

Note that despite its specialized purpose, the MIDI Out output is not mandatory for modern MIDI keyboards: MIDI signals can also be transmitted via other interfaces, such as USB or Bluetooth (see the relevant paragraphs). So it makes sense to specifically look for a keyboard with such a connector if you plan to connect it to equipment with a MIDI In input.

The output to which the MIDI signals received at the MIDI In input are output (see the relevant paragraph). The key feature of this output is that the signals are output to it unchanged, regardless of the impact of the musician on the keyboard. In other words, if the MIDI Out input receives signals from both MIDI In and the keyboard itself, then MIDI Thru receives only signals from MIDI In.

MIDI Thru can come in handy when using the keyboard in large musical complexes where there are other sources of MIDI signal — in some cases it is convenient to use the keyboard as an intermediate link for these signals.

The maximum number of pedals that can be connected to the keyboard at the same time.

Pedals are used as additional controls to change various keyboard settings. The “classic of the genre” in this sense is the sustain pedal (see “Sustain”) — if the device has one connector for pedals, then this will almost certainly be the input for just such a pedal. Keyboards are produced, where there are 2 or more such inputs — in addition to sustain, you can connect pedals to them for other adjustments and effects (in particular, changing the volume).