The word “electronic keyboard” refers to any instrument which produces sound by the pressing or striking of keys, and uses electricity, somehow, to facilitate the roll-out of that sound. The usage of an electronic keyboard to create music follows an inevitable evolutionary line from the very first musical keyboard instruments, the pipe organ, clavichord, and harpsichord. The pipe organ is the oldest of these, initially created by the Romans within the 3rd century B.C., and referred to as hydraulis. The hydraulis produced sound by forcing air through reed pipes, and was powered through a manual water pump or a natural water source such as a waterfall.
From it’s first manifestation in ancient Rome until the 14th century, the organ remained the sole keyboard instrument. It often did not feature a keyboard at all, instead utilizing large levers or buttons that were operated by using the whole hand.
The subsequent appearance from the clavichord and harpsichord in the 1300’s was accelerated through the standardization of the 12-tone keyboard of white natural keys and black sharp/flat keys found in all keyboard instruments of today. The popularity from the clavichord and harpsichord was eventually eclipsed from the development and widespread adoption in the piano within the 18th century. The Visit Website was a revolutionary advancement in acoustic musical keyboards because a pianist could vary the amount (or dynamics) in the sound the instrument created by varying the force in which each key was struck.
The emergence of electronic sound technology inside the 18th century was another essential part of the growth of the present day electronic keyboard. The initial electrified musical instrument was regarded as the Denis d’or (built by Vaclav Prokop Dovis), dating from about 1753. It was shortly followed by the “clavecin electrique” invented by Jean Baptiste Thillaie de Laborde around 1760. The first kind instrument was comprised of over 700 strings temporarily electrified to improve their sonic qualities. The later was actually a keyboard instrument featuring plectra, or picks, that were activated electrically.
While being electrified, neither the Denis d’or or perhaps the clavecin used electricity being a sound source. In 1876, Elisha Gray invented such an instrument referred to as “musical telegraph.,” which had been, essentially, the first analog electronic synthesizer. Gray found that he could control sound from the self-vibrating electromagnetic circuit, and so invented a fundamental single note oscillator. His musical telegraph created sounds from your electromagnetic oscillation of steel reeds and transmitted them over a telephone line. Grey went on to include a basic loudspeaker into his later models which was made up of a diaphragm vibrating in a magnetic field, making the tone oscillator audible.
Lee De Forrest, the self-styled “Father Of Radio,” was the next major reason for the creation of the electronic keyboard. In 1906 he invented the triode electronic valve or “audion valve.” The audion valve was the first thermionic valve or “vacuum tube,” and De Forrest built the first vacuum tube instrument, the digitale piano in 1915. The vacuum tube became an important part of electronic instruments for the upcoming half a century until the emergence and widespread adoption of transistor technology.
The decade in the 1920’s brought a wealth of new electronic instruments on the scene such as the Theremin, the Ondes Martenot, and the Trautonium.
The following major breakthrough in the background of electronic keyboards came in 1935 with the introduction of the Hammond Organ. The Hammond was the initial electronic instrument competent at producing polyphonic sounds, and remained so up until the invention in the Chamberlin Music Maker, as well as the Mellotron in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. The Chamberlin and the Mellotron were the initial ever sample-playback keyboards meant for making music.
The electronic piano made it’s first appearance inside the 1940’s with all the “Pre-Piano” by Rhodes (later Fender Rhodes). This is a three along with a half octave instrument created from 1946 until 1948 that came built with self-amplification. In 1955 the Wurlitzer Company debuted their first electric piano, “The 100.”
An upswing of music synthesizers inside the 1960’s gave an effective push to the evolution of the electronic musical keyboards we have today. The very first synthesizers were extremely large, unwieldy machines used only in recording studios. The technological advancements and proliferation of miniaturized solid state components soon allowed producing synthesizers that have been self-contained, portable instruments able to being used in live performances.
This began in 1964 when Bob Moog produced his “Moog Synthesizer.” Lacking a keyboard, the Moog Synthesizer was not truly a digital keyboard. Then, in 1970, Moog debuted his “Minimoog,” a non-modular synthesizer having a built-in keyboard, which instrument further standardized the style of electronic musical keyboards.
Most early analog synthesizers, including the Minimoog as well as the Roland SH-100, were monophonic, competent at producing only one tone at any given time. Several, including the EML 101, ARP Odyssey, and the Moog Sonic Six, could produce two different tones at the same time when two keys were pressed. True polyphony (the creation of multiple simultaneous tones which permit for that playing of chords) qhscvn only obtainable, in the beginning, using electronic organ designs. There was several electronic keyboards produced which combined organ circuits with synthesizer processing. These included Moog’s Polymoog, Opus 3, as well as the ARP Omni.
By 1976, additional design advancements had allowed the appearance of polyphonic synthesizers including the Oberheim Four-Voice, and also the Yamaha series CS-50, CS-60, and CS-80. The very first truly practical polyphonic synth, introduced in 1977, was the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. This instrument was the first to make use of a microprocessor being a controller, and in addition allowed all knob settings to get saved in computer memory and recalled by just pushing a control button. The Prophet-5’s design soon had become the new standard in the electronic keyboards industry.
The adoption of Musical Instrumental Digital Interface (MIDI) as the standard for digital code transmission (allowing electronic keyboards to get connected into computers along with other devices for input and programming), as well as the ongoing digital technological revolution have produced tremendous advancements in most aspects of This Site, construction, function, quality of sound, and price. Today’s manufactures, including Casio, Yamaha, Korg, Rolland, and Kurzweil, are now producing a good amount of well-built, lightweight, versatile, great sounding, and affordable electronic keyboard musical instruments and can continue to do this well to the near future.