roll-up keyboard Options

[Alison]

OK, my problem is this: my children like to play to their grandparents, but said grandparents no longer have a piano. Since storage is an issue (both in my house and theirs) I wondered if a roll-up keyboard would do the job. However, one review I read says it is not at concert pitch which would of course be useless for accompaniments... and I wondered how loud they are, too. Does anyone have any experience of one?

[PianoNotes]

Putting it bluntly, I did try one once and they are rubbish. The notes did not always sound and chords did not really always come out.

[JamesK]

Putting it bluntly, I did try one once and they are rubbish. The notes did not always sound and chords did not really always come out.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) I dislike them very much. I had to play on one infront of about 30 people because the person organising forgot to book the piano out and had a roll up stored in his car.

[Hercules]

I bought one a couple of years ago with the intention of using it when going away for a few days so I could keep practising but tried it for about 10 minutes and have never touched it since. I found it awful! The sound was delayed, I had to keep looking at my fingers since you cannot feel your way around the keyboard (the black keys are not raised). Also there are no keys to depress so it feels all wrong!

[Tixylix]

A friend gave me one for Christmas as a joke, it was virtually unplayable and certainly could not cope with anything beyond what you might find in the first half of a beginner tutor book (being generous).

[limh]

I assume you've looked at the obvious option of a stand-alone electronic keyboard, and decided that they're also a bit on the big side? Another possibility is to get a USB keyboard that plugs into a computer (assuming Grandparents have one). They are sometimes considerably smaller than a standalone keyboard, but feel much the same to play. Of course they're not a piano, and never will be, but at least you can have real keys that are the right size. You would need to be a bit computer-savvy and check the keyboard comes with appropriate software, or that you can find some (with any decent software concert pitch will be no issue). You may also need to consider getting a plug-in sound-card too (USB-thing) to avoid having a perceptible delay. It should be possible (easy!) to plug the sound card into an existing hifi system if volume is an issue. The other big decision is how many notes. It's a balance of what you want to play, versus size and budget. 4 Octave keyboards are quite small but may just suffice?? A good electronic music shop should be able to advise on the whole package if you're not confident. Good luck anyway! I hope it works out. Proud grandchildren should be able to play for proud grandparents!

[Alison]

I assume you've looked at the obvious option of a stand-alone electronic keyboard, and decided that they're also a bit on the big side? Another possibility is to get a USB keyboard that plugs into a computer (assuming Grandparents have one). They are sometimes considerably smaller than a standalone keyboard, but feel much the same to play. Of course they're not a piano, and never will be, but at least you can have real keys that are the right size. You would need to be a bit computer-savvy and check the keyboard comes with appropriate software, or that you can find some (with any decent software concert pitch will be no issue). You may also need to consider getting a plug-in sound-card too (USB-thing) to avoid having a perceptible delay. It should be possible (easy!) to plug the sound card into an existing hifi system if volume is an issue. The other big decision is how many notes. It's a balance of what you want to play, versus size and budget. 4 Octave keyboards are quite small but may just suffice?? A good electronic music shop should be able to advise on the whole package if you're not confident. Good luck anyway! I hope it works out. Proud grandchildren should be able to play for proud grandparents!

Yes, ordinary electric keyboards are too big really, although it might come to that in the end. The computer option is not feasible either. Thanks for the suggestions, though (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[stetenorve]

Agree with the other folk above - roll up keyboards can't be "played". Mrs S bought me one for Christmas a couple of years ago, and I could only use it at work to check intervals, sounds of melodies etc for Theory exams.

[Norway]

I was given one 2 Christmases ago - bit of a novelty item and hard to store (kept unrolling and impossible to get back in its box) - I gave it away. Then same person bought me another one (smaller, different model) last Christmas - that smudged all the notes together and the various sounds didn't work - I returned that for a refund. A normal solid keyboard would be much better.

[JME]

I bought a roll-up piano for ?1.00 at a car-boot sale last week! Agree with all that's been said about them so far; although I'm not sure whether you can get different types, and if so whether another type may be better. However, if you're at a very basic piano standard like I am, and you really can't get enough time to practice, or spend a lot of time away from home, then they are (only just) better than nothing!