New toy: M-Audio ProKeys 88
Category music
How disorienting... the doorbell actually rang today. Given the location and layout of our new apartment, it doesn't really make sense to use the front door, so we (and the occasional visitors) just go in and out of the back door. So when the doorbell rang at about 6:00 this evening, it took me a moment to remember what that sound means. Our dachshund certainly hadn't forgotten. Much to my overjoyed surprise, it was a UPS guy lugging my new toy: a ProKeys 88 from M-AUDIO. I've been lusting after one of these for quite a while, but just kept postponing the purchase as frivolous until Laura convinced me that it's not an impulse purchase if I've waited almost a year to buy it.
When we moved to North Carolina last July, not knowing if we were going to keep jumping from town to town or hunker here for a while, we got rid of nearly everything we didn't really "need". I've since taken to calling it "The Great Purge of '06". And in the time we've been here, the only item I really missed was the 1919 upright piano we donated to Goodwill. Until it was gone, it didn't occur to me that I've never really lived without a piano. The only exception was the first few months in my very first apartment, prior to buying the upright... and at the time, I was a five minute drive from my parents' house, so when I was itching to play, I'd just drive over and play theirs. So when we said goodbye to Theodore (yes, I named my piano... long story), I underestimated the inevitable withdrawal.
Laura and I were wandering through a mall one day and saw that a piano store was having a sale on digital pianos. I tinkered with a couple models, and noticed three features that appealed to me:
- Weighted keys, to simulate the feel of playing an acoustic
- Digital sampling, to simulate the sound of playing an acoustic
- Headphone jack, for playing in the middle of the night when I can't sleep, without waking the neighbors
I decided then and there that someday I'd buy one, but as most of the models I liked were equivalent to 3 months' rent, I just couldn't justify spending that much cash any time soon. But little sugarplum keyboards kept dancing in my head, so I did some online comparisons and found the ProKeys 88 for less than $500, surprised that it still offered all the features that appealed to me (plus a USB port, which some of the expensive ones didn't even have). We found a local retailer that had one in stock, so we wandered by. I fell in love with it instantly. If I closed my eyes, I couldn't even tell the difference ("I Can't Believe It's Not Acoustic"). But I still felt impulsive for wanting one.
Well, it's here now, and it's worth every penny. I was dismayed to find that I've already forgotten nearly every song I've ever learned, but encouraged that, after a couple hours of playing, some of it is coming back. Maybe in a couple months my fingers will have remembered the rest.
How disorienting... the doorbell actually rang today. Given the location and layout of our new apartment, it doesn't really make sense to use the front door, so we (and the occasional visitors) just go in and out of the back door. So when the doorbell rang at about 6:00 this evening, it took me a moment to remember what that sound means. Our dachshund certainly hadn't forgotten. Much to my overjoyed surprise, it was a UPS guy lugging my new toy: a ProKeys 88 from M-AUDIO. I've been lusting after one of these for quite a while, but just kept postponing the purchase as frivolous until Laura convinced me that it's not an impulse purchase if I've waited almost a year to buy it.When we moved to North Carolina last July, not knowing if we were going to keep jumping from town to town or hunker here for a while, we got rid of nearly everything we didn't really "need". I've since taken to calling it "The Great Purge of '06". And in the time we've been here, the only item I really missed was the 1919 upright piano we donated to Goodwill. Until it was gone, it didn't occur to me that I've never really lived without a piano. The only exception was the first few months in my very first apartment, prior to buying the upright... and at the time, I was a five minute drive from my parents' house, so when I was itching to play, I'd just drive over and play theirs. So when we said goodbye to Theodore (yes, I named my piano... long story), I underestimated the inevitable withdrawal.
Laura and I were wandering through a mall one day and saw that a piano store was having a sale on digital pianos. I tinkered with a couple models, and noticed three features that appealed to me:
- Weighted keys, to simulate the feel of playing an acoustic
- Digital sampling, to simulate the sound of playing an acoustic
- Headphone jack, for playing in the middle of the night when I can't sleep, without waking the neighbors
I decided then and there that someday I'd buy one, but as most of the models I liked were equivalent to 3 months' rent, I just couldn't justify spending that much cash any time soon. But little sugarplum keyboards kept dancing in my head, so I did some online comparisons and found the ProKeys 88 for less than $500, surprised that it still offered all the features that appealed to me (plus a USB port, which some of the expensive ones didn't even have). We found a local retailer that had one in stock, so we wandered by. I fell in love with it instantly. If I closed my eyes, I couldn't even tell the difference ("I Can't Believe It's Not Acoustic"). But I still felt impulsive for wanting one.
Well, it's here now, and it's worth every penny. I was dismayed to find that I've already forgotten nearly every song I've ever learned, but encouraged that, after a couple hours of playing, some of it is coming back. Maybe in a couple months my fingers will have remembered the rest.
Comments
Posted by Ed Maloney At 05:57:45 AM On 08/21/2007 | - Website - |
Posted by Nathan T. Freeman At 07:21:35 AM On 08/21/2007 | - Website - |
Posted by ed maloney At 06:22:11 AM On 08/21/2007 | - Website - |