Eight more keyboard tips
SLOW IT DOWN
If you’re trying but struggling to capture a really tricky keyboard part, remember that technology is on hand to help. Using a DAW has the huge advantage of being able to slow down the tempo of your tune. Capturing more difficult parts at a slower tempo, then speeding things back up again, will make you look like one of Jordan Rudess’ lesser-known cousins.
PADDY POWER
Generating notes from a set of drum pads, (such as Maschine’s note mode or the MPCstyle 4x4 grid of pads found on Akai’s MPK series of controllers) can yield interesting results, as it divorces the normal relationship you hold in your head between note pitches and the piano keyboard and frees you up to create truly random phrases.
LEARN YOUR SKALES
Native Instruments’ Komplete Kontrol series of controller keyboards feature coloured LEDs above the keys, that can be used to indicate the notes that make up different scales – useful when practising. You can set them to a visual guide, showing you the notes you need to hit to play the scale, or you can set the keyboard to map any note to the next nearest note in the selected scale, making it impossible to hit a wrong note. There are MIDI software remappers that can do this for you too, such as AutoTonic or Mosaic’s AutoTheory.
SEABOARD SHUFFLE
One of the more radical innovations in the MIDI controller world recently is the ROLI Seaboard, a collection of versatile sensors swathed in a neoprene outer skin, transforming the conventional keyboard that we know and love into a single slab of rippled, squishy silicone. Each ‘keywave’ responds to five different gestures that can control vibrato, pitch bend or key pressure, opening up a whole new world of expressiveness. It takes a little bit of work to get the best out of it at first, as the lack of a distinct physical boundary between notes means that you’ll need to step up the accuracy stakes when playing, but the enhanced expressive potential is more than worth it.
HARPEJJING ON
The harpejji is an innovative electronic stringed instrument that’s kind of a keyboard-guitar hybrid, played by tapping or ‘hammering’ on the strings at particular locations. Why is this of interest to keyboard players? Because the fretboard is marked with white and black notes in a keyboard layout, giving keyboard players access to a whole new way of achieving a guitar-like sound – plus techniques like vibrato, string-bending and slides – but with notes arranged in a familiar format.
STAY IN TIME
To ensure that you end up being able to play in time as well as hitting all the right keys, practising with a metronome when doing exercises will go a long way to helping you lock down your timing. Or, if you find this too boring, try programming little sketch tracks in your DAW to groove along to, made up of a tasty drum beat, a bassline and maybe even some accompanying chords.
HAMM IT UP
Assigning the faders on your controller to the drawbars on your virtual Hammond organ plugin will allow you to vary the tone of the sound as you’re playing – a classic technique employed by veteran players of the real thing. Many software emulations of Hammond organs are also programmed to use input from a sustain pedal to switch between fast and slow Leslie rotary speaker speeds.
EXPRESS YOURSELF
Adding an expression pedal to your lineup will allow you to use it to control volume. Essentially a foot pedal devoted to the transmission of MIDI volume (CC#7) data, an expression pedal will let you create authentic swells, both in and out, when playing organ parts. You can also use one to add ultra- realistic crescendos to brass and strings patches.