I just read through the posts and I thought this might be usefull to you.

1) Piano Keyboard action:

These are flat fronted and have a lip on the front edge. They are available in non weighted, weighted, hammer and balanced hammer. They are normally plastic but some manufacturers use wooden keys

1a) non wighted = plastic keys, with a return spring at the rear. They look fine, are light but are not realy suitable for the professional unless overall instrument weight is of great importance.

1b) weighted = the same as above but with metal glued to the underside of the key. These make decent master keyboards but are still considered to be a cheep version of a Hammer Action (see below)

1c) Hammer Action. The keys have a moving hammer that strikes..well not much realy (except Kawai who use the hammers to strike the contacts...neat). The return spring can be either under the key or at the rear. The good thing is they feel like an acoustic piano. Some key frames are heavy (Old Yamha's for example)

1d) Balanced Hammer Action = The size (hence weight) of hammers vary across the keyboard to emulate closer the feel of an acoustic Piano

note: Piano keys are not suitable for Hammond type players, they are far too slow and heavy to the touch, the lip on the edge means you cannot run up the keys easily and the contact point is way too low.

2) General keyboards

Tyros, PA2x, Audya have standard keys based on the spinet organ keyboards originally designed by Hammond for the M100 series. The main difference is the hinge point is much further back on a Hammond (hence the super slick action)

The big choice here is weighted or non weighted. weighted keys are identical to non weighted except the weighted keys have a piece of metal glued to the underside of the key. This makes the keys feel more solid to the touch. Handy for the odd Piano piece, but generally just feel more porfessional than a non weighted action. (Hammond are an exception though and do not need weights)

3) Waterfall Keys = As with almost all electronic keyboard inventions, this started with Hammond and was used in almost all console organs (A, B, C, D, E, RT and so on), the M3 and early chord organs. They keys are longer than the visable length, have a flat front similar to a Piano key but without the lip. They should be fast and have a high contact point. The key 'weight' (ammount of effort required to press the key) is vital.




Almost all manufacturers use third party keyframes. It makes me laugh when people tell me they prefer the feel of one particular keyboard over another..when I know they both use identical keyboards made by Fatar in Italy.