I love starting these threads of which I know everyone will participate. When getting involved here, realize that this asks what your first keyboard was. These means that we're not asking you how many keyboards you've had, or what you have now. The last thing I want here is a gear-list thread.

At most, list your first keyboard (or first two), and tell us why you got them, and what you did with them. This should be fun.

My very first keyboard was the Casio SK1. What a board, it could sample! I didn't find much use for the samples, or the cheezy drum patterns. I did like the fact that you could "make" your own tones on them.

When I discovered MIDI, I used to get jealous that my SK1 didn't have it. I used to spend nights looking to see if there was some secret panel or compartment that would reveal MIDI jacks. Too bad you couldn't store the sounds or samples either.

My second keyboard was the Yamaha PSR500M. This was my first real keyboard. I begged my mother and father for this one. My friend had the PSR400, and his had reverb and a 5-track sequencer. I didn't know much about quantizing back then, and it didn't have it. But I liked the fact that I record my own songs. I also like the fact that the sounds were so "real". It had like 100 sounds - Whoa!

I recorded so many songs with the PSR500M. I have most of them on Cassette tape. I may transfer them to CD one day. Since then, I've been strictly a Roland man.

The Infamous Epu.

First keyboard....whoooo, we're going back in time here.Back before the days of midi, sampling,& sequencing.
My first was a Farfisa(I can't even remember the model, all I know is it was "ORANGE".....yikes!!
This was follwed by a Vox continental....
okay...who's next???

My first was a used Yamaha CP30 for 400 bucks. I bought it in 1987. A year later I used (the guitarists) Korg Poly 800.

So that was my gear for about 5 years. A Yammy CP30 and a Korg Poly 800 sitting on top of it.

<><
Bob

A Fender Rhodes piano. My sister helped me buy it, bless her heart. My first synth was a Hohner String ensemble, then came the Moog (for bass) a Clavinet D6, and BAM ! A gear junky was born !

mine was an xp-30 that served me well for about a year before i decided i liked software more and software suited me more.

Mine was an old. upright piano. Since then I've had a couple of other pianos and now have a grand. However, my first Keyboard was a PSR220 which my wife has inherited. Currently using a PSR740.

Bryan

My family had a Lowrey console organ since I was 10 or so. My first keyboard was a synthesizer Radio Shack made in the 70s. I can't remember the model, but I mowed grass and saved all summer for it. It cost $400 and was mono. It played some "loops" but mainly was modeled after a moog having a lot of knobs and sliders to change the sounds. I used to hook it up to a oscilloscope to study the waveforms. It was cool at the time.......................I wouldn't mind having it now either!

Mine was a Hammond M-1 spinet organ. First "keyboard" for live playing in band was a Vox Jaguar. Keyboard and amp cost me $600.

My first keyboard was a Magnus 2 octaves with those 6 chord buttons on the left side. I loved that thing. I cried when it saw its last day. I dont think they make them anymore.

Since I'm fairly new to keyboards (only a couple years) I never got a chance to be in on the analog synthesizer age. My first keyboard was a Roland XP-10, which was good for me at the time because it wasn't too powerful (allowing it to be cheap and simple) and it was still professional (unlike those toys you find in electronics stores). It took me almost a year to find out how limited the thing really was.

[This message has been edited by Llyren (edited 06-22-2003).]

My first synthesizer was a Yamaha CS-01 . My Dad bought it for me in 1983 . The first synthesizer I bought was a Moog Rogue , I got it from Lightning Music in Dallas Texas . It was $395.00 .

Yamaha DX7IIFD was the first synth I ever owned. Was not too big on it but it was a fun synth too have for a while.

A cheap & nasty bit of plastic that sat on top of my Commodore 64's computer keyboard.
I did manage to get the FM expansion pack for the C=64, it had a 5 octive non velocity keyboard.

My first MIDI keyboard - Akai AX73, and it's still going strong today.
Currently using a Roland D-50 for master keyboard duties.

Well, I started playing accordion at age 13... went from there to the cordovox ... Many years ago an uncle of mine (NOT Uncle Dave ) who played piano told me he had bought a second hand Fender Rhodes and decided it wasn't for him, and if I wanted it I could take it!!! ... Bless HIS heart!!! ... Man, I know now that lugging that thing to gigs was more of a pain than I ever realized ... I still have it, but it's not being used for gigs ...
A number of years ago I bought a technics kn1000 which I still have, but I now use a kn6000 for gigs...
t.

My first keyboard was a Kitten by Octave. Gotta love single note polyphony! Of course, a few years later I bought a real keyboard...a Korg Poly 800!!!!

A friend lent me a Siel Cruise for a whole summer. It was the 1st synth i ever played

Not long after i bought a Roland Juno-106

Hey yyzkid,
I had a Poly 800 too. It was pretty cool, or at least I thought it was. Until the volume knob started actting up. Every once in a while out of nowhere the volume would just drop, then a tap on the volume button got me right back. This was the pits in the middle of a song. It began to happen more and more, then I started borrowign a friends DX7!!!! Whoa! That was awesome.

Peace
<><
Bob

This takes me back many years.... a Whirlitzer electric piano and (gulp!) a GEM organ.

My first board was a Roland JX-1 and a Roland Sound Canvas. Then I got a Yamaha SY-35 on close out. So I gave away the JX-1. I later sold the SY-35 and got a Kurzweil K-2000 which I still have today.

Not counting the hideous Magnus chord organ I started playing on as a five year old, my first kb was an almost equally hideous Silvertone Organ. It literally burned up some years later due to a faulty homemade distortion box I had installed in it ( actually made in shop class in school ). I wasn't heartbroken at all, because that event led me to get a used Hohner Clavinet for very cheap, and suddenly everything was right in the world.

By the way, those CP's were great for storing a ton of things on top of. My 1980's setup was the CP25, with a Poly 6 sitting on it. There was plenty of room left to put a bunch of other gear / adult beverages, etc, on top of it.

AJ

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 07-03-2003).]

Thanks for rekindleing one of my greatest memories. The very first keyboard instrument I owned myself was a real toy piano with 3 octaves (not two)given to me as a child by my uncle Bob (in collaboration it turns out, with the rest of the familys) as a Christmas gift 1963. My aunt actually has it on 16mm film and I do recall seeing the film and how I felt. Probably of the most rejoiceing moments in my life. Most of the film shows me motionless pointing at it and crying. They were all asking me why I was crying, but they all knew why, and I was the only one who didn't know. My mother telling me, "Peter! Look at your shirt and tie. You're ruining your tie!" You could read her lips on the film. Someone threw me a huge bath towel that knocked me over and I came up from the towel laughing. I remember playing it while heading home the next morning in my big brother's van on the parkway. Wow. 40 years since then. I believe my first electic was a Magnus and my first electronic I remember well. A Moog Sonic Six. It looked like a guitar case!

Hohner Clavinet D6 from about 1970 and I still have it and even play it once in awhile. Uncle Dave told me recently it is worth $1000.00. I wonder why?
BEBOP

My first keyboard was a Farfisa fast 4, plus matching amp that had two 12 inch speakers,
Which I used with a Rhythm Ace drum box for gigs for eleven years between 1965 to 1976.
In 1985 I bought a yamaha keyboard. All I can rember about it was that it was black and had a lid.
I have now got the Technics KN7000
Fred UK


[This message has been edited by Retired (edited 07-06-2003).]

Hi,

Roland SH-1000 synth, Roland Jupiter-4 synth, Roland RS-09 organ-strings, Roland SH-09 synth, and Wurlitzer 200-B (Supertramp-ish).
I got them all within weeks of each other in the very early 80's when I started my studio.
I also purchased a TR-808 just shortly there after, along with a bunch of other goodies.
http://www.vintagesynth.org/roland/sh1000.shtml http://www.vintagesynth.org/roland/jup4.shtml http://www.vintagesynth.org/roland/rs09.shtml http://www.vintagesynth.org/roland/sh09.shtml
http://www.vintagesynth.org/roland/808.shtml

David

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Li'l Chips Systems
www.lilchips.com

My First Keyboard ,about 6 years ago was YAMAHA PSR-?? for aproximetly $70 from a store.Now I have Roland VA-76 and also planning to buy TRITON classic too(and still keep VA-76).

My first keyboard was an accordion when I was 4 years old. Took 9 years. Then came the Baldwin combo keyboard and the Vox organ(LOL).Hohner piano ,Etc.. Rock on !!!!!!!! , David B.

Mine was a Howard combo organ about 34 years ago Stiil have it too!

For me it all started with 2-01 "DIGITAL NATIVE DANCE" and "BUZZ RISE".

My first two keyboards were Yamaha DX7 (Middle name and Roland D50.
It was back in 1988 when i came across them in a little music store. I bought them the same day, just after a few minutes of checking them out. Even though they were very different machines, together they produced very impressive sounds (especially when layered or overdubbed ). I also found that eventually it was almost unimaginable to use one without another. DX and D50 took care of most 1980's sounds and to my opinion were the best! I still have them and believe it or not, I still use them too (with a bit of FX of coarse). I programmed the two to death - my sound library is H U G E !
And even though I have a lot of other synths and a big recording studio; there's just something about D50 pads and DX punchy, metallic textures that keeps me coming back for more! I also think that they are the most reliable, well-built keyboards ever made. They are still (after over a decade of being heavily used) in perfect shape. No wonder big bands like "Rush" still use them on their tours!

hmmm, Panasonic KZ 450; still up and played occasionally, mmmmm memories

Casio arranger and I was initially very excited. It did not last for long for I find out later that I needed something else. Then I switched to yamaha and that truly brought joy to the whole family. Then another yamaha keyboard and finally sk880 which was one reliable workstation that has been used professionally for recording and performance for long time. I might buy another keyboard... who knows.

My first "keyboard" was a Yamaha forerunner of the PSR series. 1981 I paid $1,100 for it which was a LOT of money. In 20+ years it worked perfectly, never needed service. I gave it away and have lost track of it but it sure lasted through the years.

Prior to that I had pianos and organs.

Loved that little keyboard.

vox continental . the black keys were white and the white keys were black

must be early seventies when I bought it used.

Wish I still had it. Had a very unique sound.

Brand-new 1976 Rhodes Stage 88 piano (the leggy one). Lucky me, I mowed lawns for rich people in my teens. Everyone wanted me in their band except those who had actually been in a band with me and helped me lug the monster. I stubbornly kept it in perfect shape for 10 years of heavy gigging, then gratefully sold it for around $300 in 1986. I've never looked back.

-tek

Hi,
Do you still have the users guide for the KZ450? I am new to keyboards and have recently received a used working unit.
REgards,
arees

Very first was a Hammond M. Just found another (1949) and have restored it...way too much inversted, but sure takes me back...


Good subject!

R.

Talk about going full circle. This is one of the first threads I replied to when I joined this forum. Don't have the D50 anymore but still own a DX.

cheers,

It was a flimsy piece of plastic that sat on top of the qwerty keyboard of my Commodore 64.

I later purchased the music expansion system for the 64, a module that plugged into the back that gave a basic FM synthesizer, and a 5 octave keyboard.

First MIDI synth, Akai AX73, still have it, and still works fine.

Repeating myself.. thought this was a 'new' subject.

My first was a Bontempi toy keyboard, the second a JVC KB-500.

Impuls

First keys was a Hammond T500 with a 710 Les.
Stacked a Yamaha SY85 on top for the voices.
(still have the SY85) Then a PSR500m for the styles. Now its a 3K over a VK7.
Smokey

[This message has been edited by Smokey (edited 06-24-2007).]

Let's see I was 14yrs old: It was a Honer with 64keys and three voices. You could turn them on/off to make 6 combinations of noise. Have no clue what model it was but I paid less than $50bucks. That was my grand entrance to garage band mania.
Andrew

ps... thanks for the memory

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Andrew

First Keyboard - Casio WK-3500.
Second Keyboard (current) - Nord Electro 2

Was introduced through Piano, Hobart M. Cable Upright that was my grandmothers (mom's mom) and is now in our home.