However, most of the time with this I attempted to use it in some way for sound design; coax it into being a synth. The last thing I actually actively played a standalone keyboard was before the turn of the century.
My interest in sound design simply didn't particularly well overlap with what I could do with this thing.
Fast forward 25 years, while we were forced to keep our social distance, I started to mess with soft synths.
2/
Now, my mom asked me, if I would give her my old keyboard, since now in retirement, she thought about learning to play keys.
So I instead opted to get a small controller keyboard. Akai MPK mini mk3. It's… okay I guess if you already have some proficiency or just mess with arpeggiated movements, but spanning only two octaves it's IMHO too limited for actual playing.
Anyway, starting 2020 I also watched a lot of music making YouTube.
3/
Well, and then I came across the review for a (then) newly introduced synth. Since then I've got an expert (by training) in signal processing, analog circuit design, etc.
So I then actually had thad intersection of theoretical knowledge and musical taste, that I understood what I was watching. And the whole concept of this synth (direct-digital-synthesis oscillators, going into an analog subtractive filter stage, followed by digital effects) intrigued me.
4/
Still… it's one thing to admire a piece of kit and just buy it "because", or if you'd actually do more than just toying a bit with it and then have it collecting dust.
However, over the course of 6 years, I kept actively seeking out videos and tutorials on this synth, every 2 months or so.
So a month ago I bought it; got a refurbished unit from the manufacturer's store.
So here's my verdict:
GEAR MATTERS!
5/
I already understood this from photography, and other artistic/crafty activities. You don't really learn things, or get your exercises to stick, if you don't have fun doing it, and are fighting the process.
If you start out with photography, get a good camera, and good lenses! You can only then make the jump to lesser equipment, once you have a good understanding of how things work, and therefore can work around or even lean into detrimental constraints.
6/
Anyway, I should have bought that synthesizer keyboard a lot sooner. If I compare the crap I used to play before, or even the direct comparison of what I played just 4 weeks ago with my progress so far…
Because with this thing I just sit down, tinker with it, love exploring the sounds, and then to make it more interesting advance my playing technique.
This is how I learn… forget about those miserable keyboard lessons some 30 years ago.
7/7