What musical instrument is as common in the United States today as the pianoforte could have been in the Napoleonic era? Wait. What same musical instrument might be as easily recognizable as the violin in Mozart’s era? Give up? It is the synthesizer or keyboard, as they are also widely known.

The synthesizer is the musical instrument of choice for individuals and families in the United States. Affordable, relatively compact and easy to play, they can be found almost everywhere.

However, as popular, common and easily accessible to everyone as they might be, it is easy to think that all keyboards are they same. They are not and the two major differences between them are very important. Synthesizers are either digital or analog.

Being analog or digital simply describes the way sound is processed by the instrument. To a digital system, sound is a series of numbers (usually binary), which can be stored and further manipulated.

With the analog system on the other hand, sound is seen as a continuous signal, and more representative of its natural state. Another difference between them is that they produce different qualities in the sounds that they generate.

This fact has kept alive an on-going debate about whether it is the analog or digital keyboard that produces the better or superior sound. As can be expected, there are different brands of keyboards within the analog and digital categories.

Additionally, each of these brands has different models with a wide range of features to cater for users from beginner to professional levels. Digital keyboards, which produce sound using digital sound processing techniques, are the most prevalent on the market and the most likely to be purchased today.

Their capabilities can be accessed using programmable controls found on the front panel. This makes working with them relatively easy. It is this ease of programming and experimentation that has made them very popular. People’s fondness for the sounds of original analog synthesizers has led to the resurgence of the analog synthesizer.

The analog modeling synthesizer was created to meet this increased demand. The innovative retro analog synthesizer uses digital signal processing components to emulate traditional analog sounds.

Almost all modern keyboards, digital and analog, can be integrated and synchronized with other electronic instruments using a musical instruments digital interface, MIDI. MIDI is simply a standardized set of rules which define how electronic musical instruments, computers and other equipment can communicate with each other.

It also describes how these equipment can be controlled and synchronized with each other. MIDI, in fact, has opened up the world of musical instruments connectivity and heightened interest in this field among enthusiasts of all level. The MIDI enabled keyboard can be connected to a personal computer or PC. With appropriate software installed, the PC can then be used as a synthesizer.

Synthesizer software can actually produce sounds, using emulation techniques, with qualities that are comparable to or exceeding those of a regular synthesizer. They also provide the player with more flexibility in programming and experimentation.