Which keyboard should I buy?

We don't sell keyboards, and we don't earn anything from this page. You will get a better keyboard for less by buying it yourself from a shop that stocks hundreds of them. What we can do is tell you exactly what to look for, so you do not overpay for things the RK-1 replaces.

• It sends MIDI. A socket marked USB TO HOST, or round 5-pin MIDI. Search terms: "USB MIDI keyboard".
• Touch sensitive keys. Press harder, get louder. Sometimes called velocity sensitive. Without it everything you play is the same volume and no box can fix that.
• 61 keys if you can. Room for two hands. 49 is fine. 25 works and the RK-1 adds a left hand under you, but two-handed pieces will run off the end.
• Nothing else. Really.

Every one of these is something the RK-1 already does, and every one of them is why a keyboard costs more:

• Built-in sounds and "hundreds of voices" — you get 135, and you will silence the keyboard's own anyway (that is the first setup step).
• Built-in speakers — the box has one.
• Rhythms, accompaniment and backing styles.
• Light-up keys and built-in lessons — you get 83 lessons with falling notes and honest grading.
• A recorder, a screen, a metronome, effects.

You are buying keys and a USB port. Spend the money on how the keys feel, not on features you are about to turn off.

• $45–90 — a basic controller. 25 to 49 small keys, no speakers, no sounds. Silent on its own, which is exactly why it is cheap, and the RK-1 is the half that makes it an instrument. Akai, M-Audio, Alesis, Nektar and Donner all make these.
• $100–200 — 61 full-size keys. The sweet spot for most people. Arturia, Novation, M-Audio, Alesis and Korg all have well-made boards here, and several include software you may or may not want.
• $200–350 — better keybed, semi-weighted. Worth it if you already play and the feel matters to you. The Arturia KeyLab range is genuinely nice at this level.
• $400+ — weighted, hammer-action 88. Buy this if you want piano touch. Nothing about it makes the RK-1 work better; it makes you feel better, which is a real reason.

Brand names are here to point you in a direction. Rise Keys is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or partnered with any of them, and their trademarks belong to them.

A keyboard from 1998 with a working MIDI socket is a fine buy — the RK-1 replaces everything that dated it. Turn it over first: USB TO HOST or a round MIDI OUT means buy it. Only headphone and power jacks, or a port marked "PC / COMPUTER", means walk away. Scratches, dead speakers and yellowed keys do not matter; the MIDI port does not care.

Worn, uneven key contacts are almost a feature match — the box measures and normalises velocity per key, so a tired keybed plays evenly again. A key that sends nothing at all needs a repair, not software.

Paste any listing into an email to hello@risekeys.com and we will tell you yes or no before you buy. Or search your model in the compatibility checker, which also tells you which cable you will need.

And if a keyboard you bought turns out not to work with the RK-1, that is on us: full refund and we pay the return shipping.