To play synth leads, basslines, and chords, and to make music in general, you surely have to be good at playing keyboards and come from a childhood of learning the piano, right? Incorrect! In this modern world of music production, DAWs, and music gear, there are lots of ways around this if you weren’t composing piano music at the age of five like a certain Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. There are a lot of top music producers who entirely avoid making music with keyboard keys. Let’s dive into some of the best contemporary hacks and get you making music so you don’t have to worry about passing an audition at your local music conservatoire.
Synthesizers: Ways around the keys
If you’re intimidated by hardware synthesizers as so many of them are keyboard instruments, fear not! There are lots of ways to still wield the huge potential of these brilliant instruments.
Synths without keys
First up is the most obvious: go for a synthesizer that doesn’t have any keys. There are actually quite a lot of options here if you want to forego keys entirely — there are plenty of other ways to generate noise without the tactile touch of a piano key. Here are some excellent synths to consider to get you started.
The Korg Volca series of drum machines, sequencers, and synths don’t have a traditional keyboard, particularly as they are so small and portable. As a lovely bonus, they are also some of the most affordable synths out there.
The Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators look more like GameBoys than keyboards, so you’re in safe hands here. Even more affordable than the Volcas, you’ll be hard-pressed to find cheaper synths anywhere. Cheap in price only, however, as these little things are impressive, and a lot of fun.
A lot of the instruments from Elektron, while looking more like drum machines, offer a lot of melody options. The Model:Cycles, for example, is largely a drum machine, but you can also add some great electronic sounds without having to touch any white and black keys. If you can afford it, the Digitone is an incredible instrument that essentially does everything — synths, beats, sequencing, effects, you name it.
Then there’s the Moog Mother-32, a powerful synth from one of the biggest names in synthesis, with no keyboard in sight. As it’s a modular instrument, it’s time to shout out modular synths in general — nine times out of 10, modular does not involve any keys. That said, it’s a very advanced world, but perhaps something to consider or even aspire to.
Then there are sequencers, and synth instruments like the Digitone that also often double up as drum machines, depending on the instrument in question. These are key-free, instead featuring a pad and knob-based workflow. Some great examples are the Akai MPC One+, and Novation’s Circuit Tracks. Such bits of gear are sometimes referred to as groove boxes, so get ready to get groovy with them.
Take it to the DAW
If you prefer a computer keyboard to a piano keyboard, there are now a lot of music makers and producers who, thanks to the power of the DAW, make music keys-free. There are plugins like EZ Keys 2 which even allow you to play piano, without actually playing the piano, as mad as that may sound. This is a great example of where DAW automation allows you to type or click notes in, rather than playing them in the traditional way. This plugin even has a ‘chord suggestion’ tool, with chords being a classic part of the piano/keyboard players’ toolkit. A digital plugin suggesting chords might upset the purist musos out there, but if it doesn’t bother you, go for it!
Most of the top DAW software, such as Cubase, Logic Pro, Ableton Live etc, will allow you to bring up a piano roll that allows you to play your melodies using either your mouse or keyboard. This has been quite the game-changer for non-pianists.
Products to enhance the DAW experience
That said, there are MIDI instruments you might want to consider looking at. Particularly if you want to perform your music live — clicking and typing at a show is going to look like you’re editing a Word document rather than a live music performance. If you’re sweating, thinking the words ‘MIDI keyboard’ are coming, fret not. There are lots of bits of gear for the DAW that don’t require keys or keyboard skills.
Remember In The End by Linkin Park? That song famously opens and ends with a piano melody, but watch videos of the band performing it live, and DJ/producer Joe Hanh plays said piano melody on a MIDI pad controller, not a keyboard. They are one of the biggest bands ever, so needless to say, you shouldn’t feel any shame with using other MIDI instruments besides keyboards yourself.
Similar to the hardware synth instruments we discussed above, there are some great options for bits of gear that either hook up to your DAW via USB or plug into your soundcard. There are countless MIDI pad controllers which, as well as triggering MIDI notes like Mr Hanh, are very versatile and can be used to trigger loops, and samples, and can be used for ‘finger drumming’ as seen by the likes of Fred Again. Some of the best brands to look into are Novation, Akai, Ableton’s Push, Arturia, and more.
Beyond the pad controllers, nowadays you can find MIDI encoders, wind controllers (shaped like a saxophone), MIDI guitars, foot controllers, wireless controllers, and more — almost every preference is catered for.
Don’t count yourself out of the keys, though
Before we sign off this article about all the ways you can make music while avoiding keys, there’s time for one quick plot twist — maybe consider playing keys after all? Because, think about it, when you see the bass guitar player in a band briefly switch to playing a synth for a verse, do you think that person is a piano prodigy? Or are they just filling out a basic and easy-to-play synth part for the needs of that song?
Far from this article suddenly doing a 180 and telling you to find your best veteran piano teacher and spend the next few years trying to master the instrument, it’s worth mentioning that there’s a good chance you’re overthinking how good you need to be at keys to make music with them. Think about it this way: assuming you’re not writing jazz, classical, funk, soul, or another genre with really intricate melodic parts and chords, you really don’t need an advanced ability to play bass lines, synth leads, or trigger arpeggiators.
And, while learning an instrument with a teacher is one of the most rewarding things you can do in music, there are plenty of online resources and classes for you to become self-taught to the basic to intermediate level that will easily cover most DAW/synthesizer use cases. In short, don’t count yourself out of the keyboard game so easily! And remember, when it comes to playing live, it adds that tactile feel which can add so much to a performance.
Whatever you ultimately decide, hopefully, you can now see that there are so many options to suit your skill and comfort level. Above all, the most important thing is to make music and release it into the world.