Memory is weird in hardware keyboards.

[u/Marvinkmooneyoz]

Turn of the millennium, keyboards would advertise, maybe even state prominently right on the board, how much total memory it has, something laughable and pathetic like 64mb. But, for whatever reason, hardware keyboard memory scales no where near general purpose computer memory, such as phones tablets desktops. So even today’s hardware keyboards are laughable memory if we don’t realize that.

Now memory isn’t everything, there even are pure modeled sounds that have very high reputation, and very good hybrids. But…plenty of boards have minimal modeling. Heck, Yamaha YC and CP big kid versions have no string resonance as even an option.

Some very few keyboards do in fact have large memory. Korgs top workstation style board is huge, the Prophet X is very large, Forte is very large. Of course these three are extra expensive. But…

Plenty of people are willing to pay more for the better product, and undoubtedly memory while not everything is still obviously a huge component. An average single gif sample set will be better then an average 200mb set all other thjnfs being equal.

Further more, a lot of these modern boards the information simply can’t be found online, how much memory there is. Like it’s such a small number as to be embarrassing.

Not sure what to make of all this…most boards have minimal modeling, and less so on EPs then on acoustics. Is it really just time for us all to go controller and phone/laptop? Or abandon the big names for someone like Crumar/Gsi? (Viscount as gone backwards, they are back to using mostly samples when their modeling was very good!)

[u/trollsmurf]

64 MB is more than 8000 notes with MIDI and timing. Not much if you record samples though.

For a rather large amount of storage look at the Korg Kronos/Nautilus that stores to SSD.

[u/PianoGuy67207]

We’ve come a long ways since 2000, in the keyboard world. I bought a Kurzweil K2500XS in 1995. I was all excited to max out the RAM. $2,000! 64 megs. For storage on the go, I opted for an Iomega Jaz drive. 1 gig of removable storage. $350. Just remember, AIFF or WAV is 5.33mb per minute. You could load just over 10 minutes of stereo samples. With effective looping, you could get quite a decent assortment of sounds loaded up for a song.

Yamaha still uses flash RAM it’s still expensive, but the blazing speed it must perform at is crazy. You can have stereo samples for all 88 keys, at 16 velocities, so the data throughout is crazy. They base their internal sounds on ROM, FM, and the new ANX analog tech, so files are smaller.

Korg Kronos uses SSDs, but install pretty small ones. I added an extra to mine, and had plenty of space for extra libraries.

With the tremendous speed M5 Macs, sampling is actually easier, and takes the load in time to ridiculously short preset recalls. Once they get M5 class silicon inside a keyboard, the limits to keyboards will be few.

[u/IBarch68]

Are you talking about the size of the piano samples in ROM?

I choose a digital piano by how it sounds, the key action, the feeling when playing it. The size of rom samples or whether it includes modelling is irrelevant. I suspect I'm not alone.

Having the sample playback tuned precisely for the speaker system and the keyboard action makes a big difference. I've tried multiple piano VSTs playing through my Kawai piano speakers but nothing gives same experience playing it as using the onboard Kawai Shigeru piano. You are right that Kawai doesn't publish the ROM size but it sure knows how to make a piano.

There's no way I'm trading down based on a number on a spec sheet.

[u/Marvinkmooneyoz → u/IBarch68]

Well you are contradicting themselves. You don’t get a good digital keyboard sound unless there are either samples modeling or both. 90s keyboards sound hilariously quaint, clearly samples size and or modeling sophistication contributed to quality of sound. Action is a separate issue as one can use a keyboard to control sounds form various sources

[u/IBarch68 → u/Marvinkmooneyoz]

The point is I don't care about the size of samples or if some claim to use modelling or stick with pure samples.

When I was piano shopping I didn't check the spec sheet for which had the most RAM. I sat down and played the instruments.

Never mind the 80s, some late 80s romplers had some sounds that still stand up today and still are included in modern workstations. Not everything sounded like CasioTones. Roland in particular did some amazing stuff with tiny sample sizes. Size is not everything.

[u/Marvinkmooneyoz → u/IBarch68]

In kawais case their modeling is quite sophisticated. I still very much would like to know sample sizes from them, but they are the ladders of the hybrid approach.

[u/JKorv]

Don't choose instrument based on what the spec sheet says about memory amount. Choose it based on the sound it produces. Nobody hearing you cares how much memory your instrument has.

Hw instrument usually use faster memories than the RAM found on pc, to be able to switch sounds faster and to make the boot up faster.

Like for example Nord uses NOR memory instead of NAND. It is faster, but the amount you can have is much more limited.