The One Keyboard Pro - digital piano
A piano that teaches you how to play is the advertising slogan of the manufacturer of this equipment, clearly indicating the area of its use.
Founder of a company called One Smart Piano Ben Ye from Beijing is a perfect example of a young generation Chinese businessman who is effectively navigating the modern world. He quickly realized that the combination of music, education, fun and the latest in technology would bring him much more profit than the production of professional equipment for always whining professionals. He took care of promotion in the most influential Western media and created an entire education system in which keyboards are one of the elements. Let's add that it's done very well.
The start screen and a fragment of the game "catching sounds" using a keyboard accessible from the level of a tablet connected to the keyboard.
Hardware
They are available in several versions and variants, with a range of optional accessories. So we have One Smart Piano models that look like pianos Oraz One Smart Piano Pro... On the other side Keyboard with one light is an inexpensive keyboard with backlit keys, clearly educational in nature, yet equipped with a hammer action guide with colored LEDs at the base of the keys, the Keyboard Pro Essential piano is one of the cheapest keyboard instruments of its type. Last but not least, the Keyboard Pro offers variable weight hammer action keys and 10-layer piano samples with 128-note polyphony.
The use of an extended USB 3 port made it possible to introduce the function of charging a tablet connected to the keyboard.
One Pro Keyboard It can function as a standalone MIDI keyboard and stage piano, with a USB connection, line-in and line-out, two headphone outputs, a sustain pedal jack, and up to three stand-mounted pedal connections. However, its main role is to work with an iOS or Android tablet. It can be a smartphone, but a tablet will be much more convenient. Requires at least iOS 9.0 or Android 4.4 with OTG (USB on the go) support. The instrument has built-in two-way speakers, the power and sound of which is enough for educational and entertainment purposes.
application
Original concept Smart Piano Learning System, based on backlit keys and manual compatible tablet app, debuted on the market in 2015. Since then, the manufacturer has not only expanded the range of keyboards / pianos, but also improved the system from the software and functional side. Equipped with decent Keyboard Main hammer action keyboard i Keyboard Pro they do not have backlit keys, but multi-colored LEDs located above them.
The app itself, available for free on Google Play and the App Store, has four main modes of operation: notes, learning to play, learning videos and something that the little ones can enjoy, encouraging them to learn - Educational game in the style of Rock Band with a points system and access to many ringtones. In the case of sheet music, some of them are free, but in the case of well-known works, you will have to pay from 1 to 4 dollars for them. Everything is managed just like in standard VOD systems - using an account, access to favorites, saved, purchased, exercise history and the ability to save your own songs, which can then be shared via social networks.
Control keyboard
In collaboration with tablet we have the ability to define the division of the keyboard into two zones, to define sound layers activated by velocity, and also to combine these two modes. Available voices: classic General MIDI on the instrument itself (88) and 691 PCM colors, 11 drum kits and 256 GM2 tones in The One Smart Piano app. To work with other applications on our tablet, such as Garage Band, you need to activate the Keyboard X function, i.e. virtual MIDI port. Parameters that can be adjusted include dynamics curve, chorus, reverb, and transposition of a half note by an octave up and down.
Along with the keyboard, we get four types of USB cables: Type A, Micro-USB, USB-C and Lightning, which are used for data transfer. The keyboard itself is powered by an external power supply. USB-port does not offer audio input - this must be done using the 6,3mm TRS output or the headphone jacks on the keyboard. On the other hand, the instrument itself reports itself as a stereo audio device when connected to a computer. In DAW programs, it also functions as a MIDI input and output based on Note On/Off, CC and SysEx messages. What's more, it also advertises itself as a stereo audio port that can act as an interface and monitors.
One Keyboard Pro is installed on an optional stand with classic pedals.
The One has an "extended" USB 3 connector that allows you to charge your tablet while you work with a direct connection. A portable device is required to use the full functionality of the keyboard, both in terms of customizing zones/partitions and using extended sound banks. Without a tablet, the keyboard itself requires manual tuning in the DAW software, and as a stage piano it plays only basic GM sounds.
The simultaneous interaction of the keyboard with the tablet and the computer, at this stage of the functionality of The One Neon software, since it is presented to the outside world under this name, is unlikely. I'm not saying it's impossible, because you can imagine switching in a computer using virtual ports, but it all depends on the manufacturer's ability to intervene in the transmission.
On practice
Hammered keyboard of the instrument works surprisingly well. The keys have different weights, an optimal stroke and they feel hammer action. The hammers themselves are not too damped, and the black keys are not matte. Besides, no objections. If you're learning to play acoustic instruments, you shouldn't have any problems with this manual, and with the speakers on, you can even feel the sound under your fingers.
Tool body looks impressive and is of high quality workmanship. The optical key position signaling function works very well and is legible enough to deal with supporting it at the beginning of learning to play. The LEDs above the keys also serve as an indicator of the currently selected sound. You can change it with the encoder or in the tablet, although both functions work independently - a change in one does not affect the change in the description / position of the other.
The tool is also available in white to match bright interiors.
The application is installed on the tablet can, to a limited extent, work without a keyboard. Instead, we use virtual keys on the screen, which is cool, especially when playing in a company for points. Even educated pianists are just as helpless in the face of such a replacement of the textbook as complete amateurs.
As mentioned earlier, the keyboard can work without the application, but without access to the zone and velocity functions. This is a decent guide, so I can imagine a situation where a dad buys for a child. One Pro Keyboard, later the child gives up the keyboard in favor of two turntables and a mixer, and dad takes him to his little studio. Then dad gets tired of playing on a home recording, and the child grows up to keyboards, takes over the studio from dad and again benefits from it. The story described here is not so unbelievable, but its moral is this: if we buy keys for a baby, we can use them ourselves if our child's preferences change.
The workmanship and mechanics of the instrument's keyboard deserves high praise.
Summation
The key questions are whether the whole system will allow learning to play the keyboard instrument and can it be used for home exercises? The answer to the first is not clear. If someone really wants to learn how to play, the keyboard will do and the app won't stop them from doing it. When someone isn't sure if they want to play, again - the keyboard is fine, but the app can be reassuring and will definitely prove useful. However, can the keyboard be used for homework? Quite right - it is hammer-type, weighted, allows you to work out the correct position of the hand and does not differ significantly from what is found in acoustic pianos. It is also great as a home instrument that anyone can play. The little ones will have a great time, the older ones will learn and the older ones will play for fun. There is definitely no tradition in Polish homes to make music together. A tool like The One Keyboard Pro can make a difference. Maybe the wise parents will finally realize what they will buy family keyboard instrument it's a much better investment than a 100-inch razor-thin 32K TV.
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