Keyboard vs. MIDI Controller

[GuitarFingers]

What's the major difference between the keyboard and a MIDI controller? If a MIDI controller is basically the same thing as a keyboard but without programmed sounds, why wouldn't you just buy the keyboard to begin with?

[Ned]

What's the major difference between the keyboard and a MIDI controller? If a MIDI controller is basically the same thing as a keyboard but without programmed sounds, why wouldn't you just buy the keyboard to begin with?

Um...a MIDI controller is not "basically the same thing as a keyboard", it IS a keyboard, JUST a keyboard (with MIDI output, of course). What you're calling "a keyboard" is NOT in fact a keyboard; it's a keyboard instrument, in other words, an instrument that uses or includes a keyboard.

You buy a MIDI controller for flexibility. The problem is that the keyboard is just the part of the instrument that you need most to try out, and very few music stores proffer a significant assortment of MIDI controllers, which makes the advantage of going modular in this way largely theoretical.