Inside a Keyboard Image Gallery

The piano is something that crosses generations and cultures. It's a way for people to bond, not only by playing, but also by just sitting back and enjoying the music. The keyboard is a mobile, electronic version of the piano and uses a completely different system to produce music.

Keys are made of lightweight plastic in three, four or five key joints and are either black or white in color.

Pressing down on a key means you are also pressing down on a rubber button beneath it, which then pushes a metal tab. This tab then completes a connection on a specific circuit on the circuit board directly under the keyboard. This circuit board links to a larger, central circuit board.

The central circuit board functions essentially as brain of the keyboard and works like a simple computer. It's composed of microchips, transistors and resistors just like any other electronic machine. Other parts of the keyboard, including the control panel, work just like the keys do -- by completing specific connections on the circuit board and alerting the microchips.

The keyboard’s speakers are responsible for producing the sounds associated with the key pressed. The computer has hundreds of unique electronic signals stored, each a representation of a distinctive sound.

Speakers contain a flexible cone called a diaphragm and an electromagnet. Sound waves are created when electrical signals from the computer causes a chain of movements. The electromagnet moves up and down, which causes the attached diaphragm to move up and down. This movement causes the air particles around the diaphragm to push and pull in a similar way, which then causes the particles around the air particles to also push and pull.

Your brain interprets the sound waves generated from the diaphragm as sound when they push on your eardrum.

Musicians like Stevie Wonder find the keyboard, guitar combination (more commonly known as the keytar) appealing due to its low weight, high mobility and "rock out" potential.

Most keyboards are actually synthesizers but don't contain the same complex knobs and dials meant for musicians. The more complex the keyboard, the more flexibility you have to create the exact sound desired.

Because of their shape, weight and size, keyboards tend to be stackable. Musicians may decide to use this layout if they need a higher variety or different combination of sounds. To learn more, check out the Audio & Music Gadgets Channel.