​​Many unweighted keyboards have keys that are too narrow

[RockPianoman]

​Many unweighted keyboards have keys that are too narrow (Yamaha for example) ......measuring the white keys for 1 octave on my Yamaha P-70 piano with weighted keys it comes to 6 and 1/2 inches and on my Yamaha Motif ES6's unweighted keys, measuring 1 octave on the white keys comes to 6 and 5/16 inches......this means that on the unweighted keys you lose 3/16 of an inch FOR EVERY OCTAVE.......for people who are classically trained, this is terrible.....they have spent years developing a sense of exactly how far to reach for notes......my Korg Karma's unweighted white keys are the same width as my P-70 piano, although the black keys are more narrow but still positioned correctly because the white keys are the proper width......

 

I measured from the left edge of the C key to the left edge of the C key above it.....

 

Almost all unweighted keyboards make the black keys too narrow.....

 

Grab a ruler and see how your unweighted keys measure up.....

[AnotherScott]

​Many unweighted keyboards have keys that are too narrow (Yamaha for example)

I think it's not Yamaha for example, it's Yamaha period. ;-) It is a known Yamaha peculiarity... their "full size" unweighted actions usually (maybe always?) use narrow keys. Nobody else does that that I am aware of. (There was a period where Korg was using Yamaha actions in some of their boards, so it could apply to those particular models as well.) There are small variations among boards, but nothing else as narrow as Yamaha. It is close enough to full size that most players have no problem adjusting (at least if sales are any indication, as they are some of the best selling boards). It might be more of an issue for more advanced piano playing (stride techniques, for example), but those players aren't likely to be playing on an unweighted action anyway. Since you are in the unusual category of someone who wants to use an unweighted action for your piano playing, it might affect you more than most, and you might be better off with a non-Yamaha board for your unweighted piano work, if you find the narrow keys to be an issue. The un/semi-weighted boards from Korg, Roland, Kurzweil, Nord, Numa/Studiologic are all wider than Yamaha.

[RockPianoman]

For me personally, it's not an issue.....just like different guitars can have different scales lengths and some fretboards are flatter and some are more curved (from bottom to top) I wanted to let people know (especially classically trained people) that there are differences.....I'm not classically trained and I've been playing Yamaha unweighted boards for decades....

[JeffLearman]

Whenever I try to cover Dr. John I wish my hammer-action keys were just a tad narrower!

 

But yeah, things that should be standard, should be standard.

[Daniele Spadavecchia]

I have measured all my keyboards:

 

Casio Privia PX 130 Digital Piano

Novation KS4 Synth

Korg Radias

 

They all equal 6 1/5 inches per octave

Buy the way, Novation has a fantastic action being semi-weighted and you might like the Keyboard controllers in the SL MK II series.

[1001gear]

I would think that unless you do Lizt and Chopin on your Nord, the adjustments would be minor.

[Vito Corleone]

Never been an issue. Guess I'm not playing that many classical pieces on my unweighted synths.....

[Outkaster]

My Kronos keys are more narrow than the Extreme I have. Kind of sucks.

[Daniele Spadavecchia]

I feel the main difference for me is about weighted, semi-weighted and un-weighted action. For example, I can switch easily between the Casio PX130 and the Novation KS4, but the Korg Radius (which sound I love) has a very unexpressive action compared to the other two.