Word: sound
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...tumultuous region. Twelve full- and part-time staffers and a host of volunteers put together programs of spot news, background reports and cultural features. The result is a show that is spunky and creative, though uneven in quality. Interviews sometimes drag on, and occasionally the picture and sound quality are poor...
...test for the fingers and a balm for the spirit. With a little imagination and manual dexterity, electronic keyboards can make otherwise struggling players feel like pros. Not like Horowitz, exactly; more like Flash Gordon auditioning for a garage combo, or one of those zoological enigmas who made spacey sounds in the Star Wars saloon. Keyboards can reproduce instrument sounds, even sample sound effects (from a rain forest to a barking dog), and turn any tin ear into a one-man band...
...also affecting the way music is learned and appreciated. Ever since the boards first hit the market in the early 1980s, rappers, rockers and street musicians have known that they were onto something cool. The sleek, usually portable instruments offered a solid beat, a big sound and all sorts of groovy techno- twists at a manageable price. Today keyboards are about a $600 million-a- year business. Some 15 million have been sold in the U.S. alone, where unit sales of electronic keyboards have outpaced the traditional acoustic-piano market for at least five years. Says Don Griffin, owner...
...fact, the keyboards combine the challenge of a computer and a Steinway grand yet are relatively easy to use. The boards can produce a dazzling range of musical effects, sounding jazzy or elegant at the flick of a button or a switch. And though top-end pro keyboards can cost upwards of $3,000, general consumer models for the "hobbyist" market usually go for a couple of hundred dollars. Besides having model numbers that make them sound like racing cars, boards like the Yamaha DX7IIFD look like the instrument panel of a new Ferrari prototype. The Roland...
...these snazzy features do have a practical application, however. When Yamaha introduced the DX7 model in 1983, its computer memory was capable of retaining and playing back prerecorded background accompaniment. The keyboardist, supported by a simple drum machine or sequencer, could surround himself with sound. Says Alfredo Flores Jr., former president of the National Association of Music Merchants: "You go into a nightclub now, and you see three guys standing in the band sounding like twelve...