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They rarely produce any sound by themselves and therefore need to be connected to other devices. Some do not have keys at all and just a variety of colored buttons. The number keys are limited on some models, but you can get a MIDI keyboard with up to 61 keys. They look very much like a small piano but with a variety of extra control buttons, sliders, and wheels.
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These days there are hundreds to choose from. Robert Moog, yes, that one, gave us what was probably the first MIDI keyboard in 1983. And its operating systems are compatible with Mac OS and Windows, making it widely available. It is a popular system in some musical genres. That, and a potential lawsuit from breakfast cereal manufacturers Kelloggs, may have been persuasive. Someone felt that for their product to be taken more seriously, it needed a serious-sounding name. That must have been some party the night that name was chosen. It was first released in 1997 under the name of Fruity Loops, hence the current FL. This is a DAW that was designed and marketed by Image-Line Software in Belgium.
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