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I've had an idea for making drones when playing keyboard. I think I'm gonna buy a couple of capos, the kind that clip straight on without any adjustment like this...



...and then use them to clamp down certain keys on my keyboard. I've tried lodging a plectrum between the keys, and it works pretty well, but the plectrum does slip out occasionally. Capos would probably be a more costly solution, but I'm thinking they'll probably do a better job.

Surely this must have been done before? Somebody please tell me why it's a bad idea.

I don't see why it wouldn't work, other than the capo not having enough grip / area to grip.

Not interested in trying loopers, a delay or a freeze on the keyboard?

Would weights be an easier/cheaper/more movable solution? Like, fishing weights or something?

Check if your keyboard has a hold key function Freddy.

Keith Emerson did it with knives, but he's a prick.

There must be an easier way to do this What about small stickers with the notes on them attached to the keys

Actually yeah, strips of tape.

I've seen kink do it on youtube with tape.

You could also get an AS-606: lank

What about something like this?

I've been experimenting with plectrums and tape already. Literally 'clamping' the keys down with a capo seemed like a more reliable solution. Anyway, I bought one today and it didn't work out how I expected. So there's a tenner down the drain, ha... Sticking with tape for the time being, I reckon. A debit card works pretty well too, but that definitely isn't very sensible. My keyboard definitely doesn't have a hold function. It's a Yamaha PSR-210 which I picked up for £10 at Cash Converters.

Thanks for finding my new avatar, Nick.

The best solution I can think of as a fellow charity shop keyboard owner involves the head of a toffee hammer (or something similarly compact and heavy) and some blu-tac. I understand what you're trying to do here, but I got around it by overdubbing and trying not to think about how I'd recreate it live with only one pair of hands. I'd probably use an EXH Freeze, if it came to it.

i am not a memeber of this shit club.

Are you just droning a keyboard to play guitar over? Or droning it for more keys over it? If it's the former, either get a keyboard with a latch or hold mode, or use a latching footswitch in place of a sustain pedal.

If you need more keys over your droned notes, the ehx freeze works great.

Concretebadger wrote:but I got around it by overdubbing and trying not to think about how I'd recreate it live with only one pair of hands.

the story of my life ha!

There was a band I worked with called The Reason...their keys/guitar guy did that on one of his synths for a tune.

The classic:



half a wooden clothes-peg

NickD wrote:What about something like this?

I wonder if there's a cheap MIDI controller version of these?

edit: cheap-ISH!



http://www.juno.co.uk/products/keith-mc ... oCWp7w_wcB

Someone has made one from an old keyboard. Cool:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-MI ... -keyboard/