What are the advantages/disadvantages of the Rock Band 3 Keyboard?
My qualifications: I've used both the RB3 keyboard and a Roland D-50 MIDI Synth with a MIDI adapter.
If you use a full-sized midi keyboard in Pro mode, you do NOT use the entire keyboard. RB3 ignores notes played outside the two octave range of the RB3 keyboard. The pro keys chart displayed is the same no matter what kind of keyboard you are using (unlike the pro guitar charts which I understand are different depending on whether you use a 17-fret Mustang or a 22-fret Squier).
A normal midi keyboard can also function as a five-button peripheral in non-Pro mode. The only thing missing are the color-coded tags over the C-D-E-F-G keys that the RB3 keyboard has, but since you shouldn't be looking at your hands anyway, that shouldn't matter ;)
I don't think RB3 does anything with the velocity-sensitive keys, so you should not lose any functionality if your midi keyboard isn't velocity-sensitive. This is the only answer I'm not 100% positive on (my D-50 has velocity-sensitive keys), but I'm pretty sure.
The expression bar on the RB3 keyboard is like the whammy bar on the 5-button guitar controllers - it alters the sound of the notes and when used on a held note with overdrive, it will add to your overdrive bar. My D-50 has a pitch bend joystick that the MIDI adapter converts to the same function.
Note: this is from what I've picked up in ready dozens of reviews!
All songs are designed to just be played with the right hand, however in Pro Mode, songs on Hard and Expert difficulty require you to use both octaves.
This means that there's no use for you to have a full sized keyboard, as it would leave most of it unused.
Pure speculation:
- If you can use a midi controller instead of the keyboard, you should be able to map certain keys to the five buttons.
- The velocity-sensitivity is probably intended to counter the fact that they're using very 'cheap' keys, which lack the natural resistance of a decent keyboard. My guess would be that you won't notice any difference in game.
- The lack of the expression bar is only a loss if you like using the whammy bar when playing it as a keytar, although you will lose the ability to gain extra Overdrive like you can with the whammy bar on a guitar. For the rest I don't really see a use case for it anyway.