"Yeah, and I say unto thee, take up your synth and walk". And while you're at it, turn up your collar, get a fag on the go, and caper about the stage looking cool but abandoned.

The MIDI remote over-the-shoulder style keyboard has done a lot for the keyboard player's powers of kinetic expression; now she/he too can strut about powerfully, anxiously looking for a splash of limelight. Well, it's not easy looking like a Rock'n'Roll animal stuck behind a static pile of ivories.

The over-the-shoulder freedom angle is but one part of the MIDI remote keyboard revolution — or perhaps I should say potential revolution. The basic question raised is what's the point of having half-a-dozen keyboards, possibly of an inferior plastic, static kind, when you've only got two hands to play 'em with? And the answer? Playing two banks at once makes one look flash; more manufacturers can advertise their products on Top of the Pops at any given time and... to put it bluntly, maybe there is no point.

Surely it's better by far to have a single high quality keyboard with a touch sensitive, wooden weighted-action, that you can get used to and from which you can control all and any of your instruments remotely? Such a keyboard is termed a 'Mother Keyboard', and it is these that make up the other rather more stately face of remote keyboards.

For most people, the main reason for not buying a remote keyboard is that it doesn't generally do much of any importance that you couldn't do without it, and it costs money that could be spent on another synth, drum machine or sequencer. The simple answer to that sort of whinging excuse is... you have a point there. Remote keyboards are a bit of a luxury, although they do open avenues of multi-instrument control (not to mention lurching about) otherwise closed. For instance, one particularly useful facility is to send the two halves of a split keyboard down two separate MIDI channels (some sophisticated synths actually have this facility too), and also to store those MIDI channel details as part of a performance patch.

Read on, then, bearing in mind that these have no gubbins of their own, and do nothing but control others. In fact they're rather like the politicians of the musical instrument world.

KORG RK-100

Available in red, white, black or walnut(?) this is a simple battery/mains-powered over-the-shoulder job with no MIDI channel select or touch sensitivity, but plenty of operational simplicity. A single row of 8 programme buttons plus a single bank button above the keyboard facilitates the selection of up to 64 programmes (8x8), whilst three wheels on the arm give control over volume, pitchbend and LFO modulation depth.

OBERHEIM XK

A powerful, compact and relatively affordable mother keyboard, the keyboard of which can be split into three 'zones' with each zone programmable to respond to specific MIDI commands. Control is via a small keypad and display and usually it also has a built-in arpeggiator.

ROLAND AXIS-1

'Comprehensive flexibility' is the term I'd coin if I was in charge of promoting the Axis-1; 'sleek sophistication' is another, or even 'stylish practicality'; that's probably why Roland haven't been in touch. Though it costs more or less the same as its 'round-your-neck' competitors it unequivocally offers more. Six switches and three wheels can be user-programmed to effect any of 15 MIDI performance parameters depending on a performer's specific needs. 120 programmes can be selected, the keyboard is fully touch sensitive AND it even looks a bit like the G-707 Roland guitar synth controller. Very good.

ROLAND MKB-300/1000

Being the most expensive on the market, the MKB-1000 has been built to the highest standards with a very satisfying (if you like pianos) 88-note, weighted action wooden keyboard capable of generating both velocity and after-touch information. The MKB-300 has a plastic keyboard with a slightly reduced register. Otherwise it offers identical facilities.

Operationally, an MKB is quite simple. A standard set of performance controls finds itself to the left of the keyboard including the standard combined pitch bend and modulation lever.

There is a programmable keyboard split point making it possible to simultaneously send different information over two MIDI channels, from the two halves of the split, thus allowing you to control two instruments at once. The only two visual displays are those showing the numbers of the channels being addressed. These two channels of communication are completely separate. The whole keyboard can be used to address either one of them at a time, or can link with a 'dual' or layered mode. Each of the 128 programme memories can include the number of the two MIDI channels being addressed.

YAMAHA KX5

An unusually prosaic design from the generally flamboyant Yamaha, the KX-5 is somewhat utilitarian in appearance. 64 programmes can be selected but there's a deeply disturbing lack of LED's to let you know where you are in the heat of the onstage moment. It also seems a bit foolish that the keyboard is velocity and pressure sensitive but only when driving other Yamaha instruments; the whole idea is that you can control an entire and varied set-up from a single point. Though not up to the Roland Axis 1's full channel switching, a nice touch is the MIDI channel select switch which allows you to go quickly between channels 1 & 2.

Together with a programmable split facility, this probably gives enough flexibility for the average soloing sally downstage-centre into the spot light. Then it's back to the dark beyond — and possibly the sophistication of the Yamaha KX88, coming next.

YAMAHA KX88

The KX88 has been designed with the Yamaha's TX816 FM modular system in mind (see £2500 to £5000 synth section) and is programmable to the finest, and most mind boggling degree. Some people have looked on this huge potential as unnecessary complexity, but this is just fear, and anyway you don't have to get into programming it yourself — on power up the velocity and pressure sensitivity, the four programmable sliders, two toggle switches, two foot pedals, two foot switches and breath controller all default to standard functions. As with the Roland MKB models, either side of the programmable keyboard split can be sent on separate MIDI channels. The permutations of what can control/modulate what are practically endless and if you have the time, the money and a vast array of MIDI instruments waiting to be controlled, this is undoubtedly the ultimate controller keyboard.