Keyboards With High Simultaneous Key-Press Capabilities

The keyboard enthusiasts forum at geekhack.org has an extensive list of keyboards tested for their N-Key-Rollover capabilities, as well as instructions on how to find the number of simultaneous keypresses a certain keyboard supports.

X-key-Rollover (where X is an integer smaller than the number of physical keys) is the minimum number of keys that will register correctly under any circumstances. True N-key-Rollover (NKRO) means that all keys can be held down and register correctly. Most standard keyboards offer only 2KRO, and although it is possible that certain key combinations allow more keys to register simultaneously, this is not guaranteed, and may differ even between different revisions of the same keyboard.

You can purchase gamer keyboards at retail stores. You need to look on the box for “[howmany] key roll-over”, and “anti-ghosting” features. Beware that some keyboards have anti-ghosting only for a limited set of keys. That won't work for the KeyMusician Keyboard. It needs anti-ghosting on all of the keys.

The table below is a list of keyboards having a confirmed NKRO over a PS/2 connection, or 6KRO/18KRO over USB (which is a USB limitation), from the geekhack.org forum thread (June 5th, 2012).

Note: Some keyboards not having a numeric keypad (which is essential for the KeyMusician Keyboard) have been removed from the list, and a few entries with confusing (or lacking) info were deleted.

I have personally tried only the Microsoft Sidewinder X4 keyboard, which I like, and recommend.

A 6-key roll-over value (6KRO) is probably adequate for playing the KeyMusician Keyboard in chords+melody mode, because you play probably at most 4 simultaneous keys with your left hand, and need the capability of 2 simultaneous keys with your right hand on the numeric keypad. If you improvise with both hands on the melody-portion of the keyboard, 6-key roll-over won't be enough.

If you play pieces entirely on the melody-portion of the keyboard, 8-key roll-over might be enough, but you could need 10-key roll-over.

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