What is a mother keyboard?

Answer 1

A mother keyboard is a basic piano-keyboard interface for use with digital sound composition & recording. It is more basic and less expensive than synthesizers and sequencers, because a mother keyboard doesn't contain all the sounds and recording / sequencing capabilities. Instead, a mother keyboard is used as a dummy input device in conjunction with a digital / virtual computer studio environment such as Cubase. All the samples, sounds, effects and tracks are generated by the computer program rather than in the keyboard itself. The mother keyboard is a blank keyboard which just sends digital signals to the PC, telling the software which notes have been played. If the mother-keyboard keys are weighted / touch-sensitive, it will send that info too, and other sensory pieces of information allowing the software to digitally replicate what the user / musician is telling it. The software then transforms these signals into music.