I am a complete layperson. Thank you for helping me to visualize how LLMs operate, in general.
1Fantastically concise for a topic where it is tempting to get into the weeds.
I would argue that cheap computing since the debut of MIDI has poached players from the organ, although computer keyboard music does encompass both the piano & the organ. Piano has lost popularity over time (just take a look at the used piano market for evidence of this) but not as much as organ (see church attendance in decline). An organ console for the home is more expensive to produce and house than a PC with a MIDI keyboard. The PC expands the capabilities of what one keyboard can do, and can do more than the king of all instruments, using overdub recording. And it encompases some of the best of both piano and organ, but at reduced barrier to entry.
There are now electric piano midi capable hardware instruments with more than on/off by velocity capabilities and a vibrato pitch wheel. Built into some state of the art electric keyboards is aftertouch effects on both X and Y axises.
This solves for decay and gives expressive options for virtual instruments which were previously impossible in real time.
While I am a diehard fan of modern Casio electric pianos, I got my start on a brand new Yamaha electric piano my dad kept in the basement. I would go down there as a kinder ~1990 and mess around on it, not understanding the patterns. The keyboard is HEAVY and built like a tank. Every component still works 33 years later. I'm not the biggest fan of the built-in sounds, but then we attached an aftermarket external midi-box that had better piano sounds. Today I'm keyboard proficient, with a bachelor's in music and a teaching career. Funny how it never would have happened, had my father not randomly purchased that old Yamaha which I never even heard him play or mess around with once. Unfortunately the Yamaha electric pianos I have tested throughout 2000-2016 (probably low and mid-tier in stores) could not match Casio in terms of build quality, including action, price-point, and in piano patches being close to "real" sounding.