Midiboard was broadly understood to be a contraction of MIDI and piano keyboard, and, to some extent, the term became synonymous with keyboards sold without sound synthesis during the later part of the 1980s to address the needs of performance artists who needed a master keyboard to control racks of MIDI synthesis modules (synthesizers without keyboards), a separation that was made possible by MIDI technology. The Kurweil MIDIboard featured wooden keys to respond like a piano.
The term MidiBoard was coined by Jeff Tripp as an identifying mark for Key Concepts master keyboard controller. A keyboard technology license and the trademark were transferred to Kurzweil Music Systems as part of a sales and licensing agreement.