small, ultra portable MIDI keyboard

dave_house · Post by **dave_house** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 4:33 pm

Hi folks,

Was wondering if anyone can recommend a small MIDI keyboard? I'm going travelling soon and taking the laptop and I'd like a keyboard to use on the road.

It needs to be as small as possible (easily fit in a laptop bag / hand luggage on a plane, for instance), 2 octave is fine (can you get 1 octave?!), preferably with some knobs. In an ideal world it would have built in audio interface and be pretty robust, but that might be asking too much!

Also, I've seen 'roll up' MIDI keyboards on ebay which could potentially do the trick. Ignoring the built in sounds and speakers which are clearly going to be shite, anyone have any thoughts on them?

http://tinyurl.com/3by2n3

dave_house · Post by **dave_house** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 4:35 pm

incidentally, I already have a Novation Remote 25 and a Alesis Photon X25, both of which are too big really (although the X25 isnt far off, AND has built in audio!...)

I wonder if my Akai MPD16 would be a good idea, I guess I could use that as a keyboard, and the pads would be useful...

sorry, just thinking out loud now!

ava · Post by **ava** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 4:46 pm

Be careful, some "roll up pianos" don't transmit midi, they use usb and there own software only

dave_house · Post by **dave_house** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 4:51 pm

that would be crap... although i have found at least 1 model (the ebay one i linked to infact) that has midi out

ava · Post by **ava** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 4:57 pm

I was looking at a "Drum kit" at pc world for pc's, had usb, looked at device manager in windows control panel, and it was a friggin hid driver(joystick).

Guess could use some joystick to midi converting software but the pads were not velosity sensitive, so i thought better not.

ze2be · Post by **ze2be** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:07 pm

Theres the Evolution e-keys, but it aint velocity sencitive..

dave_house · Post by **dave_house** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:10 pm

Joystick controller would be annoying, but I recon i could probably sacrafice velocity sensitive keys for portability. Im not a 'proper' player, i just want something to bash out melodies in Sampler and trigger samples and loops, really.

Does the eKeys come in a 25 note version? I can only find 37 minimum...

ava · Post by **ava** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:16 pm

If you just want to bash up some notes and not worry about velosity then just use your qwerty keyboard.

wellers73 · Post by **wellers73** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:30 pm

M-Audio make the Oxygen 8:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/O ... -main.html

Even cooler is the Ozone, which has a built audio interface:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/M ... -main.html

They also make a carry on bag designed to hold either of these keyboards and a laptop:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/S ... -main.html

However, the version of this bag made by Ultimate DJ Gear is a little nicer:

http://www.ultimate-dj-gear.com/index.p ... d&catid=97

ze2be · Post by **ze2be** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:43 pm

dave_house wrote: Does the eKeys come in a 25 note version? I can only find 37 minimum...

No, but it is rather small.. Smallest ive found so far.

Yhtomit · Post by **Yhtomit** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:50 pm

I have the Garagekey but I dont think it will fit into a laptop bag. Its pretty small, though. The smallest I could find, actualy..

You can remove the two feet. It is about 50€ and works on XP and Leopard for sure. However, I dont think it is built for travelling

koneko · Post by **koneko** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:59 pm

i use this Edirol PCR 1 -- now theres a new version PCR M1 . its very thin and has an audio interface (not a great one, but works!)
http://www.rolandus.com/products/produc ... rentId=114

ze2be · Post by **ze2be** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:09 pm

koneko wrote:i use this Edirol PCR 1 -- now theres a new version PCR M1 . its very thin and has an audio interface (not a great one, but works!)
http://www.rolandus.com/products/produc ... rentId=114

This must be the smallest that also has knobs..

Theres a shift function for the 8 rotary knobs. So that makes 16 possible CCs, ore can you shift even more encoder groups?

ze2be · Post by **ze2be** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:10 pm

I wish kenton would make a killamix mini keyboard version..

Theres nothing of such in existence for laptop traveling musichians. Could be the same size as the killamix mini, but have velocity sencitive keys in about the same size of a computer keyboards keys. Should fit about two octaves. Just add the joystick to the left for pitch/mod wheel operations. Woila, a killer product!

dave_house · Post by **dave_house** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:16 pm

cheers people, some great suggestions here, I'm busy checking them all out for weight and dimensions vs features! I will also try controlling Live with my QWERTY keyboard to see how i get on, its something ive never done as it looks fiddly. Plus my laptop QWERTY is a bit flimsy, recon i'd trash it quick if using it as a MIDI keyboard!