Tiny MIDI Keyboards for Your Laptop

Heading out the door to a laptop jam session today, I eyed my chunky little MIDI keyboard, but even it was too big to fit in my backpack. I ended up typing out melodies and chords on the computer keyboard itself. (Programs like Ableton Live and Apple GarageBand map the computer keys to notes in software synthesizers.)

QWERTY keys make a handy sketchpad, but they're not very expressive. What you really want is velocity-sensitive, piano-style keys along with pitch-bend and modulation controls. There are a few such keyboards with full-size keys, such as the Edirol PCR-M1, M-Audio KeyRig 25, and Novation ReMote SL Compact. Each still weighs several pounds, though, making them less backpack-friendly.

So I've been curious about the new Korg Nano series of USB MIDI controllers — super-tiny (a foot wide by half an inch tall), super light (half a pound), and super-cheap (about $50 each, street). For those specs, I wasn't expecting much in the way of feel or build quality, but the convenience would make up for that. Now, finally, some performance videos are emerging so we can see how the keys and controllers work. Here's one of keyboard jock Jordan Rudess. Notice how he expands the range by tapping the Octave-Up and -Down buttons, and bends the pitch with the preset +2 semitone button:

The clacky acoustic sound of the Nanokey could be annoying; I'm thinking I might enjoy playing keyboard parts on the Nanopad more — plus, you get the cool roll feature. But for about $100, you could easily slip both in a backpack.