Td6d In Search Of A Mini Midi Keyboard!

Hi there!

Ive got a m-audio axiom 25 midi keyboard for my pc but as I have to travel ‘a lot’ with my macbook I would like a mini (micro) midi keyboard for my macbook.
Now I’ve seen the korg nano boards (keys, faders and pads) and I actually kind of like the idea of such a small controller.
Does anybody here have any experience with those controllers/keys or has any other suggestion for me?

So Im not looking for a ‘big’ 25 keyboard like the axiom cause that will take all space in my backpack and is like 3 times as big as my notebook but something bigger than those nano thingies should work too.

Ideas? Suggestions? Thanks!

First thing that came into my head,

http://www.thomann.de/gb/edirol_pcrm1.htm

Edirol PCR-M1 28mm thin, 1.5kg

Korg Nanokey

only $50! and it’s tiny, yet velocity sensitive

I was looking at those… besides the velocity, how would this be an improvement over the qwerty? Seems sort of pointless to me. The nano kontrol looks more useful.

It may not be so useful for tracking, but I’m certainly looking at the Nano Series for use with Ableton Live because of the portability factor.

Aren’t there programs that’ll convert qwerty keyboard strokes into midi messages? Seems like a more portable and a (more importantly) free solution.

From what I’ve read the nanokey feels exactly like a qwerty keyboard, so I still am trying to figure out why anyone would buy it. Something like an edirol pcr-m1 would be much more useful because there is actually a playability improvement over the qwerty.

I’m not necessarily looking at the Nanokeys in isolation. Like I say, I’m looking at the whole series. The Nanopad, for instance, would be very useful for Live’s Drum Racks.

Yes, I could use my laptop’s qwerty keyboard for the Drum Racks, but when programming percussion with Drum Racks I tend to want to hit something hard. My laptop keyboard already gets enough abuse when I’m using Renoise!

I do sometimes like to jam in Live as an alternative to Renoise, and you can actually play notes into Live with the qwerty keyboard without the need for a translator. But it’s not a very elegant solution for playing chords, for example. So, the Nanokeys would be useful for that.

Don’t get me wrong - I’m no virtuoso! It’s just having a keyboard laid out like a piano is kind of handy for me in that situation. Also, the Nanokeys is velocity sensitive which a qwerty keyboard isn’t.

And of course, all of the Nanoseries would double up as useful controllers when playing gigs.

As someone who has to travel a bit for work, and who stays in hotels, the Nanoseries looks ideal. Nowhere else could you get keys, pads, and mixer controls in such a small footprint.

The Edirol may well suit your needs better… but it’s like 2 - 3 times the price of the Nanonkeys? Like anything, it’s horses for courses and if you don’t see a benefit then great - you’ve saved yourself some money :D But for me, they should prove to be very useful.

Well, as I said before, the nanokontrol looks more useful.
The other midi keyboards are more expensive, but again, they’re an actual improvement over the qwerty, plus they come with knobs; you’d have to buy a few nano’s to have an equivalent setup.

anyways, who am I to tell you not to buy the nanokeys? If you think it’ll suit your needs, go for it. I just don’t see a big difference between it an the qwerty, other than having velocity (which I don’t use that much). Waste of a usb port IMO.