Maximizing Mini MIDI Keyboards

After reading “Keyboard Shopping for GarageBand,” Derrick Story’s overview of the compact GarageKey controller, a reader wondered if there were an even smaller USB MIDI keyboard. He wanted something like the Creative Labs Prodikeys, but that also worked on the Mac. (The Prodikeys uses a PS2 connector, not USB.)

The Prodikeys is a great concept. It’s a full-size QWERTY keyboard with a wrist rest that detaches to reveal a three-octave MIDI keyboard. The black-and-whites are half the standard size, but they are velocity-sensitive, so playing harder can produce a louder, brighter sound.

Creative showed me a pre-release version of the Prodikeys a few years ago, and I was so intrigued that I recommended one to my mom. She still uses it to practice her choral parts. Ironically, the QWERTY part of the keyboard she got is disappointing. The key layout is non-standard and it’s easy to GEnerate DOubled CAps. That stickyness may have been an anomaly, but Creative fixed the key layout in the new DM version.

The smallest USB MIDI keyboard I know of is the Evolution eKeys, which also uses minikeys but is not velocity-sensitive. If you want (lots) more control, there’s the Korg MicroKontrol. The smallest keyboard with full-size keys has to be the rubbery Roll Up Piano. It apparently also uses a PS2 interface, alas.

If you’re a keyboard player, however, you’ll likely be frustrated with minikeys. Thankfully, there are a ton of two- and three-octave USB MIDI controllers with full-size keys out there. I wrote a USB MIDI keyboard shootout for Electronic Musician a few years ago comparing the usability and feel of the first crop of these keyboards. The best-feeling ones I’ve played are from Edirol and Novation.

If portability and cost are no object, you may want to consider four-octave, five-octave, and even 88-key controllers. M-Audio makes a surprisingly inexpensive 88-key controller, the Keystation Pro, which features piano-like, hammer-action keys. Having started as a piano player, I was astonished how much difference hammer-action keys made when I reviewed the Yamaha Motif. I no longer felt like I was fighting the keyboard to get an expressive piano sound; I just played music.

Different Keystrokes for Different Folks

Incidentally, I played the GarageKey at Macworld and got the impression it wasn’t designed by keyboardists; it would be too easy to break off the end keys when traveling, and hiding the octave-shift buttons on the back is awkward. Also, I would never buy a MIDI keyboard without a pitch-bend wheel. Of course, I’m not the GarageKey market. The manufacturer says its goals were to make something compact, straightforward, and visually harmonious with Apple’s industrial design. In that, they’ve succeeded. The feet that let the GarageKey straddle a QWERTY keyboard are a nice touch. So is using Class-compliant USB MIDI drivers, which lets you just plug in and play without first installing software.

For desktop keyboard controller duties, I’m still using a 15-year-old Korg T3 synthesizer keyboard, which has a snappy Yamaha action I’ve always liked. (One revealing keyboard test is to press keys at the very back, right where they disappear into the case. On better-feeling keyboards like the T3, you’ll find that the hinge point is actually deeper inside the case.) At five octaves, the T3 is too big to sit on a desk, but it rests conveniently at my side. That 90-degree orientation also keeps my nose out of the computer monitor when I’m playing, so I can focus on the music.

On the go, I use a Novation BassStation. It’s a battery-powered, monophonic analog synth with an admittedly cheesy keyboard, but I love the sound, especially played through my Korg Pandora PX3 guitar effects processor. I bought a portable USB MIDI interface so I could use the BassStation as a USB MIDI controller, but found that one glorious analog note at a time was enough for most jam sessions.

How are you controlling your computer?