Most commercial MIDI controllers are unnecessarily large and awkward – certainly not designed to be on ones lap while soldering/bending/wiring/coding. Hopefully Korg’s upcoming line of “nano” devices can fill that void. Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music runs through the slated features –
- nanoKEY: 25 keys, transmitting either as MIDI notes or (via a separate mode) Control Change (CC) messages. Octave shift (natch). Pitch, modulation. And it’s supposed to be velocity-sensitive, too, although we’ll have to get our hands on one to see how sensitive it is.
- nanoPAD: 12 pads, supposedly inheriting the terrific sensitivity and feel of the padKONTROL, which is pretty much the favorite pad controller round these parts. Chord Trigger. Control Change mode (as with nanoKEY). There’s even an X/Y touch pad with roll and flam mode, favorite features of the padKONTROL.
- nanoKONTROL: 9 faders, 9 knobs, 18 switches, transport controls. (No, really.) MIDI notes, 168 CC messages. There are even attack and decay times for the switches, allowing them to work as faders, filter controls, effects settings, and the like – something I’d love to see on other (full-sized) controllers.
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They aren’t terribly pretty (the nanoKEY buttons look like they were lifted off a vintage DEC microcomputer), and it’s hard to tell what the feel of that keyboard will be like, but these are indeed promising for tight spots.
Actually, I think those keys look pretty sweet, of course it’ll be their feel that matters most. Shame there’s only USB versions planned – Korg nanoseries [via Create Digital Music]
Related:
Very small midi controller
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