Portable keyboards

[Tony]

I know we, as a list, are predominantly guitar wielding but I have a keyboard question.  I want to find a small keyboard that I can use with the Micro BR.  My fantasy is a one and 1/2 octave keyboard that just produces one sound and has an audio line out. And preferably cheap. Instead all I can find are 5 octave monsters that are as portable as a portaloo. 

There are no shortage of midi controllers but they don't produce sounds and they generally are restricted to usb and midi line outs.

I do a lot of train travel and I dream about actually noodlng on the MBR and not reading another freaking crime novel. 

Alternatively, can anyone think of anything that would be good for inputting melodies in a genuinely portable fashion?  I'm not going to carry a strat on the train with me.

Anybody got any advice?

[64Guitars]

The Korg Kaossilator would probably do the job and be a lot of fun too. It's battery powered, smaller than any keyboard, sounds awesome, and is reasonably priced.

[Ferryman_1957]

The Korg Kaossilator would probably do the job and be a lot of fun too. It's battery powered, smaller than any keyboard, sounds awesome, and is reasonably priced.

I'll second that - go here to hear it in action:

http://microrecorders.org/community/post-your-work/unicordia-first-serious-micro-br-recording-by-a-newbie/0/

The only downside is that it is quite hard to play if you want to play anything other than simple melody lines. But it has an amzing range of sounds.

If you want a small synth, how about this?

http://www.thomann.de/gb/novation_xiosynth25.htm

Cheers,

Nigel

[beleg]

I have seen a roll up piano in the SkyMall magizines

http://www.buyrolluppiano.com/

Never played one, so I dont know what it sounds like.

If you are looking for pockcet sized and don't mind playing with a pen, I would go with this  Stylophone ($20):


http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/musical-instruments/aa64/?cpg=froogle

[Blooby]

The Microkorg runs a little less that $400, but man, is it cool.  Every Pink Floyd/Dr. Who sound you can think of.  It can produce arpeggios, which can be set to tempo.  It's also a vocoder if you have a great desire to sound like the car from Knightrider.

I think it's four-voice, it's very small, and it can run on batteries.

http://www.korg.com/Product.aspx?pd=128

Just my two cents.

Blooby

[hewhoiscalledj]

I can see how making music would totally improve your train commute. You can probably get by just fine with an old Casio (the mini key kind w/ probably 3 octaves) Find one with a midi connection or just a decent line out and you are golden.

Or... try an Omnichord. It's like an 80s novelty noise maker / sequencer... pretty fun to mess around with. Here's an example from eBay:    http://cgi.ebay.com/Suzuki-Omnichord-system-two-OM-84_W0QQitemZ330312177473QQcmdZViewItemQQptZKeyboards_MIDI?hash=item330312177473&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

[guitarron]

that roland juno is cheap-49 keys too many?

[Tony]

Thanks everyone.  I think I'm going to have to sit with this problem for a while.  Your suggestions are good but everything falls out the same way.  Those things that are small enough don't have the proper control and those those that do are too big.  It's time for someone to market a 1 and 1/2 octave keyboard with almost no surround frame that has audio out for the Micro BR.

Nat Cole used to compose on a melodica whilst on the road.  A melodica with a 1/8 inch audio out - that would be it.

Thanks for all the advice.  I got some good ideas from this.

[beleg]

adding a pick up to a melodica

http://www.thisisnotalabel.com/Attaching-a-Pickup-to-a-Melodica.php


or

http://www.melodicas.com/melodica_pickup.htm

[Tony]

Wow, beleg, thank you.  This is great, and very kind of you to find it.