Small hand held keyboard for solos

Just had a crazy idea. I play a digital guitar controller which can strum or pick but cannot play solos. Is there such a thing as a small hand held keyboard (wireless preferred) that could be quickly picked up and held in the left hand and played with the right for a quick solo or two? My thoughts would be to have a recording of the backing just for the solo part saved as an audio file then triggered to play when the solo is required. Cheers!

I guess you wouldn’t want a keytar because it would collide with your guitar controller, right?

Hi David. Thanks for the thought, but I do already have a keytar that I use in a duo when I play keys. My thought was, sling the guitar controller around the back, grab the mini keyboard and play the solo, then carry on with strumming the reminder of the song with the guitar controller after the solo.

I also have a small Korg Nano Key V2, but it is not user friendly especially for live playing as it doesn’t have proper black and white keys, just tabs in two tone grey.

I found this unit after a quick search - Korg microKEY AIR 37 Bluetooth Midi Keyboard Controller.
It has BT and apparently works ok in Windows with low latency. It Is larger than what I originally envisaged, so it would need to be mounted on a stand rather than hand held. Has anyone used one of these? Some thoughts would be much appreciated.

I just ran across the Lumi keyboard. It’s not cheap, but it may be just what you’re looking for.

Lumi Keys

1 Like

Wow!!

Most likely not a solution for everyone:

Years ago I ripped the keybed out ouf my old Edirol PCR-30 keyboard controller.
I found by chance that the keybed works with the main PCB connected, only, and without all the other PCBs for control switches, knobs, sliders and benders.
I glued the main PCB to the back of the keybed, and Gaffa-taped a 9V block for power supply, and finally a CME MIDI-X8 wireless MIDI transmitter connected to my DAW laptop.

It was big fun to jump over the stage with it, and letting some girls from the audience press some keys, mapped to earth-shaking FX samples :slight_smile:

Have a look, at your own risk:



Angel FX-Keys 3

Nowadays a CME Xkey Air 37 with MIDI over Bluetooth might be an option :slight_smile:

4 Likes

Poor man! Is he grimacing because he got his beard hair caught between the keys? :grimacing:

How much keys? Do you want regular-sized keys or would you also be happy with mini keys?

I have a friend who had the same problem and replaced his with this one:
nano2-BY

Korg Nano2

After thinking it through, I decided to go with the keytar. It is a wireless Alexis Vortex and I think with do the job just fine. I will leave it lying flat and play it without picking it up. Cheers for all the good solutions and the laughs.

3 Likes

Hey there. Looked through the topic and seen that you’ve already made your choice. You can also check Midiplus AKM320, for the future maybe.