Compact battery-powered midi keyboard?

Novation X-station.
Battery powered
2x2 interface
Midi interface
Midicontroller (with takeover and all programmable from the device)
2 xy inputs
And an old school novation synth to boot

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Regarding the Korg Nanokey - I had the Mk1 until the “keys” started falling off. The underlying structure was similar to a low quality computer keyboard but the metal plate that the keys attached to was almost literally butter-soft metal. Did Korg build the Mk2 out of better materials? Even most plastics are more robust than that metal was.

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Keystep is usb powerd so you can use a powerbank.

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thanks all, someone else came with a good suggestion too; op-z with oplab/line module.

Yes op-z. Or Roland A01.

thats not a bad idea, i have a roland JU-06a with K-25m keyboard.
the roland ju-06a also has a midi out, this could also work?

Yes

there are a handful of wireless keyboards that can be powered internally, but most, if not all of them only have usb midi, no din.

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yes thats exactly the problem, most synths (mine atleast) don’t have usb midi ins.

just as an option going to throw in 1010music blackbox.
a small sampler (runs on powerbank) that has usb device port and midi in/out, so you can use any usb controller while sending out regular midi signal.

but other than that, slamming a powerbank to KS37 should work just fine :v:
some weaker/cheaper power banks use capacitor discharge charging thing tho, so it might not work with every power bank.


oh and as alternative for op-z there is critter and guitary organelle M. its a bit bigger but you can flash it with anything from being an FX box to sampler/synth or a sequencer or everything at once. Plus you get a speaker.

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Korg Monologue takes batteries and has ‘proper’ midi.

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Miditech Midistart Music 25 – Thomann Switzerland with a USB battery?

Unfortunately only the larger XKey 37 has the “XCable” for MIDI DIN

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Some of the “post golden era” Casio and Yamaha consumer keyboards have midi I/o and can be found cheap. The keys don’t tend to be great but I’ve used worse.
I have a few of those but I tend to use my reface when I need something small and battery powered (which is an unusual need for me). Bonus is the keys, while small, are excellent.

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thanks everyone!

Launchkey Mini MK3 should also fit nicely if you’re happy to power it via an external power bank

Korg Volca FM2 first of the whole series has midi out. Also Modal Skulpt works nice as midi sequencer.

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thanks, but not battery powered.
i think so far the best option that is battery powered, compact, with midi out is the op-z with oplab.
though, its no real piano keys. in that category, maybe using a roland boutique with k-25m would be the best option, or OP-1 with something like RK-006. Yamaha Reface also a contender, but a bit bigger, and dongle…

I’m hoping that there will eventually be a battery-powered revision of the OMX-27.

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I’ve got a K-25m. Don’t. I got one to go with an SE-02, sold that, kept the k-25 cos it works better to trigger tr-06 sounds than actual tr-06 itself. But it’s a sh*t keyboard. Could work if it had a pitch wheel and a mod wheel. But it doesn’t.

The only teenageengineering product I’ve got is one of the po drum machines, cool in itself but better in theory than practice as other than a coffee table drum machine.

Had a Reface DX. Minikeys fine, they’ve come on a long way since the microKorg. But having rinsed the TX81Z lately bass preset long before I knew it was a thing, just not getting why you would release a new product after all this time that didn’t let you recreate it.

Recently part-ex’d Reface for a Hydrasynth Explorer without any regrets. It’s not featherweight portable, but the way they’ve turned a couple of decades of vst engineering back into hardware form is very impressive. First synth I’ve owned since my Ensoniq VFX that has let me route delay into flanger inhouse lol.

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Not the greatest quality keyboard, but it ticks all the OPs boxes…

USB-C MIDI, TRS MIDI Type A, Bluetooth MIDI, Rechargeable Battery (4 Hours), Mod/Pitch Joystick, 8 Pads and 8 Endless Encoders.

I don’t believe there is anything else as fully featured currently on the market.

RockJam 25 Key Bluetooth Midi…

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