Forty nine keys with velocity and channel aftertouch, with up to 4 CV-Gate outputs with a keyboard split and arrangeable polyphony across the split .Built in arpeggiator, clock, LFO, built in very simple sequencer, an auto chord, and various miscellaneous clever functions. Both DIN MIDI and USB.
You may remember the now discontinued Waldorf KB-37. This more than fills that slot, kind of a step up really, and is less expensive.
22 minute Sonic State Review.
Had me going onto MG immediately to build this:
I’ve got the NiftyCase bundle. The case is okay but made really cheap. The modules are crap. My experience with them does not inspire me to spend that much on the NiftyKeyz. I will stick with suggesting the Arturia MiniBrute and BruteRack to newbies of Eurorack.
Same. I used it to get in and have a place for a morphagene, but I quickly replaced the case.
Eventually ran out of room in my unit and tried to use it for an overflow unit- dang thing emitted an obnoxious high pitch ringing
For whatever it’s worth as a vote of quality, I saw Pittsburgh Modular say on IG that they designed the end cheeks. Which is a fairly minimal involvement, but also suggests to me that they sought out some pros in this space for development.
I bought one. Be here in a few days. Will report back.
I see Cre8Audio is at Superbooth, and they are cooperating there with Pittsburgh Modular. Their booths are next to each other and PM has helped them with their modules. So expect to see more about NiftyKEYZ from the Superbooth show.
Cool way to use the NiftyKEYZ ( NKZ ) :
Normally Local is ON, and the keyboard and controls are sent out as CV signals.
If you set Local to OFF two things happen. The keyboard and controls send MIDI out. -AND- Any MIDI in gets translated to CV signals.
That would give you all sorts options to create powerful and unique CV controllers. In Local OFF loop the MIDI out and send it through a MIDI processor like a Blokas Midihub and then back again.
The Midihub costs around $100.
Immediately you can change operation of the NKZ to do all sorts of things.
You want to map to a certain key and scale, you can. This would be especially nice with the NKZ autochord or arpeggiator.
With the Midihub you could split and control both both MIDI and CV at the same time. Or if you want you can merge in a second MIDI controller, sliders and knobs let’s say. Or you can split off part of the MIDI and send that to a second MIDI to CV converter.
The Midihub is quite powerful, but the combination is extra powerful.
Can anyone give their review of the NiftyKEYZ? Build quality, feeling of the keys and wheels, any wonky issues, bugs, etc?
can somebody give a sense of this keyboard
iam interested but there’s one thing holding it back for me and that is no mention of round Robin voice allocation.
otherwise you would ever stick with the first Oscillator being the main Oscillator and others follow with each key press but obviously would fall back to the first Oscillator.
something the Analog Keys has built in, which should be standard for everything with a polyphonic approach…
someone?
Yeah I’m interested in any first hand experience of one of these.
I’m surprised this hasn’t been done already.
AJHSynth has put their modules together with a NiftyKEYZ, and sells it as a complete bundled product.
They call it the AJHSynth MiniMod Keyz. It is a monosynth, most like a Model D.
The NiftyKEYZ has got a lot of value at the price, it’s just basic value added to any modular maker’s system. It’s really better than just a monosynth, but it can do that too.
Why hasn’t Pittsburgh and Cre8Audio done a bundle as well ? The Taiga, and …
These have the same issue as the Taiga with the connectors all along the bottom.
We’re a creative lot here, any ideas what would make a nice system ?
I was planning on doing a more thorough write-up here of this thing at some point, but here’s mine (in its current state, at least):
This is based around the Doepfer polyphonic modules: A-111-4 Quad VCO; A-105-4 VCF; 2x A-141-4 Envelope Generators (one for the VCA, one for the VCF); and the A-132-8 Octal VCA. There are also obviously some other things in there (the ALM/Busy Circuits MFX being the latest addition). I got the NiftyKeyz originally with the intention of doing a modular monosynth since my biggest gripe about my Euro system was that I couldn’t @#$%ing play it, but that evolved into wanting to experiment with the Doepfer stuff. I already had the quad VCO, so I sold some stuff and got the envelopes and filter. Depending on the voice settings, it can still be a monosynth, and a massive one at that.
While I haven’t been able to use it for a lot yet, here are some initial thoughts: the NiftyKeyz mostly works the way it’s described/supposed to in the manual. I say “mostly” only because I was trying to use it with my OT and ended up with spurious MIDI data flying all over the place that I was never quite able to pin down. I was trying something a little dopey at the time and I think it most likely operator error that was the cause rather than any fundamental issue with the NiftyKeyz. Also, the MIDI channel assignment is a bit confusing with the numbering above the keys – I’d have to look at it again with a MIDI monitor to recall exactly what the issue was. I also wish the octave switch went further south – even with the Quad VCO set to its lowest octave it doesn’t get as deep into bass territory as I’d like.
But: the voicing modes work, the auto chord feature works (which is quite cool), the arp works, the LFO works, the keybed is not bad, and for the cost, I think it’s great. At some point I’ll do a video demo – with this batch of modules it sounds pretty massive. Also: the Doepfer poly modules have the option of normalled routing on the backs of the modules via Dupont connectors (think Arduino connectors). With the full Doepfer poly suite (including the MIDI controller module, which I didn’t need because of the NiftyKeys) you can get a full four-voice poly system without any cables in the front – connecting the front jacks to something else breaks the normalled connection, like a patch bay. In this case, while it looks like spaghetti and needs some organization, there are actually 12 fewer cables because the filter, envelopes, and VCA are all connected in the back. Setting that up was a story in itself, but it works!
I knew something didn’t look the same with the AJHSynth MiniMod Keyz.
The wood on either end is stained walnut. It looks really rich. I assume they arranged that special with Cre8Audio.
Smart !
I wonder if that is the only thing custom ? ( Beside the AJH plaque that is. )
A video about the AJH Synths MiniMod Keyz. I queued the video to the sound portion. ( like 12 minutes ) This is awesome to hear, and i get the value now.
Also they will be at Superbooth 2023.
Still looking for more module ideas for your own custom KEYZ. ( Names too, if you got ideas. )
Thank you @silent_k for your “Doepfer Keyz” version.
ADDED : BoBeats has a video where he runs through a few ideas he has both mono and polyphonic. ( I queued it past the intro. you can stop watching at 12 minutes. )
My pleasure! I wish I had more time right now and I’d do a more thorough description/video of how I put it together – one of these days soon, I hope. This AJH system looks and sounds awesome – if I was in the market for a Mini-style monosynth I’d probably go for this.
I’m getting one of these soon. Wondering how I “plug” in the keyboard to my euro sequencer that is going to be inside the case. Is there some kind of connection USB I can attach to my sequencer so can use the keys with my sequencer. I know it has the midi out on the back so maybe use that with an adapter to plus into the midi in port. Guess that should work if there is no USB midi.
Check the manual. There is class compliant USB MIDI in both directions with the connector on the back. Beyond that, i’m not sure, nor am i completely sure of your question.
So you can use the NiftyKEYZ as a CV controller, or a MIDI controller, and as a MIDI to CV converter, and some combinations of these.
