IK Multimedia have released another in a long line of great products for musicians –
This time I’m taking a look at iRig Keys and once again, it’s impressive and very easy to use.
After taking it out of the box I immediately noticed a couple things – first off, it’s light, but not so much that it feels cheap. Second IK Multimedia continues to do a nice job if including the required cables for their products. This may seem like a non-issue but as someone who has tried out many products over the years, having the right cables is a huge plus. This one comes with a 30 pin iDevice connector and the miniUSB connector if you’re hooking it up to a Mac or PC. The instructions are relatively light, but I think that speaks more to the ease of hooking up and using the iRig Keys versus anything else. It’s a keyboard; you plug it in and make music. OK, OK, it’s not quite that simple due the software that you’ll be using – but your software’s instructions wouldn’t come with the iRig KEYS anyway, so the directions are going to be pretty straight forward.
Section 3 of the directions gets in to the complex stuff – but this is where the iRig KEYS can really shine due to its flexibility and programmability. Here are some highlights – You can:
- Set different velocity response for the keys – you get 6 settings – 3 are different ‘fixed settings’ at various levels and 3 different velocity sensitivity levels (light,heavy, normal)
- Assign a specific MIDI control change number to the VOL/DATA knob.
- Set MIDI transmit channel
- Transpose the keyboard in semitones. “If you need to play a song that has been recorded in a key of D#, but you would like to play it on the keyboard as if it was in C, … “ you can set that up in Edit mode.
The iRig KEYS is mighty portable at 120 mm deep (4.72 “) and 1.45 lbs – it will fit most places very easily. To squeeze in the 37 keys, plus other controls, the width of each white key is about .75 inches. This is slightly smaller than a full size keyboard and to be expected in a device meant to be portable.
Take a look at the video for some up close photos and a recap.
Pros –
- Light weight
- Highly customizable
- Pitch and modulation wheels (cool feature)
- Reasonable price
- Works with PC/Mac/Apple iDevices
Cons
It was really hard to select cons – if you’re looking for a portable keyboard that works with your laptop or iDevice, this is a good one!
- iPad battery drain – this is a stretch. I didn’t notice any significant additional drain on the battery. Plus you can use the usb plug to power the keyboard if you don’t want it running off your iPad/iPhone/iTouch battery.
- Short cables – the iDevice cable is just under 27 inches. So you can’t go too far away when setting up to play. I tried with an extension and the keyboard didn’t power on. This is also not a big deal, just a small inconvenience.
The iRig KEYS keyboard retails for $99.99 and comes with Sample Tank 2L ($79.99 retail). It also works with IK Multimedia’s other music apps like SampleTank and iGrand Piano both of which come in free and paid versions. I experimented with the keyboard using Garage band too and had no issues on the various instruments in that app. This is just more great stuff from IK Multimedia.
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