fearfaoin wrote:I am seriously considering getting something like this for the rare time I want to do MIDI input:
I have all three of the Korg Nano controllers. They are useful in that they are compact and very portable.
The keyboard is really not playable though at least not if you are a keyboard player. The chiclet style keys are too stiff. It may be useful for piano roll input of individual notes as Caroluna describes. It can be used to trigger loops and samples though and works fine for that.
The NanoPad is decent and I do use it both for beat development and for triggering loops in a loop sequencer - like FL Studio, Abelton Live, etc..
The nanoKontrol works fine is you want to twiddle midi controls and have your finger on a slider instead of using a computer screen and some type of pointer to do the job. It looks more and more like everything is moving towards touch screen interfaces anyway.
Akai makes a more useful micro keyboard the LPK25 and pad controller the LPD8.
A better choice for general midi keyboard input is to use a standard midi keyboard controller like the M-Audio Keystation, Keystudio, KeyRig or similar from Roland, Yamaha or Korg. M-Audio also have a micro version of the Keystation available now.
Feadoggie
I've proven who I am so many times, the magnetic strips worn thin.
