Although I don’t find myself using much aftertouch expressions when producing in the studio, aftertouch expression functions will be a godsend for stage performers. I had issues with other previous portable USB keyboards that I have used over the years (One example was an M-Audio 25 key unit that did not stand up to portable use).

I was concerned that the whole product might feel a little flimsy due to it’s weight but it’s pretty solidly built, with thick plastic keys and a brushed aluminium body. Despite these kinks, it plays beautifully; the keys are remarkably sensitive considering they don’t really go anywhere when pressed down – like an Apple keyboard.This means that the market is still open to a high quality BLE MIDI portable keyboard, and the XKey Air fits the bill. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. So, I decided to go in the complete opposite direction and go for the ultra-portable CME Xkey 37 Air with keys that are unlike any other synth action. Learn from people who have made expensive mistakes and shortcut your way to success in running a successful studio. The pitch bend and modulation are a little vague and inconsistent – it feels as if the buttons are there purely to fit with the design as a wheel or a knob would be too awkward… if not more effective.

There are a few others too, but some one them I tried out at guitar center and I hated the keys probably worse then I would hate xkey. It promised to be a device that could be used as an iPad cover, and featured the ability to “flip” the device into form to make a playable keyboard that worked with magnets (not springs). This would make connecting difficult–much as we found with our Bluetooth QWERTY keyboards in our 1:1.Most purchases from business sellers are protected by the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013 which give you the right to cancel the purchase within 14 days after the day you receive the item.

I tried my way through all of the smaller controllers with 37 keys available at the time, and the Korg Microkey was just be far the most playable. Xkey Air adds a max 7ms latency compared to most state-of-the-art USB MIDI keyboards, yielding to an unnoticeable delay when playing live performances.Depending on the patch you're playing, and how the patch and Xkey are set up, these buttons can work fine, but you just don't have the same expressiveness that you do with a dedicated wheel or lever. The fact that the keys are normal width, however, means you don’t frequently end up with a fistful of wrong notes, as is often the case with compact keyboards featuring miniature keys. As a result, I've now been using my Xkey37 as my main MIDI controller more than my expensive MIDI controller with piano keys and fancy wood trim! A compact USB MIDI keyboard controller for the musician on the move, but with full-size keys and polyphonic aftertouch too!

The Xkey Plus app allows you to not only scale the data sent by the keyboard but also to change the type of MIDI message sent by individual keys and controls. Some reviews of the original XKey longed for a way to attach a sustain pedal to the keyboard (instead of pressing a key on the XKey Air), but this is a portable keyboard–attaching cables and secondary pedals defeats the portable purpose of the keyboard. This little dongle, which looks like a newer flash drive, gives BLE MIDI capability to nearly every device.This significantly changes the feel from a normal pivoted key, but is probably easier to adapt to than small keys with the wrong spacing, or squishy pressure pads. Once any changes have been made, they can be saved to the unit so there’s no need to alter them again.