Rubber Fold-away USB MIDI Keyboard
Reviews : Keyboard |
Taiwanese outfit Ta Horng produce a range of
flexible rubber MIDI keyboards, including the three-octave iSmart under
review here. Portability is the main selling point; wrapping the
keyboard around its plastic control panel produces something about the
size of an early-'90s mobile phone.
The USB/mains socket is the sole one, and using the
iSmart on an iMac running Mac OS 10.3.3 required nothing other than
plugging in the USB cable. The three-octave keyboard can be transposed
using the Octave keys to access the full range of MIDI note numbers, but
there is no velocity sensitivity. Above are two buttons which are used
with 11 of the white keys to set the MIDI channel, send Program Change
messages, or change the fixed-output velocity value (99 by default).
As a MIDI data-entry device, the iSmart works fine,
triggering notes reliably when the keyboard is on a hard surface. The
sensors extend the length of each key, although the 'playing experience'
offers much of the touch and expression of my old Renault 5's floor
mats. Also, because the black notes are at the same level as the white
notes, it's much more difficult to play accurately. That said, you can
hardly expect a decent playing action from a sub-£70 bunch of long-chain
polymers...
All in all, this is an odd product which has rather divided opinions in the SOS office. Some consider a rubber keyboard about as useful as a rubber
violin, no matter how portable. Others think the iSmart could be useful
for data entry where budget and space restrictions are at their
tightest. Hopefully you should know which camp you belong to by now, and
will use your wallet accordingly!
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