New Keyboard Goodies from NAMM

The Piano Wand sitting above the keys

From Media Mation comes a nice little item for those just beginning to learn keyboard. The Piano Wand is a slick device that changes any MIDI capable keyboard/computer set up into a learning tool. The Piano Wand is a MIDI controlled light bar that will flash lights over a standard size keyboard as a MIDI sequence plays on your computer. Whereas, this is not a new concept, the interesting thing about the Piano Wand is that it is modular. The light bar comes in one octave (12 notes) bars that can be easily strung together for as short or as long of a light bar as you need. The standard box comes with enough light bars to make a five octave (60 note) light bar. Most intermediate and advanced keyboards have 61 keys on them so this should work in most cases. The white keys light up red and the black keys light up green so as to further improve on your key tracking skills. The Piano Bar lists for $175 US and does not come with sequencer software, but does work with any MIDI file playback software including the standard Windows MIDI player. MIDI files are available from most music or computer dealers and can often be downloaded from the net for free. Check out the MIDI page right here on Harmony Central for links to such sites.

To contact Media Mation: Phone (310)320-0696, email: mediamat@aol.com, or URL: www.mediamat.com.

Next, from the keyboard Gurus at Kurzweil, comes a long throw (600 mm) ribbon controller with three ribbons. The ribbon controller is similar to the one on the Kurzweil K2500 (their flagship product), but can be added to any keyboard or MIDI set up. It also goes beyond the functionality of the ribbon controller on the K2500 in a number of ways. First of all, the ribbon controller, known as the "ExpessionMate", has three discrete independent ribbons that can be routed to three different MIDI channels. The controller can also be set to absolute or relative finger positioning. The relative position is nice to prevent that instant jump to a different controller setting when you first touch the ribbon.

The heart of this system is ExpressionMate's control box which comes with the unit. This controller can map the controller data to note data. Another available function is the built in arpeggiator which can be real time controlled by the ribbons. The control box can also accept input from breath controllers and XYZ control pads. It will remap MIDI controllers and a host of other functions that make this box extremely useful. All in all, this is a nice item to have around.

The retail price is $595 US.

To contact Kurzweil, phone 253-984-0275 or visit their web site at www.youngchang.com/kurzweil.

From Motion Sound, the makers of the Pro 3 leslie rotating horn cabinet, comes the new KBR-M and the KBR-3D keyboard amps. This combo amp (amp and speaker system) is perfect for solo or small club performers. Besides having their popular leslie rotating horn in the cabinet, it also includes a standard keyboard amp and an extra input for a microphone or mixing board output. A gigging keyboard player can plug his organ into the rotating horn, his other keyboard into the standard amp, and the output from a small stage mixer into the third input. Thereby, this one amp is all he will need in the way of power amplification for the whole performance. The beauty of this unit is that it is small and relatively light weight. The KBR-M weighs in at 58 pounds and the KBR-3D is 70 pounds. Both units are fairly small and can be handled by one person. The differences between the two models is that the KBR-3D has two 100 watt amps instead of one and it is stereo. The retail price of the KBR-M is $995 US and as of the writing of this article the KBR-3D had not had a price set yet.

To contact Motion Sound, call them at 801-265-0917.

Also, you real keyboard freaks may want to check out my mini-review on the Roland VK-77, and upcoming one for the Waldorf Q synth.

Keep Jamming,

Cliff

Cliff Suttle (cliffnotes@harmony-central.com) has been studying music for over twenty years including studies at the University of Michigan. Fluent on keyboards, guitar, and bass, Cliff is currently playing in an all original rock band Middle Earth. Cliff's motto: Understand the theory and you can play anything.

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