Some people take their music to go, and others make their music on the go. If you are one of the latter, you’ll want to look at the K-Board by Keith McMillen Instruments.  The K-Board is a 13” x 3-1/4” x 1/2” virtually indestructible USB keyboard.

K-Board

The K-Board works with PC, Mac, iOS, Android as well as Linux – no drivers needed.  It connects to your laptop with USB or any tablet that accepts an OTG cable. It should work will all popular software.  With no moving parts, it’s ideal for throwing in your laptop case or your backpack.

The manufacturer claims they’ve run them over with a car and thrown them from the second story, but I haven’t been anywhere near that rough with the one I have. I will say it’s built like a tank, so I believe their stories.

How does it sound?

Well, it all depends on the software it’s hooked up to, but it worked with about every software package we threw at it. That said, this video will give you an idea of the sound capabilities it has with its many controls.

 

K-Board Features:

25 keys and octave up-down buttons for a seven octave range.  Blinking lights let you know how far from center you are.  When you press the “-Oct+” octave buttons, any notes you are holding will shift up or down accordingly.

Active keyboard keys are illuminated – white for white and the black keys light up blue.

“Bend” key works great to vary any held notes.  Works like a ribbon controller.

“Sustain” key allows played notes to keep playing as long as the sustain key is held down

“Toggle” key holds notes until you touch them a second time

“Tilt” acts as a pitch wheel would act on a standard digital keyboard

“Press” acts the same as a modulation wheel would act on a standard digital keyboard

“Velo” supposedly controls the velocity or impact of how hard or soft you press.  This is the only control that didn’t seem to work for me.

Who wants one?

So who is this for?  Anyone wanting to learn keyboard would certainly be a candidate. You can now practice anywhere you can find a phone, tablet or PC to plug into. The K-Board gets all the power it needs directly from the host device. Ideal for travel.

Composers would probably love to have one handy while on the road, to grab that melody they have in their head.

Midi musicians would love it to add pieces to their composition.

Professionals could also use it as an auxiliary keyboard loaded with effects or special instruments.

Try it out

The touch of the keys is certainly not like a piano keyboard, so you’ll want to give it a spin and see how you like it. When you do, try out the “Velo”city control and see if it gives you enough control.

The K-Board is sold through Guitar Centers and is quite reasonably priced at $99. For more information, check out the K-Board website.

Disclosure:  I was sent a K-Board to do my evaluation.

A special thanks to my keyboard-wizard son Rob for helping with the video.

Want a whole band in a duffel bag?

Combine the Jamstik guitar with the Cliphit drumset and the K-Board keyboard.  Nothing is longer than 16” and all three together probably weigh under 10 pounds. You’ll have the ultimate orchestra and can travel anywhere with all of them in a carry-on bag.

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  K-Board keyboard

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  Jamstik guitar

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  Cliphit drumset

 

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