January 2015 – The processing power of tablets is rivaling laptops of the recent past. As a result, music creation and has shifted to these lighter devices. To go along with that, Keith McMillen has brought out a new portable keyboard the K-board. The unit is a self-contained USB powered Midi controller for tablets and laptops that weighs only 345g or 0.76lbs.
The sealed 25 key keyboard has both a standard keyboard and MIDI/DAW controller. The keyboard has sustain, velocity, pressure, tilt and toggle control on the keys in addition to a pitch bend pad and octave control.. For windows and OSx systems there is a menu bar that allows for customization of the functions of the keyboard.
McMillen K-Board Portable USB Keyboard
For use with tablets, the operation is simple – open the box, plug in the USB cable to the keyboard and tablet and then launch the music application that you want the keyboard to interface to. The device is recognized in these devices as a self-contained HID compliant device. As a result, there are no drivers or software needed to use the keyboard.
If the user needs more control over the keyboard beyond the factory defaults, different types of MIDI messages, CC values, and the keyboard’s sensitivity can be changed via the editor’s interface. The software for the editor is available free from the product web site.
As the device is high performance (a professional quality product that is available to consumers) and is designed for portable use. There are many instances where the user wants more than one of these keyboards available. Multiple K-Boards can be used simultaneously. The K-Board is a full class-compliant USB MIDI device which means it works up to the USB spec of “up to 127 devices, including hub devices if present, may be connected to a single host controller. In this configuration, only one K-Board can be edited at a time if you are modifying their settings, but all the K-Boards can be edited if needed.
The unit is very durable and has a good keyboard feel for a small portable keyboard. The product is available from most major music accessory suppliers.