Review: a week with Korg's Nano Digital Music Controllers
Korg's Nano series of music gear, sold by ThinkGeek, will never be confused with pro equipment. That doesn't matter one bit, however, because they're great fun and you can make hands-on digital music anywhere you like.
Granted, the keyboard's crummy: it looks and feels like a row of shift keys from a cheap laptop. But the pad unit's good, the control board's not bad, and the whole set's just $170. You can stuff it all in your laptop bag and forget it's there: these are real, honest-to-Kipling gadgets. Like the Koassilator and Nintendo DS synth emulators, their cheapness and portability channels inspiration for people who would never dream of lugging "real" musical equipment around.
The trio comprises a Korg Nano Kontrol, which has playback controls, nine sliders and nine knobs; the Korg Nano Pad, which has 12 standard pads and a basic kaoss-like x/y pad with hold, flam and roll functions; and Nano Key, a 25-key keyboard with octave switchers and pitch/mod controls.
All are USB-powered, weigh very little, and are about a foot long. Instructions are elementary, but they're easy to set up all the same. Kontrol Editor, a software package that customizes the MIDI output for each device, is provided as a free download, as are a couple of basic music-creation apps: Ez Drummer Lite comes with the pad and Korg's M1 emulator comes with the keyboard. A discount coupon for Ableton Lite comes with Nano Kontrol.
As a gift, as a musicians' toy, as the gear you actually have in your bag when inspiration strikes ... there are so many reasons to grab this set that it seems churlish to offer complaints at all.
The obvious one, of course, is that anyone expecting build quality or fine control from them will be disappointed. It would also be nice if they clipped together, or if Korg had also sourced an all-in-one that required only a single USB port. As it is, you'll need a usb hub to plug all three at once into many notebooks.
Product Page [Think Geek]
Following are some videos of the things in action:
Orchestral Nano Key under watchful eye of puppy.
Nano Key with Effect Matrix Rack for Ableton Live:
Nano Pad with the free drum program:
Guy messing with breaks on Nano Kontrol:
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RECENT COMMENTS
Rob Beschizza on Review: a week with Korg's Nan...
"Downpressor, I posed them for the pic -- I prefer them off to the side :)..."
dculberson on Review: a week with Korg's Nan...
"Hmm, I wonder if the Kontrol would work as a ReBirth controller? It looks like ..."
yasth on Review: a week with Korg's Nan...
"I'm pretty sure most full sized notebooks will have no trouble with three usb po..."
Anonymous on Review: a week with Korg's Nan...
"I've been happy with my nanoKey. I haven't had a MIDI keyboard hooked up to my ..."
Downpressor on Review: a week with Korg's Nan...
"So Rob, were you actually using these in the layout in the pic? Seems counter in..."
Rob Beschizza on Review: a week with Korg's Nan...
"Fixed the price, that was just a typo. They're not sturdy, but I doubt they'd b..."
tedpallas on Review: a week with Korg's Nan...
"hey folks - don't forget that these can communicate with any software that acce..."
technogeek on Review: a week with Korg's Nan...
"OK, where did you find "the full set" for US$150? Best I'm seeing is $170. Which..."
lecti on Review: a week with Korg's Nan...
"The spirit is willing (as is my wallet) but (my musical) talent is weak. :(..."
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lecti
#1 – 11:18 AM December 21, 2008
The spirit is willing (as is my wallet) but (my musical) talent is weak. :(
technogeek
#2 – 1:10 PM December 21, 2008
OK, where did you find "the full set" for US$150? Best I'm seeing is $170. Which isn't bad, but isn't quite down at the impulse-buy level.
tedpallas
#3 – 3:16 PM December 21, 2008
hey folks -
don't forget that these can communicate with any software that accepts incoming MIDI input, like most VJ software, or anything you build in Max/Msp, or Processing, or whatever else.
did they feel like they'd break in a laptop bag? they don't look very sturdy.
Rob Beschizza
#4 – 4:50 PM December 21, 2008
Fixed the price, that was just a typo.
They're not sturdy, but I doubt they'd break in a "normal drop" scenario. The pots on the Kontrol are probably the most vulnerable, but they're about the sturdiest thing on them.
Can't vouch for internal components, of course.
Downpressor
#5 – 7:13 PM December 21, 2008
So Rob, were you actually using these in the layout in the pic? Seems counter intuitive to me.
Anonymous Anonymous
#6 – 12:02 AM December 22, 2008
I've been happy with my nanoKey. I haven't had a MIDI keyboard hooked up to my computer for years because of space constraints (we have a very oddly laid-out apartment) but this hardly takes up space. I can just plunk it in my lap when I'm working on music, and stick it on the shelf or somewhere when I'm not.
It might feel like a laptop keyboard but it plays surprisingly well.
yasth
#7 – 7:31 AM December 22, 2008
I'm pretty sure most full sized notebooks will have no trouble with three usb ports, heck the aspire one, and msi wind both can handle it. The only thing that can't is a certain over hyped laptop.
I do kind of want a nanopad, but think a kaosilator/mini-kp might be more fun...
dculberson
#8 – 7:46 AM December 22, 2008
Hmm, I wonder if the Kontrol would work as a ReBirth controller?
It looks like that is the case; I might have to pick one of these up and dust off the old ReBirth madness.
Rob Beschizza
#9 – 1:24 PM December 22, 2008
Downpressor, I posed them for the pic -- I prefer them off to the side :)