Korg NanoKey Fold

israelite

@wim said:

@u0421793 said:
At last, far better than having to use the qwerty keys on the laptop that’s in front of it

…oh wait, it’s just about identical to doing that

That was my thought too.

Got this one for about $15 US a few weeks ago. Bluetooth and Battery + two octaves worth of keys and a load of buttons for other controls. Backlit. Fits in my shirt pocket.

I got it after this foldable one finally died after almost eight years of daily use.

I prefer the foldable one by a long-shot for typing. But the other is really handy for when you don't have a surface to set a keyboard on.

Definitely better than Korg 😎 ...and no need to spend 129 bucks lol

pricklyrobot

Yeah tiny and portable with no Bluetooth is an odd choice. Especially when Korg already have it in similar controllers.

I really wish they’d just make a MkII of the MicroKey Air keyboards with a few (8 would be cool, 4 would still be a big improvement) assignable knobs on them. And maybe a small display while we’re at it, so you can change a few MIDI parameters without having to hook up to a computer. The keyboard action on these is really nice though, especially for mini keys.

I ended up getting a NanoKey Studio to have some knobs. But the clackitty “keys” on that thing are not fun to play. Fine for quickly punching some notes into a sequencer, but otherwise not great.

A while back I found this (M-Vave adjacent) thing on Amazon:
![](https://forum.loopypro.com/uploads/editor/1e/lzlh4mdfcfo9.jpeg ""
Looked like just what I needed: battery, Bluetooth, keys, knobs, and a tiny little display. Alas, it has the stiffest, most unpleasant key action of anything I’ve ever put my hands on. And I’m not fussy about keys, bog-standard cheap ‘synth action’ is usually fine for me.

The search continues…

yellow_eyez

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

@zzrwood said:

@jwmmakerofmusic said:
Looks cool, but is it available in the US yet? Seems it's only sold by UK vendors as far as I can find on Google.

EDIT: Ah nevermind. Did a little research and got a Korg Nanokey Studio on Affirm loan instead via Amazon. The folding aspect of Nanokey Fold is pretty novel, but for a similar price point on Amazon I got the same amount of keys, plus knobs, a touchpad, drum pads, and Bluetooth connectivity ran on battery.

The NanoKey Studio is a great device. If you use the Kontrol Editor to set a different midi channel for each scene, and sacrifice one pad to be mapped to the record button, you can setup a great jamming platform with Gadget where you don’t need to touch the iPad… 👍

Here’s an example:

Damn that's awesome! 👏 That solidifies I got the right controller.

See it’s features like that that make me glad I down own certain things: like Gadget . Had I gotten it I would’ve NEEDED to get this controller at some point just from this video

Congrats ; how is it man?

(Btw @wim
That’s the cutest keyboard I’ve ever seen. how do you get it to play notes ?)

wim

@yellow_eyez said:
(Btw @wim
That’s the cutest keyboard I’ve ever seen. how do you get it to play notes ?)

The host app has to support playing notes from a typing keyboard. Drambo, Loopy Pro, SunVox, GarageBand (maybe ?), and I'm sure others have it built-in.

There is one serious limitation though. In iOS/iPadOS, whatever window is in focus steals the keyboard, and there's nothing that can be done to overcome that. So, if you're playing notes in one app, then open an FX to tweak knobs, you lose the focus of the keyboard on the original app until you bring it back to the foreground, and interact with its window.

That's the most important differentiator between using a typing keyboard and something like the Fold.

coolout

@zzrwood said:

@coolout said:

@zzrwood said:

@jwmmakerofmusic said:
Looks cool, but is it available in the US yet? Seems it's only sold by UK vendors as far as I can find on Google.

EDIT: Ah nevermind. Did a little research and got a Korg Nanokey Studio on Affirm loan instead via Amazon. The folding aspect of Nanokey Fold is pretty novel, but for a similar price point on Amazon I got the same amount of keys, plus knobs, a touchpad, drum pads, and Bluetooth connectivity ran on battery.

The NanoKey Studio is a great device. If you use the Kontrol Editor to set a different midi channel for each scene, and sacrifice one pad to be mapped to the record button, you can setup a great jamming platform with Gadget where you don’t need to touch the iPad… 👍

Here’s an example:

So you're not using the Gadget native mode for the Nanokey and remapped a bunch of scene# to include the transport?!?!? Please share your mapping if you'd be so kind.

Not my setup, but the idea is to set each scene with the keyboard on a different midi channel and use advanced mode to set each track to corresponding channels.

One of the pads is mapped to the record transport, which allows to punch in for recording and out again for noodling. The other pads are left for finger drumming, as seen in the video.

The standard volume control per track can be used to take out individual tracks (or bring them back in).

The guy in the video has a Patreon where he shares his projects, processes and the Kontrol Editor setup file.

Yeah, from what I remember, with his mapping you lose a lot of the functionality and convenience of 'native mode', that auto-maps the knobs and pads of the Nanokey Studiio to Gadget. You basically have to break the functionality, map midi CC by CC for each parameter on each Gadget...all just to get a hardware record button. No thanks.

To Korg's discredit, they could have easily added a mixer scene to the Native mode, with the knobs and pads controlling the transport and mixer. They probably wanted to push users into spending additional money on the Nanokontrol Studio for that functionality.

Telstar5

@pricklyrobot said:
Yeah tiny and portable with no Bluetooth is an odd choice. Especially when Korg already have it in similar controllers.

I really wish they’d just make a MkII of the MicroKey Air keyboards with a few (8 would be cool, 4 would still be a big improvement) assignable knobs on them. And maybe a small display while we’re at it, so you can change a few MIDI parameters without having to hook up to a computer. The keyboard action on these is really nice though, especially for mini keys.

I ended up getting a NanoKey Studio to have some knobs. But the clackitty “keys” on that thing are not fun to play. Fine for quickly punching some notes into a sequencer, but otherwise not great.

A while back I found this (M-Vave adjacent) thing on Amazon:
![](https://forum.loopypro.com/uploads/editor/1e/lzlh4mdfcfo9.jpeg ""
Looked like just what I needed: battery, Bluetooth, keys, knobs, and a tiny little display. Alas, it has the stiffest, most unpleasant key action of anything I’ve ever put my hands on. And I’m not fussy about keys, bog-standard cheap ‘synth action’ is usually fine for me.

The search continues…

We is I almost bought M-vave.. Thanks for the heads up!

zzrwood

@coolout said:

@zzrwood said:

@coolout said:

@zzrwood said:

@jwmmakerofmusic said:
Looks cool, but is it available in the US yet? Seems it's only sold by UK vendors as far as I can find on Google.

EDIT: Ah nevermind. Did a little research and got a Korg Nanokey Studio on Affirm loan instead via Amazon. The folding aspect of Nanokey Fold is pretty novel, but for a similar price point on Amazon I got the same amount of keys, plus knobs, a touchpad, drum pads, and Bluetooth connectivity ran on battery.

The NanoKey Studio is a great device. If you use the Kontrol Editor to set a different midi channel for each scene, and sacrifice one pad to be mapped to the record button, you can setup a great jamming platform with Gadget where you don’t need to touch the iPad… 👍

Here’s an example:

So you're not using the Gadget native mode for the Nanokey and remapped a bunch of scene# to include the transport?!?!? Please share your mapping if you'd be so kind.

Not my setup, but the idea is to set each scene with the keyboard on a different midi channel and use advanced mode to set each track to corresponding channels.

One of the pads is mapped to the record transport, which allows to punch in for recording and out again for noodling. The other pads are left for finger drumming, as seen in the video.

The standard volume control per track can be used to take out individual tracks (or bring them back in).

The guy in the video has a Patreon where he shares his projects, processes and the Kontrol Editor setup file.

Yeah, from what I remember, with his mapping you lose a lot of the functionality and convenience of 'native mode', that auto-maps the knobs and pads of the Nanokey Studiio to Gadget. You basically have to break the functionality, map midi CC by CC for each parameter on each Gadget...all just to get a hardware record button. No thanks.

To Korg's discredit, they could have easily added a mixer scene to the Native mode, with the knobs and pads controlling the transport and mixer. They probably wanted to push users into spending additional money on the Nanokontrol Studio for that functionality.

I think what Korg would prefer you to do is spend more money and get a KeyStage…

Goldiblockz

@Telstar5 said:

@pricklyrobot said:
Yeah tiny and portable with no Bluetooth is an odd choice. Especially when Korg already have it in similar controllers.

I really wish they’d just make a MkII of the MicroKey Air keyboards with a few (8 would be cool, 4 would still be a big improvement) assignable knobs on them. And maybe a small display while we’re at it, so you can change a few MIDI parameters without having to hook up to a computer. The keyboard action on these is really nice though, especially for mini keys.

I ended up getting a NanoKey Studio to have some knobs. But the clackitty “keys” on that thing are not fun to play. Fine for quickly punching some notes into a sequencer, but otherwise not great.

A while back I found this (M-Vave adjacent) thing on Amazon:
![](https://forum.loopypro.com/uploads/editor/1e/lzlh4mdfcfo9.jpeg ""
Looked like just what I needed: battery, Bluetooth, keys, knobs, and a tiny little display. Alas, it has the stiffest, most unpleasant key action of anything I’ve ever put my hands on. And I’m not fussy about keys, bog-standard cheap ‘synth action’ is usually fine for me.

The search continues…

We is I almost bought M-vave.. Thanks for the heads up!

avatar and m-vave are different companies with different products. m-vave does not sell the keyboard pictured.

pricklyrobot

I didn’t mean to suggest Avatar and M-Vave were the same thing, just that they appear to occupy the same “discount off-brand MIDI controller” market niche.

Anyone tried both, and can comment if the keyboard is any nicer on the M-Vave?

rs2000

Are these really tiny membrane buttons on this foldable keyboard?
If so, I woulder if the touch screen on an iPhone isn't the better option.
And agreed, no Bluetooth MIDI makes it less portable.

jamietopol

@jwmmakerofmusic said:
Think I will echo these sentiments and will say this also has USB MIDI.

https://a.co/d/ia2PeGB

😂🤣

The description of the roll-up piano is unbelievable: "The silicone keys on our foldable piano are designed to be the same size and have very similar feel as keys on a real acoustic piano"

Telstar5

@Goldiblockz said:

@Telstar5 said:

@pricklyrobot said:
Yeah tiny and portable with no Bluetooth is an odd choice. Especially when Korg already have it in similar controllers.

I really wish they’d just make a MkII of the MicroKey Air keyboards with a few (8 would be cool, 4 would still be a big improvement) assignable knobs on them. And maybe a small display while we’re at it, so you can change a few MIDI parameters without having to hook up to a computer. The keyboard action on these is really nice though, especially for mini keys.

I ended up getting a NanoKey Studio to have some knobs. But the clackitty “keys” on that thing are not fun to play. Fine for quickly punching some notes into a sequencer, but otherwise not great.

A while back I found this (M-Vave adjacent) thing on Amazon:
![](https://forum.loopypro.com/uploads/editor/1e/lzlh4mdfcfo9.jpeg ""
Looked like just what I needed: battery, Bluetooth, keys, knobs, and a tiny little display. Alas, it has the stiffest, most unpleasant key action of anything I’ve ever put my hands on. And I’m not fussy about keys, bog-standard cheap ‘synth action’ is usually fine for me.

The search continues…

We is I almost bought M-vave.. Thanks for the heads up!

avatar and m-vave are different companies with different products. m-vave does not sell the keyboard pictured.

Oh I see .. Thanks for explaining : I’ve seen no complains about the M-waves action. Makes sense now .

reasOne

No Bluetooth! Wowzers lol what a miss

I’ll stick with my NM2
Best most portable device of all time

https://thisisnoiseinc.com/products/nm2?srsltid=AfmBOoqHW_D8stZw3cwhHUnnmLv-d3CYsbLuTaWFEMSqFes35dMzeAAW

Goldiblockz

People on Youtube comments keep telling me I'm insane for saying this is a miss without a battery, bluetooth or velocity, they have to be incredibly out of touch, or bots.

I do not think Korg would have to redesign the body at all to be able to fit these features inside, it just needs R&D and love instead of jamming the same shit they've been using for years into a candy shell.

jwmmakerofmusic

Looks like I'll have to return my Korg Nanokey Studio. Doesn't want to pair with my iPad Mini 7. I searched everywhere online for an answer, found this Youtube video.

In short, it needs a firmware update. I don't have a flippin computer anymore (I sold the one I used with the OP-1 Field) to make ends meet, so either someone has a better answer, or I'll have to return the Nanokey Studio.

Szklak

@jwmmakerofmusic said:
Looks like I'll have to return my Korg Nanokey Studio. Doesn't want to pair with my iPad Mini 7. I searched everywhere online for an answer, found this Youtube video.

In short, it needs a firmware update. I don't have a flippin computer anymore (I sold the one I used with the OP-1 Field) to make ends meet, so either someone has a better answer, or I'll have to return the Nanokey Studio.

You can go to a public library or an internet cafe if you can't just ask someone you know.

Gavinski

@jwmmakerofmusic said:
Looks like I'll have to return my Korg Nanokey Studio. Doesn't want to pair with my iPad Mini 7. I searched everywhere online for an answer, found this Youtube video.

In short, it needs a firmware update. I don't have a flippin computer anymore (I sold the one I used with the OP-1 Field) to make ends meet, so either someone has a better answer, or I'll have to return the Nanokey Studio.

Exactly. I also had to do this. I no longer had a desktop so went to a nearby internet Cafe and sorted it there.

jwmmakerofmusic

@Szklak @Gavinski Sounds like a good solution to me. Thanks mates. I see one 20 minutes away from me. I should be able to get there no sweat.