One is a keytar. One is a master controller with touch faders and real MIDI and — control voltage, for working with analog gear. Seriously. The keyboard controller market may have faded into a dull, gray blur of nearly-identical models, but under the Alesis and Akai monikers, there’s some fresh-looking variety. Love it or hate it, these are not the same keyboards you’ll get from anybody else at the moment.

I got to meet with Alesis/Akai/Numark today at the NAMM Press Preview, get my hands on a prototype of their new Vortex keytar, and talk about what they’re doing. And I have to say, I’m impressed. (I didn’t get hands on the second model, the MAX49, but will visit their booth in the next couple of days.) Finally, we get the return of the MIDI DIN port for working with a wider range of hardware, without sacrificing USB. One model even does CV for analog equipment. And both can supply their own power so you can use them with iOS. And they at least are interesting enough to have an opinion about them – even if you hate them.

Here’s a look at each of them and what why they’ll be on our radar when they ship later this year.

Alesis Vortex Keytar

First off, let me say it, once and for all: I don’t think there’s anything dorky about a keytar, other than the name. Us keyboardists are plenty capable of being dorky on our own, but don’t blame the instrument.

What keytars are – or strap-on keyboards, if you can say that without smirking – is eminently practical for one-handed playing. For two-handed playing or more conventional piano or organ parts, of course, you’re better off without them. But the keytar lets you move around, play expressive solos, and also free up your hands if you’re using other machines, as in electronic music. Unfortunately, the options out there have been overly large, making them too unweildly for many people to play, and overly expensive, pricing them out of a lot of their market. I’ve played and advocated the Rock Band game controller because it’s lightweight, inexpensive, and nicely made, and it even has a MIDI jack. I actually hear one Harmonix veteran is now at Alesis, so that may be no coincidence. (The Vortex even has a touch strip on its neck.)

The Vortex, though, looks like the first really balanced keytar controller in the market … well, ever. Features:

• MIDI DIN and USB MIDI
• Velocity-sensitive pads in addition to the keys
• 37 velocity-sensitive keys (good number for a keytar), plus channel aftertouch (heck, yes)
• MIDI-assignable accelerometer. And this is cool – it’s not on all the time; you make a quick sweep of the neck to enable the accelerometer in a clever gesture control.
• MIDI-assignable touch strip, but also a full pitch bend wheel underneath your thumb (I rather prefer the latter, but it’s nice to have a choice).
• Assignable slider under your thumb, mapped by default to volume.
• Dedicated sustain button, plus octave selection, transport, and patch select.

With all due respect to Roland, this appears to fix effectively all of my complaints about the Roland keytars at a fraction of the price.

And you can add a strap via standard guitar strap pegs.

The best part:
Q2-2012
MSRP US$399
Estimated street US$249

http://www.alesis.com/vortex

Akai Pro MAX49: Touch Faders, CV

I’ve all but begged manufacturers to explore what an advanced or high-end MIDI controller would look like. The MAX49 likely won’t please everyone, but it’s one compelling-looking answer. Features:

• 49 semi-weighted keys, with channel aftertouch
• 12 MPC pads, backlit, four banks each
• 8 LED touch faders in place of physical faders, four banks each
• Control Voltage and analog Gate outputs for use with analog and vintage gear
• Arpeggiator with latch
• Step sequencer
• MPC swing, Note Repeat, Full Level, navigation – and yeah, I use this stuff, even if the software can do the same
  USB MIDI, MIDI DIN, connect to anything
• Control surface mappings plus full Mackie Control and HUI support – and, sorry, but for all the fancier solutions, sometimes that’s the easiest way to control a variety of software like Ableton Live, Reason, and the other DAWs

So, basically, all the features you want. My only questions are what it looks like in person and how the action feels, particularly those touch faders, as that can be tricky to pull off.

But the features are just perfect. It’s about time to bring back aftertouch and to connect with actual MIDI gear. Adding CV is a delicious addition. And honestly, features like being able to switch on an arpeggiator are far more useful and appealing to average musicians than the hard-to-configure, often-gimmicky automatic control features on many of the keyboards out there. So I’ve got my fingers crossed that the build quality and usability here are good — and that some of Akai’s rivals start taking on similar features. It’s bizarre to be applauding adding features from the 80s and 70s, but some recent progress has been steps backward, not forward.

Q2 2012
MSRP US$699
Estimated street $499

http://www.akaipro.com/max49

There are other new Alesis keyboards out this week, but the Akai MAX49 pretty much steals their thunder.

More Vortex Photos

Back to the Vortex, since I got to snap some shots this morning in Anaheim.

Discuss.

What if a gaping product hole for musicians were filled by a game company instead of a musical instruments company? There’s no need to imagine: pick up the new Rock Band 3 keyboard, and you’ll see what I mean.

Consider: most sub-$100 and compact keyboards have dumped 5-PIN MIDI DIN ports in favor of USB only – little comfort if you want to plug a keyboard into that DIY sound module or eBay treasure. (Alesis’ QS25 is one exception, but even a $150 M-Audio Oxygen is USB-only.)

And keytars? Fuggedaboutit. Strap-on keyboards or keytars are a great way to play keyboard lines, but they’ve tended to be freakin’ huge. They really do feel like strapping a full-sized keyboard on your shoulder, which can kill the joy of playing them. And the current “entry-level” model, Roland’s Lucina AX-09, has a street of US$600 or more. eBay bidders have made used items similarly pricey.

So, forget for a second that a game is involved. What if I told you you could get a cute, light little keyboard with MIDI DIN, intelligent MIDI mappings, and two great-feeling synth action octaves, all in a strap-on form factor with battery power, for $80?

Yeah. That’s what I thought. So whether you’re a hardened gamer or just looking for a nice, mobile keyboard controller, here’s an in-depth look at how MIDI works on the new Rock Band 3 Wireless Keyboard Controller – forever to be known to everyone outside Harmonix and Mad Catz as “the Rock Band keytar.”

The Hardware, Impressions

Hardware specs:

• 25 velocity-sensitive keys. (Velocity already gives a leg up over some stuff you can get on eBay. No aftertouch, though.)
• TRS port for stomp or expression pedals. (Right now, that means the bass drum pedal, until we figure out a DIY solution. It uses a little 3.5mm jack; working on finding out voltage specs.)
• 1-axis touch strip which maps to modulation and pitch.
• 5-pin MIDI DIN port.
• Xbox 360 (or PS3) game pad, wireless Xbox operation. (For wireless MIDI, you’re on your own.)
• Three AA batteries. (No external power.)
• Optional stand accessory. (This looks cute; I didn’t pick it up yesterday but may yet.)
• 4.6 lbs.

US$80 street, and also available bundled with the Rock Band 3 game.

I’ve handled a lot of “shoulder-mount keyboards,” and the simple reality is, a lot of them have pretty awful ergonomics. The Rock Band keyboard is about the best I’ve handled. It’s light enough that you can hold it in one hand, and compact enough that it’s about the width of a typical adult waist. That means it actually feels like a keytar sized to be played as a keytar.

The keyboard action is just a basic, unweighted synth action, but feels solid enough, and velocity response is consistent. I have to admit: I was very surprised by the quality of the keyboard. You could easily put this alongside so-called “pro” unweighted keyboards in the sub-$200 range and, blindfolded, no one would ever guess this was a game keyboard. I have no idea who built the action (it’s labeled “made in China”), but there would be no shame whatsoever in using it.

One oddity: F3, C4, and F4 each have raised ridges on the left-hand side of the keys, in order to delineate the keyboard’s five zones for gameplay. With proper keyboard technique, though, you won’t even feel them, since the pads of your fingers will hit the middle of the keys. (That is, unless you have larger fingers.)

You also get a standard set of game controllers, and everything either sends a MIDI message or is used to toggle features on the keyboard. Not a button goes to waste.

The touchpad on the neck is probably the weak spot of the design. It’s usable, and conveniently located, but its response is pretty hard to control exactly. It’s also hard to hold down the overdrive button while using it, which is the only way to get to pitch. Then again, your left hand is likely busy holding the keyboard, anyway, just as on all keytars, so a pedal seems the better solution for anything really expressive. I’ll see how I adjust to it over time, though.

MIDI Mapping

As with the guitar, operation is simple: plug in a MIDI cable.

Yeah, okay. There is something to be said for old-fashioned MIDI, huh?

Once you’ve plugged in, you get some surprisingly robust MIDI implementation:

Keyboard: 25 keys transmit normally, with velocity. (No aftertouch. I’m glad we get velocity.)

In drum mode, the keyboard transmits General MIDI drum parts, which is, of course, handy for playing drum patches. (It’s also handy for confusing the hell out of you if you didn’t know that’s what it did.)

Touch controller: 1-axis modulation. Hold down the “Overdrive” button, and while that button is held, it sends pitch bend – which makes pitch bend nearly unusable. (Too bad they didn’t just make the Overdrive button a straight toggle.) Works well enough for Modulation, though.

Octave: Octave up and down shift uses the X and B keys (on Xbox, or the left and right action keys), just as on the guitar – and just as on the guitar, you get four up, four down. Octave feedback is available on the LEDs.

Program change: Top and bottom action keys increment or decrement, respectively, program change. (Y and A on Xbox.)

D-pad buttons: As on the guitar, these toggle functions, though for the keyboard all four are mapped instead of three. Up turns on and off drum mapping, right changes the pedal to foot controller, down changes pedal to channel volume, and left changes the pedal to expression.

Transport controls: The Back, Guide, and Start buttons on the Xbox gamepad correspond to Stop, Continue, and Start MIDI messages, respectively – so if you’re tracking your next Rock Band Network song in Reaper, you can control your takes right from the keyboard.

Pedals: There’s one pedal port on the side. More on how to use this soon; I haven’t yet tried it. It’s a 3.5mm jack, but I have to find out the voltage. Stomp should work fine with a standard Rock Band drum pedal, and in the default mode, you can use that for a damper pedal. For expression, you need something that sends analog voltage.

Panic: Press the Back, Guide, and Start buttons simultaneously to switch all notes off. (Curiously, this appears not to be the same as on the guitar, but I can only test the keyboard to know for sure.)

MIDI channel: 1. Always. It’s always MIDI channel 1.

Note that there is no accelerometer output from the keyboard. Too bad; that would have been fun (and likely more useful than the two-fingered salute you have to do to get pitch bend from the touch strip). In fact, this sounds like a ripe opportunity for a little hack – maybe a strap-on board that transmits accelerometer and MIDI via Bluetooth.

Applications

Bottom line is, this thing is a joy for controlling computer synths or hardware, and may have just become my portable keyboard of choice, just because it’s fun to strap on. Of course, if you don’t care about the “keytar” form factor, any number of inexpensive keyboards will give you real pitch and mod wheels and some knobs. But if you want to play a keytar, this game controller has become, bizarrely, a must-buy.

As we find out more about the pedals, I’ll share that. In the meantime, enjoy.

Whatever line there was between playing Rock Band as a game and playing Rock Band as musical instruments has now more or less evaporated with the release of Rock Band 3. Yes, there’s a keyboard, and yes, you can add a strap to it, if that makes it a keytar for you. But there’s more to it than that.

For the gaming world’s take on the ratcheted-up difficulty and actual music making functionality, Joystiq interviews Daniel Sussman at Harmonix.

The keyboard parts are real keyboard parts. The only difference between Rock Band / Guitar Hero parts and traditional score notation, aside from rotating the whole score 90 degrees counter-clockwise and having it come toward you, is that you don’t get a full range of notes. The keyboard changes that – while not as extreme as my faux mock-up in May, you do get the full range of black and white keys. There’s actually an octave and a half up on the screen, and two octaves on the controller. In other words, while you’re not quite learning to sightread, you are learning actual keyboard skills. There’s also a touch strip on the neck of the instrument, in a nod to keyboard history.

MIDI output. The keyboard accessory supports MIDI output, as confirmed in the Joystiq interview. So you can plug the keyboard into your computer – good fun for Xbox-using electronic music geeks, and also a nice bridge for people new to music who want to get into production after using Rock Band.

MIDI input. Here’s the other surprise: Sussman tells Joystiq they’re working with Mad Catz to do a MIDI input accessory, so you can plug your Roland JUNO-106 into your Xbox 360, if you want. (Side dream: if such an accessory supported XNA titles, you could have elaborate indie music games to play with real controllers, too. CDM Hero?)

Guitar with strings and frets. This is a bit more elaborate, so it tops my questions for Harmonix when I talk to them, but suffice to say Harmonix is finally adding strings and frets to a six-string model made by Fender.

Consider this a teaser, as I’ll be talking to Harmonix later this month. But why does this matter?

It makes gaming even more of a gateway drug for music. CDM’s own Jaymis, known better on the visual side of things than music, has started playing drum kit after getting hooked on Rock Band. And statistics worldwide show uptick in interest in buying and playing instruments, even as music education has been under economic pressures. At some point, there may have been a debate about the validity of music games. It’s tough to continue that debate now: games get more people into music, period. And while the games aren’t exactly creative or improvisational, they introduce people to more communal, more musical experiences in surprising numbers.

It makes a game musicians might actually want to play. Here’s where I think there might be a surprise. Lots of tech-loving musicians and producers are avid game system owners, but it’s hard not to feel a little silly picking up anything but the mic on the music games. Oddly, RB3 could bridge the opposite direction.

Rock Band Network just got a lot more interesting. I’ve been singing the praises of Rock Band Network, the tool that allows artists to author songs for the game platform, for some time. But now with keyboard input and real musical parts, I think RBN might finally be more tantalizing – including for electronic music. Now, could we please, please, please have some on-screen visuals in the vein of Harmonix’s earlier, visually-brilliant Amplitude or Frequency, and not just people in leather pants? (Okay, so maybe there are still some lingering obstacles for electronic music.)

Got questions for Harmonix? Stuff you’d like to see? Want to register for my Bring Back Frequency campaign? Let us know in comments.

Among the highlights of the product releases last week, Roland has a new virtual analog synth (the SH-01) and shoulder keyboard (AX-09) that look friendly and relatively affordable (especially once you account for street price, not list). They have that convergence of certain selling points that I think will make them popular – maybe not with everyone, but with enough people that you may soon be seeing them around. And that makes them worth a little further research.

I got to have a long conversation with Vince LaDuca of Roland US about the new gear, so we could answer some questions readers raised and talk about some of the technical details. Here’s what I came away with following that chat, starting with the SH-01.

GAIA SH-01 Synth

The most important message I got about the SH-01 was that this really does seem to be a new generation of synth from Roland. It’s not directly equivalent to the SH-201; it takes advantages of newer Roland tech in DSP and specifically in power savings. That’s what allows you to unplug the SH-01 and run it on 8 AA batteries for, according to Vince, somewhere around five hours.

Unlike the previous SH-201, too, the SH-01 has a rich set of great-sounding effects. (The effects section was, for me, the real weak point of the 201.)

Architecture: The SH-01′s virtual analog engine is indeed mono-timbral; it’s all on channel 1. You do get three virtual analog tones, though, so you can put together some fairly sophisticated patch designs. (Vince and I couldn’t think of a three-tone Roland synth, ever, but if you know of one, shout it out in comments.

There are some twists, though:

Oddly enough, the SH-01 packs a full-blown General MIDI+ sound chip for GM soundfile playback. (I can’t dream of ever wanting that, but I know there are folks out there who still play SMF files on GM banks.) So, that PCM engine responds on channels 2-16. You probably don’t care, but now you know. And if you’re wondering what that meant when you read the specs, you weren’t hallucinating.

You get two LFOs for each of the three tones. There’s also a separate, assignable LFO for modulation. There are additional modulation options accessible from the front panel, too. For instance, you can adjust panning depth modulation for both LFOs by holding down the shift key.

Between tones 1 + 2, you have the option of ring modulation and oscillator sync. So, combine the three tones and the modulation choices, and you have some pretty rich sonic options on a pretty cheap board – there are certain advantages to virtual analog.

What happens when you switch tones and adjust a knob? A couple of readers asked about this. Let’s imagine you move a parameter knob from three o’ clock to nine o’ clock, then switch from the first tone to the second tone. Once you touch the knob again and move it, it will jump to its new value for the second tone. To me, it’s probably the only reasonable compromise; you want the tactile feedback of knobs, but you wouldn’t want the complexity of waiting for a knob to pick up a value.

The good news, though: you can select multiple tones at once and adjust the parameter on all of them at the same time.

Preset storage: The SH-01 has 64 preset programs, plus 64 user programs onboard. That’s plenty for me, but since some readers asked, if you add a USB key, you get an additional 64 programs, for a total of 128 user programs (or a grand total of 192).

What about the audio in? Sadly (for me, at least), the external input features only a center cancel, not the ability to route audio into the synth for filtering or modulation. That means you get karaoke capabilities, but not the flexibility of using your hardware synth to modify audio input. On the other hand, there is a lovely toy KORG would like to sell you that will do the trick.

On a more positive note, the SH-01 does still function as a USB audio interface. That means, not only can you easily route the SH-01′s sounds into your computer via USB, but the external input, too – especially handy if you’ve got a Mac, which can aggregate multiple external audio interfaces.

Is there a VST plug-in, as on the SH-201? Nope, there’s not. But the SH-01 also reflects a more complete realization of the SH-201′s design philosophy. Whereas the SH-201 required diving into the software for some parameters, the SH-01 really does have absolutely everything accessible from the front panel.

What does the phrase recorder do for you? This is really one of the fun parts of this synth. You can record up to eight different types of knob movements, for recording things like rhythmic filter sweeps by performing them with your hands. I mentioned KORG, but I should also point out Roland has some tradition with this sort of feature, like the motion control functionality on previous JP-series synths.

Each phrase can include overdubs of different knobs, so you can add various modulations to a single patch, with a length up to eight bars. You can store up to eight phrases in total, with an additional eight possible via the USB key for a total of sixteen. They’re global, so the phrase will impact any preset.

Arpeggiator: The arpeggiator uses one of 64 preset patterns, all accessible from the front panel, and an arp is stored with each patch. There aren’t user patterns, however; if you want to store your own riff, you need to use the phrase recorder – and there aren’t that many slots. So, doing sophisticated patterns of your own isn’t really the focus of the SH-01, but for simple arpeggiator patterns, I expect the 64 presets will likely cover you.

I know that a lot of folks will want to immediately compare the SH-01 to KORG’s offerings in the same price range, as this is a segment most closely associated in people’s minds with KORG. I’m a fan of the R3 and microKORG lines. The easiest comparison: if you love vocoders and mics, obviously, the SH-01 isn’t going to be your first choice. Beyond that, though, it’s nice to see some real competition in this area, and I hope to take a closer look when these things ship. Suffice to say, KORG and Roland are different makers with different philosophies, sounds, and design traits, so the two never come out as exactly comparable. (I don’t think either KORG or Roland can beat the value and quirky personality of the original microKORG, given that you can pick one up for under $300 lightly used, but for a beefier synth with larger keys, comparing the R3 and SH-01 seems absolutely fair.) And yes, for a little more, you also have offerings like Dave Smith to consider, too.

One thing I pledge not to do: no abstract arguments about software versus hardware. You already know what you want. The days of this being a religious battle are long over; everyone I know now uses software, and nearly all of them have at least one hardware synth around.

AX-09

The AX-09 actually attracted more attention on CDM and via our Twitter fans and such, making it one of the big stories of last week. I suspect the reason is that, unlike the SH-01, the AX-09 has some real appeal to computer synth lovers, as a controller. Note that Roland is also giving products names and not just numbers, so as the SH-01 is the “GAIA” (hello, Earth mother!), the AX-09 is a “Lucina.” (Not to be confused with the Chevy Lumina.)

Before we get to that, though, I’ll give Roland a chance to talk about the internal sounds, for those who do want to use its internal synth bank. Vince tells me the Lucina really is a “high-quality synth,” short of the breadth and depth of the flagship shoulder-mounted AX-Synth, but still with a range of usable synth, acoustic, and piano sounds similar to those you’d find in Roland’s JUNO or Fantom lines. The “special” tone bank deserves special attention, says Vince, who describes the poly synth patch as “pretty amazing – it’s on the level of the AX-Synth.”

You can even do some light editing of presets, with front-panel access to patch level, reverb, cutoff, resonance, attack, and decay.

The AX-Synth does far more, with four-tone-structure sounds, a full-blown software editor, and real effects. But then, for some of us, again, the real appeal of the AX-09 is getting a keyboard specifically designed to be played from your shoulder that costs roughly half of what the AX-Synth does, so we can play our computer instruments.

If that’s the goal, you do get some rich controller options on the AX-09. The modulation bar can send modulation messages, hold, or a combination of the two. There’s an assignable touch controller. The D-Beam infrared sensor can control touchless manipulation of a variety of parameters, including aftertouch, modulation, and portamento. (Vince started reading off Control Change numbers 7, 10, 11, 64, 65, 66, 71, 72, 74… yeah, you can definitely send MIDI messages with this thing.)

One thing you can’t do is control aftertouch from the keybed; Vince said they decided not to do that because they felt it was too hard to manipulate a full range when playing in a shoulder position. At least one CDM reader has argued with that in comments, but I can see an argument for leaving it out. Anyway, I dare someone to strap some accelerometer control to this thing, too.

Some folks have questioned even the AX-09′s price, partly I suspect because they aren’t interested in the internal sounds. But I will say, I’m pretty pleased with the quality of Roland’s keybeds, all of which the company manufactures themselves (rather than contracting out to someone else). I’ll reserve judgment until I get a hands-on with one of these units. Yes, you could conceivably attach a strap to an existing keyboard, but having it laid out in a way that anticipates use on your shoulder has appeal.

And there is something about a shoulder keyboard, for all they have been derided.

“There’s something different about being kinetic with your performance,” says Vince.

What about some of those goofy videos?

Okay, if you’re wondering about Roland’s marketing, there is something nice that they’re working on. Vince described the push of Roland’s marketing campaign and the “better life through music” slogan is getting more people to play, getting them to play earlier in life, and getting them to play together.

And whatever is going on with those videos, that’s an idea I can absolutely endorse. My sense is, that story is ultimately told not by marketing but by the people who buy – or don’t buy – the gear. If the gear is designed properly and priced right and it gets into people’s hands, you’ll see people discovering music with this gear.

Side note: Roland US helpfully sent along the US video, but it seems to still be the same thing, minus the Japanese charm. I understand what they’re doing, and the video is on message, but … well, I generally don’t like promotional videos. I half expect someone to jump out and exclaim, “Kids totally rule!! Radical!”) I’m sticking to the fan-made vids.

In fact, in a case studio of how good Roland’s customers are at selling the Roland gear, see this Michael Jackson medley by music nerd YouTube (and Britain’s Got Talent) sensation Brett Domino. (Of course, I do wonder if Roland covertly had something to do with the band’s abrupt change from their all-Yamaha setup.)

And yes, I still want “Better Life Through Music” t-shirts. Cool kids will totally rip them up, wear a tie over top, and big boots with spiked heels, very punk.

Previously:

Roland Gets the Fun Back? Cheaper, Smaller Shoulder “Keytar” Keyboard, AX-09

Roland Gets the Fun Back, Pt. 2: SH-01 Synth

Roland’s Messe show announcements include two releases that caught my eye. I’ll be honest: some of Roland’s recent gear, while it sells really well, just doesn’t reach me emotionally. But these new announcements strike me as having two key ingredients: afford ability and that elusive fun factor. There’s a (mercifully) cheaper, more compact shoulder-mounted keyboard, plus a synth that looks to distill some of the best spirit of Roland’s recent (and previous designs.) This is just a preview, but let’s at least say they’re on my “worth reviewing” list.

First up: exhibit A, the AX-09.

Laugh as you may at the “keytar.” (Technically, preferred terms are the “shoulder synth” or less-savory-sounding “strap-on.”) Anyway, putting a shoulder strap on a keyboard makes a heck of a lot of sense – even more so for those of us contending with operating laptops and touchscreens in addition to fingering keyboard lines. You don’t really even need a neck. Whether you look like a dork playing the thing probably has more to do with your musicianship than it does the instrument. (Take previous sentence, apply to everything.)

As a fan of the practicality of the shoulder mount, I was somewhat disappointed when the Roland AX-Synth weighed in at some US$1200 street. It seems like part of the keytar craze was young musicians wanting to play synths without hunching over a keyboard. Pricing it up there put it out of reach of the young boys and girls getting into playing synths.

The Lucina AX-09 brings both some of the fun back and nearly halves the price. Specs:

• 37 keys
• Operates both standing (with the shoulder strap) and on a tabletop - and unlike the more conventional, big-necked shoulder keyboards, the lack of the neck means it’s much more compact. (The AX-Synth and AX-7 also work on a tabletop, but let’s put it this way – you won’t need a gigantic tabletop for the Lucina.)
• 150 internal sounds, which is good, though I’m happier that there are USB and MIDI DIN connections for connecting to your computer. I’ll also be researching wireless solutions, as it’d be great to find a way to make this a wireless controller. (Roland said with the AX-Synth that part of why they added internal sounds was in order to make the thing work standalone or wireless.) Confirmed: you can do MIDI over USB, of course. So no need to use those built-in sounds if you don’t want to.
• Eight rechargeable NiMH AA batteries gives you four hours of life, and there’s a battery indicator to be safe (plus plug-in power, of course).
• Three expressive controllers: the D-Beam, modulation bar, and touch controller — all assignable, useful in the presets, and also make this a handy MIDI controller for your computer and soft synths. (Not in the official specs, but visible in the pictures.)
• USB host port with playback capability, making this a portable practice instrument. (Hook up a portable recorder, and you can work out tune ideas lying in bed on battery power, minus computer – a nice thought even for us computer fans.)

Availability: May. (Black later this year.)
Pricing Suggested retail US$699.

One issue: this thing is pretty big, not in fact the “compact” device Roland claim it to be, partly so that they can accommodate the full-sized keys and mini-neck. It’s small enough that, as advertised, “kids” can handle it, and I love that it’s a more reasonable size than the enormous AX-Synth and AX-07, but given recent tiny controllers, we have to have some perspective.

Updated: Here are the weights and measures of Lucina – thanks, Roland!

Dimensions: 32-13/16″ (W) x 9-11/16″ (D) x 3-3/4″ (H)
Total weight (including batteries): 8lbs, 3 oz

But don’t get me wrong: this is finally a shipping shoulder-mount keyboard I think I can recommend, and actually want. And while I take issue with Roland’s description of the case as a “stylish body,” you know there are boys and girls out there who are going to buy it and make this look good. I’d better talk to my stylist.

Speaking of styling, if you’re not a fan of the glaring white, there’s an optional “premium black sparkle” finish coming later this year. I don’t know how sparkly the sparkle is; it’s not visible in the photo. I think you should just find a way to paint/tag the white finish and make it your own bad-ass battle axe.

US product description

More photos:

This is the official video for the product.

I think Roland is being slightly tongue-in-cheek / self-satirical here. Or it may be that Roland HQ exists on top of a wormhole, through which a portal allows entry to the 1980s. Or both.

Tip, though, next time try to get Synthesizer Patel.

Indeed, “you might be forgiven for thinking we have a real-live orchestra in the studio. But in actual fact, the symphony you just heard was performed not by an orchestra, but by a simple synthesizer.”

Built-in sounds, yes.

You know that viral, deeply inspirational Britain’s Got Talent clip in which a lone singer bursts the preconceptions and expectations of the whole world, dazzling audiences and bringing people to tears with her talent?

Yeah, okay, so this is pretty much nothing like that.

This is more in the category of self-deprecating artists who aren’t afraid to laugh at themselves, being exactly what you’d expect them to be – and then some. Let’s call it “dorkpop,” intentionally geeky musicians willing to be just the people they are. Three keyboards, and one man with a keytar. (Note that he basically demonstrates in the video why these should be called shoulder-mounted keyboards or something, since the only thing they have in common with a guitar is a strap.)

Artists able to laugh at themselves: always a good thing.

But the really funny thing about this clip is that Simon Cowell apparently can’t laugh. He seems somehow offended by the fact that they don’t take themselves seriously. Mr. Cowell, unable to handle irony?

Well, if Susan Boyle was so heartwarming you needed a dose of irony, here it is.

Via our friends in the UK who themsleves have quite a lot of British talent, MusicRadar (of Computer Music and Future Music):

Simon Cowell bemused by keytar trio

“This is not serious, right?” Evidently Mr. Cowell has quite a bit in common with certain grumpy readers of this site in comments. (You know who you are. We forgive you.)

CDM readers heavily lamented the loss of Roland’s AX-7 “shoulder keyboard” (better known to the world as a “keytar”). Sure, the keytar has a reputation for being dorky (bad news, chaps, the keyboard has a reputation for being dorky). But putting instruments on your shoulder is also a simple way to make them easy to play – ask a guitar, an accordion, or any other number of instruments. They let you move around, and there’s no question as computer musicians we get enough time in their chairs.

Well, the Roland AX is back – and as the name implies, the new AX-Synth now generates sound. Here are the new specs – and Roland filled CDM in on more details:

• 49 velocity-sensitive keys (as opposed to the AX-7’s non-standard 45 notes, which made it go E – C)
• 7-segment LED (same as before)
• Lots of controllers: D-Beam, ribbon touch, modulation bar, volume knob, aftertouch controller, portamento on/off, hold button on/off, “Bender mode” (presumably transforms you into a character from Futurama). The AX-7 had most of these, but the D-Beam is in a much better location, and the aftertouch controller is now a dedicated knob on the side.
• Runs on 8x Ni-MH rechargeable batteries (or eight AA’s, folks)
• Internal sounds via a 128-voice polyphonic sound engine, editable with an included editor software app. (Says PC only, but I believe Mac is coming, too, based on other editors from Roland.)
• V-LINK button for video control (I’m sure we can do some damage with that)

Wait, you know, let me translate that into something that makes more sense:

• It makes sounds – lots of them – and more sounds than the few dumbed-down buttons might have you believe. You can still use it as a controller, but you don’t have to.
• It runs on AA batteries and sits comfortably on your shoulder. Add on hardware for wireless audio from makers like AKG, and you could run without any wires (and while I’d prefer a cable in this case, wireless MIDI hardware works, too).
• It’s got loads of playable controllers.

Due first half of 2009. No word on price, but the AX-7 ran around half a grand.

I got to talk to Vince LaDuca of Roland about the AX-Synth, which is clearly dear to his heart. The big thing I got out of that chat was that the AX-Synth should sound pretty sharp and, whether or not you want internal sounds, should be eminently playable. The internal sound module has the bend modes the Fantom and JUNO-Stage does, which are basically sound presets set up in advance for live control. (That’s what the “Special Tone” button is about, as well.) The buttons may not be terribly tantalizing, with vague labels like “violin” or “synth lead,” but there are 32 variations for each of those sounds, meaning there are actually a lot of sounds in the box. So that you don’t have to page through all those variations, you can configure favorites for live performance.

Vince says the engine is derived from the Fantom-G / Fantom-X ballpark, though it’s been adjusted here to allow for operation on batteries. Apparently up to about six hours on the AA batteries is possible.

Having sounds is a nice addition, but part of why I like the AX is that it remains a nice controller. Needless to say, these same synth-friendly features could be fantastic with far-out soft synths, as well – or even as a live visual controller.

I will defend the lowly keytar against would-be haters, because I think it’s a very playable form factor, and I know from experience on CDM that it should also be a big hit with casual keyboardists and more advanced players alike. The keybed should be similar to the PCR line, which has been a solid-feeling synth action – ideal for a keytar – erm, shoulder keyboard. One huge advantage is that because the instrument itself isn’t raked as the AX-7 was, it should be comfortable to play when it’s not on your shoulder. I’m also pleased with the additional controllers. Having aftertouch as a knob on the neck should actually be more comfortable, and finally the D-Beam wireless sensor is in a logical place.

It’s no surprise that the Italian-designed Roland AX is back, given the demand for the form factor. (And the Italians should know something about mounting instruments on your shoulder.) The surprise is, the AX-Synth is actually a real upgrade. Stay tuned for pricing, and yes, we’ll be testing it. I’ll try to look geekster, not dork – that, after all, is what electronic music and synth playing is all about.

Previously:

Flame-Throwing Keytar; Players, Not Instruments, Are Cool (because the best keytar is one that shoots fire out of its neck)

Keytar Komeback: You Don’t Love It Until It’s Gone, An Open Letter to Roland (someone was listening?)