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.

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?)