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Although we understand the design reasoning behind it, we’re not huge fans of all this touch-sensitivity, preferring the honest tactile response of real wheels and buttons. That is, of course, a matter of taste, though, and others will no doubt love the futuristic vibe. A year after the introduction of the first keyboard, IK released the iRig Keys Pro. Full size keys! Those of us with fat fingers and poor technique now had a champion. With its 37-key (3-octave) keyboard, you can play legitimate two-handed parts. What’s more, it has loads of pro performance features that will make your creativity come alive. Batteries or optional power supply (Art. 417705 - not included) with charging function for connected iOS devices Recorded music was also once unthinkable, at least at any sort of professional quality. Yet, pro audio is no longer bound by recording studio walls.
also, keys feel a little cheap, velocity sensibility is not the best... but i was prepared for those things and they would have not affected so much my opinion on this product. To the right of the knob, two LEDs indicate mobile device or USB connection, confirming device handshakes. As an effective plug-and-play device, I haven’t experienced an issue with any connection not immediately confirmed by LED. On the whole, the iRig Keys I/O is a great success, but there are a few areas where it falls short. Most notably, with only one mono input, it doesn’t exactly add up to a comprehensive recording solution - it should be enough for singer-songwriters and guitarists, but it’s never going to be a main audio interface for serious production purposes. Also, as mentioned, we’re not into the mini-DIN connector at all; and while we appreciate the need to substitute pitch and mod wheels with touchstrips as a space-saving measure, we still prefer the mechanical ‘real thing’ when it comes to performance. iRig Keys PRO gives you the best of both worlds. It’s a super-compact, bus-powered, “plug and play” MIDI controller that you can use anytime and anywhere. Yet despite it’s small footprint, if offers full-size, velocity-sensitive keys, allowing for a realistic playing feel. There is an intangible feel to the Keys Pro. It is plastic, but it doesn’t feel plastic. It’s light, but it doesn’t feel lightweight. While I wouldn’t send the Keys Pro out to handle a major tour, I also would not need to cordon off a safe zone for it.Self-centering Pitch wheel and variable Modulation wheel take their places at the left side of the keys, typically located for performance use.
The knob looks after volume and some data changes. It’s not a continuous rotary control, so you do lose volume position when you make data changes. Annoying, perhaps, but not a deal-breaker by any means. This may not be the best keyboard for entering beats because of that. I don’t consider that a strike against the Keys Pro, not with the plethora of pads available. Even a tablet’s touchscreen is a good beat-entry system. too bad because it has other nice things about it: it's the only 37 keys controller i know of with full sized keys and without a ton of pads and encoders which i didn't really need... it is also quite light and portable, so it's really a shame the connection is so shitty. The keyboard is not exactly a player’s dream but nor is it the almost push-button affair that other companies have produced – it’s solid and well sprung. There are no dedicated pitchbend and modulation dials and again ‘proper’ players might ind this unforgiveable, but if this is important there are workarounds when you dig deeper.The top edge of the Keys Pro has one rotary knob and five push buttons, as well as a collection of LEDs, indicating statuses. To change the MIDI CC per dial for example, enter Edit Mode, press the keyboard Knob button, then the number of the Knob you want to assign, Enter and the value. That’s a lot of key presses, but it is easier than it sounds once you get used to it. Conclusion This is a device that sits happily on a cluttered desktop and delivers the basics and even some of the intermediates of keyboard controller duties. iRig Keys PRO is small and light enough to take with you almost anywhere. Because it’s bus powered — meaning it gets its power from the device it’s plugged into (iOS, Android, Mac or PC) — you don’t have to limit your music making to places where you have access AC power. Jam, produce or practice at the beach or in the woods, out in a field or at the bus stop — anywhere, really. And when you're somewhere where there is AC power, you have the option of powering iRig Keys PRO through it’s USB port. Connect And Go Much more exciting than those, however - and of more relevance to those who already have the DAW side of things covered - are IK’s own contributions. For starters, you get Miroslav Philharmonik 2 CE (€180), a 10GB orchestral ROMpler featuring over 700 instruments, edited, processed and mixed in an easy-to-use interface. Then there’s Syntronik Pro-V (€60), a sample-based emulation of the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and Prophet-10 synths.
Despite measuring just 693 x 208 mm, the iRig Keys I/O somehow manages to squeeze in a full-size 49-note keyboard. In addition to being the smallest in its class, iRig Keys PRO is also the lightest. In fact, it's 20% lighter than it's lightest competitor, and almost 45% lighter than the average weight of its 11 closest competitors. Preset 1 is set up to work with the IK Multimedia software instruments, giving hands-on control of patch browsing and macros. It puts only white notes on the pads, which is a bit of a pain for playing most generic drum instruments though. Preset 2 is aimed at Logic. Preset 3 is a general chromatic map, which was where I spent the majority of my time, and, finally, preset 4 replaces the drum pad notes with program changes. The Alt key accesses a second bank of knobs, but not pads, which is a shame given that most software drum instruments present 16 pads. iPhone 7, iPhone 7, iPhone 6, iPhone 6, iPhone 6, iPhone 6, iPhone 6, iPhone 6, iPhone 5, iPhone 5, iPod touch 6th generation, iPod touch 5, Generation, iPad Pro (12.9 " ) 1st generation, iPad Pro (9.7 "), iPad mini 4, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, iPad Air, iPad mini 2, iPad mini, iPad 4th generation The abilities of mobile technology — smart phones, tablets and the like — have not only progressed, they’ve leapfrogged from genre to genre. Who, amongst those of us old enough to remember rotary dial phones, ever imagined taking a photo with one?We criticised the bigger iRig Keys 2 for being a tad expensive but this more compact version offers much of the functionality of that keyboard, over a smaller footprint, with the same sized keys. Power to the Keys Pro is through a bus, so whatever you connect to, that device supplies the juice for the keyboard. Keys have a little bit of a resistive feel. That is, the last bit of pressure before the key bottoms out is increased. It makes velocity-sensitive playing more intuitive and natural. While certainly not piano-weighted, not all keyboardists are piano players.
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