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A few months ago I was contemplating the same thing since I was out of town for a long stretch of time. It's unconventional and doesn't have quite all the features that most traditional keyboards have, but I ended up purchasing a Launchpad Pro [1]. While it does not offer a traditional keybed, it is surprisingly playable and feels very musical in its note mode. It also has a chord mode that makes building up chord progressions and riffing on them. It also has a reasonably featured 4 track midi sequencer built in. And of course it can be used as a drum pad and can launch clips in Ableton and Logic (and I believe there is a script for deep integration in bitwig studio as well?). [1] https://novationmusic.com/en/launch/launchpad-pro
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I like Akai's MPK Mini, I've spent time with the korg nanokey. The MPK has a decent scaled-down two octave keyboard that feels pretty good to play. The korg nanokey got me by for years, but I always thought of it as a stick with a bunch of shift keys on it. A friend has the arturia keystep pro 37, which seems pretty nice. I'm considering a switch right now so I was happy to see this thread actually. It has aftertouch which is unique for a portable midi controller, though the aftertouch isn't polyphonic IIRC.
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I have Korg (nanoKONTROL Studio and nanoKEY) and love them. I get that the keys are weird, but I also have an Akai MPK mini and tried a few other keyboards (ROLI Bluetooth ones, etc.) and nothing quite came close.
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I've got Akai MPK Mini and I'm quite happy with it, it does the job and doesn't restrict me while I'm doing my job.
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I've got a AKAI MPK Mini, version 2 I think - had it for a while. (Looks like they sell a version 3 now.) 25 little keys. Not expensive, doesn't weigh much, size of keys fine for experimentation, seems to be a standard MIDI-over-USB sort of device so it works with everything, and it has some dials and pads as well as just the piano keys. A couple of arpeggio-type options too. I really didn't get on with the velocity sensitivity, which to my mind requires far too heavy a press to get max volume, both on the keys and the pads.
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I've been using my M-Audio Keystation Mini 32 for a few years now, and it hasn't dissapointed. The keys are small & don't feel amazing to play, but it packs two and a half octaves in a package just over the width of my laptop. You don't need more if you're programming MIDI melodies.
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I don't own one but the arturia microlab looks like it's similar to what you're looking for. I own a few other arturia products, including the keystep 37 and pro and they're both great. My only complain is I wish the pitch bend and modulation were physical controls rather than the touch but I don't use them so much that it's really an issue.
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Thanks, I'll take a look. The extra keys down to F are tempting.
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I have a bunch of these [1] Namando mini slim keyboards connected to firewalls/routers. They are cheap but have 64 keys and are backlit which is useful for router closets. That said I am not a fan of mini keyboards. My brain is wired to use full size so mini's really slow me down. [1] - https://www.amazon.com/Namando-Compact-Keyboard-Portable-Com...
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Ah sorry I thought that was a typo. The only keyboard I've had that could do MIDI was a full sized crazy over priced thing that by today's standards would be an antique.
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I have the AKAI MPK Mini. It fits your criteria for size, and it works well as a midi source on Ableton 11.
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Really looking for something close to a keyboard format, but those do look slick. Thanks.
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My latest buy is a Kurzweil K2000s. I can recommend it, affordable used.
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The K2000 is probably not what someone asking for micro/nano keyboard recs is looking for, but it is a deep and remarkable instrument. :)
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Can these things be used as general computer input methods?
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There's various software that can map MIDI to other emulated inputs, yes.
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