5+ octave midi keyboad - fits in your suitcase.... interested?

[Malkovich]

Well, it doesn't it exist yet... not that I know of (unless you have a really big suitcase).
Well, I am building quite a decent DAW around my laptop and one thing I love is that I can pop the whole thing in my hand luggage and check in onto a plane going anywhere in the world and take my studio with me. Wouldn't it be great if I could take a midi keyboard with me too (other than one of those 1.5 octave things that are unusuable for anything non trivial or two handed).
So I got to thinking... would it be possible to design a "telescopic" keyboard, or something that you can otherwise fold away and fit into your suitcase.
Well I've come up with a feasable design, and I'm actually serious about pursuing it, but I wondered if I'd be my only customer, or do other people think this is a worthwhile idea?

[bombastique]

I think there would be oodles of people that would like something like that - as long as it was sturdy and priced right...

[jecahn]

This is a great idea even for the purposes of a studio with limited space. Working mostly with audio, I'd love to have a keyboard like this that could be put somewhere other than smack in the middle of my work area when I don't need it. Look at the folding keyboards for the Palm PDA's. Maybe there are some ideas there..

[cornflakeofdeath]

I'd buy one.

[Malkovich]

Thanks for the positive responses guys!
Keep 'em coming.
It's little more than a concept at the moment - something I would have liked to have had a go at sometime (but would probably stay on the shelf). However, if this enthusiasm continues I may be forced to take the idea to the next stage and see if some sort of prototype could be put together (I currently don't have the resources for that, but with enough positive feedback I would have a case for getting the help I need).
If nothing else, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this would be really useful :-)
Thanks again (and keep em coming!)

[ElectricAuntJemima]

Why don't we pull out all the stops, and put a Hammond Organ in a brief-case. We'll call it a Brief 3. I don't know where we'll put the leslie though...

[MISHMASH]

Definite Thumps Up.
I am not sure why none of the big companies have not done it. There are small Controller's in the Market for aound $200.00.
I would buy one and just keep it in the suitcase until I am out on the road or something

Good luck
MM

[Enlightend]

It's a great idea, I've actually run such a concept around in me head a few times too.

One idea: Design the keys so they collapse somehow, including the black ones. They would collapse into as tight a space as possible. Then you could possibly roll the whole thing together, there would have to be segments, etc, I'm not an engineer.......what if you could design the keys (black & white) so they are hollow and could also be collapsed somehow, then you could make it ever flatter.

There was a Star Trek episode, Captain Piccard finally decided to court a woman for once and he ended up in some engineering shaft or something with this woman. She pulls out this piano, only it is like 1/8" thick or something like this. It just rolls out, it was made of some soft plastic or whatever. And of course it had wonderful sound, since it was only a television show. But on that note, I can't imagine why that would not be feasible. Perhaps this would be the best way to approach such a device, some kind of soft material that rolls out. I can't imagine why you couldn't make the pads touch-sensitive.......and you could even elevate the keys just a bit, to make it more real and facilitate performance. You could have all your sounds in the pc. Firewire anyone....

The issue you raise is actually a very important one, this would create a truly portable workstation.

Enlightend

[Malkovich]

Thanks for the latest round of responses guys.
Err.. thanks for your comments EAJ ;-)
Thanks Mishmash.
Enlightend, thanks for the indepth response. My concept of how to accomplish it is a bit different from yours. If anything it sounds a more akin to the Star Trek example you relate (interesting, I don't recall that episode). However, I don't want to give too much detail away until I get as far as getting a patent for it. I'm sure you understand. All I'll say is the the core concept I'm quite confident in. It offers a number of actual design alternatives.
The biggest obstacle is likely to be the cost. That may be mitigated if I can coerce the design to use as common components as possible - but we'll see.
I'm glad to see such a positive response so far!

[Malkovich]

oh.. I should add that a design constraint I am imposing on myself is to make the keys as "normal" feeling as possible. Obviously I am only aiming for standard synth-action, piano-action might be a bit ambitiuos (next release, maybe :-) ). But with the talk of "soft materials" and such, I just wantedt to point out that I do not intend to compromise unduly on the feel of the keys.

[Enlightend]

Perhaps collapseable keys would not preclude you from acheiving your design. The keys could be hollow with no bottom layer, and then you could fold them inwards, something like that, I don't know if it's possible.

What about having it so you actually pull the keys out, then collapse them in cool ways. Then you fold up the motherboard, then when you want to play you just unfold it and then plop the keys back in.

Good luck --

[Malkovich]

The two main variants of the designs in my head at the moment are:
(1) The keys are actually removed, either individually, in blocks, or as a whole.
(2) The keys are mounted on a flexible chassis that can fold under itself as the casing is contracted.
My feeling is that (1) would yield a simpler design, wheras (2) would be more convenient in use (and this is a "convenience" design to start with, after all).
I'm not ruling anything out at this stage but anticipate starting with (1) for proof of the general concept and get more specific at such a time as cost analysis is undertaken.
Thanks again for the comments.

[Craft]

How about a blow up keyboard?
Just pull out the nipple and blow....

I think I'm in the wrong forum....