Review: K-Board USB MIDI Keyboard from Keith McMillen

Hey what’s good fam?

Back with another review, this time it’s a mini/mobile keyboard from Keith McMillen.

Let’s check it out!

So what is the K-Board?

It’s a mini usb keyboard that works with iOS, Android, Mac, and PC.

It’s class-compliant, so no drivers are needed.

The cool thing about it is how expressive it is, due to the “smart fabric” under the keys.

This allows you to do things like pitchbend or modulation directly from the keys.

Actually you can use the editor to have these functions send whatever MIDI messages you wish, they don’t have to be pitch and modulation.

It’s also said to be super durable so you don’t have to worry about breaking it.

Quick Specs

• features: unbreakable, plug and play, smart fabric, 25 keys, pressure/tilt sensitivity, octave up/down, bend, toggle, sustain, velocity sensitivity
• connectivity: MIDI over USB
• price: $79.99
• product page: http://www.keithmcmillen.com/products/k-board/
• purchase: http://www.zzounds.com/a–1786589/item–KMIKBOARD

So what’s the bottom line?

This is a straight forward MIDI keyboard, it just works right out of the box.

I love how small it is, but it feels very like it’s built very solid.

The main thing I dig about it, is that it can be a keyboard AND drum pad right out of the box.

I give the K-Board 4 out of 5 subs, it’s a super portable and very expressive controller that works without any fuss.

I would have liked to see traditional MIDI output, though I know that’s covered on their QuNexus keyboard, it would still be cool to have here.

Also I noticed some strange issue when turning off pressure sensitivity, sometimes my sounds would stop responding in different apps.

Nothing major, but something I noticed. However for the price and flexibility you get with this controller, it’s really something to consider for your mobile setup or any situation where you don’t have a lot of room but still want to be able to express yourself musically.

The tilt and pressure control is cool, especially since you can customize it as needed.

I’d also LOVE to see an iPad app for editing the parameters on the K-Board, if I’m using it with my iPad and want to make some changes I can’t do it currently, unless they have an app I don’t know about.

Either way it’s a dope little controller, you can get it exclusively from Guitar Center: http://www.guitarcenter.com/Keith-McMillen-K-Board-USB-Keyboard-110745577-i3964589.gc

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think