WORLD OF MUSIC ; PORTABLE KEYBOARD - Latest Portable Music Keyboards, Synthesizers and Music News

Roland has announced a new, “refreshed” version of its GO:PIANO88. As you might expect, this improves on the previous model in a number of ways.

The GO- 88PX (to give it its official title) is a lightweight, portable (you can run it on batteries) 88-note portable keyboard with ‘box-shape’ velocity-sensitive keys. There are five types of touch sensitivity – up from three on its predecessor, the GO:PIANO 88P – and a huge number of extra tones.

In fact, ten times as many, as the limited four-preset palette of the 88P has been expanded to include 40 built-in sounds, spread across piano, electric piano, organ and ‘other’ categories. There are also new ambience, brilliance and (for the organ tones) rotary speaker effects.

As a further bonus, you can also access a further 256 GM2 tones via the Roland Piano App. This also gives you access to the Piano Designer, which enables you to adjust the likes of lid position, damper resonance, tuning, volume and temperament.

Other features include a metronome, a MIDI recorder for capturing your playing, dual/split functions and wireless audio and MIDI over Bluetooth 5.

But, the maximum polyphony has been halved from 128 to 64 and the quoted amplifier power has dropped to 6w x 2 for the 15 x 6 cm speakers. The maximum quoted battery life is around six hours on the GO-88PX (using alkaline batteries).

In better news, the new model is very slightly smaller than the old one and weighs a bit less: 5.8kg as opposed to 7kg. The look has also been refined, and Roland says that the top-panel interface is easier to operate.

Like the 88P, the GO-88PX has a pedal input, audio output, USB port and AC adapter socket. A USB-C port replaces the USB type B port, though, and the phones/output socket is now minijack rather than 1/4-inch size.

Features:

• Premium piano performance in a compact and portable instrument
• 88 full-size keys for playing everything from pop to classical music
• Elegant design with acoustic piano style
• Simple interface with efficient controls
• Lightweight design (5.8 kg/12.8 lb.) that’s easy to move and carry
• Powered by AA batteries or included AC adaptor
• 40 presets, including bright and inviting piano tones and sounds for exploring other music styles
• High-quality stereo speaker system with rich, full sound
• Recording function for capturing performances and evaluating progress
• USB-C and Bluetooth audio/MIDI for streaming songs and working with music software
• Roland Piano App (iOS/Android) provides wireless remote control, learning games, and more
• Includes one year of Roland Cloud Core membership

The GO-88PX sounds good and plays well. The full-size digital piano price is at $379.99

Find out more on the Roland website.

Following the recent announcement of its latest Organ, Clavia has now unveiled a new iteration of its flagship Nord Piano series, promising “great flexibility for performance and sound creation”.

The Nord Piano 6 – latest version of the iconic red piano offers advanced synth and piano layering, better hands-on control and enhanced effects.

Highlights of the Nord Piano 6 include its advanced layering capabilities. These allow the user to combine two independent piano layers and sample-based synth layers. Each layer has its own LED-equipped fader on the instrument’s redesigned interface, making it easy to balance and adjust the various timbral parts. The piano and synth engines can also be split across the instrument’s keyboard.

That new interface also offers extra hands-on control over things like modulation, EQ and the Piano’s delay and reverb effects. On the effect front, Piano 6 adds new spring reverb and spin effect types, along with new delay modes and amp tone options. The Piano 6 can apply effects individually to each layer, other than the reverb, which sits on a global send.

As with previous models, all sounds are built around meticulously sampled instruments. For the piano section, that includes a large selection of grand, upright and electric pianos, drawn from Nord’s Piano Library. These can make use of dynamic compression, unison and Soft, Mid, Bright and Dyno filter modes.

Here’s the official Nord Piano 6 intro video:

The synth section ranges from classic analogue synths through to sampled guitars and orchestral instruments, offering a wide variety of timbral flavours. These make use of round-robin sampling for increased realism, and can be shaped using unison, vibrato and amp envelope controls.

The Nord Piano 6 comes in 73 and 88-note models, both of which feature a Triple Sensor keybed with grand weighted action. The Nord Piano 6 73 is priced at $3,599/ £2,999 and the 88 is priced at $3,799/ £3,299. No word on release dates as yet. Visit Nord site for more.

This year’s Buchla & Friends Synth Maker Showcase is scheduled for Jan 25 & 26 in Los Angeles, CA.

The event complements the 2025 NAMM Show, and will feature over 70 boutique synth makers. It’s being held in Silverlake, in East-Central LA.

The hands-on, headphones-only gathering offers a chance to try a wide range of synth gear, ranging from additive to subtractive, analog to digital, keyboards to breath, audio to visual, modular to full-size polyphonic, and Eurorack to Serge to Buchla.

Food will be available from Moby Rick’s fish tacos, along with carbonated beverages from United Wild Brew.

Exhibitors: 1010music • 4ms • After Later Audio • AIAIAI • AJH • ALM Busy Circuits • Animal Factory • Ashton Research • ASM • Bastl Instruments • Bitwig • Black Corporation • Bored Brain • Buchla • Catalyst • Circuit Happy • Crosspatch • Days of Yore • Rain City Modular • Doepfer • Dogbotic Labs • Dreadbox • Drift DJ • Elektron • Endorphines • eowave • Eternal Research • Five12 • Flame • Frap Tools • Future Retro • Genki Instruments • Groove Synthesis • Jomox • LA Synth Club • Mega Modular Corp • Melbourne instruments • MEMS project • Meris • Modbap • Moog Foundation • Mystic Circuits • Netherblade • New Systems Instruments • Noise Engineering • Noisebug • Novation • Null Modular • OXI Instruments • Polyend • Prism Circuits • Roger Linn • Schlappi Engineering • Sleepy Circuits • SoCal Synth Society • SOMA • Soundwork Shop • Studio Electronics • Supercritical • SynthRISE • TipTop • Tobinski • Touellskouarn • U.D.O. • Vermona • Wavea • Waveform Magazine • Wavesequencer • Weston Precision Audio • WMD

Tickets are available now. The event is free to attend.