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

Loog has introduced Loog Piano, a portable digital piano for children and grown-ups, with musician-grade sound and design.

Beginner keyboards are often black plastic affairs with little in the way of personality, so the forthcoming Loog Piano could make for a refreshing alternative.

Loog made its name with its simplified three-string mini guitars, but has diversified into making kid-friendly six-string models. The piano follows the same ethos: it has a stripped-back design and is said to be easy to play.

Stripped-back doesn’t mean dull, though – first impressions are that the Loog Piano looks gorgeous. There are three octaves of what appear to be full-sized, velocity-sensitive keys, built-in speakers and a built-in rechargeable battery. There’s a lot of wood on show, too, including the end cheeks and the volume knob.

So far so simple- Unlike the majority of home keyboards, the Loog Piano features just one sound – that’d be a piano, obviously – which is based on a combination of sampling and modelling. The photos indicate that beginners will be able to learn to play using a system of flashcards, which will indicate which notes to play and when.

Connectivity options – headphone and USB-C sockets (MIDI over USB support is unconfirmed).

The Loog Piano is launching into a well-established, highly-competitive space.

The proof of the piano pudding will be in the playing, though: The Loog Piano is set to hit Kickstarter on 26 September at an early bird price of $249. You can sign up for email notifications on the Loog website.

Korg Liano is now available in 6 different colours – Black, White, Grey, Silver, Blue and Red – so which one looks the best?

Launched last year, Korg’s Liano is the slimline 88-note digital piano with a beginner-friendly, soft-touch key action. It is also portable: you can power it from batteries and it has a pair of built-in bass reflex speakers.

We are telling you this again because Liano is now available in six colour options. In addition to the original black, you now have pearl white and metallic grey, silver, blue or red options to choose from.

So which colour looks the best? Perhaps, if you want to play it totally safe, black is the obvious choice (no one’s going to be scared by that if you decide to sell at a later date) and the grey and silver options look rather conservative, as well. The white Liano is a little bolder, but we’d be worried about marking its pristine finish.

Which leaves metallic blue and red. There are quite a few red keyboards on the market already – but the blue option is genuinely distinctive. As such, this would be our choice, but feel free to disagree because the choice is in your hands.

In terms of performance, of course, it doesn’t really matter. The beating heart of all the Lianos is an Italian grand piano, and there are seven further sounds to play with, too. The Korg Liano is a mere 7cm tall, weighs 6.2kg and offers USB MIDI and audio.

As you can see, the control set has been kept simple. There’s no screen, so sounds are selected via a labelled dial. And includes reverb and chorus effects.

Korg Liano costs £339 /$330, and the new colours will be available soon. Find out more on the Korg website.

Roland has announced another portable digital piano – the FP-E50 – is bringing the company’s ZEN-Core synth engine along for the ride.

Does this 88-note keyboard give you the best of both worlds?

ZEN-Core is Roland’s flagship synthesis system – the one used in the likes of the Jupiter-X and Fantom workstation keyboards – and its inclusion gives the FP-E50 a notable point of difference in comparison with other digital pianos.

In the FP-E50, ZEN-Core supplies 1018 onboard sounds (synths, brass, orchestral voices, guitars/basses, drums and more). These can be layered with the all-important piano tones that come included.

Said tones are generated using Roland’s SuperNATURAL piano engine, and can be played on the 88-note hammer-action keyboard, which offers escapement and an ivory-like feel.

More ZEN-Core sounds can be added via Roland Cloud. But, it seems you can’t install the Model Expansions that emulate specific classic Roland synths – you will need a Jupiter-X, Juno-X or Fantom if you want those – but EXZ Wave Expansions and SDZ Sound Packs are on the menu, providing you have the appropriate subscription.

FP-E50 is designed for home use and it is also portable – the built-in stereo speakers are a clear indicator of that – and you can hook it up to external speakers if you wish. Other connectivity options include a headphone output, Bluetooth audio/MIDI and computer integration via USB.

In addition, there are auto-accompaniment tools. You can fire-up full-band backing tracks in more than 200 styles, with more style packs available on Roland Cloud.

Accompaniments are triggered using your left hand. Beginners can use one-note triggering, and there’s full-chord detection for more advanced players. An Interactive mode enables you to adjust the volume and “energy” of the backing in real-time, and you can set up chord progressions for improvisation in a dedicated sequencer.

And, there are vocal effects. Plug in a mic, start singing and the FP-E50 can generate real-time vocal harmonies that follow the chords, and there’s a transformer that can switch your vocals’ gender or turn you into a robot. Further “studio-grade” vocal effects include a vocoder, an ambience effect, a compressor and a noise suppressor.

Navigation of the FP-E50 is said to be simple. The top-level display shows you the current sound, tempo and other essential information, and we’re assured that it’s easy to make sound selections, favourite specific tones, transpose and more. Long-press functionality on many buttons is designed to cut down on menu diving, and you can save complete keyboard setups as Scenes. Landing this February, the FP-E50 will cost $1,000.

Find out more on the Roland website.