Keyboards

They say that good things come in small packages — but just how much synthesizer can Korg cram into the tiny Micro X?

It lacked most of the features we'd expect from even a basic synth, but this rare Italian keyboard had a charm all of its own.

As Roland revisit the Juno name once again, we look at whether their latest offering is a serious contender, or merely a bantamweight Fantom.

Korg's Triton LE series has evolved into the TR range, but does it deliver any more than a new paint-job?

M-Audio's new wireless controller keyboard aims to free you from the restraints of MIDI cables.

Bob Moog's final project carries his visionary synthesizer design into the future.

An amazing new string-modelling synth is added to Korg's flagship workstation.

Novation's Remote LE range offers a healthy selection of features from their popular Remote controller keyboards at a cut-down price.

Controller keyboards are fitting ever more control facilities into progressively smaller units costing less and less. Is the semi-weighted Axiom 25 M-Audio's best deal yet?

Looking to create a more affordable keyboard version of their Motif range of workstations, Yamaha have pared back the spec of the Motif ES a little — though not much — to create the M06 and M08.

In these days of fast, flexible computers and powerful virtual instruments, has the hardware workstation synth had its day? Alesis's Fusion mounts the case for the defence, offering four synthesis types, sampling, sequencing and hard disk recording — for under £1000.

M-Audio have applied the same economies of scale to this digital piano that they have to their controller keyboards, with the result that the Prokeys 88 retails for well under £500, with the cut-down Prokeys 88SX costing far less.

I am in a band that plays live every week. Is there a keyboard out there that concentrates primarily on piano, electric piano, clav and other funky sounds that you would generally want to use in modern tunes?

The Evolver began as a mono desktop unit, then became polyphonic, and now there's a polyphonic keyboard version. It's almost as if Dave Smith's latest synth is steadily evolving back into his earlier Prophet 5... We check it out.

Combining several types of sound generation in one instrument, Clavia's Nord Stage harks back to the multi-keyboards of the 1970s. Is it a funky revivalist, or should it be considered a thing of the past?

Novation have an elegant solution to the tedium of configuring hardware controllers — the Remote 25SL can read your sequencer and automatically map plug-in instrument parameters to its controls. Is this the first 'intelligent' hardware control surface? We find out...

The Virus TI promises to bridge the divide between hardware and software instruments, and create a world of Total Integration, while still offering the classic Virus sound. Is it a hard reality, or have Access gone totally soft?

We finish our in-depth examination of Korg's new mega-workstation, taking in the remaining synth engines, the sampler, the KARMA algorithms and the onboard sequencer, and draw our conclusions about it...

Kawai's last few digital pianos have been finely wrought things of beauty: solidly built keyboards with an amazingly realistic playing action and beautifully sampled piano timbres. But their latest claims to surpass all of those. Can it possibly be true?

For over 15 years, Korg have produced the world's most successful workstation synths, and the OASYS is their new £5400 flagship, their attempt to take the concept to the next level. In the first instalment of our two-part in-depth test, we assess how they have fared...

I've read some conflicting opinions about the Mellotron. Surely if tape loops are used, the sound would sustain indefinitely. Can you put the record straight?