A small Ipod type "tone generator". All these electronic keyboards are based on a little chip anyway I would like to see something small that would have USB connection in from a midi controller keyboard with output to a headphone jack (of course with adapter this could go to an amp). On the front some simple buttons for navigating the sounds, like 4 banks with 8 sounds per bank, maybe a couple of reverb settings.

You could really go lightweight for travel. Controller, "Soundpod", earbuds.

Expander modules aren't so large, however they're are somewhat less popular than they were a decade or two ago.

Interesting idea, however the market for such a device wouldn't be terribly large. And, as you suggest, given the shrinking size of DSP chips, why not simply include it inside the instrument to begin with?

Cheers,
James
x

AMEN!!!

Problem is whenever they put the sound chip in the instrument, they always include speakers, amplifier, batteries etc that add weight and size.

<<Ipod type "tone generator". >>

Great idea!

I guess the closest thing at the moment is a Netbook + Pianoteq or similar?

(kisses his Leopard powered Dell Mini 9)

Wow! I didn't even know you could do that.

My netbook EEEPC 1000HA is not powerful enough to run pianoteq well. I actually bought a gaming laptop to take with me on trips along with my 49 key usb keyboard. Have any of you really got pianoteq to run well on a netbook?

I think this is exactly what you were looking for
http://www.sweetwater.com/images/items/1800/MotifXSRack-xlarge.jpg


But why not just use a computer? A small 13" Apple MacBook would do what you want. It has a nice display, runs on battery power comes with a "good enough" virtual instruments and recording and music editing software. It is pretty much plug and play with any MIDI keyboard. But at $995 maybe more than you wanted to spend.

In answer to the question about the netbook. No, the company recommends something with specs like the Macbook. unless you want to set the sample rate anpolyphony down.

This is cheaper but they say not as good sound.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SD20/

Today in 2009 it can't be made as small as an iPod because As we've heard, a net book is not powerful enough. The DSP chips are not large but it sucks up a few watts of power which means at least a $300 notebook size battery is required. Pianoteq requires a "modern" CPU which itself is larger than an ipod.

AlphaTerminus, I tried the trial version of Pianoteq 3 for a little while on my Dell Mini 9. Playing a complicated MIDI file did cause the sound to break up in places, however for my standard of playing I believe the netbook was just about powerful enough.

As I mentioned above, Leopard is installed on this system. I believe OS X's CoreAudio sound system is a little more efficient than Windows XP's DirectSound (or ASIO) running on the same hardware. Certainly, I am able to reduce the latency lower on the Mac side than the same programme running on the Windows side.

Anyway, to summarise, I expect for most users, a netbook is not sufficiently powerful to run Pianoteq well (Gyro would not be able to play his 'big time concertos', for example...), however for simple playing, it seems to be sufficient. I would sooner use Pianoteq running on my netbook than the piano sounds included with my Nord Electro 2.

Cheers,
James
x

James - Where did you find out how to run Leopard on the Dell? I'd love to give this a go!

There's lots of information online.

Perhaps the best source is www.mydellmini.com

There is a sub-forum dedicated to running Leopard/Snow Leopard on the Dell Mini netbooks.

Cheers,
James
x

Thanks James!