KVR Audio

danbroad · Post by **danbroad** » Wed Jul 03, 2013 9:12 am

I recently bought one of these off eBay UK for £25 and here's my thread from VSE on it. Pit simply, if you're looking for a keyboard controller and speakers setup, this is a little device that will do that, battery powered or mains, with no extra cables required. Just this and an iPad is a self-contained music studio! The included cable controls the iPad and sends audio back to the keyboard speakers. With the Mini-V app, this is a £25 sub phatty!

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There's a coreMIDI controller called 'piano apprentice' made by Ion and sold by places such as Maplin in the UK. It's cheap and cheerful, and really aimed at iPad novices. However, being coreMIDI capable - and available on eBay for around the £25 mark - this may well be a very cheap way of getting a 2-octave controller which is iPad ready. Certainly much cheaper than an iRig Keys or a used 2-octave and a camera connection kit. If it works, it's a compact travel setup, made even cooler because it's battery powered as an option. This, audiobus, any synth of your choice and a free overdubbing recorder app is a proper rucksack studio.

http://www.ionaudio.com/products/detail ... apprentice

However, as yet it's untested and there's little information on the web about it. For example, I don't even yet know if it has octave transpose.... But...... In the interests of science, I've ordered one and over the coming week will try it all out. That's the kind of love I have for you all.

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Re: Getting an iPad4, 32G wifi - set me up!
by danbroad » Wed Jul 03, 2013 9:59 am

OK, tested, it's brilliant. Not only does is feel reasonably well built (though plastic through and through) but it's a completely independent setup. The ipad connector cable not only lets me control Nave, Thor, Animoog and the others that are coreMIDI compatible, but the unit has two built in speakers and the sound comes from those. With just this and an iPad you have a portable, battery powered 2-octave synth with built in monitors.

Now, there's no headphones socket but you could just use the ipad's, and the speakers aren't going to find their way into any professional studio anytime soon, but the ability to sit anywhere and play your synths with a massive GUI and touchscreen control is great. The keys are mini sized, but actually their action is not half bad considering, and there's no flex in the keyboard when you press on the keys. The keys light up (after all, this is aimed at beginners) but adtually it's strangely retro-cool, in a Jarre-Harp kind of way!

This and Sunrizer is a 2-octave mini-JP! Interfacing it with a studio setup might be a case of connecting a stereo mini-TRS splitter from the headphones out socket, but I didn't buy it for that. I bought it for a travelling studio setup, and I don't think there's any other solution on the market that brings speakers, an ipad connection and a keyboard for the price they go for on eBay.

danbroad · Post by **danbroad** » Wed Jul 03, 2013 9:23 am

Addendum: it does have octave shift buttons, and a volume control. No pitch or mod wheels but there's the iPad for that. The batteries are 4 AA's, so buy loads of cheapie AA's from the local pound shop and you're set for a year or two.

The power supply isn't included in the box, but from what I can see it's a generic 9V DC type, so if you genuinely need mains then Maplin sell a supply for under a tenner, probably even cheaper on the bay.

I've tested it with Sunrizer, thor, nave, animoog. I'll do some testing later with Cassini, Grain science, MIni-V, bismark, alchemy, crystal and iMS20. Same goes for Garageband and Nanostudio. If anyone else punts on one of these, maybe we could get a list going of confirmed apps that work with this thing. Running iOS 6 presently on an iPad 2.

danbroad · Post by **danbroad** » Wed Jul 03, 2013 9:04 pm

Addendum 2... everything works, tested all the above apps just fine. Seems that it's not a problem with anything that's coreMIDI capable.

The eBay seller is an Alesis/Numark/Ion [same company] distributor, possibly the main UK distributor as these are manufacturer refurbs. I think the name is 'in-music-repack' or similar. They seem to have a few available. FWIW, I've bought two - one for travel and one for the kids to play on.

Anyone else going for one of these? You won't pick up a 25-key controller for less.

dswo · Post by **dswo** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 1:52 pm

I have one. No mod or pitch wheels, and the speakers distort easily, but it's very convenient and I've never tried a CoreMIDI app that didn't work with it.

BiancaNeve · Post by **BiancaNeve** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 4:50 pm

Only problem is they are £50 not £25 now ......

gamecat666 · Post by **gamecat666** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 5:41 pm

get a refurb off ebay.

i bought an Ion Keys 49 (exactly the same as alesis q49) refurbed from ebay from the same people and its fantastic, was really cheap too.

You need a CCK to use it on ipad but it doesnt need any external power. Its fantastic for Synthesia (learning piano app)

but if this apprentice thing had a midi jack i'd be all over it

JCHaywire · Post by **JCHaywire** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:53 pm

I wonder if there's any way to use this with an old iPad running 5.1.1. It'd be nice to keep this old horse rolling.

BiancaNeve · Post by **BiancaNeve** » Thu Sep 19, 2019 2:20 pm

The ion has a 30 pin connector so it’s just plug and play.

sm7x7 · Post by **sm7x7** » Thu Jul 13, 2023 8:01 pm

The main culprit is - it DOES NOT charge the iPhone or iPad even if it uses the power adapter. Bad.........

Ion piano apprentice - fancy a £25 sub phatty?