The sugar rush from the Hallowe'en candy (or for some of us, the hangover from the Hallowe'en party) hasn't even worn off yet, and the time to shop for holiday gifts is already upon us. Musicians on your list? Including yourself? Never fear,
Keyboard is here, with a gig van full of gift ideas in all price ranges for just about any type of musician: Keyboard Beginner, Pianist, DJ/Electronica Artist, Rap/Urban Producer, Songwriter, Gigging Keyboardist, and Synth Freak. Gifts are organized from low price to high, so keep checking back with us, as we're all gonna shop till we drop and keep adding entries through December 24.
Don't forget to scroll all the way to the bottom, where we have a special section on the ultimate Studio-in-a-Backpack!
Smart Shopping Tip: With non-music hardware items, look for discounts online. Prices vary wildly. For example, we list the Zelco Swinger mirror (below) at $30, but have seen it listed for as little as $12.
GIFTS UNDER $100
Piano Starts Here: Art Tatum Live at the Shrine/Zenph Re-Performance, $14.99, available at Amazon.com
Good for: Pianist, Keyboard Beginner, Jazz Fan
Whether you have the original Piano Starts Here recording or not, you’ll be blown away when you hear the Zenph Re-Performance version. Recorded live at the site of the
original, using a Yamaha Disklavier Concert Grand, along with Zenph’s phenomenal process of audio-to-MIDI conversion, this pristine recording reveals the true virtuosity of Art Tatum, unhampered by out of tune pianos or outdated recording technology. Stunning! - Andy LaVerne
Trick Instrument Polish Wipes, $11.99,
www.trickdrums.comGood for: Gigging Keyboardist, Pianist
It’s the stocking stuffer for players who want their instruments to shine as brightly as their performances. Trick Instrument Polish Wipes are designed to safely remove smoke residue and fingerprints, while polishing and protecting pianos, guitars, drums, and many other instruments. They work on paint, clear-coat, polyurethane, lacquer, satin, oil, chrome, brass, powder coat, and other finishes. - Ed Coury
Jazz Icons: Bill Evans – Live in ’64 -’75 (DVD), $19.99, available at www.aebersold.com
Good for: Pianist, Jazz Fan
This DVD provides a rare glimpse into various incarnations of the Bill Evans Trio. The collection features footage of performances from 1964 in Sweden with Chuck Israels and Larry Bunker, 1965 in France with Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Alan Dawson, and guest Lee Konitz, 1970 in Denmark and Sweden with Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell, and 1975 in Denmark with Gomez & Eliot Zigmund. The earlier clips are in black and white, the later in color. Audio & video quality varies, but given the rarity of Bill Evans videos, this proves a valuable addition to any Evans collection. If you never saw Bill live, (or even if you did), this is a must-have. Among the 18 tunes are Evans favorites such as “My Foolish Heart” and “Someday My Prince Will Come,” along with rare gems like “Sareen Jurer” and “Blue Serge.” - Andy LaVerne
Belkin Notebook Security Lock, $24.99, www.belkin.com
Good for: Gigging Keyboardist, DJ/Electronica Artist, Rap/Urban Producer
Taking a laptop to a gig? You absolutely need a way to secure it to a
stand. All laptop locks can be defeated by someone with a pair of bolt
cutters, but most laptop thefts are crimes of opportunity. A lock will
dissuade the would-be thief by making a grab-and-run difficult. - Jim Aikin
Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 (DVD), $24.95, www.neoflix.com/store/Plo08
What piano aficionado wouldn’t salivate at the chance to dig deep inside one of the world’s most storied
instrument makers? It takes a full year to craft the legendary Steinway Piano. And determined director Ben Niles
captures every twist and turn along the way, from the tree to the
concert stage. NOTE BY NOTE is an aural and visual feast not to be
missed!
- Jon Regen
i2i Folding Portable Speakers, $39.95, www.i2igear.com
Good for: Any musician or music fan on the go
Running on four AAA batteries, these tiny speakers kick out surprisingly big sound. They also work with i2i's Stream wireless music transmitter. In addition to having a standard mini-jack (3.5mm or 1/8") input, they also come with a 2.5mm adaptor so you can plug in cell phones or PDAs. - Stephen Fortner
M-Audio EX-P Expression Pedal, $39.95, www.m-audio.com
Good for: Gigging Keyboardist
Most keyboards have expression pedal inputs on the rear panel, and most synths let you assign the pedal to control whatever setting you want. A sweep (expression) pedal is ideal for opening up a filter or adding mod wheel moves when your hands are both busy. Or, use it as a volume pedal. - Jim Aikin
Zelco Swinger Illuminated Pocket Mirror, $30, www.zelco.com
Good for: Gigging Keyboardist
Any keyboardist who has to connect cables on back panels when jacks aren’t clearly labeled along the top rear edge of the keyboard (which is most of the time) will love this stocking stuffer! Folding mirrors start at $2, but the Zelco Swinger, which puts both light and mirror in a single tidy case, may be ideal. - Jim Aikin
Lexar 4GB USB Jumpdrive, about $25. www.lexar.com
Good for: Gigging keyboardist, DJ/Electronica Artist, Rap/Urban Producer
Having an extra backup of important data is always a good idea, especially if you’re gigging. Tuck a 4GB USB Flash Drive in your pocket and you’ll be covered in an emergency. Memory prices are ever-dropping: Amazon now lists 8GB USB Flash from Kingston at less than $25. I like the Lexar 4GB Jumpdrive, which for about the same price has a cap to cover the USB connector. 4GB is enough to hold more than six hours of uncompressed stereo audio, or several days’ worth of MP3 files. - Jim Aikin
Sonic Charge Synplant, $89, www.soniccharge.com
Good for: Synth Freaks
Lovers of weird electronic sounds will go nuts over Synplant. This just-released VST instrument does FM synthesis, which is not new. What’s exotic about it (aside from the animated green tendrils, which wave gently) is a set of 12 random patch generators — one for each key. Start with any sound, push up the mod wheel, and you have 12 wildly different sounds. Find one you like, click on the “seed,” and it becomes the new starting point for more random or hand-edited developments. - Jim Aikin
Katsura Piano Tuner 1.9, $99, www.katsurashareware.com
Good For: Pianist
For those brave pianists armed with a tuning hammer and some knowledge of piano tuning, this handy shareware Macapp is a 12-note chromatic scale strobe tuner that utilizes the audio input devices on your computer. Just set up your computer on or next to your piano, open the program, and start tuning — it’s great for touch-ups between pro tunings. The App also features options for various temperaments as well as customizable stretch tunings. - Andy LaVerne
Blue Mikey, $79.99, www.bluemic.com
Good for: Songwriter, Podcaster, or any musician or recordist who's on the go
It may not be the first recording microphone you can piggyback onto an Apple iPod, but given our experience with the Blue mic company, it'll probably be the best-sounding one. Which iPods does it work with? iPod 4G, 5G, 6G, iPod Nano 2G, 3G, and iPod Classic. - Stephen Fortner
MobileEdge ScanFast Laptop Bags, $99.99, www.mobileedge.com
Good for: Synth Freaks, Rap/Urban Producer, DJ/Electronica Artist, Gigging Keyboardist — any musician who travels with a laptop.
Save time in the airport security line by leaving your laptop in its case. MobileEdge makes a number of great-looking models in styles for men and women, all transparent to TSA scanners. -Stephen Fortner
GIFTS FROM $100 TO $300
Ultrasone HFI-15G Headphones, $109, www.ultrasone.com
Good for: DJ/Electronica Artist, Rap/Urban Producer, Gigging Keyboardist, Keyboard Beginner
Ear buds have gotten really good, but for sound quality and comfort, there's nothing like a full-size pair of high-quality cans, whether you're checking your patch list in a club where the dinner crowd has already shown up, or revving a dance crowd into a floor-stomping frenzy. In the past few years, Ultrasone has risen to the top of the headphone game, with top-end models selling as high as $1,500. The HFI-15G brings you that quality at a much more affordable price.
Good for: Gigging Keyboardist
Save on chiropractor bills and vehicle space with the Magna Cart Elite 2. It tips the scales at a mere 10 pounds, but its manufacturer claims the Elite 2 can handle up to 20 times that amount of weight. When you’re finished hauling gear, it folds up into a nifty package that’s two inches thin and 28 inches tall. - Ed Coury
Hosa Little Bro Snake, $100 (20 feet), $110 (30 feet), $144 (50 feet), www.hosatech.com
Good For: Gigging Keyboardist
With multi-keyboard rigs, making the connection from your spot onstage to the front-of-house sound system can mean stringing an unsightly and dangerous bunch of individual cables. The Hosa Little Bro series of mini-snakes is a great way to avoid this mess. Manufactured in lengths of 20, 30, and 50 feet, the Little Bro features six XLR sends and two balanced 1/4 inch sends — enough to handle stereo keyboard connections as well as vocal and monitoring feeds. - Ed Coury
GIFTS FROM $300 to $500
Discacciati 810 Hydraulic Piano Bench, $425, avail. in the U.S. at www.bondypiano.com,
Good for: Pianist
You’ll be sitting pretty on this hi-tech black metal bench with a generously padded black leatherette or velour seat. Gone are the slow turning knobs, replaced with levers on each side that allow instant height adjustment via a hydraulic mechanism. Thanks to solid construction, there are no squeaks when shifting positions. Height adjustment is from 17.5" to 23". - Andy LaVerne
GIFTS FROM $500 to $1,000
Tonium Pacemaker Mobile DJ System, $875, www.pacemaker.net
Good for: DJ/Electronica Artist, Rap/Urban Producer
It's not exactly cheap, but the concept is intriguing: A DJ coffin - complete with 120GB hard drive for your virtual crate, two-turntable-like functionality, and DJ mixer with EQ - in a package about the size of a portable video game console. The top circular area is a display; the bottom one is a touchpad. There's an entire social network attached to it where you can upload and download mixes, and it won the "Best of What's New" award from Popular Science magazine. Definitely one to watch. - Stephen Fortner
SPECIAL SECTION: STUDIO IN A BACKPACKby Francis Preve
Around the turn of the century, computers got fast enough that you could load up a laptop with software and bring your DAW on the road. That, in itself, was an unprecedented achievement. Well, in the past year, miniaturization has reached escape velocity too, making it possible to cram the whole studio in a backpack.
So for this festive season, we figured it was time to roundup the coolest new portable studio goodies. While some of the prices may keep these toys under trees and out of stockings, one thing is certain: Slap a bow on any of ’em and you’ll get yourself a big, wet, holiday kiss.
Dave Smith Instruments Mopho, $439, www.davesmithinstruments.com
It’s hard to argue with a full-fledged monophonic Prophet for four hundred bucks, so surrender now. The Mopho is a fullyanalog synth with two oscillators, lowpass filters, and a gazillion modulation options like clock-syncable LFOs and four step-sequencers. Throw in an external input for processing audio of any kind and, well, you were going to be late with the rent anyway. Right?
Korg Kaossilator, $250, www.korgkaossilator.com
We love synths that scream “play me,” and Korg’s Kaossilator delivers more pocket fun than a pool cue. With its Kaoss Pad approach to performance (X axis is for pitch, Y axis controls timbre/effects), a built-in loop recorder, and the ability to tune the instrument to specific keys and scales, the Kaossilator can make everyone shred like a pro. Even grandma.
Korg/XSeed Games DS-10, $39.99, www.korgds10synthesizer.com
What happens when you cross a Nintendo DS with the Korg Legacy collection? The DS-10, that’s what. One of the year’s biggest buzzes isn’t a synth or keyboard in the traditional sense. Instead, it’s a game cartridge that sports two analog-modeled synths, a four-part drum machine, a sequencer and built-in effects like chorus, delay and flanger. For under fifty bucks, this is definitely a stocking stuffer that won’t soon be forgotten.
Korg Nano Series Controller, $62 (NanoKEY), $72 (NanoPAD or NanoKONTROL), www.korg.com
If the Korg team keeps going at this pace, we’ll all be fending off panhandling elves come January. Their nanoSERIES fills a gaping hole in the portable controller market, which until now consisted primarily of two-octave, full-size keyboards — compact, but not quite enough for real subway and airplane composition. At 12.60" x 3.27" x 0.55", Korg’s new controllers are perfect for a messenger bag or backpack, leaving ample room to spare. Coming in three über-useful flavors: keyboard, drum pads, and a knob/fader bank, the Nano collection should be on shelves just in time for the holidays.
Access Virus TI Snow. $1,425, www.access-music.de
The Access Virus TI is to trance what the Minimoog is to prog rock — an essential component of the genre’s sound. So when the TI Snow shipped earlier this year, its 11" x 6" footprint and slick design made it a must-have for any producer who works at tempos higher than 130 BPM. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration. You could certainly make great ambient tracks with it too. So if you have a a yen for a serious powerhouse synth, then whip out that plastic.
Waldorf Blofeld, $849.99, www.mvproaudio.com
For about half the price of a TI Snow (about $750 street), you can snag the equally portable and just as gorgeous Blofeld. Sporting the same synthesis engine as the illustrious Waldorf Q, along with the wavetable ROM from the legendary PPG and Microwave, the Blofeld has a truly unique sound that sets it apart from the other analog modeling synths.
Blue Snowflake, $79.95, www.bluemic.com
Synths and controllers are only part of the studio equation. Some instruments require actual microphones (if only so you can sample them). When it comes to making microphones, Blue is arguably one of the best in the business. The Snowflake is an iPod-sized, USB-powered, condenser mic that’s perfect for capturing tracks in a hotel room or straight-up field recording. For about street price of around $70, the question is: Does it sound good? You betcha.
M-Audio IE Series, $129.95 - $499.95, www.m-audio.com
While we’re on the topic of transducers, you’re also going to need decent monitors with accurate response that don’t annoy the passenger next to you. Fortunately, M-Audio has you covered there, no matter what your budget. From the $100 IE-10s to the top-of-the-line, triple-driver IE-40s, there’s no excuse for muddled mixes on the road. We’ve tried ‘em all and we’re believers.