It feels like there’s always been an unwritten rule that no synth or MIDI controller should have fewer than 25 keys on it, but PIanni could be about to break that with the Orphea.

Featuring just one octave’s worth of keys (plus an extra C at the top, giving you 13 in total), this has the advantage of being barely larger than a smartphone, so is certainly portable. It also features a built-in multi-wave synth engine, a rechargeable battery, speakers, a 3.5mm audio output and MIDI I/O.

The not so good news is that the keys aren’t velocity sensitive, which will limit the amount of expression you can generate, and although it’s possible to shift the keyboard up or down three octaves, there’s no getting away from the fact that there’s not a great deal of serious playing you can do with just 13 notes in front of you. Even simple basslines could be tricky, and you can forget about forming anything other than basic chord shapes.

In fairness, it looks like the Orphea is primarily being aimed at kids who simply want to “explore melody and composition,” but even absolute beginners might hit a creative wall with it pretty quickly.

The people will be able to make a judgement, though, when the fate of Orphea is determined via a soon-to-be-launched Kickstarter campaign. No news yet on how much the device will cost or when it could potentially ship.

One tends not to notice when an instrument is perfectly tuned. The music just flows, notes ring out together and harmonies magically intertwine and augment. But when an instrument is out of tune… Ouch… You know about it.

Guitarists and drummers have it easy when it comes to tuning, but for pianists?Let’s just say that life is rather more difficult.

Pianos – and we’re talking about the real thing made out of thousands of precision cut pieces of wood and metal here – typically have 88 keys, and each one of these keys could have up to three strings, each of which must be perfectly tuned to unlock the magic of the instrument. One key, or one string, being a just a few cents out could be enough to make the whole thing sound deeply wrong.

And while you think you might be able to wade in with a spanner to fix things, spare a thought for the many piano tuning specialists who often have taken a lifetime to perfect their craft. So before you get busy, perhaps at least finish reading this article first.

So let’s start with some basics.

How does a piano work?

While acoustic pianos may seem relatively simple, they are in fact complex instruments that produce sound through a combination of mechanical and acoustic elements. When a key is pressed on the piano, it sets off a series of mechanical actions. Each key is connected to a series of levers and pivots called the key action.

When the key is pressed, it activates a mechanism that propels a small wooden hammer towards a set of strings. These hammers, typically covered in felt, strike these high-tensile strings with a force directly proportional to the force at which the key was hit.

From there the piano’s soundboard, across which the strings are stretched, amplifies the vibrations produced by the strings. As the strings vibrate, they transfer energy to the soundboard, which resonates, resulting in a rich and vibrant sound. When a key is subsequently released, a system of felt dampers comes into contact with the strings, stopping their vibration and muting the sound.

Simple, right? Maybe not.

At this point it’s probably worth saying that if you’re at all in doubt about your mechanical skills (and value your piano above all else) then perhaps employing a professional piano tuner to do the job for you might be your best option.

Still want to continue? We’re here to help.

How to tune a piano: Step-by-step

As you’d expect, there are some tools you will need, and some prep to undertake.

For starters, ensure that the piano is clean and free from any debris. It's important to have good lighting at this stage so you can see the strings clearly. You'll need a couple of tools too, namely a tuning lever or wrench, which is used to adjust the tension of the piano's strings, along with mutes to isolate specific strings while tuning.

And, of course, you’ll need a tuning reference, either in the form of an electronic tuner or - if you’re skilled enough - a traditional tuning fork. You might even consider using one of the many smartphone tuning apps. We’re particularly fond of the Boss Tuner from Roland (available on both Android and iOS) but you may have your own preferred app.

Let’s get started.

Step 1

Begin by lifting the lid and doing whatever disassembly your particular piano requires to grant you access to its strings and the nuts holding the string ends in place.

It’s a good idea to remove the dampening felt at this point too, again, to afford you better access and visibility to the strings.

You’ll see that the lower notes have one string, middle notes have two strings and the upper notes have three strings.

The idea (and reality) is that two (or three) strings being struck together will produce a fuller sound than just one string. Like three guitarists playing together rather than one.

The idea is to get all of these multiple strings for each note tuned to be identical. Or, at least, as close as you can get.

A good starting point is to go to the A4 key on your piano, which is the A above middle C. This key is typically tuned to the industry standard frequency of 440 Hz, but it can vary depending on the desired pitch.

Using a tuning lever, adjust the tension of each string in unison until they produce the desired pitch. This process involves comparing the pitch of the strings to a reference tone and making fine adjustments as needed.

Turning the tuning screw clockwise will increase the pitch of the string. Turning it anticlockwise will release the tension and lower the pitch of the string.

To remove unwanted, out of tune distractions, mute the strings that you're not tuning by simply placing your finger against them. This will prevent this string from ringing out, leaving only the sound of the string that you want to tune.

Alternatively stuffing a piece of felt or material between each note’s strings will let you damp the outer notes in turn, leaving you hands free to play and tune.

Yes, you can turn the tuning screws with with a spanner (adjustable or otherwise) but it’s really much easier with a piano tuning lever or tool (available for not much from your favourite music store or online retailer).

Step 2

Now, with your first string perfectly in tune it’s time to move onto your string's partners – the unison strings that sound together each time you press a note.

If your piano has been sounding woeful (and we all know the sound of that out-of-tune ‘pub’ piano…) you’ll immediately hear an improvement as the old familiar ‘wobble’ and ‘beating’ sound disappears as each of the unison strings becomes aligned in tuning and tension with its partners.

While an accurate tuning meter is essential here, don’t be afraid to let your ear and musical brain guide you as to what sounds best too. When the ‘vibration’ of the sound stops then your two (or three) strings are in tune together.

The ideal goal is to tune the ‘beating string’ so that it produces a slight wobble or beating sound when played with the unison string. This effect creates a rich and full sound. It’s entirely up to you as to what sounds best.

Even IF it were possible to get all three unison strings at the exact same Hz pitch you MAY find that you prefer the sound if one or two of them are a little higher or lower, producing a warmer ‘beating’ sound with their partners.

It’s a good idea to tune A4 first then do the same for all the A’s on your piano, moving down and up the keyboard.

Get these A anchor points sounding great together and you’ve created a guide where you KNOW that the piano is in tune. From there it’s just a matter of fitting in the other notes in between them.

Take time to get your A’s right, THEN move onto the notes between them.

Step 3

It's important to check the whole piano to ensure all the notes are correctly in tune as you go. This process involves playing chords, scales, and intervals to listen for any discrepancies or out-of-tune notes. Adjustments may be required to individual strings or sections of the piano to achieve overall harmony.

Keep playing and comparing as you tweak.

It’s important to be patient here. Even the most experienced professionals, with the best ears, can spend many hours achieving the perfect tuning. So, unless you’re due on-stage at Wembley within the hour, you can afford to take your time.

Just methodically get each note working with itself… Then aligned musically with its partners.

Want to leave it to the professionals?

Having a hard time doing it yourself? Yes… It can be a case of one step forwards and two step backwards, so don’t be afraid to enlist a professional to help. Pianos, particularly older ones, can be temperamental beasts and require an experienced ear to get the best out of them.

You might be worried about the cost, but it probably won’t be a huge amount, and once it’s done you don’t need to worry about it again for a little while - the general rule of thumb for a well-played, well-used piano is to have it tuned twice a year, but your mileage may vary.

The actual cost of piano tuning can vary depending on several factors. The condition of the piano plays a role in the cost of tuning; if the piano has not been tuned for a long time or if it requires additional repairs or adjustments, the tuning process may take longer and require more work, which can result in higher costs.

A professional piano tuner will also make a judgement based on the size and type of piano. As you’d expect, grand pianos tend to be more expensive to tune compared to upright pianos due to their larger size and more complex construction. Additionally, some specialized pianos, such as antique or high-end instruments, may require additional expertise and care during the tuning process, which can increase the cost.

A decent piano tuner may offer additional services to help bring an old or broken piano back to life. For example, if the piano has broken strings, sticky keys, or other mechanical issues, these can be addressed during the tuning session, potentially increasing the overall cost, but ensuring there’s nothing left to frustrate you afterwards.

Related buyer's guides

• Best digital pianos: options for every level and budget
• Essential piano accessories: everything you need to get started
• Best piano benches: hand-picked options for maximum comfort

Roland's FP series is a long-established line of digital pianos that currently spans five models across various price points, from the no-frills FP-10 to the range-topping FP-90X. Today, the Japanese manufacturer expands the series with a new release: FP-40.

FP-40 is Roland's first piano with built-in Wi-Fi. Why does a piano need Wi-Fi, you ask? Well, the FP-40 is launching alongside Piano Sphere, a free app for iOS and Android that's designed to help you learn the instrument and develop your skills.

Connecting to your piano over your home network (or Bluetooth), Piano Sphere provides real-time feedback on your playing, and is able to create personalized tuition plans based on your skill level and musical preferences. Roland says it's not just a companion app, but a "complete ecosystem" that brings together your piano, lessons, songs, and progress in one place.

Developed in partnership with tuition platform Skoove, Piano Sphere features a library of step-by-step lessons and skill development tools, alongside 100 songs covering everything from classical to pop hits. Users can upgrade the app to access over 1000 more songs and additional courses as they progress, and are encouraged to advance through their learning journey with gamified features such as streaks and reward badges.

The piano records your playing history through Piano Sphere even when the app isn't open, allowing you to take a backwards glance at your development, and thanks to its Wi-Fi connection, FP-40's firmware is automatically updated over your home network – Roland promises that the piano will "continuously evolve" with "new services, feature enhancements, and ecosystem integrations".

There are plenty of digital pianos out there built to help you learn to play or improve your playing, but very few of these feature built-in Wi-Fi – most rely on Bluetooth MIDI for a wireless connection or a wired MIDI or USB connection.

Sitting squarely in the middle of the FP range between the FP-30X and the FP-60X, the FP-40 features Roland's Piano Reality sound engine, introduced in 2024, which is a first for the FP range: the other models in the series have either featured Roland's SuperNATURAL or PureAcoustic engines.

Roland tells us that Piano Reality combines sampled sounds with modeling tech from its high-end GP Series grand pianos to capture the "depth, detail, and tonal character of an acoustic piano", delivering "smooth response, natural resonance, and rich dynamics". 40 different preset sounds are accessible from the piano, with an additional 265 available through the existing Roland Piano App.

FP-40 also benefits from an upgraded speaker system, arranging its dual speakers (each powered by a dedicated 12W amplifier) in a redesigned internal layout that's said to produce a clearer and more spacious sound with a deeper low-end.

Those are some respectable upgrades, but FP-40 isn't all new: it features the same PHA-4 Standard keyboard that can be found in the FP-10, FP-30X and FP-60X models. This triple-sensor system delivers fully-weighted hammer action and escapement, along with an ivory-style feel applied to its plastic keys, but sits below both the PHA-50 and Hybrid Grand in Roland's lineup of digital piano actions.

The Roland FP-40 is available in both black and white models for $749. Find out more on Roland's website.

A grand piano once played by Freddie Mercury is up for auction in October and could be yours if you have a spare hundred thousand or so currently burning a hole in your wallet.

The Yamaha C3 grand is one of a number of Freddie-related items once owned by Reinhold Mack which the producer (who turns 77 today) is selling. The piano was played on the Hot Space, The Game and The Works albums, as well as by a list of not-insignificant artists including Bryan Ferry, the Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen and Led Zeppelin. Its pre-sale estimate is somewhere between £200,000 and £400,000.

If that’s a bit beyond your budget, then how about an AKG C414 EB mic that Mercury used and which can be seen in the video to One Vision? That could set you back anywhere between £40,000 and £80,000.

Both of these fell into Mack's possession after his years working at Munich’s Musicland studios. Originally set up by Giorgio Moroder, Musicland birthed a number of classic albums – Donna Summer’s I Remember Yesterday, ELO’s Out Of The Blue and Black And Blue by the Rolling Stones, to name just a few.]

Queen were particularly fond of the facility, and struck up a close relationship with the in-house engineer. Freddie was godfather to Mack’s son, named Freddie Junior. He was also namechecked on Dragon Attack, a Brian May-written track on 1980’s The Game (‘gonna use my stack/ it’s gotta be Mack’).

The auction also includes a number of personal mementoes that the late singer gave Mack. There are handwritten lyrics to the songs My Love Is Dangerous and Let’s Turn It On, from Mercury’s 1985 solo debut, Mr Bad Guy. These are expected to fetch between £1,500 and £6,000. Rather touchingly, there’s also a teddy bear that Freddie presumably gifted to his godson that is estimated to fetch between £800 and £1,600.

In a statement, Mack has said: “Freddie was not only a colleague and close friend; in many ways, he was part of our family. Away from the countless hours we spent creating music together at Musicland Studios, our home in Munich became a place where he could escape the pressures of fame, relax and simply be himself. To us, he was never a celebrity; he was ‘Uncle Freddie’ - spending time with his godson Freddie Jr, playing table tennis with Julian and celebrating family birthdays with us.

“We have carefully preserved these items for decades, not because of their value, but because of the memories they hold. We now feel the time has come for others to enjoy and appreciate them, and we hope they offer fans a connection not only to Freddie’s extraordinary artistry, but also to the warm, funny and kind-hearted man we were privileged to know.”

Propstore are hosting the auction, which takes place on 1 and 2 October. Auction registration is now open with the full catalogue available to look at on the Propstore website. Alternatively, you can see the items at a free exhibition at The Cumberland Hotel in London from 23 to 27 September.

You’d think that jazz, with its emphasis on live improvisation and its loose structure, would be the hardest genre of music for AI to analyse, wouldn’t you? Not so, according to a new research paper published in Nature Machine Intelligence.

The research, which was conducted at the University of Cambridge by a team led by one Huw Cheston, has shown that large language models can identify jazz pianists and even reveal the musical ‘fingerprints’ that made them stand out.

Cheston’s team fed the machine 84 hours of recordings from 1,629 different performances by 20 pianists. Among those that chosen for the study were Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Thelonious Monk, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner and Ahmad Jamal. The recordings were then converted into MIDI and displayed on a piano roll, which showed digitally what notes were played, when and at what pitch.

And wouldn’t you know it, the bots had a pretty good success rate. The best-performing model identified the performers with a rate of 94.4% accuracy. Interestingly, when tested individually, it was the composition’s harmony that gave the most accurate predictions, followed by rhythm and melody, while dynamics was the least accurate.

All very clever, of course. But what use is all this in the real world, you might well ask? Well the authors of the research say it may well have a number of uses. AI used in this way could suggest “possible authors for unattributed works or distinguishing authentic pieces from forgeries. It could also “highlight the networks of influence between artists, as well as reveal insights into the creative process itself.”

“Finally,” they say, “it can also be useful in educational contexts, helping to train artists to understand the distinctive voices of important figures within their particular discipline.”

If you’re interested in dipping further into the study head over to Nature Machine Intelligence’s website. There's also a nice little web app that enables you to explore the playing style of each pianist.

From the mighty concert grand to the mini MIDI controller in your backpack – there are countless ways to play keys and trigger notes into your DAW or reach your audience’s ears. If you’re striding out, choosing your first keyboard, or simply looking to flex your creative might, here's everything you need to consider.

If you've spent any time shopping for a keyboard or comparing instruments, you'll have noticed that not all of them have the same number of keys. So why are some keyboards bigger than others? And do you need that extra space? Here's a breakdown of what's going on.

The Standard: 88 Keys

Let’s start with the big guns. The full sized acoustic piano has 88 keys. That’s 52 white keys and 36 black keys and it’s been this way since the late 19th century when piano manufacturers gradually extended the range of earlier instruments to meet the demands of ever-more experimental composers and performers.

Those 88 keys span a full seven and a quarter octaves, from the lowest A at the bottom of the keyboard to the highest C at the top.

The vast majority of the canon of classical and contemporary piano repertoire sits comfortably within this range, which is why 88 keys became – and remains – the definitive standard, able to cope with anything a composer can throw at it.

The 88-note keyboard is essentially your ‘flight deck’ of controls, each key striking single or multiple physical strings with a force that’s directly proportional to the velocity and pressure you apply.

The result is an infinitely nuanced tone that both allows expert players to inject their personality, skill AND will show up newbies as the players-in-waiting that they are.

And let’s not forget each key’s weight and heft. Playing a good quality piano is a physical clash between a well-trained human musician versus a wood and metal machine that can weigh in excess of a hatchback.

Can’t afford the space but still want that feel? Don’t worry. These days there are countless 88-note MIDI controller keyboards that will go a considerable distance to delivering the touch, feel and weight expert players need, all within far more compact and home studio-friendly frames.

Eyes closed and fired up alongside a modern high-quality piano plug-in, most players would be hard-pushed to tell the difference between the modern approximation and the half-a-ton real thing.

Your choice all comes down to space, money and whether you need that DAW recording, arranging, composing flexibility at the end of the day.

Keyboardists and producers will appreciate the convenience and be willing to take a compromise on feel, while true ‘players’ will always prefer the full-on ebony and ivory real thing.

So why do some keyboards have fewer keys?

The short answer is, again, practicality, size, weight and cost. A full 88-key instrument is large and expensive to manufacture, so for many less militant players and purposes, a reduced keyboard is a perfectly reasonable compromise.

73-key ‘stage pianos’ are a great middle ground. There are plenty to choose from, from all the big names and six and a third octaves and handles the vast majority of piano repertoire without the full width of an 88-key instrument.

For gigging musicians who need something portable, a 73-key keyboard (there are also 76-key models too) with a professional playing action is often the sensible choice, offering great feel and a wide-range of authentic keyboard and string sounds on board.

And plugged into your DAW (try doing that with a concert grand…) it’s a luxury keybed for composing and programming with synths, drum machines and more.

Sure, 73- or 76-note weighted keyboards are sizey and still very ‘pro’ beasts but at least they CAN be put in the back of a car and taken to a gig.

The four/five octave sweet spot

Next step down the tree we have 61-key keyboards – a size and weight that has pretty much become THE de-facto standard for the modern keyboard.

This five octave size is extremely common across entry level, mid range and even pro synths and keyboards.

Five octaves is sufficient for beginners learning scales, chords and simpler pieces, and keeps the instrument compact and affordable. And it’s certainly wide enough for playing chord and lead two-handed parts with comfort and ease.

That said, you will start to notice the limitations if you progress to a more demanding repertoire. While pop and rock will fit easily onto 61 keys, you’ll find yourself running out of notes on classical and jazz pieces written for the full piano, making exciting use of those extreme upper or lower registers.

And you can forget any piano-style weighting or real/fake ivory feel here.

Five octave keyboards are strictly ‘synth-action’, often being able to read and express key velocity and pressure, but lacking any of the feel of a ‘real’ piano (or clever ‘weighted’ approximation). Sure, you can get good synth action five octave keyboards and bad ones too, but none are as good as a properly weighted, larger alternative.

49 keys (aka four octaves) meanwhile, is becoming the standard for hardware DAW controllers. That is, ‘soundless’ controller keyboards, typically aimed at producers and studio musicians rather than pianists.

These compact instruments are designed primarily for programming and MIDI control rather than traditional playing and as such WILL usually allow the recording of velocity but will also more usually lack pressure (or aftertouch) feel.

As for any kind of piano weighting… Forget it.

Want to go even smaller?

Take your pick! There’s countless options right down to those that feature mini keys for extra portability and even flat key octave-and-a-half controllers specifically made to be used alongside your laptop on the move.

Just remember, the smaller the keyboard the less authentically ‘playable’ it’s going to be.

Want to get notes out of your head and into your DAW. Fine. Want to jam and solo with a band? Maybe you need something larger…

Does size matter?

For an intermediate player, yes, it can. If you're working through piano grades, playing classical repertoire or serious pop and jazz arrangements, you'll increasingly encounter pieces that venture beyond the range of that popular, standard 61 key instrument.

As a general rule, if you're considering yourself as a player (rather than a producer or programmer) then 73 keys is the practical minimum for you. And weighted keys to replicate the feel of an acoustic piano is a vital ingredient in order to develop a ‘proper’ technique and ability to express ‘feel’ that you can actually hear and – in time – make your own.

88 keys is always preferable if space and budget allow and you’ll often find that the weighted action on such ‘piano controllers’ is even better. Full sized weighted or ‘hammer action’ keys behave much more like an acoustic piano than unweighted synth action keys. If you're developing as a pianist rather than a keyboard player, weighted keys on a full 88 key instrument is the combination worth aiming for.

Synth player and/or programmer/producer? Start here:

Not so fussed by style and feel? Want to sound great fast? A 61-note synth would be perfect for you.

Just starting out with a laptop and a DAW? Try a 49-note controller keyboard.

Making music on the move? Grab any of the many knob-and-slider equipped 37-note or less controllers from the likes of M-Audio, Arturia, Native Instruments and more.

One thing is for certain. Once you stop drawing notes on screen and start physically interacting with them via a music keyboard, you never go back.

Now go choose your weapon!

We'll give you a good head start with our pick of the current best keyboards on the market.

Belgian composer, organist and musicologist Sander De Keere has signed to Brighton-based indie label Phantom Limb and released a new song titled Pt 6.

Recorded on a faithful replica of a 1763 Contius baroque organ (constructed in 2022), the seven-minute composition is designed to pay homage to this heritage instrument and explore how it can be reinvented and reinvigorated in the modern age.

"You feel the music through your whole body", De Keere said of playing the organ. "It's incredibly physical. Each register holds a sonic character, and combining them becomes a kind of alchemy."

The song was recorded at the historic St Catharina Church in Wondelgem (Ghent, Belgium), and this spiritual setting seeps easily into the landscape of Pt 6, a track that smoothly blends minimalism and electronic experimentation.

This reflects De Keere's place in the world of music; born in Ghent and raised in Brussels, he focuses on bridging the gaps between historical music and contemporary sound, supplementing his releases with classical music lecturing and broadcasting.

On Pt. 6 De Keere's aim was to create "landscapes that challenge expectations of what a pipe organ can be", with nods to early sacred music, mid-century minimalism, the classical avant-garde and modern electronic experimentation.

And his ambitions run far beyond this release. Having signed to Phantom Limb, the rising Belgian composer is preparing to release his debut album later this year. Watch this space.

Before becoming one of hip-hop's most sought-after producers, Rogét Chahayed spent years honing his craft as a conservatory-trained pianist, composer and session musician.

That technical foundation, combined with an apprenticeship under Dr. Dre and Mel-Man, has helped him develop a musical identity that's landed him credits on some of the biggest releases of the past decade.

Having contributed to tracks such as Travis Scott's Sicko Mode, Doja Cat's Kiss Me More and Drake's recent chart-topper Janice STFU, Chahayed's studio reflects a balance between classical musicianship and modern production. Packed with hardware synths though it is, he still enters studio environments with the same instruments that first sparked his love of music.

Asked which pieces of gear he simply couldn't live without, Chahayed doesn't hesitate before naming the keyboard that's central to his creative process. “My number one keyboard is definitely the Nord Stage 4, but I combine some of my favourite sounds from the Stage 3.

“If I was going away on a trip for a week and could only bring one keyboard, I’d bring that one, because I know where every sound is blindfolded. It's also a performance keyboard and when you're recording a performance in the studio it's going to resonate like that on the record.

Meanwhile, when it comes to creating depth and texture, two keyboards consistently earn a place in Chahayed's sessions. “Another one that I love is the Korg KRONOS, which is fantastic for layering and organising sound categories. There are a few sounds on there that are just brilliant and it has the perfect combination of what you might call low-quality or low-tier sounds and ones that really cut through.”

“Another keyboard that I love to use is the Prophet X, which has an unbelievable sound selection. The 8Dio sound engine is the same that the Native Instruments and Kontakt people use, so it’s very cinematic.

Though Chahayed now owns a vast collection of instruments, he fondly reminisces about lusting after gear during his early days as a musician breaking into the industry. “When I started making a little money, I'd go to Guitar Center, try the keyboards and find myself coming up with all these amazing ideas.

"I thought to myself, ‘wow, if I had a studio with all these keyboards on a wall I’d be coming up with stuff all the time.’” Fast forward a few years, and Chahayed has built that very studio, which he describes as an “amazing” space to work in.

“I finally built my home studio, which is a really amazing place,” Chahayed says. “I have two walls of keyboards with about 30 or 40 synths and a Steinway piano alongside a Fender Rhodes and a drum kit.

“Over the years, I've developed an amazing system with my engineer Julian Vasquez where I’ll just bring a Nord Stage 4 and my laptop, which has millions of sounds organised for easy access to strings, synths, brass, woodwinds, basses and guitars. It’s like I’m playing one of those games where you're in control of an army and you have access to this whole artillery of sounds.”

Hardware may form the backbone of his setup, but Chahayed says his workflow wouldn't be complete without a handful of software instruments. “I can't live without my Kontakt libraries, so my MacBook is very important and I've been finding some incredible sounds in Native Instruments’ Play Series libraries recently.”

“I began as a piano player before shifting into keyboards, but realised that there was a whole world of VSTs that I needed to get into. At first, I was just showing up to sessions with one keyboard, but then it changed to a laptop loaded with Kontakt.

But what about the instrument that started it all? “I guess the last piece of gear or equipment I need is a good piano. Wherever I am, the piano is always the thing that grounds me; it’s where I discover a lot of movement and things that work with those other sounds, so my Steinway Model B grand piano is one of the most important tools that I own.”

Being able to do things one handed is an overused euphemism for something being easy. But one Northern Irish teenager has passed her piano Grade 8 using just her left hand. And as she explains in an article on the BBC website, it was far from easy.

Freya Terris from Lisburn, County Antrim, has become the first known pianist to have achieved this feat. Not out of choice, it should be added. Two years ago, the 17-year-old sustained a long-term injury and had to have surgery on her right hand. But despite her injury, she was determined to power on through and keep playing.

"My left hand could already play but not at all in the way that it now needs to," Freya explained. "I sort of stumbled into it and, without realising, built up that technique."

She contacted the exam board ABRSM to see if it was possible to get the qualification with some modifications to the pieces she would be required to perform. To their credit, ABRSM sent her a list of pieces to choose from, all specifically written for the left hand. "They were so encouraging, they were all up for it and just as excited as I was about it," she said.

Then Freya had to put in the hard work to pass the exam. “In my head, at one point, there was frustration that I was only playing this music because I can't play what I want to or what I used to play. That was hard.” Every so often she’d have to have breaks to rediscover her love of the piano. “I think that was necessary,” she explained. “The analogy we had used was that I was throwing myself at a brick wall.”

Freya passed and her success has had a knock-on effect – from 2027/28 ABRSM are introducing a one-hand repertoire list across Grades 1 to 8 for the first time in the school’s long history. "It's meant a lot, for me, what they have done and it is really exciting that this is something that other people can do," she added.

The teenager is planning to study music at university after she completes her final year at school. As you’d expect, her mum is very proud of her achievement. Of her daughter, Susan Terris said: "She's a very determined young lady who has pushed herself and keeps going. Any set backs that she has, she uses to her benefit to push herself forward and achieve her goals. Nothing will stand in her way."

What is it?

The CX102 is part of Kawai's new CX line, which takes over from the well-known KDP series. For years, the KDP-75 and KDP-120 have been favourites in the digital pianos for beginners category. Now, with the CX102 and the larger CX202, Kawai is offering a fresh option for anyone starting out, hobbyists, or families who want to get into piano without spending a fortune.

Sitting at the entry level of the CX range, the keyboard uses Kawai's Responsive Hammer Lite action, with fully graded keys designed to support the development of finger strength and technique. Kawai has carried over some of the hammer-sensing and key cushioning technology from their higher-end CN series, resulting in a keyboard with a softer feel than a traditional acoustic piano action, while still aiming to replicate its fundamental feel.

The Responsive Hammer Lite features a shorter pivot length than Kawai's higher-end actions; the pivot is the hinge around which each key rotates when pressed, making the keys lighter and more accessible.

While designed as an entry-level digital piano, the CX102 still features Kawai's Harmonic Imaging technology, sampling each key individually to deliver a realistic tone with ample dynamic range. The main piano sound is based around the iconic Shigeru Kawai SK-EX concert grand. Hand-built at the Shigeru Kawai R&D Laboratory in Ryuyo, Japan, the SK-EX is widely regarded as one of the finest concert grands in the world, regularly gracing the stages of international competitions and concert halls. There are three different SK-EX concert grand piano sounds: Classic, Jazz, and Mellow.

The CX102 also includes 17 built-in sounds in total, with the three SK-EX concert grand voices alongside 14 additional instrument sounds covering essentials like electric pianos, organs, string pads, and even an upright bass with a ride cymbal for walking bass lines.

For amplification, the CX102 uses a 2 × 11W stereo system driving two 12cm speakers tucked under the keyboard for a wide stereo image. The design is compact, simple, and clean, with just a few buttons, a keyboard lid, and three pedals. It's available in embossed black or embossed white.

The CX102 works with two free Kawai apps. PianoRemote lets you control the piano from your phone, allowing you to change sounds, adjust settings, and set the metronome without using the piano's buttons; particularly useful since entry-level models can be tricky to navigate. PiaBookPlayer turns our phone or tablet into a digital score viewer for the built-in lesson library, with pieces from Burgmüller, Czerny, and Beyer, and you can even turn pages using the pedals. Beyond Kawai's own apps, the CX102 also supports Skoove for structured interactive lessons and Tomplay for sheet music with professional backing tracks; both are available via separate subscriptions.

As I'd expect, the CX102 comes with a built-in metronome and recorder, plus a range of lesson pieces from popular classical method books. It also features material from Alfred's well-known piano method series, giving beginners a structured practice plan right from the start.

Performance

To me, the CX102 makes a quietly confident first impression. The cabinet is neat and unfussy, with a classic piano look and layout that feels immediately familiar – sit down, and you know exactly where you are. At just 40.5cm deep, it sits neatly against a wall without eating into the room, making it a practical choice for smaller spaces. I would say it does feel a little light and plasticky up close, but at this price point, that's clearly a trade-off Kawai has deliberately made, choosing to focus on what matters most, like the keys and the sound.

One small note worth mentioning is that navigating the CX102's functions relies on button and key combinations rather than a dedicated display, and Kawai has moved from text labels to icons on the control panel. Personally, it's not a dealbreaker, but it can feel a little unintuitive at first, particularly for newcomers to the digital piano world.

What makes the CX102's keyboard interesting is that Kawai has taken a different approach to the key action here. Rather than scaling down a heavier action, they've opted for the Responsive Hammer Lite, a lighter action originally found on more portable stage pianos, making it more approachable for younger players or complete beginners who might find a heavier keyboard tiring. The shorter pivot length does mean the key weight can feel slightly inconsistent depending on where you press, something acoustic pianists will likely notice more than beginners. Overall, the action is soft and pleasant to play, though more accomplished players may find it limiting when pushing into bigger, more dynamic passages.

The CX102 also benefits from Kawai's key cushioning technology, which dampens the mechanical noise of the keys during play, a small but genuinely useful feature for anyone practising at home without wanting to disturb the rest of the household.

On sound, the CX102, with 22 watts of power, produces a surprisingly crisp and vibrant tone that fills a room well. The stereo image is wide and immersive, even if the overall tone can feel a little boxy compared to more premium models. Experienced pianists may find the sound lacks the finesse and detail of a higher-end instrument, and I do feel it has a digital edge to it, but for an entry-level piano at this price, it delivers far more than you might expect.

Through headphones, as is often the case with digital pianos, the experience steps up a notch. The sound becomes genuinely immersive, with lovely low-end warmth and interesting tonal nuances that feel inspiring to play. I did notice the mids can get a little muddy, with not much room to breathe, but it's far from a dealbreaker. Having the SK-EX as the tonal foundation of a piano at this price is no small thing; the three grand piano voices are gorgeously sampled, and the additional 14 instrument sounds are simple and well-chosen; everything a beginner needs without overwhelming them. A personal highlight is the upright bass and ride cymbal combination, a neat touch for anyone looking to explore jazz and work on their walking bass lines.

The CX102 is well-equipped on the connectivity front, too. Dual headphone outputs, one full-size 6.3mm jack and one 3.5mm, make it easy for a teacher and student to listen simultaneously, while Bluetooth MIDI opens the door to a growing ecosystem of piano learning apps without a cable in sight. It's worth noting that, unlike the step-up CX202, Bluetooth Audio is absent here, meaning you can't stream music through its speakers from your phone. I understand why this isn’t included here, but it feels like a missed opportunity to me. Most modern learners will expect this functionality as standard, so it’s disappointing that we don't have it here.

Verdict

The Kawai CX102 isn't simply a remake of the much-loved KDP-75. It's a different proposition entirely. Kawai has made deliberate trade-offs in the right places, and the result is a compelling entry-level piano that delivers strong sound quality both through the speakers and headphones, solid connectivity, and an accessible keyboard designed to make those first steps at the piano a little easier and kinder on the fingers. The lighter build won't be for everyone, but at this price, it's hard to argue with.

The CX102 is at its best in the hands of a complete beginner, a younger player, or a family looking for a reliable first instrument that won't intimidate and won't break the bank. It takes a different road from the KDP-75, and while purists may miss the feel of the old action, for its intended audience, it makes a strong case for itself.

Those who outgrow it will naturally find themselves looking at the CN series for a more realistic action and richer sound, but that's a conversation for further down the line. For now, the CX102 does exactly what a good entry-level piano should: it gets out of the way and lets you focus on learning to play.

Hands-on demos

MusicRadar

Kawai Pianos

Specifications

What is it?

The Kawai ES120 is a portable 88-key digital piano and the successor to the popular ES110. Released in 2022, it builds on an already strong foundation with an improved keyboard action, refinements to its sound engine, enhanced Bluetooth connectivity, and a sleek visual redesign. Aimed at a broad audience from beginners and home players to gigging musicians and teachers, it sits in the mid-range portable stage piano bracket at a competitive price point.

Portability is a key feature of the ES120. Weighing only 12.5kg and measuring 130.5cm wide by 28cm deep, it is easy to transport to rehearsals or gigs and fits comfortably into most gig bags. Its design is minimal and functional, with a row of clearly labelled buttons along the top left of the instrument handling voice selection and key functions.

The ES120's keyboard features Kawai's Responsive Hammer Compact action, a fully-graded keyboard that mirrors the weight distribution of an acoustic piano, with heavier keys in the bass and lighter ones in the treble. Updated cushioning materials and revised key mechanics contribute to a quieter action and a more consistent playing experience across the keyboard, and both black and white keys feature a matte finish.

This model uses Kawai's Harmonic Imaging sound engine, with every one of the 88 keys individually sampled from the Shigeru Kawai SK-EX concert grand. Recording each note separately rather than stretching a smaller number of samples across the keyboard results in a more natural and consistent tone.

The ES120 also includes Kawai's Virtual Technician feature, accessible via the PianoRemote app, with 18 parameters covering everything from voicing and damper resonance to key volume and temperament. A Low Volume Balance function keeps the tone and touch natural at lower volumes, a useful addition for home practice.

It offers 25 built-in voices, covering all the essentials. In addition to its main piano sounds, you will find electric pianos, organs, strings, and other useful instruments such as vibraphone, harpsichord, and a bass and ride cymbal combination that is especially useful for exploring jazz styles.

Kawai’s ES120 is equipped with a dual 10-watt amplifier that powers a pair of 4.7-inch speakers, designed to provide ample volume for home practice and produce a clear, balanced sound with a convincing stereo spread. The keyboard is equipped with two headphone inputs.

Through headphones, the ES120 benefits from Kawai's Spatial Headphone Sound technology, which adds depth and dimension to the listening experience and, according to Kawai, helps reduce ear fatigue during longer practice sessions.

On the connectivity front, Bluetooth MIDI and Audio handle wireless app integration and audio streaming, USB to Host takes care of computer connectivity, and two headphone outputs alongside dedicated stereo line outputs cover both practice and performance needs. And of course, it is compatible with both PianoRemote and PiaBookPlayer apps.

Out of the box, the ES120 includes a damper pedal and a music rest. Half-pedal support is also available when using a compatible sustain pedal. An optional wooden designer stand and matching triple pedal unit are available separately, which neatly transforms it into a compact home digital piano. The ES120 is available in two finishes: Black and White.

Performance

Right off the bat, the ES120 makes a pretty strong first impression with its simple, sleek design. The control buttons sit neatly in a single row and are easy to access. Although it is lightweight, the ES120 feels solid and well-built, with a sturdy chassis and quality plastics that give it a reassuringly robust feel. It genuinely feels like it won't rattle apart on the way to a gig. However, the included damper pedal is quite basic and may not meet the needs of more advanced players. I’d say that upgrading to a better sustain pedal that supports half-pedalling is recommended to get the most out of the instrument.

The ES120's minimal button layout keeps things refreshingly simple, with direct access to the essentials. That said, navigating beyond the basics can get a little confusing without the manual, as some functions rely on button combinations that are not immediately obvious. For deeper customisation, including the Virtual Technician parameters for fine-tuning touch and tone, you will need the PianoRemote app; a reasonable trade-off that keeps the physical design clean, but worth knowing before you buy.

For me, the ES120's key action is where Kawai's expertise truly shows. The keyboard has a modest, no-frills appearance, with a plain matte finish on both the black and white keys and no simulated ivory texturing, but I don’t mind that at this price point. The touch is on the lighter side with an even response across the full range; some players may notice a slightly firm initial resistance before the action settles into a smoother feel once past that first point of contact.

Players who rely on precise pianissimo technique may need a little time to adjust. That said, playing fast and complex passages feels natural and comfortable, and Kawai has struck a good balance; the keys are neither sluggish nor overly forceful, making the ES120 a genuinely enjoyable keyboard to play at any level.

The sound of the ES120 is impressive for a portable piano and delivers a surprisingly wide, immersive tone. There is a slight boxiness to the sound that is common to beginner digital pianos, but it does not detract from what is an engaging and enjoyable listening experience at this price.

Now, a particularly useful feature for home players is Low Volume Balance, which automatically adjusts tone and touch at lower volumes, keeping the sound natural and responsive even during late-night practice sessions.

Personally, I think the ES120 performs particularly well through headphones. The main piano voices feel lush, warm, and detailed, and Kawai's Spatial Headphone Sound technology adds a welcome sense of space and depth to the experience, while also aiming to reduce ear fatigue during longer practice sessions; a thoughtful inclusion for an instrument at this price, for sure.

When it comes to voices, the ES120 offers a simple but well-chosen selection. The piano sounds are responsive and organic, the electric pianos warm and colourful, and the remaining keyboard instruments feel realistic and characterful. A personal highlight is the upright bass and ride cymbal combination, a fun and practical addition for anyone looking to explore jazz accompaniment.

In practice, the connectivity of the ES120 works exactly as it should. Bluetooth pairing is seamless, the dual headphone outputs are genuinely useful for shared practice or teaching, and the line outputs make plugging into a PA at a gig a straightforward affair. Everything performs reliably and without fuss, and I can’t ask for more than that.

Verdict

The Kawai ES120 is a confident and well-rounded portable digital piano that punches above its weight in almost every area. The key action is its strongest card; light and approachable without ever feeling cheap, and is comfortable enough to satisfy players at any level. The sound holds up impressively on both speakers and headphones, and the SK-EX sampling delivers a level of tonal quality rarely found at this price point.

It is not without its compromises. The plain matte key finish and the basic included pedal are the most obvious, and players with a classical background may need time to adjust to the lighter action. But these are conscious trade-offs rather than oversights, and none of them undermines what a genuinely strong package this piano is.

For a beginner looking for a first serious instrument, an intermediate player wanting something portable, or a gigging musician needing a reliable, lightweight stage piano, the ES120 makes a compelling case. At this price, it is hard to find a more complete portable digital piano.

Hands-on demos

MusicRadar

Kawai Pianos Global

Specifications

What is it?

The CA901 is Kawai's flagship Concert Artist digital piano and the top of their digital range. This is the most ambitious instrument Kawai makes before stepping into the world of hybrid pianos, which combine digital sound generation with real acoustic piano mechanisms. Aimed at serious home pianists, advanced students, returning players, and dedicated hobbyists, it offers the closest possible experience to an acoustic grand piano without the space, tuning bills, or price tag of the real thing.

Starting with the keyboard, all 88 keys are crafted entirely from wood, with finely textured ivory- and ebony-like surfaces, and each key pivots on a balance pin that replicates the seesaw motion of an acoustic piano action.

Now, Kawai’s Grand Feel III action has four key details: an extra-long key pivot length, which matches that of a Kawai grand piano; metal counterweights graded beneath each key, giving a balanced, substantial touch; a triple sensor detection system for improved responsiveness and note layering; and let-off simulation that recreates the subtle notch sensation felt on a grand piano when playing very softly.

When it comes to sound, the CA901 uses SK-EX Rendering. This exclusive sound engine combines multi-channel, 88-key sampling with resonance modelling. It captures the Shigeru Kawai SK-EX, one of the most celebrated concert grands, from multiple microphone positions. The result is a richer, more three-dimensional sound. Unlike most digital pianos, the CA901 also features a genuine wooden soundboard, like the resonating panel found in acoustic pianos. This soundboard vibrates to project sound. Driven by transducers rather than traditional speakers. Two top-mounted speakers with 360-degree diffuser panels, two front-facing speakers, and two tweeters complete the six-speaker, 135-watt configuration.

The CA901 comes with 96 voices in total, covering electric pianos, organs, strings, and more. At the core are two distinct SK-EX grand piano recreations: the Competition Grand, which is brilliant and clear with a weighty attack, and the Concert Grand, which is warmer and richer in character. Each comes with five rendering characters for further tonal shaping.

Rounding out the feature set, a 5-inch anti-glare LCD touchscreen lets you access sounds, settings, and the Virtual Piano Artisan voicing tools. Bluetooth MIDI and Audio v5, USB recording and playback, and Spatial Headphone Sound complete the connectivity picture. The CA901 is available in Premium Satin Black, Satin White, Premium Rosewood, Ebony Polish, and Natural Walnut, with a soft-fall fallboard included as standard.

Performance

First impressions of the CA901 are hard to argue with. The cabinet is compact and convincing enough to be mistaken for a small acoustic upright, and the build quality is immediately apparent, from the soft-fall fallboard to the sleek, anti-glare LCD touchscreen, which sits discreetly in the cheekblock without disrupting the piano's clean lines. To me, it feels like a well-thought-out instrument from every angle.

Although there are two small observations worth noting. I think the wood-grain texture on the satin black finish feels a little artificial. I’d say it’s worth considering one of the polished finishes if aesthetics matter to you. The CA901 is also notably slow to boot up, though with the complexity of the audio engine under the hood, this is perhaps to be expected, and a small price to pay for what follows.

Before getting to the sound, it is worth spending time on what most players will notice first, the keyboard. Kawai's expertise in piano making is on full display here, with the keys feeling deceptively real, and it takes a beat to register that you are playing a digital instrument rather than an acoustic one.

The let-off simulation and counterweights deliver a genuine sense of mechanical feedback with every keystroke, allowing for dynamic control and expressive nuance that is rarely found at this price point. The ivory- and ebony-like key surfaces are a pleasure to touch, too, with a smooth finish that absorbs moisture and maintains consistent control even during longer playing sessions. It is an impressive and genuinely pleasurable keyboard to play, and arguably one of the finest key actions available on any digital piano today.

Moving on, I’m happy to report that the three pedals feel solid underfoot, and I like that the sustain pedal supports half-pedalling, a must for many classical pieces and a nice touch from Kawai.

The wooden soundboard takes the experience a step further. Playing in the lower register creates a physical vibration that I could feel through the cabinet and my fingertips. This brings an organic quality to the playing that no conventional speaker system can replicate. The six-speaker system is equally impressive, delivering a wide, detailed, and immersive sound that easily fills the room. I soon stopped thinking of the CA901 as a speaker, as it simply sounds and feels like a real piano.

The piano voices of the CA901 are excellent across the board. To me, they have genuine realism, rich harmonics, and detailed resonance, whether through speakers or headphones. With headphones, the dedicated amplifier and Spatial Headphone Sound technology create a genuinely three-dimensional listening experience and a great sense of space. This makes extended practice sessions a pleasure instead of a chore, in my opinion.

The new SK-EX Competition Grand voice is a particular highlight. It’s vivid, responsive, and instantly inspiring, while the upright voice is characterful and full of life. The broader selection of sounds maintains high sampling standards, offering plenty to keep even the most demanding player engaged.

The CA901 covers all the connectivity bases you would expect at this level, and everything works as well in practice as it looks on paper. The touchscreen is responsive and intuitive mid-session, the Bluetooth pairing is seamless, and the Spatial Headphone Sound makes late-night practice genuinely immersive. The Virtual Piano Artisan voicing tools are a particular standout, offering a level of tonal control that goes well beyond what most digital pianos offer at any price.

Verdict

As Kawai's most advanced digital piano, the CA901 brings together some of the most sophisticated technology found in any digital instrument today, from the multi-channel SK-EX Rendering sound engine and Grand Feel III wooden key action to the Virtual Piano Artisan voicing tools and six-speaker system. It is the key action and soundboard in particular that blur the boundary between digital and acoustic, giving the CA901 a physical, tactile quality that is genuinely unlike anything else in its class.

Okay, so at this price, it is a serious investment, and is certainly not a beginner digital piano, but one that is hard to question when you consider what it delivers. Yes, the Yamaha Clavinova CLP-885 and the Casio GP-510 are both strong alternatives, each with its own take on key action and sound delivery, but I’d go as far as to say the Kawai CA901 may just be the best in its class.

Of course, piano playing is personal, and what feels right under the fingers varies from player to player. I always recommend trying each option side by side before committing at this level.

Hands-on demos

MusicRadar

Kawai Pianos Global

Alternatives

Specifications

What is it?

Expressive E is a company that has always pushed the limits of MIDI control, through its impressive lineup of hardware and software. At the very heart of its development manifesto is the ability to control electronic instruments in a unique way, exploring some of the outer limits of the MPE format.

Its journey began with the unique design of the Touché, a hardware controller of sorts, which was designed as an add-on to your existing MIDI or modular setup. Then came software that fully embraced the MPE format, inviting users and players to engage the Touché for all of those control niceties.

The pinnacle of its most recent explorations arrived a couple of years ago, with the Osmose synthesizer keyboard. This not only allowed us to see its unique keybed technology for the first time, but also gave us a very weighty onboard MPE synth engine, taking full advantage of a performance-level keyboard package.

Now Osmose is available in a new CE format, providing a cheaper controller option for those who don't need Osmose’s internal sound engine. The unique selling point is undoubtedly that, where other MPE controllers provide unique styling and design, the heart of Osmose is a traditional piano layout, at least at first sight. Beyond that, the Osmose keyboard responds to all manner of strikes, after touch-style pressure, lateral movement, and more!

Performance

So if you are paying considerably less for the CE edition, what are you losing? In essence, the onboard sound engine! The keybed technology is identical in every way, so we could easily argue that there is no compromise. The lack of a sound engine is unlikely to be a deal-breaker for anyone who is studio-bound and DAW-based. Apart from its availability in both a 49 and 61 key (four and five octave) format, there is an included bounty of over 900 sounds available, through the installation of the Ctrl-e software, which runs as a VST or AU plugin in your DAW.

At the present time, there is no standalone version of Ctrl-e, or indeed a version that might run on a tablet, but maybe that might be something that appears in future. Osmose CE integrates fully with Expressive E’s other products, and arguably opens an entirely new area of control for Soloiste (its virtual solo string instrument plugins) and Noisy 2 (synth), although the Ctrl-e software is a fantastic MPE showcase for other manufacturers too, who have contributed patches – Synapse, G-Force and Kilohearts, to name just a few – alongside Expressive E’s own included sounds.

Build and construct

The hardware itself is manufactured in Poland, with the component elements being a black metal base and aluminium upper panel. The keybed sits proud of the fascia, with pitch and modulation sliders located on the far left, along with a number of buttons and pots and the ever-important display.

Power is supplied via USB-C, meaning that you can plug it directly into your computer for both data/MIDI and power connectivity. It's a very neat solution. Should it be more convenient for your setup, you can also connect MIDI via more usual 5-pin DIN connectors, both in and out, although you will still need to connect USB-C for power. The build quality itself is exemplary.

Use and feel

So how does Osmose CE perform, as an MPE-biased controller, versus more regular pianistic use?

This starts with the physical attributes of the keys themselves. When you play a key, pressing it down with the force of your finger, there is quite a lot of travel. Unlike a piano or similar keyboard, there is no hard stop, that is, unless you increase the travel of your finger to the very depths of a key’s depression point. This means that you effectively have a halfway point, which might be considered the more usual stopping point for a regular keyboard. If we refer to the rest of the travel as an ‘aftertouch zone’, there is about the same degree of movement again, but of course, the point here is that you can initiate further control through the software, such as the induction of vibrato, or the application of some form of synth-based modulation.

Osmose CE goes much further, though, with lateral movement too, which often induces vibrato. Bizarrely, this concept of lateral movement dates back to the 14th century, and the instrument known as the Clavichord. However, Expressive E has taken the concept to new heights, with a high level of programmability which complements the sound engine palette. This means that you can engineer considerable secondary control, once the initial note strike has occurred.

Thanks to the accompanying Ctrl-e software, you can quickly get up and running with an incredibly extensive sound palette, which is designed to show off Osmose to its fullest potential. There are plenty of pads, synths and guitar-like plucks within the software, but we were also interested to test Osmose CE with its unique Soliste suite, which concentrates on members of the orchestral string family.

The level of control supersedes what may be possible with a conventional controller, but it underlies one notable point, which is that this is such a radical design that you may need to engineer some Osmose practice to get the very best from the action. It is a different instrument, in the way that it plays and feels, and while it's clearly very simple to switch to a piano sound, it is also a very different proposition if you are used to sitting at an acoustic piano, or one of the excellent fully-weighted MIDI controllers that are currently on the market.

Integration and install

There can also be a high level of integration between Osmose CE and your DAW. We were testing the unit with Logic Pro, but must note that installing all the appropriate software that might be required wasn't quite as simple as it could be.

The basic setup of plugging in gets you off the blocks very quickly, but installing additional components, notably the Ctrl-e software and support script for your DAW, are treated as separate elements.

The Ctrl-e software is essentially a sound source, in the shape of a plugin. The installation procedure was simple enough, but we had to do a number of full restarts of our system and Logic before the plugin was recognised and appeared. It just seemed to be a little bit temperamental, which might also be because of the presence of iLok, for authenticity.

The accompanying DAW script allows the Osmose CE to integrate fully with your DAW. This extends from sound selection within Ctrl-e, through to transport and even fader control. As a specification, this seems like a good idea; however, the Osmose CE display is nowhere near as gratifying as a computer screen, so while incremental/decremental navigation of sounds might be useful, it seems unlikely that you will use the onboard display when your computer screen will presumably be very close at hand.

Moreover, navigation via the display is through six infinite and clickable pots and five buttons, and while it does get easier with use, it’s not the most intuitive menu hierarchy or way of getting things done. It's also worth noting that loading times for many of the Ctrl-e sounds felt quite laboured. This did vary from one patch to another, and probably has everything to do with the sonic complexity of each sound.

There are two 1/4” jack connection points on the rear of the unit for pedals, one of which could easily be a sustain pedal. In operation, we also noted that applying the sustain pedal meant that any attributes that had been triggered within a patch, such as a change in filter cutoff, would not be held with the sustain. Presumably, this is to do with the nature of MIDI sustain pedals, where they tend to operate in an off/on scenario, for notes only.

You also have to use the display for making settings on the Osmose CE, which is entirely fair enough, particularly as you probably won't need to change these settings very often, but for DAW control, it feels somewhat surplus to requirements, although the tactile nature of the transport controls has a degree of appeal.

Verdict

Being available in both four and five-octave versions, Osmose CE is incredibly appealing for anyone making music within a DAW. It is capable of some pretty clever party tricks, such as the Pressure Glide mode, which allows portamento movement between notes, but with a useful degree of control and accuracy.

Where the jury may be out is with its attractiveness as a straight replacement for a conventional MIDI keyboard. If you are a pianist or keyboard player, there is an overwhelming attraction to an MPE controller, which looks identical to a regular piano keyboard. This is, however, where it ends!

The playing experience is very different to that of the piano, and will take some time and encouragement to fully embrace. Playing slower and more chordal progressions allows you time to embrace the MPE control, but rapid playing presents greater challenges, particularly as ends of notes are nowhere near as tight as more conventional controllers. The upside is, of course, you get all the other MPE elements, which you could not do in the same way with a regular controller, even armed with a bank of faders.

There is something very musical about the way you can approach playing Osmose CE, and we like that an awful lot. The only problem is that we are thinking that we might need to make space for two controllers in our studio setup, in much the same way that we have a weighted keyboard and a synth action keyboard. It has to be worth it, just for the sheer style of the Osmose CE!

Hands-on demos

Expressive E

Alternatives

Specifications

Akai Professional has announced updates to its range of standalone MPCs, giving the entry-level MPC One and keyboard-equipped MPC Key 37 Gen 2 upgrades that bring them in line with the MPC XL and MPC Live III.

As with those latter models, the big news is a significant step up in processing power and storage capacity. Both new machines feature 8-core processors, which Akai claims offers four times the power of the previous generation.

Both MPCs also now pack 4GB of RAM, up from the 2GB of their predecessors, along with 64GB of storage. The previous MPC Key 37 had 32GB of storage, while the MPC One+ had just 16GB.

The improved specs mean that both models can make better use of the MPC3 OS in standalone mode, with the capacity for up-to 32 simultaneous plugin instances and 16 stereo audio tracks.

The extra power can also be put to use for pro-grade stem separation and real-time time-stretching, although access to these features requires the optional Pro Pack expansion, which also adds the Clip Matrix seen on other new MPCs.

While there are big changes under the hood, the hardware units themselves are fairly similar to their predecessors. Whereas both the MPC XL and Live III saw the introduction of new interface layouts with additional hands-on control, both the hardware UI and I/O is largely unchanged here.

The most significant addition on this front is the introduction of multi-channel audio streaming via USB-C, which lets users stream multiple tracks of audio and MIDI to/from a DAW, as well as sample directly via USB-C. This is a feature I really liked on the Live III and XL, so it’s nice to see it included here.

The most notable omission of these Gen 2 designs is the multi-expression MPCe pads found on the XL and Live III. Instead, both of these new models stick with the velocity and pressure-sensitive pad designs of their last gen predecessors.

The MPC Key also keeps the existing 37 synth-action keys with aftertouch, pitch bend and mod wheel.

This may well come as a disappointment for users of the current models who have been anticipating an upgrade, although the absence does create a slightly more logical gap in capabilities between the MPC Live III and its cheaper MPC One counterpart.

"Whether you live on the pads or write everything on keys, the MPC One G2 and MPC Key 37 G2 give producers and beat makers the most powerful standalone MPC we have ever built at these prices," said Andy Mac, Director of Artist Relations at Akai Professional.

"From bedroom beat makers to established producer communities around the world, creators now have four times the power, MPC3 OS, and a powerful collection of instruments and samples ready to get you started. This is generation 2 of MPC standalone production."

Next gen

Akai’s MPC range has had numerous ups and downs over the past four decades, from the early days of Roger Linn’s designs through the company’s initial bankruptcy, sale to InMusic and a shortlived reinvention as a range of MIDI controllers.

Recent iterations of the MPC have been some of the strongest we’ve seen in years though, hitting on a winning formula that balances the self-contained creativity of ‘90s MPCs with versatile, DAW-rivalling production capabilities.

I really liked both the MPC Live III and XL when I reviewed those machines. The increased CPU power and USB-C streaming makes them far more viable standalone production machines for those that want DAW-like tools without being bound to a laptop. Given Native Instruments’ much-discussed turbulence and scant Maschine updates, these current MPCs are unrivalled at what they do.

The MPC One G2 and MPC Key 37 G2 are out now priced at $799/£729/€849 and $999/£849/€999 respectively. Both sport new colours inspired by classic MPC designs.

Check out full specs and included plugins below, or head to the official Akai site for more info.

Key features

Shared Platform Features (Both Models)

• G2 8-core processor with 4x the processing power of the previous generation
• 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage
• Up to 32 simultaneous plugin instances and 16 stereo audio tracks in standalone
• MPC3 OS with modern, track-based workflow and full Linear Arranger
• 7" full-colour multitouch LED display
• USB-C with 24×24 audio streaming, expanded MIDI, host and device support over a single cable
• Ableton Live Control Mode and Ableton project import/export
• Direct sampling from phones, tablets, and external devices via USB-C
• Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz, 802.11ac) and Bluetooth 5
• Over 20 GB of included content; NI Analog Dreams MPC Edition free at launch
• An optional Pro Pack expands both systems with advanced production tools including professional-grade stem separation, real-time time-stretching, and Clip Matrix.

MPC One G2 – Additional Features

• 16 velocity- and pressure-sensitive RGB pads across 8 banks
• 4 touch-sensitive Q-Link knobs with 4 accessible columns
• 5-pin MIDI in/out and 4 TRS CV/Gate jacks (8 outputs total) for hardware and modular integration
• SD card slot and USB-A port for expanded storage and accessories
• 11 included plugins and 9 expansion packs

MPC Key 37 G2 – Additional Features

• 37 synth-action keys with aftertouch, pitch bend, and modulation wheel
• 16 velocity- and pressure-sensitive RGB-backlit pads with 8 accessible pad banks
• 2 × 1/4" TRS inputs and 2 × 1/4" TRS outputs (stereo)
• 8 CV/gate outputs (4 × 1/8" TRS jacks), 5-pin MIDI in/out
• 13 included plugins and 6 expansion packs

MPC One G2 – Included Plugins (11)

• NI Analog Dreams MPC Edition (free, included at launch)
• Bassline
• Electric
• Fabric Select
• Hype
• Mellotron
• Odyssey
• Organ
• Solina
• Tubesynth
• Drumsynth

MPC One G2 – Included Expansions (9)

• Acoustic Tools
• Classic Drum Machines
• Apollo Retro Kits
• Percussion Tools
• ATL Song Starters
• Marco Polo Lo-Fi Boom
• Welcome to ATL Kits
• Welcome to ATL Melodics
• Producer Essentials

MPC Key 37 G2 – Included Plugins (13)

• NI Analog Dreams MPC Edition (free, included at launch)
• Bassline
• Electric
• Fabric Select
• Hype
• Mellotron
• Odyssey
• Solina
• Tubesynth
• Drumsynth
• OPX-4
• Jura
• Sub Factory

MPC Key 37 G2 – Included Expansions (6)

• Acoustic Tools
• Classic Drum Machines
• Apollo Retro Kits
• Marco Polo Lo-Fi Boom
• Gemini Future Classic Synths
• Orion Future Classic Workstations

Welcome to MusicRadar’s Deals of the Week, your go-to source for the hottest music gear deals online. Whether you’re a pro musician, bedroom producer, live performer, or passionate hobbyist, our weekly roundup guarantees you catch the best gear at unbeatable prices.

Well, this week, Guitar Center's fantastic acoustic guitar sale continues with up to 30% off a huge selection of instruments. You can still score major savings on acoustics, classicals, ukuleles, resonators, and banjos. The sale runs until June 24th, giving you plenty of time to grab a deal. All the top brands, Taylor, Martin, Gibson, Yamaha, Fender, Epiphone, and more, are included, making this one of the best chances to score a quality acoustic this year.

Sweetwater has just launched its drum month sale, which means deep discounts on everything percussion-related. We're seeing hefty savings of up to 55% off on electric kits, studio-ready acoustic kits, cymbals, snares, and so much more.

Now, the savings don’t stop there; Waves is still running specials on plugin bundles. If you spend $50, you’ll get one free plugin, and if you spend $80, you’ll get two free plugins. If you’ve been itching to upgrade your home studio, now’s the perfect time.

Lastly, Musician’s Friend Electric Guitar Month is here, offering incredible deals on select electric guitars, amps, and effects. You can also take advantage of special financing offers and stock up on accessories with 15% off qualifying purchases with the code ACC15.

Editor's picks

Looking for more bargains? Check out more recommended sales below:

• Thomann: Shop hot deals
• Fender Shop: Shop discounted Strats & Teles
• IK Multimedia: Save on iRig and AXE I/O
• Plugin Boutique: Save big on plugins
• Positive Grid: Smart amp sale
• Reverb: Save big on top brands

How we choose our deals of the week

Here at MusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear-related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our deals.

Our mission is simple - to help you make the best buying decision, find the right gear at the right price, to make the best music you can.

For us to recommend a deal it has to be a product we rate that’s been reduced to a genuinely great price or part of a truly fantastic bundle. It’s also important that we only recommend retailers that we trust.

You can see more of our product recommendations in our buyer's guides and reviews.

Why you can trust our choices

Our editors and writers are all experienced musicians and experts in their fields. They have a deep understanding of the categories that they cover, which means that you can trust their choices when it comes to recommending products.

We pride ourselves on the independence, quality and reliability of our testing processes and the reviews it produces. It’s what has made us the world’s leading music-making publishing company. You can find more details on how we test some specific key product categories, but the principles apply across the board, rigorously assessing build quality, functionality, playability and, of course, sonic performance.

We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, Black Friday, 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view of which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.

Where are the best places to shop?

Online shopping is definitely a lot easier and more secure than it used to be, and we like to recommend a small handful of online retailers who have a sterling reputation and offer fantastic benefits like fuss-free returns, great customer service and, in some cases, full checks and setup of guitars before they are dispatched. So, all the deals we’ll recommend on this page are from retailers that tick these boxes.

What sort of deals should I look for?

Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are a few key types to look out for:

• Single item - A single product with a great discount
• Site-wide discounts - A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
• Discount codes - Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
• Added value deals - These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items

Every good pianist knows the importance of dynamics – how loudly or quietly you play, basically – but other tonal terms have always been somewhat more subjective. Can you really make a piece sound ‘warmer’, ‘darker’, ‘brighter’ or ‘heavier’, for example, given that, once the hammer hits the string, the tone of the sound is supposedly out of your control?

This is a question that’s long been debated, but new research led by Dr. Shinichi Furuya of the NeuroPiano Institute and Sony Computer Science Laboratorie (published in ScienceDaily) claims to show that this level of touch and timbre variation is indeed possible on a piano via subtle movements of the player’s fingers and hands, and that listeners can identify it when they hear it.

In order to measure these movements, the researchers used a custom-built non-contact sensing system called HackKey. This is capable of recording the movements of all 88 piano keys at a speed of 1,000 frames per second and with microscopic spatial precision.

20 “internationally acclaimed” pianists were asked to play this specially modified piano in a variety of tonal ways – brightly, darkly, lightly and heavily, for example. It was shown that listeners - even those with no musical training – were consistently able to recognise the tonal qualities that the pianists were trying to convey, with professional pianists being particularly adept at doing so.

When the researchers analysed the HackKey data, they discovered that just a few very precise movements influenced the tonal changes, causing subtle variations in acceleration, timing and synchronisation between left and right hands. What’s more, it was noted that just one single movement could influence how listeners perceived the sound.

The researchers believe that these extremely subtle gestures are picked up through years of piano training, and are consistent among advanced players. As such, the findings challenge the assumption that such playing techniques are subjective, and that their perceived impact is somehow psychological.

Going forward, this means that students could potentially be taught how to play in tonally different ways by showing them the exact techniques required as opposed to giving them more ambiguous descriptive instructions. Music technology companies might be interested, too, as the research could give them a better understanding of how pianists actually play and enable them to tailor their products accordingly.

The study also feeds into growing scientific interest in understanding the nature of creativity and ‘dynaformics’ – the science of music performance.

In what feels like it could have been a scene from the movie itself, a piano-playing audience member at an orchestral showing of the 2016 musical La La Land has just stepped in for the on-stage keyboard player after they fell ill during the interval.

The Hollywood-worthy incident took place in Sydney, Australia on Saturday at the ICC’s Darling Harbour theatre. The first half of the show had proceeded without incident, but as the scheduled interval stretched out to 40 minutes, audience members started to wonder what was going on.

It was at this point that Justin Hurwitz, the La La Land score composer who was conducting on the night, stepped out onto the stage and asked if there happened to be a pianist in the audience who was also a top-notch sight-reader. It turns out that no one else in the orchestra was capable of filling in, and attempts to recruit a replacement player who could get to the theatre quick enough had failed.

“I figured nobody’s as close as they say they are … so I just thought, well, we have 2,500 people in here,” Hurwitz told Guardian Australia. “Yes, it was a gamble.”

Enter the suitably heroically named Sterling Nasa, a 21-year-old politics and international studies student at the University of Sydney, who was attending the show with his friend.

Knowing his skills on the piano and organ – and indeed the bagpipes, it turns out – she encouraged Nasa to boldly go where no audience member had gone before and put his hand up.

After Hurwitz had asked a few follow-up questions – “Are you sure? Can you really sight-read? Can you play key signatures you’ve never played before?” – Nasa took his place on the stage. However, having seen La La Land before, he must have known that he was soon to be faced with one of the toughest challenges in the score – the synth solo that Ryan Gosling’s character plays (on a ROLI Seaboard, funnily enough) when he’s on stage with John Legend during the song Start A Fire.

“The synth solo is really technical, and I thought, even a really high-level professional sight-reader would probably not be able to do it,” says Hurwitz. “As it was coming up, I was thinking, ‘Oh no, how’s he going to be able to handle the solo?’”

Nasa was equally concerned – “I saw it on the score and I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to sight-read that in one go,’” – so decided to do what most musicians have done from time to time during a performance: wing it.

“I took a little bit of a creative liberty and just decided to improvise, which I think ended up being a good choice,” said Nasa.

Hurwitz agrees: “To be able to play a really cool solo in the right key, in the right scale, on the fly with no rehearsal – it was remarkable,” he said.

Cue Nasa’s 15 minutes of well-deserved fame – he’s been doing the media rounds since his performance. However, having lived his La La Land dream, he will now return to his university studies.

To quote Mia, Emma Stone’s character from the film, though: "Here's to the fools who dream, crazy as they may seem."

Welcome to MusicRadar’s Deals of the Week, your go-to source for the hottest music gear deals online. Whether you’re a pro musician, bedroom producer, live performer, or passionate hobbyist, our weekly roundup guarantees you catch the best gear at unbeatable prices.

Right after the slew of Memorial Day deals, Guitar Center is kicking off a fantastic acoustic guitar sale with up to 30% off a huge selection of instruments. Score major savings on acoustic and acoustic-electric guitars, classicals, plus ukuleles, resonators, and banjos. The sale runs until June 24th, giving you nearly a month to grab these deals. All the top brands, Taylor, Martin, Gibson, Yamaha, Fender, Epiphone, and more, are included, making this one of the best chances to score a quality acoustic this year.

Sweetwater’s Recording Month sale means deep discounts on everything studio: microphones, speakers, interfaces, headphones, and software. Now, the studio savings don’t stop there; Waves is still running specials on plugin bundles. If you spend $50, you’ll get one free plugin, and if you spend $80, you’ll get two free plugins. If you’ve been itching to upgrade your home studio, now’s the perfect time.

Lastly, Musician’s Friend Electric Guitar Month is here, offering incredible deals on select electric guitars, amps, and effects. You can also take advantage of special financing offers and stock up on accessories with 15% off qualifying purchases with the code ACC15.

Editor's picks

Looking for more bargains? Check out more recommended sales below:

• Thomann: Shop hot deals
• Fender Shop: Shop discounted Strats & Teles
• IK Multimedia: Save on iRig and AXE I/O
• Plugin Boutique: Save big on plugins
• Positive Grid: Smart amp sale
• Reverb: Save big on top brands

How we choose our deals of the week

Here at MusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear-related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our deals.

Our mission is simple - to help you make the best buying decision, find the right gear at the right price, to make the best music you can.

For us to recommend a deal it has to be a product we rate that’s been reduced to a genuinely great price or part of a truly fantastic bundle. It’s also important that we only recommend retailers that we trust.

You can see more of our product recommendations in our buyer's guides and reviews.

Why you can trust our choices

Our editors and writers are all experienced musicians and experts in their fields. They have a deep understanding of the categories that they cover, which means that you can trust their choices when it comes to recommending products.

We pride ourselves on the independence, quality and reliability of our testing processes and the reviews it produces. It’s what has made us the world’s leading music-making publishing company. You can find more details on how we test some specific key product categories, but the principles apply across the board, rigorously assessing build quality, functionality, playability and, of course, sonic performance.

We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, Black Friday, 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view of which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.

Where are the best places to shop?

Online shopping is definitely a lot easier and more secure than it used to be, and we like to recommend a small handful of online retailers who have a sterling reputation and offer fantastic benefits like fuss-free returns, great customer service and, in some cases, full checks and setup of guitars before they are dispatched. So, all the deals we’ll recommend on this page are from retailers that tick these boxes.

What sort of deals should I look for?

Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are a few key types to look out for:

• Single item - A single product with a great discount
• Site-wide discounts - A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
• Discount codes - Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
• Added value deals - These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items

Welcome to MusicRadar’s Deals of the Week, your go-to roundup for the latest and greatest offers on top-rated music gear from around the web. Each week, we handpick a fresh selection of standout discounts, so make sure to check back regularly to stay on top of the hottest bargains and never miss a chance to upgrade your setup.

With Memorial Day Weekend drawing closer and the big day itself not landing until May 25th, there may not be any official sales just yet, but there is a surge of great deals worth shopping right now. While many of the biggest sales are still on the horizon, you don’t have to wait to score serious savings. If you’re keen to grab a bargain ahead of the holiday rush, there are plenty of impressive offers available right now.

Sweetwater has just kicked off a huge effects pedal sale, offering up to 35% off a wide variety of stompboxes. You’ll find $100 off Universal Audio UAFX pedals, plus major savings on brands such as Line 6, Digitech, Warm Audio, Electro-Harmonix, and many more. If you’re looking to refresh your pedalboard, this is the perfect time to explore what’s on offer.

For gigging musicians, Sweetwater is also running a Gig Essentials sale with up to 30% off strings, cables, and must-have accessories for a limited time.

After its recent relaunch as an outlet-style store, Musician’s Friend is serving up some major savings, with up to 60% off top brands. Right now, you can find up to 50% off electric, acoustic, and bass guitars, so if you’re in the market for a new instrument, it’s definitely worth a look.

Still going strong from last week, Guitar Center’s huge Live Sound sale continues, with up to 25% off leading brands like Yamaha, JBL, Alto, and Shure. Whether you’re shopping for new speakers, microphones, or other live sound essentials, these limited-time offers make upgrading your setup more affordable than ever.

Editor's picks

Looking for more bargains? Check out more recommended sales below:

• Thomann: Shop hot deals
• Fender Shop: Shop discounted Strats & Teles
• IK Multimedia: Save on iRig and AXE I/O
• Plugin Boutique: Save big on plugins
• Positive Grid: Smart amp sale
• Reverb: Save big on top brands

How we choose our deals of the week

Here at MusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear-related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our deals.

Our mission is simple - to help you make the best buying decision, find the right gear at the right price, to make the best music you can.

For us to recommend a deal it has to be a product we rate that’s been reduced to a genuinely great price or part of a truly fantastic bundle. It’s also important that we only recommend retailers that we trust.

You can see more of our product recommendations in our buyer's guides and reviews.

Why you can trust our choices

Our editors and writers are all experienced musicians and experts in their fields. They have a deep understanding of the categories that they cover, which means that you can trust their choices when it comes to recommending products.

We pride ourselves on the independence, quality and reliability of our testing processes and the reviews it produces. It’s what has made us the world’s leading music-making publishing company. You can find more details on how we test some specific key product categories, but the principles apply across the board, rigorously assessing build quality, functionality, playability and, of course, sonic performance.

We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, Black Friday, 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view of which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.

Where are the best places to shop?

Online shopping is definitely a lot easier and more secure than it used to be, and we like to recommend a small handful of online retailers who have a sterling reputation and offer fantastic benefits like fuss-free returns, great customer service and, in some cases, full checks and setup of guitars before they are dispatched. So, all the deals we’ll recommend on this page are from retailers that tick these boxes.

What sort of deals should I look for?

Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are a few key types to look out for:

• Single item - A single product with a great discount
• Site-wide discounts - A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
• Discount codes - Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
• Added value deals - These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items

SUPERBOOTH 2026: Earlier this month, we brought you news that Auxy, the Swedish developer behind the popular music-making app Auxy Studio, was preparing to release its debut hardware instrument, a keyboard stocked with sounds designed by content creator and musician Andreas Paleologos, better known as Cuckoo.

Today, Auxy has announced the release of that instrument, and it’s called Svensson 49. It’s a 49-key home keyboard designed with a focus on accessibility, simplicity and ease-of-use, equipped with a built-in speaker and a semi-weighted, velocity-sensitive Fatar TP/9S keybed.

As mentioned, Auxy partnered with Cuckoo on the development of Svensson, a well-known YouTuber in the world of music technology. Cuckoo was the lead sound designer responsible for creating Svensson’s bank of around 100 presets, which are divided into four categories: Drums, Bass, Bread and Butter.

The first two are self-explanatory, and the other two cover everything else that falls outside of those categories: keys, leads, pads, plucks, organs and more, spanning both acoustic and electronic sources. Svensson’s sounds have a distinctly organic and expressive quality, with a touch more personality and character than the presets you’ll find in the average home keyboard; it’s clear that a lot of love went into designing these.

Developed in-house by Auxy, Svensson’s polyphonic sound engine uses a combination of samples and wavetables. Each sound has three macro controls – Tone, Mood and Shape – and each macro has been customized to offer a tailored variation on each sound, dialling in effects on an independent per-preset effects chain covering reverb, delay, chorus, phaser, compression, EQ, and various styles of distortion and saturation.

Svensson is equipped with a multi-track MIDI looper that can play four different sounds at the same time, and each of those sounds can be looped in multiple layers, with no limit on length. There’s a metronome onboard, a tempo control, and the looper has smart quantization that can be turned off.

Loops can be stored on Svensson to revisit later, and you can trigger loops from its memory via the keyboard. There’s not currently a function for exporting loops as audio or MIDI to another device, but Auxy tells us that this is something that may likely be implemented in future.

As you’ll see in Cuckoo’s walkthrough video, Svensson’s looper is triggered when you start playing, and can be used to go back and retrieve ideas you just played without hitting record, a bit like Ableton’s Capture MIDI feature. (This is a brilliant addition – how many times have you played something great while jamming away and wished you were recording?)

On the hardware side, Svensson looks like a sturdy instrument, with a metal chassis and solid oak sides, and the interface is clean, stylish and uncluttered, in keeping with the theme of accessibility. Auxy says that particular attention was paid to the design of the speaker, crafted by Swedish speaker guru Ingvar Öhman, which is "surprisingly loud" and benefits from a bass port on the instrument’s rear.

Connectivity includes two ¼” line outputs, a 3.5mm headphone output, and a sustain pedal jack, along with USB-A and USB-C for power.

Svensson is currently in pre-production, and preorders for a first limited batch will start soon, with shipping set for early fall 2026. While a final price hasn’t yet been determined, it’s expected to be around €899/$999.

“We struggled to find products that combine ease of use, inspiring features, and a quality build,” Auxy’s Henrik Lenberg told us. “There are some great digital pianos out there, but we wanted something with more playful features, a broader range of sounds, a smaller form factor, and a design that feels at home in your living room.

“We wanted to make a great instrument for playing at home. Something that invites you to play and create in the moment. No need to read the manual or connect other gear. No menus to dive through. No modes to get stuck in. Just play, loop, and explore your musical ideas.

“A lot of music technology has been shaped around the idea that everyone can be a producer and make tracks for an audience. That’s great, but I think we’re moving in a direction where more people want to take part in music again, not only as listeners. People want to play to have fun, to be present, to learn, or to connect with others. Svensson was made for that.”

Find out more on Auxy’s website.

What is it?

Talk to any contemporary keyboard player and the chances are, they will hold an enormous amount of affection for the electro-mechanical piano known as a Rhodes. Much like conventional acoustic pianos, the Rhodes adopts a key and hammer mechanism, but instead of striking a string, the hammer strikes a thin rod, known as a tine. The tine vibrates across a pick up, producing the beautifully identifiable sound, which we intrinsically know as the sound of a Rhodes.

Of course, there’s a little more to it than than that, but as each note on the instrument requires its own set of moving parts, there's a lot going on under the hood of the instrument, although the instrument itself has significant history.

The version that we tend to think of as the original, is the Mark 1 Stage, which was originally released in 1970. Of course, there have been numerous revisions over the years, but many people still regard the Mark 1 and Mark 2 as the benchmarks, although purists will tell you why one is better than the other. That is until now, because under the direction of renowned keyboardist Dan Goldman, Rhodes is back on the block, and producing amazing hardware and software, with the pinnacle being the flagship Rhodes MK8, now complete with a full FX section and MIDI.

Performance

As any keys player of repute will tell you, the music begins with the action of the keyboard. Unlike other electronic pianistic instruments (which obviously have their benefits) the Rhodes has two aces up at sleeve. Firstly, being electro-mechanical, there is nothing quite like playing an action which offers the resistance of hammers, which is exactly what we have here. Moreover, the second ace up the sleeve is that Rhodes uses a Kluge keybed; this possibly won't mean very much, until you add that Kluge also supplies legendary piano makers, Steinway. The consequence of this is that you could effectively have a Steinway action available to you as a MIDI controller. That's insane!

Anyway, back to the action – as a playable proposition, the instrument simply draws you in, and it is beautiful to play. We were inundated with sudden interest, when the review model MK8 arrived. Suddenly, lots of our industry friends and colleagues wanted to come round for a coffee… “oh, and can we try the MK8 while we're there?”

Amp section

The instrument’s design looks entirely classic, although it has been given a thorough makeover by synth design guru, Axel Hartmann. In its most basic form, the MK8 is available in an original black Tolex style, with a black ABS top/hood. However, at the point of order, you are able to customise the instrument to your own stylings, which includes 13 different hood colours, and a bottom shell made from walnut. We’ve seen the walnut/smoked hood combo, which allows you to see the inner workings of the instrument, and it looks very nice indeed, but these customisable elements will increase the overall cost.

The MK8 still adopts an anodised silver front rail, for that original classic look, but this can also be swapped for a black front rail, at no extra cost. To the left of the rail, is the active preamp section. Much like the original Stage instrument, there are no inbuilt speakers, but you will hear the sound of the tines being struck, as you play. This is where you will need to take an output from the instrument and plug it into some form of amplification or studio monitoring. The good news is, the active preamplifier means that you get a workable signal level to use, which is also clean and pure as a bell! This does mean that the instrument requires power, unlike the original passive Rhodes Stage, but the sonic benefits are huge.

Within the preamp section, located to the left, is a wonderful ‘drive’ circuit (equipped with a basic envelope), which provides the classic distorted sound associated with many rock and fusion recordings, a parametric EQ channel and a tremolo. The Parametric provides a high and low cut/boost, with a mid range parametric, which we found to be extraordinarily useful for picking out certain bands that we wanted to highlight, particularly in the upper-mid register. Moreover, there are some alternative hidden features, available within each section, with the alt-parametric allowing an increase to the mid-frequency resonance, for getting even more squealy.

The Tremolo section is a total boon, particularly as this was never an original Stage option, being reserved for the speaker-bound Suitcase model. Rhodes has extended its tremolo’s functionality considerably, providing four different wave styles, from the original ping-pong square, to more subtle triangle & sine waves. The tremolo section, now described as Vari-Pan, also provides rate and depth control, so you can keep things subtle, unlike the original hard-panned ping-pong, which was more about on or off!

In our testing, we connected the MK8 directly to an audio interface, as well as PA speaker, and in all settings it not only sounded stunning, but provided clarity, definition and detail across all areas. The ability to fine-tune the EQ, particularly with a PA speaker in play, negated the need for an in-line mixer, which in a live scenario, is one less thing to plug in and use.

FX section

Unlike the preamp section, which is a prerequisite of the instrument, the FX panel section is an optional extra, at a cost of £1,299. This does away with the need to connect additional pedals, such as the commonly associated chorus and phaser, but being part of the instrument means that you keep away from earthing issues, not too mention the fact that the four included effects are entirely top-draw quality, and all-analogue in their makeup.

The FX signal path begins with a compressor, which we found to nicely shift from gentle to incredibly aggressive, according to your penchant and tendencies. The compressor is arguably more of a functional effect, but a mere entrée compared to what’s to follow.

The Chorus and Phaser effects are next, both offering immediate control of rate and depth. They both sound extraordinarily good, particularly the phaser, which we couldn't resist applying to every single sound that we played. Its thickening nature is sublime, and with subtle control of depth, made it possible to use very sparingly – just enough to make a difference in the mix.

All of the FX elements have their own controls, which includes an on/off button. The final effect is a delay, styled very firmly on the best tape-based vintage delays, and while it is also equipped with rotary controls for timing and feedback, a tap tempo button is a total boon for live control. It's worth noting that the performance elements have been thoroughly thought out. Deactivating the delay results in the signal decaying naturally, rather than switching off abruptly.

Of course, should you prefer to be more traditional in your effect approach, there is an effects loop, which we equally found to be perfect for connecting Small Stone phasers, and the like, but we continually found ourselves coming back to the internal FX, with their immediacies and complexities. The FX section also hosts its own set of alternative modes, for fine adjustment of compression settings or added extras like the ability to adjust phaser frequency.

Coming back to the tremolo, the Vari-Pan rate moves up into the audio spectrum, meaning that there are considerable possibilities for ‘playing’ the pan rate, while also playing the instrument itself. By combining elements such as this with other rate-based effects, the sound of the instrument moved well away from its original timbre.

You can set up a number of CV control aspects too, which logically suggests the attachment of pedals, but you could conceivably connect something Modular, for further chaos, while also connecting instruments to the FX loop input, meaning that you can send an additional instrument layer through the onboard FX channel.

Full sustain

One major improvement over the original instrument, is the total redesign of the sustain pedal. Unlike the original, which relied upon a rod from the pedal, the included sustain pedal is a robustly designed and built unit, which now relies upon a secure connection, with a cable running through it. In real terms, this means that the pedal won't fail halfway through a gig, remaining connected the entire time.

One of our favourite elements on the instrument, is the inclusion of MIDI out. Being an electro-mechanical instrument, there is no option for MIDI input, but the output (available via convention 5-pin din) opens up a number of options, both for studio and live use.

We had it connected to our computer system for a couple of weeks, and found the whole experience to be beneficial, from the perspective of playing live into the DAW. But undoubtedly, one of our favourite musical excursions, was through the connection of a Waldorf STVC – a string synth and vocoder – which allowed us to layer the Rhodes with classic string synth sounds, and even the odd vocoder patch. Ok, we’re not quite in Herbie Hancock’s musical league, but as a sonic exploration, we managed to lose ourselves for hours!

Double Rhodes

The highly regarded Rhodes app, which provides both Rhodes sounds and FX, is also a great partner for the MK8. With the ability to further layer sounds, which can become more complex within the DAW, a ‘Double-Rhodes’ can be highly productive, although we can't deny there is a strange sense of irony in doing so.

The MK8 is equipped with two sets of main output, on both XLR and 1/4” jack, and there are options for routing the signal to suit your own requirements. This could be particularly useful for live environments, but while the MK8 is lighter than the original Stage models, it still weighs 34kg, which to our minds, is not a manageable weight for an individual playing down the pub on a Saturday night. In any case, would you really want to take this beautiful instrument out to a venue such as this? No, we don't think we would, but it is certainly a prospect for a more professional gig setting, providing you have the back-lifting-power to provide porterage.

If external noise is an issue for you, a dedicated headphone output is located on the front of the instrument, just below the keyboard on the left. All the FX head to this output too, which is equipped with its own volume control.

Verdict

In an age of mass-produced consumer electronics, we have to ask ourselves where this instrument resides, as a musical proposition.

The Rhodes MK8 is a sum of parts. It is hand-assembled by people with passion for the instrument, in a new design which has looked at the flaws of the original, and made many considerable improvements. In doing so, they have also cast a musician’s and performer’s eye over the whole instrument.

The result is the Rolls-Royce of Rhodes revisions; from its immense playability, provided by the Kluge keybed, through to the extraordinary quality of the FX and clean outputted signal. It sounds like a brand-new classic Rhodes, but with plenty of capacity to extend the sonic palette to contemporary production. Like any organic and hand-crafted musical instrument, the price reflects its labour intensive build, but the payoff is an undeniable classic, for the modern age.

Hands-on demos

Rhodes Piano

Alternatives

Specifications

Welcome to MusicRadar's deals of the week, where we'll share with you the very best offers from around the web on some of our best-rated musical equipment. As the name suggests, we'll bring you a new batch of exciting discounts every week, so be sure to check back regularly to see what we've uncovered and stay ahead of the game.

We're now in the final days of Guitar Center's massive Guitar-A-Thon sale, which ends on the 29th. There’s up to 30% off thousands of items. There are hundreds slashed off everything from Fender to Gretsch, Epiphone to Taylor, and so much more. So whether you’re after a new acoustic, electric, bass, amp, or pedal, you name it, you’ll find it here.

As expected, Sweetwater's Keyboard Month Sale is still live, and again, time is running out to get involved. Korg, Yamaha, Nord, and a whole lot more are all in the mix with some genuinely great prices. Stage piano, synth, workstation, whatever you're after, it's worth a look. The music retail giant has also just kicked off a Headphone Sale this week, which is well worth a look. There are deals across Sennheiser, Kali Audio, Shure, JBL and much more.

It's worth noting that time is almost up on the Musician's Friend Spring Sale, too. With up to 60% off, the range covers pretty much everything: guitars, keys, drums, studio gear, the works. Definitely worth a browse while it's on, but be quick as it won't be available for much longer.

Editor's picks

Looking for more bargains? Check out more recommended sales below:

• Thomann: Shop hot deals
• Fender Shop: Shop discounted Strats & Teles
• IK Multimedia: Save on iRig and AXE I/O
• Plugin Boutique: Save big on plugins
• Positive Grid: Smart amp sale
• Reverb: Save big on top brands

How we choose our deals of the week

Here at MusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear-related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our deals.

Our mission is simple - to help you make the best buying decision, find the right gear at the right price, to make the best music you can.

For us to recommend a deal it has to be a product we rate that’s been reduced to a genuinely great price or part of a truly fantastic bundle. It’s also important that we only recommend retailers that we trust.

You can see more of our product recommendations in our buyer's guides and reviews.

Why you can trust our choices

Our editors and writers are all experienced musicians and experts in their fields. They have a deep understanding of the categories that they cover, which means that you can trust their choices when it comes to recommending products.

We pride ourselves on the independence, quality and reliability of our testing processes and the reviews it produces. It’s what has made us the world’s leading music-making publishing company. You can find more details on how we test some specific key product categories, but the principles apply across the board, rigorously assessing build quality, functionality, playability and, of course, sonic performance.

We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, Black Friday, 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view of which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.

Where are the best places to shop?

Online shopping is definitely a lot easier and more secure than it used to be, and we like to recommend a small handful of online retailers who have a sterling reputation and offer fantastic benefits like fuss-free returns, great customer service and, in some cases, full checks and setup of guitars before they are dispatched. So, all the deals we’ll recommend on this page are from retailers that tick these boxes.

What sort of deals should I look for?

Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are a few key types to look out for:

• Single item - A single product with a great discount
• Site-wide discounts - A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
• Discount codes - Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
• Added value deals - These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items

Given that one plays guitar and the other piano, Mark Knopfler and Bruce Hornsby might not seem like the most obvious musical “kindred spirits”, but Hornsby says that he’s always felt a stylistic connection to the Dire Straits frontman, and one of his songs in particular.

The revelation came during an episode of the popular Track Star YouTube show, in which musicians and celebrities are played songs in their headphones and asked to name the artist.

In Hornsby’s case, one of those songs was Dire Straits’ Sultans of Swing, which he not only quickly identified, but also compared to his own signature hit.

“I love Dire Straits,” he began. “I guess I've often cited that in the sense that, on Sultans Of Swing, Mark Knopfler – who's one of the great guitarists, with his own style – he's soloing kind of all through the record. And that's what I did, too, on [The] Way It Is.”

Recorded with his band, The Range, The Way It Is was Hornsby’s biggest hit by far, and reached No 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1986. It was unusual, though, in the sense that it leaned as heavily on his piano playing as it did his vocals – just like Knopfler on Sultans Of Swing, except with a guitar instead of a piano.

“I soloed in the middle, soloed at the end,” says Hornsby. “So I call them sort of stylistic kindred spirits on pop radio, because pop radio was never about improvisation at all.”

That’s as maybe, but The Way It Is continues to be a pop radio favourite, and has been interpolated on several hits since. Of these, Hornsby says that his favourite is Tupac Shakur’s Changes, which was recorded in 1992 and released in 1998, two years after his death.

“About a year after he'd [Tupac] been assassinated, out of the blue, I got a cassette in the mail of this song. They found it in his posthumous files. They send it to me, mostly to start the negotiations about publishing splits. And then a year and a half later it came out.”

It might be one of her signature songs, but Bonnie Raitt says that her 1991 hit, I Can’t Make You Love Me, wouldn’t have been the musical gut punch that it is without Bruce Hornsby’s piano playing.

Written by Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin, I Can’t Make You Love Me wasn’t a song that grabbed Raitt immediately. “I sent it to Bonnie and she didn’t jump up and down and say ‘oh my God!’, you know?” Reid told Top 2000 a gogo. “She didn’t do that - she called me and we talked and she said ‘would you mind letting me live with this?’ And then eventually she listened and got the song and so we just happened to have the perfect singer at that time.”

And, in the end, the perfect piano player. Speaking to The New York Times in a new profile of Hornsby – his new album, Indigo Park, is set for release on 3 April – Raitt says: “I think he made all the difference. The reason that song is the heartbreaker it is, is because of the way that he interprets those chords. That’s not how the demo sounded. Even in the intro alone, it already breaks your heart.”

We agree wholeheartedly but, according to Mike Reid, who played piano on that demo, it might not have ended up this way. He says that Don Was, who produced the song with Raitt, later told him that the recording of Hornsby’s part had its moments of tension.

“Bruce would play it and Bonnie would say ‘no, listen to the demo again,’” says Reid. “And Bruce was just very - this is the story I got from Don - resistant. And Don said ‘no, no, no: Bruce, listen to the demo’. And finally he said, ‘why don’t you get him [Reid] out here?’ and left the studio.

“And then he cooled - cooler heads prevailed - and he came back and made it. It’s essentially the [piano] line that we wrote, but he made it Bruce Hornsby. He made it his.”

Indeed he did, and the song itself has become a modern standard, covered by everyone from George Michael and Prince to Adele and Bon Iver.

The combination of Raitt and Hornsby brought a special kind of magic, though, as witnessed at the 1992 Grammy Awards, when the two of them performed it together.

What's more, the two are still collaborating: Raitt features on Ecstatic, a new Hornsby song that's included on Indigo Park.

Well, it's officially spring, and Amazon is celebrating with its Big Spring Sale. Over the next few days, we'll see prices slashed on everything from smart devices and TVs to toys, and, of course, musical instruments. Now, in previous years, I've felt let down by the offerings for piano players, but that certainly isn't the case for 2026.

I've searched through the full sale and uncovered enticing discounts on everything from digital pianos to synths, beginner keyboards, MIDI controllers, and more.

Prices range from a couple of hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, so there are potentially massive savings to be had.

Shop the full Amazon Big Spring Sale

Reading from the UK or EU?

Now, before I worked at MusicRadar, writing about music gear for a living, I used to sell pianos and keyboards in a busy music store. So, I’ve used my background in music retail to come up with my pick of the very best piano deals from across these mammoth sales.

Below, you’ll find my expert choices from various price categories and styles. Whether you’re a beginner looking for your first keyboard or an experienced player seeking a much-needed upgrade, you’ll find it here.

You'll want to hurry, though, as some of these offers are ending today, so don't delay if you spot something you like!

Should you buy a piano or keyboard in the Amazon sale?

Okay, so the Big Spring Sale isn't the biggest sales event of the year, but it still sees hearty discounts on everything from consumer tech, such as phones and laptops, to fashion, home furnishings and, more importantly, musical instruments!

I have been covering this sales event for several years, so I have a fair idea of what to expect, and I can say with confidence that you should most definitely be thinking about making your piano purchase around this time. If you can't wait until Black Friday, near the end of year, then now is probably the best time to grab a bargain.

Should you order a piano online?

While I fully understand the hesitation about ordering a piano online, the reality is, it couldn’t be easier to get your dream instrument delivered directly to your door. In our guide to ordering a piano online, I talk you through what to expect when you buy an instrument on a website, things to look out for, and give you helpful tips on finding the best piano for you.

Of course, it's good practice to go to a store and get hands-on experience with a product, but I'm fully aware that sometimes it just isn’t possible. You may not have a local dealer that stocks the piano you are looking for, you may not be mobile enough to get out and about, or you may feel intimidated walking into a bustling music store.

Just remember to discuss the delivery options with the store you are ordering from and make sure you've made space for your new piano well in advance of its arrival. Also, the piano is going to arrive disassembled, so be prepared to build it.

Shop more piano-related sales

• Guitar Center: Latest keyboard deals
• Sweetwater: Keyboard & piano offers
• Thomann: Shop hot deals on everything
• Musician's Friend: Serious keys-related discounts

Welcome to MusicRadar's deals of the week, where we'll share with you the very best offers from around the web on some of our best-rated musical equipment. As the name suggests, we'll bring you a new batch of exciting discounts every week, so be sure to check back regularly to see what we've uncovered and stay ahead of the game.

Now, if you follow us from week to week, you'll know that Sweetwater is running a month-long promotion on live sound gear, with up to 35% off everything from speakers to mixing desks. And it appears Guitar Center want in on that action too, with up to $500 off live sound systems from now until the 31st of March. From speakers to mics, wireless systems, and cables, you’ll find everything you need to perform live.

Moving on to deals for our UK readers, and with massive discounts on guitars, drums, studio gear, keyboards, and loads more, the Thomann Spring Sale is the place to bag yourself a deal on something that will inspire your music-making throughout the rest of the year.

With discounts on brands like Gibson, Fender, Universal Audio, Zoom, Soma, and many more, it’s easily one of the biggest and best sales of the year so far.

Editor's picks

Looking for more bargains? Check out more recommended sales below:

• Thomann: Shop hot deals
• Fender Shop: Shop discounted Strats & Teles
• IK Multimedia: Save on iRig and AXE I/O
• Plugin Boutique: Save big on plugins
• Positive Grid: Smart amp sale
• Reverb: Save big on top brands

How we choose our deals of the week

Here at MusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear-related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our deals.

Our mission is simple - to help you make the best buying decision, find the right gear at the right price, to make the best music you can.

For us to recommend a deal it has to be a product we rate that’s been reduced to a genuinely great price or part of a truly fantastic bundle. It’s also important that we only recommend retailers that we trust.

You can see more of our product recommendations in our buyer's guides and reviews.

Why you can trust our choices

Our editors and writers are all experienced musicians and experts in their fields. They have a deep understanding of the categories that they cover, which means that you can trust their choices when it comes to recommending products.

We pride ourselves on the independence, quality and reliability of our testing processes and the reviews it produces. It’s what has made us the world’s leading music-making publishing company. You can find more details on how we test some specific key product categories, but the principles apply across the board, rigorously assessing build quality, functionality, playability and, of course, sonic performance.

We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, Black Friday, 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view of which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.

Where are the best places to shop?

Online shopping is definitely a lot easier and more secure than it used to be, and we like to recommend a small handful of online retailers who have a sterling reputation and offer fantastic benefits like fuss-free returns, great customer service and, in some cases, full checks and setup of guitars before they are dispatched. So, all the deals we’ll recommend on this page are from retailers that tick these boxes.

What sort of deals should I look for?

Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are a few key types to look out for:

• Single item - A single product with a great discount
• Site-wide discounts - A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
• Discount codes - Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
• Added value deals - These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items

The further the initial impact of the Beatles recedes into history, the higher the prices for Fabs-related memorabilia rise. In the past week we’ve seen a piano that was once used by John Lennon fetched a record-breaking £2.5 million ($3.2 million).

That’s the most for any piece of Beatles-related memorabilia. But then it was the Broadwood upright piano that Lennon used to compose a number of songs for Sgt Pepper, including Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Being For The Benefit Of Mister Kite! and his section of A Day In The Life.

The piano was sold at Christie’s in New York as part of the Jim Irsay Collection, a group of items that belonged to the billionaire, who owned the American football franchise Indianapolis Colts until he died last year.

Irsay also owned a Ludwig drum kit that Ringo Starr had used both in the studio and live between May 1963 and 1964 – it was the kit he played when the Beatles appeared on the history-making Ed Sullivan show in February ‘64. That went for $2.4 million in the Christie’s auction and a drum head from Ringo’s next Ludwig kit sold for even more: $2.9 million.

However, the highest price at the auction went to an instrument with no connection to the Beatles (not directly, anyway). This was David Gilmour’s Black Strat which went for a whopping £11 million, thus becoming the most expensive guitar ever sold at an auction. Meanwhile, a Fender Mustang that Kurt Cobain used in the iconic Smells Like Teen Spirit video fetched more than £5.2 million.

In a statement, Julien Pradels, the president of Christie's Americas, said: "Lot after lot, we felt like we were making history."

"The Irsay sale did justice to the brilliance of the collector, and the monumental pieces he brought together - iconic objects that tell the story of our culture and our times."

Welcome to MusicRadar's deals of the week, where we'll share with you the very best offers from around the web on some of our best-rated musical equipment. As the name suggests, we'll bring you a new batch of exciting discounts every week, so be sure to check back regularly to see what we've uncovered and stay ahead of the game.

Well, this week, Guitar Center is continuing to make some noise with its Big Bang Sale. This is one for all the drummers. Right now, you can score up to 25% off everything from cymbals to accessories, or even treat yourself to a shiny new kit. But they've also added $200 off select Fender models so that guitar players don't feel left out.

Now, is your band finally ready to take to the stage and get your music out there? Well, you're going to need to invest in some quality live sound equipment. Luckily, you'll be able to hit the road running, as Sweetwater is currently offering up to 35% off a range of live sound equipment. From speakers to mics, wireless systems, and mixers, you'll find discounts on everything you need to perform live.

Meanwhile, Musician’s Friend has kicked off the Guitar Fest Sale, which sees up to 40% off a massive range of gear. From Epiphone to PRS, Music Man to Gretsch, and so much more, all the big guns are included.

Editor's picks

Looking for more bargains? Check out more recommended sales below:

• Thomann: Shop hot deals
• Fender Shop: Shop discounted Strats & Teles
• IK Multimedia: Save on iRig and AXE I/O
• Plugin Boutique: Save big on plugins
• Positive Grid: Smart amp sale
• Reverb: Save big on top brands

How we choose our deals of the week

Here at MusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear-related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our deals.

Our mission is simple - to help you make the best buying decision, find the right gear at the right price, to make the best music you can.

For us to recommend a deal it has to be a product we rate that’s been reduced to a genuinely great price or part of a truly fantastic bundle. It’s also important that we only recommend retailers that we trust.

You can see more of our product recommendations in our buyer's guides and reviews.

Why you can trust our choices

Our editors and writers are all experienced musicians and experts in their fields. They have a deep understanding of the categories that they cover, which means that you can trust their choices when it comes to recommending products.

We pride ourselves on the independence, quality and reliability of our testing processes and the reviews it produces. It’s what has made us the world’s leading music-making publishing company. You can find more details on how we test some specific key product categories, but the principles apply across the board, rigorously assessing build quality, functionality, playability and, of course, sonic performance.

We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, Black Friday, 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view of which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.

Where are the best places to shop?

Online shopping is definitely a lot easier and more secure than it used to be, and we like to recommend a small handful of online retailers who have a sterling reputation and offer fantastic benefits like fuss-free returns, great customer service and, in some cases, full checks and setup of guitars before they are dispatched. So, all the deals we’ll recommend on this page are from retailers that tick these boxes.

What sort of deals should I look for?

Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are a few key types to look out for:

• Single item - A single product with a great discount
• Site-wide discounts - A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
• Discount codes - Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
• Added value deals - These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items

Italian brand Frap Tools is known in the modular realm for its range of Eurorack gear, which centres around a collection of West Coast-inspired modules that balance gnarly sonics with neatly-labelled, stylish user interfaces.

Now the company is taking an ambitious step up with the launch of Magnolia, its debut analogue polysynth. The sleek-looking Magnolia takes a variety of the concepts Frap Tools has previously explored in its individual modules and combines them in a self-contained instrument equipped with a poly aftertouch keyboard.

According the company's announcement, "Inside [Magnolia] we put all of our most iconic analogue sounds: searing wavefolders, screaming filters, sweeping flip sync and, most importantly, through-zero linear FM."

The synth features eight analogue voices, each with two oscillators arranged in a modulator-carrier relationship. This set-up makes use of through-zero FM, a variation on the style of frequency modulation usually found in analogue synths that allows for a more natural and musical sound.

According to Frap Tools, these oscillators take inspiration from both West Coast synth design – in the vein of brands like Buchla and Serge – and more common East Coast elements. The first of the two oscillators is described as being the West Coast one, including a wavefolder and flip sync capabilities, while the second offers East Coast tools like pulse width modulation and fine tune.

Each voice also goes through a dual low- and high-pass filter setup. Each of these filters is 24db with adjustable resonance, and can be modulated at audio rates for further FM possibilities.

Given the emphasis on modulation, it’s unsurprising that Magnolia sports an easy-to-use mod routing system that allows users to assign destinations at the touch of a button and toggle modulation on and off.

Alongside its three LFOs and three envelopes, modulation is provided by Magnolia's Polymove function, a randomization generator that creates a random control signal for every voice and every destination within that voice.

For further expressive capabilities, the synth comes attached to a Fatar keybed with routable polyphonic aftertouch.

Magnolia is bi-timbral, with single, dual, split and morph modes, and features a per-part arpeggiator and per-part 16 step sequencer. On the effects front, multiple flavours of digital chorus and delay are available alongside stereo analogue distortion on the output.

In all, it looks like a lot of synth power in a single package, and has the potential to offer something quite unique against the backdrop of the current polysynth market.

If it all sounds somewhat complex, rest assured, Frap Tools claim Magnolia is an "analogue FM synth that's actually fun to play", where you can "forget about operators and just have fun exploring".

Magnolia is priced at £3699/€4199.

Find out more on Frap Tools' website.

What is it?

Arturia’s KeyStep range is a line of controller keyboards with a step-sequencer focus, and the new KeyStep 37 mk2 is the latest model. Offering a more performance-focused alternative to their KeyLab controller keyboards, the KeyStep devices are designed for use in both standalone and DAW-based setups.

Although visually similar to the KeyLab controllers, closer inspection reveals a bunch of features aimed at sequence creation. Meanwhile, on the back, support for CV, MIDI and USB formats means you’re all set to simultaneously control multiple types of devices.

Let’s take a look at the layout. The KeyStep 37 mk2 is built around a quality slimline keybed with velocity and aftertouch. On the left-hand side, you get ribbon-style modulation and pitch bend alongside octave shift and note Hold. A further blue Shift button provides additional functionality.

The top panel, which has been considerably reworked since the previous version, is centred on a mini OLED screen with push button rotary encoder. You’ll find various RGB backlit buttons on either side of the screen, and 4 rotary encoders on the right. Meanwhile, a line of 39 note-indicating LEDs accompanies the keys.

Back panel connectivity includes MIDI in and out, 4 CV outputs (pitch, gate, mod1 and mod2), pulse synchronisation (in and out), USB-C, sustain pedal input and on/off switch. Power is provided either via your USB-C connection or by using a regular USB-C power supply (this needs to provide 5V at 100mA). Alas, there’s no included PSU, but you do get a rather nice 2m Arturia-branded USB-A to USB-C cable.

Also included are licences for Ableton Live Lite and Arturia’s Analog Lab Intro instrument. Overall product management and activation is handled using Arturia Software Centre, and firmware upgrades and many device parameters can be set using Arturia’s MIDI Control Centre desktop app.

Performance

Much like its predecessor, KeyStep 37 mk2 is a single-track sequencer with step and real-time options and sequence and arpeggiator modes. However, with the removal of the physical arp and sequencer knobs, from an operational perspective, things have changed quite a bit. Now, buttons work alongside the OLED-based menu, which provides access to both settings and real-time parameter feedback. Meanwhile, holding down some buttons gains access to secondary functions. Global functions such as clock and transport mode (main/secondary) are now menu settings rather than real panel dip switches. Impressively, the 4 rotary encoders work with both the MIDI CC and Control buttons.

For MIDI CC output, the encoders have 4 banks, cycled through using the MIDI CC button. The Control button provides quick encoder access to parameters for the Sequence, Arp, Mutate and Chord modes once they are selected. The Shift button adds a further layer of settings and options across all the buttons, keyboard keys and rotary encoders. Thankfully, labelling is good and coupled with the OLED feedback and task-specific RGB button backlighting, it’s pretty easy to see what’s happening.

Much like the latest KeyStep mk2, the KeyStep 37 mk2 has some excellent creative features that help you enhance and manipulate patterns. For example, the Shift button, combined with the pitch and modulation ribbons, accesses the Gate and Spice features, respectively. The latter adds pattern variation with an optional dice feature (3 taps of the modulation strip) for randomisation of the outcome. However, of most interest is the Mutate feature, which is based on Arturia’s Minifreak option.

Designed to add a degree of musical randomness, it affects note length, swing, pitch and polyphony and can be applied repeatedly to sequences and arpeggios, but also completely reset back to the starting point. On the KeyStep 37 mk2 Mutate has extended functionality via the 4 encoders, allowing you to set parameters to influence the outcome. These vary slightly depending on which arp or sequence mode you’re using, but in essence, you have control over things such as probability, randomness, polyphony and density.

Verdict

The KeyStep 37 mk2, much like its smaller sibling, is an excellent upgrade and great fun to use. If you can afford the extra spend, the new encoders and particularly their excellent implementation make this the more desirable unit.

Hands-on demos

Arturia

Alternatives

Specifications

Welcome to MusicRadar's deals of the week! Get ready to dive into a treasure trove of fantastic offers on top-rated musical gear from across the internet. We curate a fresh batch of jaw-dropping discounts every week, so be sure to swing by regularly to catch the latest steals.

Well, it’s time for another round of MusicRadar’s deals of the week, and blimey, have the retailers been busy this week! Whether you’re after a shiny new axe, some studio gadgets, or just fancy treating yourself to that pedal you’ve been eyeing up, there’s something tasty cooking at all the big players.

Guitar Center is still going hard with their winter clearance sale, slashing prices across guitars, amps, and effects. With up to 30% off, we’re talking proper savings on Fender Player Series Strats, the ever-popular PRS SE models, and some cracking deals on practice amps that won’t wake the neighbours. If you’ve been holding off on upgrading your rig, now’s the time to pounce - but be warned, the sale does end on Wednesday, the 11th of February.

Over at Sweetwater, they’re doing what they do best – massive discounts with that legendary customer service thrown in for good measure. Their “You Deserve a New Guitar” sale offers genuinely eye-watering price drops on models from Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Martin, Taylor, and so much more.

Meanwhile, across the pond, Thomann’s serving up their usual treasure trove of bargains for our European mates. They don't have a specific sale as such, but the Harley Benton range offers ridiculous value alongside the big-name brands, so it’s worth starting there if you’re on the hunt for an affordable new six-string.

Editor's picks

Looking for more bargains? Check out more recommended sales below:

• Amazon: Money off accessories
• Fender Play: 50% off annual
• Fender store: Save big Fender
• Gear4Music: Clearance deals
• Guitar Center: Save on guitars & more
• Guitar Tricks: 1 month just $1
• IK Multimedia: $200 off Tonex Max
• Musician's Friend: Shop the BF Sale!
• Plugin Boutique: Money off plugins
• Positive Grid: Save on Spark
• Reverb: Save on used gear
• Sweetwater: Epic deals
• Thomann: Last-minute deals
• TrueFire: Save 60% on lessons
• Waves: Buy two get one free

How we choose our deals of the week

Here at MusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear-related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our deals.

Our mission is simple - to help you make the best buying decision, find the right gear at the right price, to make the best music you can.

For us to recommend a deal it has to be a product we rate that’s been reduced to a genuinely great price or part of a truly fantastic bundle. It’s also important that we only recommend retailers that we trust.

You can see more of our product recommendations in our buyer's guides and reviews.

Why you can trust our choices

Our editors and writers are all experienced musicians and experts in their fields. They have a deep understanding of the categories that they cover, which means that you can trust their choices when it comes to recommending products.

We pride ourselves on the independence, quality and reliability of our testing processes and the reviews it produces. It’s what has made us the world’s leading music-making publishing company. You can find more details on how we test some specific key product categories, but the principles apply across the board, rigorously assessing build quality, functionality, playability and, of course, sonic performance.

We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, Black Friday, 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view of which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.

Where are the best places to shop?

Online shopping is definitely a lot easier and more secure than it used to be, and we like to recommend a small handful of online retailers who have a sterling reputation and offer fantastic benefits like fuss-free returns, great customer service and, in some cases, full checks and setup of guitars before they are dispatched. So, all the deals we’ll recommend on this page are from retailers that tick these boxes.

What sort of deals should I look for?

Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are a few key types to look out for:

• Single item - A single product with a great discount
• Site-wide discounts - A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
• Discount codes - Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
• Added value deals - These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items

NAMM 2026 was absolutely dominated by AI-discourse. There were many eager music tech companies looking for new ways to incorporate the alleged world-changing potential of it. Then, there were those generative AI-oriented outfits trepidatiously floating around the show, subtly attempting to integrate themselves within a cautious industry.

While AI is, of course, a broad topic, a widespread perception for many in the music-making sphere is that AI is an existentially damaging force. What's more, is a pervading feeling that this disruptive new power should not be engaged with in any capacity.

It’s a view largely fostered by the rejection of copyright-infringing, generative AI-platforms, evolving into a mass lumping-in of anything labelled with those two little letters as aspects of the same malevolent entity. Even the stuff that may actually be pretty useful, is frequently tarred with the brush.

We were intrigued then, when we were personally invited at the show to check out a markedly different kind of AI-driven product. Allegedly designed to help human users become better musicians, this new product sought to arm piano and keyboard-leaners, and not replace any part of the human-instrument relationship.

In fact, this new tool - designed by Seaboard and Equator-maker ROLI, is entirely built around tightening that bond.

Ostensibly a smart AI piano teacher with a difference, we were told that this intelligent educational software monitors every nuance of the user’s playing, and verbally guides with smart, tailored feedback, angled at improving playing ability over time.

ROLI's AI Music Coach works in tandem with ROLI’s Airwave hand-tracking device to monitor all 27 joints in each hand, which are visualised on-screen at 90 frames per second.

It also works particularly well with ROLI’s vividly-coloured Piano to guide users through a range of colour-labelled exercises and challenges. Hand placement on the keybed is depicted on the screen in realtime, while the interface is entirely speech-based.

As we sat down in ROLI’s refreshingly quiet, dimly-lit (but aesthetically on-point) demo room, CEO Roland Lamb positioned this writer in front of the software, and willed me to explain to the new software who I was, my piano ability-level, and to choose a genre to angle the lessons around.

After communicating that I was more of a 17-takes kind of guy, my first test was to try and match the vocal melody of Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy, depicted on screen as a series of coloured blocks falling down into place over the respective piano keys, with my jittery hands visualised in real-time by Airwave, illuminating which finger should be on which key.

A few quite surprisingly stern responses were issued my way when the concept of an index finger mysteriously vanished from my head - but as Roland explained, this software replicates a real teacher - and evenly balances the fun with the firm.

“The sweet spot is a place where it's not too easy, it's not too hard.” Lamb told me. “You're being challenged in the right way and you're being encouraged, and it's like if you're being challenged too much and not encouraged enough, it doesn't work. In the same way, [it doesn't work] if you're being encouraged too much and not challenged enough.”

A polite way of saying my own playing needed a fair bit of challenging…

Once I managed to snap into gear with the required rhythm, I realised that this particular song-learning aspect was starting to rekindle dim memories of the era of Guitar Hero, albeit with a discerning brain behind the scenes keeping a watchful eye on what I was doing (and I'm not talking about Roland…)

Eventually expanding into chords and more nuanced polyphonic melodies felt like a dopamine-triggering challenge.

As Roland explained, this ‘gamification’ of the learning process has been carefully designed by ROLI to help those who are practicing on their own to improve their technique on a daily basis, merging discipline and play to alleviate the feeling of it becoming a tedious slog. A particular concern for young people just starting out in their journey.

“Lots of people have a certain amount of fear of piano lessons - a fear of failure,” Roland explained. “This kind of takes it away because it's friendly and you can do it on demand. And so there's a lot of ways in which the usability and convenience of a system like this will just help people get started.”

As Lamb continued, he explained how AI Music Coach can generate a personalised lesson plan, as it gathers data on your approach. “It can instantly generate new lessons and new feedback based on what you're learning or your level.”

That’s certainly something I noticed during my initial test as the piano speed smartly slowed down before gradually increasing as I got the hang of it.

Beyond learning particular popular songs, and leaning futher into the ‘gamification’ concept, we were shown one of the the platform’s on-board games, Superluminal - an Asteroids-style video game spin on piano teaching. It began by firing increasingly rapid single notes - which could only be ‘shot down’ by hitting the matching coloured key.

Ultimately, this became dual notes and chords. If the basic song-learning approach got the dopamine trickling then this was akin to a tidal wave. Built with the addictive ethos of a classic arcade game, the instantly absorbing nature of the experience was gradually achieving that age-old trick; teaching without the student even realising they're being taught.

The clear objective here is to facilitate the brain-mapping of the piano keyboard (and the linked notes of a key) via this atypical, addictively fun context, and not through hours of joyless repetition.

“You chose to play that game in C major,” Roland points out. “Maybe if you were working on [learning] a song, you know, in G flat, [AI Music Coach] would be like, ‘Why don't you play that in G flat’, so that you're learning more.”

“Or it might notice that you often make mistakes when it comes to your ring finger,” Roland continued. “A lot of people do, [it’s] the hardest finger to control. So, it might suggest an exercise to build strength or dexterity in your ring finger. It’s going to become incredibly targeted, and it will have insights that real human teachers can't have because they don't see.”

Roland went on to show us another facet of AI Music Coach, a more classically-angled view which guides the player through virtual sheet music.

“I’m a jazz musician, and I'm learning how to read music,” said Lamb. “This is really helpful for learning; I can choose different sections, it can help me adjust to the speed. We think that that is a really nice thing, because it can just work at so many different levels of the music-learning journey. There's a lot of conversations about AI, and particularly sort of [generative] AI for music. but we think this is the sort of best and first example of using AI for human interaction, teaching and learning in music.”

That leads us onto the potentially provocative elephant in the room; the fact that in 2026, the denial of AI-infused products as a matter of principle might scare away potential customers. Did Roland and ROLI contend with that concern when developing AI Music Coach?

“I'm not worried about it,” replied Roland. “But, I totally understand it. Here at ROLI, my philosophy is that AI and technology can be powerful as long as you use it in the right way, and our mission is to use AI to enhance the humanity of humanity. AI can actually help us to be more human by doing things like teaching us the piano and giving access to people who either don't live near a teacher, can't find one or can't afford one.”

Roland stressed that this product is not just for people who can't access a teacher. It's also for people who already have a teacher and want extra tuition between lessons.

“Often practicing is lonely and you're not sure if you're doing it right. I like to think that when you're practicing, you kind of are the teacher and the student at the same time. You have to impose discipline on yourself which is very difficult, because you don't necessarily even have enough information. It’s actually that relationship between being the teacher and the student at the same time that makes a lot of people give up. What [AI Music Coach] is doing is delegating the teaching or coaching function to the AI, and then you can just focus on learning, which is where you should be when you're learning. I think it's a much more efficient model.”

While our time with AI Music Coach was somewhat brief, it was pretty apparent that this hyper-engaging way of getting to grips with a keyboard certainly feels like it could be a satisfying antidote to the often daunting formality of traditional piano lessons.

However, the software - slated for release in the Spring - isn’t quite fully ready-to-go yet…

In our demo there were a handful of technical gremlins - including a slight crash requiring a restart, a mis-hearing of my name and the voice recognition software interpreting my Northern English accent as being Welsh-language (although to be fair, it later made up for this in having no problem swiftly adjusting to Lamb’s pivot from English to Japanese).

These hiccups aside, ROLI’s attempt to redefine AI and re-contextualise it is an educational aid is certainly refreshing. A proudly AI-labelled product that is centred around empowering newcomers to improve their own abilities is an ambition that’s hard to sniff at.

In a more formal statement, released via ROLI’s press team, Lamb was quoted as saying, “We are so excited about this breakthrough in music learning. The combination of hand tracking, advanced voice capabilities, deep musical knowledge, and a range of engaging experiences results in an entirely new type of practice. It’s more fun, but also more effective, because the AI Coach can give you feedback on your technique. And anyone can use it. You don’t need to be able to read music to learn, you don’t even need to be able to read. We think this is an important human-first use of AI. No AI slop.”

ROLI told us that the closed beta of the AI Music Coach opens today, with current Airwave learners eligible to sign up, along with Airwave preorders as they are activated.

A public beta will open by the end of March 2026, with usage limits still to be determined. The company is keen to emphasise that the AI Music Coach will be a cornerstone of its ongoing learning-angled experience. We’ll report back with more info when we have it. Find out more info here

We’re aware that movie action heroes tend to have ‘very particular’ sets of skills, but we never expected to be watching a trailer for a film in which the lead character - one who gets drawn into the murky world of organised crime - is… a piano tuner.

Tuner is that film, though. It stars rising (risen?) British actor Leo Woodall as Niki White, a young piano tuner who’s mentored by Harry Horowitz, played by Hollywood legend Dustin Hoffman.

It turns out that Niki has a hearing condition that not only makes him good at tuning pianos, but also identifying chords and intervals. He appears to be some kind of music theory savant with perfect pitch, but also suffers from hyperacusis, which makes him “allergic to loud noises” and may have been the reason why his virtuoso playing career was curtailed.

But is there a danger that nefarious thieves could exploit Niki and his talent and make him use it to do bad things? It seems that there is, because - according to the film’s blurb - the young man’s “heightened sense of hearing draws the attention of criminals, who see his talents as useful for opening safes as for tuning Steinways.”

Why would innocent young Niki do such a thing, though? Well, the trailer indicates that the motivation for his inevitable turn to the dark side is a need to pay an ailing Harry’s medical bills.

To make matters worse, it looks like he ends up dragging composition student Ruthie (played by Havana Rose Liu) into his increasingly fraught double life, putting her in danger, too. “I’m just a piano tuner, man” he says at one point, presumably as he’s starting to realise that he’s in way over his head.

It might sound like a preposterous pitch but, given the high quality of the cast and the fact that it’s co-written and directed by Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Daniel Roher, Tuner might just be a perfect one.

Explaining his decision to make the piano the focus of the movie to Deadline Hollywood, Roher said: "The piano is an infinite universe of possibility. I wanted to write a film that put as much emphasis on the sound and the auditory experience as the images and the visuals."

Early reviews have been promising, but we’ll have to wait until May, when the film is released, to make a judgement of our own.

NAMM 2026: Founded back in 1982, Kurzweil is a company that’s shown itself to have some serious staying power, still releasing pro and home keyboards into a very competitive market. The SP8, its latest offering, is designed for performers - but to simply call it a ‘stage piano’ would be to do it a disservice.

That’s because, as well as offering the piano tones you’d expect - not to mention organ modelling - the KS8 is also a 6-operator FM synth. There are vector synthesis waveforms, too, and Kurzweil has included sounds from previous instruments such as the K2700, K2088/61 and PC4.

In fact, there are more than 1,000 factory programs in total, spread across 10 categories, which equates to around 2GB worth of content. 200 factory multis make use of the SP8’s split and layering capabilities, and there are assignable knobs and buttons.

Up front, there’s an 88-note hammer-action keyboard, with pitch and mod wheels at the top left.

The SP8’s styling is pretty conservative - this is a keyboard that says ‘I’m here to do a job so let’s get on with it’ - but it looks reassuringly durable and “promises rock-solid reliability”.

And that’s what you really want in a stage keyboard. More details on the SP8 will be released soon, but preliminary specs are available on the Kurzweil website.

Welcome to MusicRadar's deals of the week! Get ready to dive into a treasure trove of fantastic offers on top-rated musical gear from across the internet. We curate a fresh batch of jaw-dropping discounts every week, so be sure to swing by regularly to catch the latest steals.

Guitar Center is kicking things off with up to 30% off in the "stay inspired" sale – and yes, that includes guitars, keyboards, interfaces, and so much more. Whether you’re after a new six-string, looking to upgrade your studio, or finally nab that PA speaker you need to sound better live, there’s bound to be something worth checking out.

Over at Sweetwater, the January clearance sale continues, offering discounts of up to 50% on a wide range of gear. It’s the perfect opportunity to snag some quality kit without completely decimating your bank account - but be quick, as it is ending soon.

Making our way over to Musician’s Friend reveals a generous up to 40% off in the Winter Sale. This massive sale has everything from up to $799 off electric guitars to up to $1,000 off keyboards and so much more.

Editor's picks

Looking for more bargains? Check out more recommended sales below:

• Amazon: Money off accessories
• Fender Play: 50% off annual
• Fender store: Save big Fender
• Gear4Music: Clearance deals
• Guitar Center: Save on guitars & more
• Guitar Tricks: 1 month just $1
• IK Multimedia: $200 off Tonex Max
• Musician's Friend: Shop the BF Sale!
• Plugin Boutique: Money off plugins
• Positive Grid: Save on Spark
• Reverb: Save on used gear
• Sweetwater: Epic deals
• Thomann: Last-minute deals
• TrueFire: Save 60% on lessons
• Waves: Buy two get one free

How we choose our deals of the week

Here at MusicRadar, we are experts in our field, with many years of playing, creating and product testing between us. We live and breathe everything music gear-related, and we draw on this knowledge and experience of using products in live, recording and rehearsal scenarios when selecting the products for our deals.

Our mission is simple - to help you make the best buying decision, find the right gear at the right price, to make the best music you can.

For us to recommend a deal it has to be a product we rate that’s been reduced to a genuinely great price or part of a truly fantastic bundle. It’s also important that we only recommend retailers that we trust.

You can see more of our product recommendations in our buyer's guides and reviews.

Why you can trust our choices

Our editors and writers are all experienced musicians and experts in their fields. They have a deep understanding of the categories that they cover, which means that you can trust their choices when it comes to recommending products.

We pride ourselves on the independence, quality and reliability of our testing processes and the reviews it produces. It’s what has made us the world’s leading music-making publishing company. You can find more details on how we test some specific key product categories, but the principles apply across the board, rigorously assessing build quality, functionality, playability and, of course, sonic performance.

We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, Black Friday, 4th of July sales and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view of which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.

Where are the best places to shop?

Online shopping is definitely a lot easier and more secure than it used to be, and we like to recommend a small handful of online retailers who have a sterling reputation and offer fantastic benefits like fuss-free returns, great customer service and, in some cases, full checks and setup of guitars before they are dispatched. So, all the deals we’ll recommend on this page are from retailers that tick these boxes.

What sort of deals should I look for?

Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are a few key types to look out for:

• Single item - A single product with a great discount
• Site-wide discounts - A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
• Discount codes - Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
• Added value deals - These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items

NAMM 2026: Clavia has announced the release of Nord Electro 7, bringing a fully-fledged Synth Section, redesigned interface, and dedicated per-section effects processing to the next generation of this long-established stage keyboard, along with many more enhancements.

Nord Electro 7 is the successor to Electro 6, announced at NAMM 2018, building on the foundations of that instrument to create a keyboard Nord tells us is the most versatile model in the Electro line to date. On first glance you'll notice that Electro 7 has been given a visual refresh, sporting a redesigned front panel with push encoders and a high-resolution colour display.

Perhaps the most significant addition to Electro 7 is the new Synth Section, which augments Electro 6's sample-based synthesis with a virtual analogue synth engine and basic FM capabilities. You get mono, legato and glide modes for expressive performance, dual ADR envelopes for amp, filter and FM amount, vibrato and a resonant low-pass filter.

This is joined by an improved Organ Section based on the Nord Organ 3, released at NAMM 2025, boasting authentic emulations of classic pipe, tonewheel and transistor organs along with a sophisticated rotary speaker effect with multiple mic placements. All Electro 7 models now feature physical drawbars with LED indicators for organ control.

Nord Electro 7's Piano Section draws on an extensive library of grands, uprights, and electric pianos, and has been bolstered by a new compression effect for dynamic shaping, improved timbral editing capabilities and three-voice unison.

The keyboard's Effect Section has been given a significant refresh, and each sound section now has its own effects chain with independent control. Effects onboard include a global reverb with spring, room, stage, hall and cathedral options and a delay with ping-pong, filtering and an analogue emulation mode. There's also a compressor, EQ, amp sim and an array of modulation effects.

Nord Electro 7 comes in three editions: 61-key and 73-key versions with a semi-weighted waterfall keyboard and a 73-key edition with a triple-sensor Kawai Hammer Action Portable Keyboard, the Nord Electro 7 HP.

In the connectivity department, Electro 7 features stereo audio outputs, dedicated monitor and headphone jacks, comprehensive pedal support including expression, sustain and rotary control, plus MIDI In/Out and USB-B for MIDI, updates and sound management.

Nord Electro 7 will ship later this year. Electro 7 61 is priced at £2299/$3299, Electro 7 73 is priced at £2499/$3599, and Electro 7 HP is priced at £2799/$3999.

Find out more on Nord's website.

NAMM 2026: We live in the era of multi-disciplined creators - many musicians are now equally adept at producing video content, for example - and, naturally, this is having an impact on the kind of products that are being designed and released. Korg’s new Liano Live! digital piano, for example, an evolution of its original Liano, which was released in 2022.

Built for pianists who want to livestream and/or record their performances, this promises to give you everything you need to make it happen. It ships with a mic and stand and has a built-in mixer, so you can set the volume and reverb levels of your vocals and the piano right from the instrument itself. It can be connected to your phone, tablet or computer with a single USB-C cable.

As if to reinforce the fact that this is a keyboard built for livestreaming, there’s an on-air button that triggers instant global muting. There are also 10 built-in rhythms and 76 one-touch sound effects, six of which can be assigned to dedicated buttons.

But what of the actual piano bit of the Liano Live!? Although the 88 keys don’t have a hammer action, they are full size and velocity-sensitive, and there’s 120-, 60-, or 40-note polyphony depending on which sound you have selected. There are eight of these (acoustic and electric pianos, organ, guitar, strings, bass/piano and drums/SFX), and they can be dialled-in from a clearly labelled knob.

Obviously, you’ll want to play the Liano Live! at home as well as to the online world, so a pair of front-facing speakers is onboard. It's also properly portable, running on six AA batteries for up to six hours when you’re away from a main power source. It’s compact and light, too - a mere slip of a thing at 7cm thin and a weight of 5.9kg.

Connectivity includes USB MIDI and audio, headphone, damper pedal, line in and line out (you can adjust the USB/line input level with a dedicated slider). As well as the mic and stand, you also get an AC adapter, pedal switch, cables and a music stand in the box.

There’s also some software - Korg’s Module and Gadget 2 Le apps - and a 3-month subscription to Skoove, the online piano lesson platform.

The Liano Live! is available now priced at $600/£549. Find out more on the Korg website.

What is it?

Just when you thought you couldn’t fit another keyboard in the AstroLab stable, Arturia introduced what could be the most important model in the range yet.

Following the hugely popular original 61-key and 88-key avant-garde stage keyboards is the new 37 slimkey edition with velocity and aftertouch.

The keybed seems similar and potentially identical to that of the MiniFreak synthesizer and the chassis has the sturdy build quality we’ve come to expect from the French manufacturer. In fact, it feels even more compact and portable than the MiniFreak despite the same key count.

The styling is unmistakably AstroLab, and on the face of it, it looks like Arturia has managed to cram everything into the smaller box. Even to the point of ditching the fancy screen-equipped rotary dial, instead favouring a separate screen and a smaller rotary dial for menu navigation.

While the previous two models were clearly skewed towards live performance, slipping into the pro stage-piano camp, the 37-key version looks to crossover into both live and studio scenarios with its more forgiving footprint. The build quality and form-factor will certainly lend themselves to becoming a giggable second keyboard as well as a studio mainstay.

Performance

When we first looked at the AstroLab 61, I was rather enamoured by the little screen with its integrated rotary dial. However, after the first few hours of use, the novelty started to wear off. Turns out, it wasn’t the most user-friendly experience as your hand obscured the screen whilst turning the dial, and don't get me started on the issue of fingerprints.

With this new edition, doing away with the seemingly unnecessary adornment, navigation through the menu system feels a little less cumbersome.

When it comes to the rest of the controls, it’s business as usual. AstroLab 37 features the same four master encoders for shaping sounds and four FX encoders for controlling and manipulating the onboard effects. The layout of the mod and pitch wheels mimics that of the previous models, too. Again, we’re sure serious players will bemoan the positioning above the keybed and not to the side, but it seems less of an issue within this form factor.

The overall menu user experience feels exactly the same and the interface isn't overtly cluttered. Generally, Arturia has done a great job of reducing everything down to this bite-sized package without removing too much.

The dearly de-Parted

As much as a sterling job Arturia has done, there are some unfortunate casualties in the downsizing, though they’re not real deal-breakers, mercifully.

As this form-factor is steering away from a pure performative, two-handed affair, there is less of a need for some features that really lean into this. Notably, there is a lack of physical controls for accessing Parts 1 and 2. From a performance angle, I get that the secondary keyboard in a live setting is often used single-handed. However, even in this scenario, splitting the keyboard is useful and having quick access to the individual parts is sensible.

The reason for this is that the two-part architecture of the larger models does not exist here. Rather confusingly, you can still browse patches that feature two parts in the Connect app, but you won't be able to access the controls.

The most obvious omission when peering at the rear I/O panel is the reduction of the vocoder inputs from stereo to mono. Now, while in a vocoding sense, a mono signal is fine, having a stereo input was great for processing audio into such instruments as Pigments. On top of that, looking at the rear panel, it’s not like there’s not enough room for a stereo input, so perhaps this and the aforementioned multi-Part omission are due to a reduction in processing power in this model, and a case for creating a wider gap between models and price points?

The other big change is the reduction in ports in the Control/Pedal section on the 61- and 88-key models. There, you were afforded the use of a Sustain, Expression and two customisable jack inputs, labelled Aux1 and Aux2. With that, you could connect up to four pedals, should you so wish.

Key points

Clearly, the real big change with this more diminutive edition is the keybed. It would be unfair to compare Arturia’s slimkeys against their full-size counterparts; the difference is so vast. Yes, they are way better than mini keys, but they’re not a patch on full-size keys when it comes to playability and performance. However, for a secondary live keyboard and for most production uses, slimkeys work just fine.

I mentioned earlier that it would make sense if this keybed is exactly the same as the MiniFreak. I was able to compare the two during testing, and I found they feel quite different from one another. It’s hard to say whether this is a manufacturing discrepancy or that the keybeds are totally different, but the result is that I much prefer the action and aftertouch of the MiniFreak, the AstroLab 37.

Each key on the MiniFreak unit we have for testing has a very obvious aftertouch keypress across the board. Whereas the AstroLab doesn’t have the same consistency across all 37 keys. That said, I’m not a huge fan of the aftertouch on the slimkeys anyway. Even on the MiniKreak, I wish for more of an obvious travel to the key press, allowing for greater articulation whilst playing.

The action, generally, is a lot spongier than that of Korg’s Minilogue range and the excellent Yamaha Refaces, but not unplayable, it must be said.

AstroLab Connected Universe

Reliance on external apps and software sometimes feels like a way of either shoehorning extra features or exposing deficiencies in the original design of a product. Not that either of those is a bad thing, as at least there’s a fix, right? In the case of AstroLab, it’s not just a case of one app, but the integration of a whole ecosystem, which is designed to join up with existing products.

In this instance, AstroLab Connect (iOS and Android) is the app used to bridge the gap between the hardware and Analog Lab Pro software. Thus creating a wider ecosystem that also integrates Arturia’s MIDI controller keyboards. Its main aim is to further enhance the ability to browse presets and playlists, affording you a slightly better user experience than trying to navigate the small onboard screen. I like the fact that there are a few more options available when it comes to editing sounds on the fly; however, it feels like it could go a lot further.

Another issue I had during testing was the flakiness of the app's connection with the hardware. The app connects to the keyboard of WiFi, which should be a robust and fast connection. Here, though, the process was fraught with problems. Chief among those was the connection dropping out after a relatively short period of time being idle. I also noticed the connection sometimes dropped out when I moved away from the keyboard, but only by a few feet.

Verdict

Despite my misgivings with the app and the keybed, and more specifically, the aftertouch. I really like AstroLab 37. I’m a big fan of the idea as a whole. Porting all of that V-Collection/Analog Lab Pro power into hardware is no mean feat, and the application of the top-level control with the eight macros is just right. There’s plenty of tweakability at your fingertips without the need for any prior knowledge of over 40 individual instruments. That in itself is a triumph, but perhaps the real win here is that you get all of this power distilled in such a useful and portable form factor.

That form factor, though, will not be to everyone’s tastes, but I think it throws AstroLab open to an even wider audience. An audience of not just performers, but also producers. There is one big caveat here and that’s the price. $/£799 is quite a lot and many home and small studio producers will likely think that buying a KeyLab with Analog Lab included, will suffice. However, it has to be said that there isn’t a keyboard of this size in the KeyLab range and you don’t get half as many instruments bundled in. Not to mention having all that softsynth power in a rugged, portable and standalone package.

Hands-on demos

Arturia

Alternatives

Specifications