Looking for a SMALL keyboard...

I'm looking for a small--2 octaves or so--electronic keyboard that allows for 8+ note polyphony and preferably has an earphone jack.

I'd like something I can use sitting anywhere in the house or on vacation to work with ideas.

Any suggestions?

I'm assuming you want a working synth right? Not a MIDI Controller?

SameDayMusic.com: Korg X50 61-Key Synthesizer Keyboard

Korg - Product Details

I think Korg has a lot more portable synth keyboards. Also I would take a look at Yamaha, M-Audio and Novation.

If you have a Laptop, you might as well get a MIDI Controller, I would think. That way you can record/or-straight-into-sibelius.

Not that synths can't be recorded through a laptop, but MIDI Controller would be cheaper than "self-working" synthesizer (meaning it sounds even though you don't hook it up to your laptop). I'm told that MIDI controllers cannot make any sound by itself.

But then again, if you want to work with just couple ideas, no recording, portable synth is good i would say.

There are like folding keyboards, but i doubt they have headphone inputs.

I hope this helps and please excuse my rambling.

Thanks for the input.

Yes, I'm thinking a slef-contained synth. The one you posted is nice, but far too big for what I'm contemplating.

The size/octaves of the MIDI controllers is perfect, but they require the computer...

The size/octaves of the MIDI controllers is perfect, but they require the computer...

That's what you're going to run into. Any of the compact keyboards is going to be just a controller. Anything with a self-contained synth and audio outputs (i.e. headphone jack) will be bigger.

The smallest ones I found with a headphone jack are 49-keys.

M-Audio KeyStudio 49i | Sweetwater.com

Novation XioSynth 49 | Sweetwater.com

Otherwise, you're getting into 61-key territory.

What's your budget?

Amazon.com: Simba Electric Keyboard: Toys & Games

If you are just looking to poke around with ideas.. what is wrong with this? It's certainly cheap enough

Not exactly what you're looking for, but the Yamaha Np30 has built in speakers, a headphone jack, runs on both AC and batteries and only weighs 12 pounds, a fraction of what others weigh. Piano sounds are very good. I bought one for gigging, but it didn't feel good enough for what I do.

Hey--thanks for the responses.

the Xiosynth looks like perfect size. I'd like to keep the cost down though...

I might just end up with a casio special if the price is right. I didn't think it would be a big deal, with all the varieties of synths/keyboards, but...

Maybe I'll strole down to Guitar center and see what they have in the bargin bin...

That probably won't let you play more than a few notes at once.

PS...if you need to poke out a few ideas, why not just get a little moleskine notebook? Who needs a keyboard?

then get 2 of them :)

PS...if you need to poke out a few ideas, why not just get a little moleskine notebook?

If purism is your goal, why even the moleskine?

Ah, well, to each their own. For some people (me included) an actual physical sound-making device can be a great help get a clear picture of ones musical ideas (especially harmonically). For some things, pure imagination works fine for me, but sometimes that's just not enough. But it's all a question of one's personal workflow, I guess. (And of course also of one's level of musical imagination. When it comes to accurately picturing an "atonal" chord of five or six arbitrary pitches, I have to pass.)