MidiplusEK490+ MIDI Keyboard Controller

There weren't many reviews on this product when I bought it but the price was very affordable so decided to go for it. Hopefully this review will help others decide whether this product is for you. There is a basic version of this keyboard by midiplus that doesn't have many sounds (midiplus Easy Piano); I paid a little extra for the EK490+ to get more sounds. Glad I did because some of the sounds are quite good for an instrument at this price point.As an experienced keyboardist I didn't expect much from it, hoped it would be better than a toy. I wanted something battery powered I can busk with, easily move around on par with a guitar. This looked like it might be good for that. It has turned out to be pretty much everything I hoped for. Highlights are as follows:It has an acceptable key action. I would prefer a little more weight since I am a pianist but the positive tradeoff is less overall unit weight which is a real factor when carrying this device around. Light is good for mobile, which is what I got this for.In addition to an unremarkable but passable, slightly distorted piano sound, it has quite a lot of general midi type sounds (128) and some are quite good - electric piano, harpsechord, cello, english horn, clarinet, celesta, organ and some of the synth sounds are good enough for convincing solos. Some of the sounds are far better than I expected at this price point.It is easy to switch sounds if you know the instrument number you want.It is light and relatively small, yet the keys are full size.Battery power option means it has truly mobile capability and will put out sound without a power cord with 6 C batteries. It's not a huge sound but certainly enough for a small room or just to hear what you are doing without headphones.Octave up and down buttons allow you to easily switch to different registersIt appears to have the ability to record into memory and playback but I haven’t used that featureIt has midi in and midi out ports, but I haven't used them yet. I assume this keyboard should work fine as a controller.Overall plenty to work with as a mobile busking keyboard an par with an acoustic guitar.Idiosyncrasies I have discovered:Documentation is very limited so there are a few "tricks" I learned by experimentation:- If you plug in usb power there is no power to the internal speakers but headphone jack / audio out DOES work- the voice 1 / voice 2 buttons make a specific sound function slightly differently and on mine it seems the sustain switch for piano only works on voice 2 with piano sounds. Took me a while to figure that out.- On AC power the internal speakers put out sound - surprisingly weak on the default piano sounds yet quite good power on other sounds. Not sure why this is.- There is a separate "volume select" control for voice 1, voice 2, accompaniment. The default piano sounds seem weaker than the other sounds on the keyboard in default settings. It seems to help a little to turn up the piano sound with this "volume select" option. If you are wanting to push up the piano sound you have to do this setting every time you turn on the keyboard to over-ride the default setting. There are little lines that sort of visually show you how the "volume select" button can control voice 1, voice 2, accompaniment volume with the round knob. Expect to push buttons a bit before you get the hang of how this works.I wanted to have an option for long-term, rechargeable mobile power (without C batteries). So I hooked up a USB battery (big enough to charge a smart phone) to the USB port. This powers the keyboard for a long time without internal speakers operating or need for C batteries. I got a small rechargeable amp to put out a little more volume than the internal speakers do: Blackmore Pro Audio BJS 209 BT. This keyboard/amp combo puts out a pretty good sound for its size and totally mobile and "off grid"!Bottom line is I'm having fun with this little keyboard. Hopefully this review helps others decide.

AFAIK there's no other 49key midi controller available that has an LCD display,+plus (relevant symbol) it's own sounds that aren't bad {pretty darn good IYAME} (someone compared them to Reface© -i'd agree they're as good if not better sonically¡) Keybed's got a great solid feel & action, it's a diamond in the ruff that any pro could find beneficial, yet suitable for a beginner tooo utilize easily. An actual instrument that oughta be highly rated if this's not enough confirmation for it tooo fit that description IMHO folks

I recently bought a used 61 key portable keyboard made by a popular low end Japanese consumer electronics company from a seller off of craigslist. This was several months ago and I use this keyboard mostly for transcription and chord changes (tenor sax is my main instrument). I have finally started learning keyboard as I want to learn chord voicing and comping. I can practice at work as I usually have 10 to 20 mins between clients (I also work in multiple offices, so portability is important). My two issues with the 61 key keyboard is the size and the keys. "Portable" clearly is relative term and as for the keys, well, I'm pretty sure this company has shaped used water bottles into keys, 'cause that's what they sound like to me.The EK490+ literally is half the size of the 61 key keyboard. I received this in 3 days - reasonable. The EK490+ is a follow up to EK490 - and as far as I can tell, really did not change a whole lot - and yes - I'm willing to pay $21 dollars for a black instrument (and the '+' sign, I suppose). The Midiplus homepage does not even have this instrument listed, so I don't know if other than the color, there is a difference.The description describes a 9v power supply - which the EK490 came with...mine did not have a power supply - or so I thought. After looking over the EK490 comments, one reviewer mentions the cleverly hidden power supply in one of the end packing Styrofoam - mine was empty, but the ps fell out when I took the EK490+ out. One problem solved.My main complaint is the documentation and support and lack there of. At first I thought this had the same problem as the EK490 - the built-in midi player and the tuning - they have added a ton of vibrato - even to the piano - to hide the pitch variability; then I discovered the modulation wheel needed to be turned off (Voice 2 disables pitch and modulation- again not documented anywhere). Once I figured that out, on to the next issue.The sound output is really awful and probably the speaker. Better than a toy, but no where near any quality even for practicing. Headphones are much better, but the volume has to be turned down on the headphone, ow distorts loud tones (again - figured by trial and error).The best part - the keys, the KEYS, THE KEYS!. For semi-weighted, very nice. I have noticed the activation point is slightly different on different keys (and have read this complaint about other midi controllers) and for advanced playing, this could be a problem.I have not explored the midi features as much as the portable keyboard features, other than to test it works - it does, though there is a slight delay, probable due to the HDMI audio encryption/conversion on my monitor. I haven't had time to test this.Pros: the keys, the KEYS, THE KEYS! Yes - I love the keys - they are nice semi-weighted keys - maybe a little heavy, but nicer than any 49 key $100 midi keyboards I've tried. Midi keyboard with pitch and modulation wheels plus small size and complete instrument. Excellent for practice/learning.Cons: lack of documentation - this is not a keyboard for a novice or child unfamiliar with electronic keyboards. Also poor speaker sound output - speakers are what you'd expect for the price. Also a music stand would have been nice.I really should give this a 5 star rating for all the features and reasonable price, but the lack of documentation both in the description as well as online and in the box really prevents me from doing it.Note: works perfect for my portable need, but now I need a case - guess what - good cases are nearly as expensive (really good ones twice as expensive as this EK490+, ow it's nylon bag and (? box packing) for $30...

As a retired beginner learning to play the keyboard and having fun doing so, this keyboard is everything plus in all I can expect. Haven't explored all it has to offer however was able to connect up to the PC and play and record Amazing Grace in which I also added a track with my acoustic guitar. Sounds great. Can't wait to see what my next song can do. One question I have, I have a midi in and out connector to USB but how do I get it to work? The manual does not explain much. I simply use the USB to usb connector supplied with it and it works however it would be nice to connect the in and out and get feedback from a program to see how I am doing. Otherwise, all works flawlessly and I am sure it is user error here.

Owned many higher-end keyboards and needed a low priced one just to bang around with and play with the kids that had its own speakers and plenty of good built-in sounds (tones). Was plesently surprised when this one had all that plus good keys and key weights. If you're looking for these things don't hesitate to pick one of these up. The price (I paid $99) just can't be beat for the feature set and build quality.

For the price you can't beat it