Lumi Keys

Lumi Keys are great fun. I’m trying to persuade myself to do more piano practice and a keyboard that lights up as you play it sounded like a great idea. Particularly if the keyboard supports aftertouch (you can press the the keys down harder to affect the sound of a playing note) and you can change the sound of the note by wobbling the key from left to right after you’ve played it. All this is sent out using MPE (Midi Polyphonic Expression) messages which work with a lot of modern sequencers. So of course I bought one. The package that I bought is called the Studio Edition and comes with drum and player applications that make really nice sounds.

The keys are not quite full sized, but they are big enough. The aftertouch and wobble effects do work, but they are not totally consistent across all the keys. Some keys need more wobble than others. However, they do allow for a lot more expressive playing. And the lighting effect is awesome. It really makes playing a keyboard a performance. There are a variety of different colour schemes and you can get the keys to highlight different scales and keys. You can also change the response curves of the various inputs.

There’s a learning app for IOS and Android devices that lights up the keys that you need to play to knock out a tune. This turns piano playing into a game a bit like Guitar Hero. I’ve had a quick go and it looks like fun, although I’m not sure how it would help you to read music, which is a key skill for a piano player.

At the moment I’m really enjoying playing with the keyboard. I’m even thinking of getting a second one. The keyboards have cunning connectors on the end so that you can double the number of keys available by just snapping another keyboard into place.