We need more MIDI keyboard controllers with built-in audio interfaces, and there are reasons why having them built-in makes sense and is valuable.
The market for MIDI keyboards is large and varied. It is mainly dominated by major players such as Arturia, Korg, Novation, Roland, inMusic brands, and more. What is striking is that almost none of the current MIDI keyboard controllers have built-in audio interfaces. Why?
The audio industry almost ignores this market in a time of more mobile music productions and space-saving setups. Thanks to a comment on my Arturia KeyLab Mk3 review that reminded me to write a “real talk” about it.
Best MIDI Keyboard Controllers With Audio Interfaces
To make it clear, this is about MIDI keyboard controllers with built-in audio interfaces that can pass on and output audio. No synthesizers, electric pianos, grooveboxes or anything like that. It’s just a classic MIDI keyboard with controls.
The result of the search is somewhat sobering. I found four keyboards, or seven if you count the versions. I even have one of them. This is not a new invention. In the past, there were some MIDI keyboards with audio I/O, including the Line 6 Toneport KB37, Novation X Station, and others.
Korg Keystage 49/61
The most recent are the Korg Keystage 49/61 MIDI keyboards from 2023 that mainly score points with their polyphonic aftertouch keys (ASM Hydrasynth keybed) and MIDI 2.0 support.
One feature was somewhat overlooked. The Keystage is almost unique on the market in having an audio interface built in. It has 2x 6.35 mono outputs and a headphone output on the back. This means it only works in one direction, i.e., it is just an output audio interface.
I like to say it’s better than nothing. This way, you can output audio professionally without an extra audio interface hooked up. If the Korg Keystage 49/61 had inputs, it would have been perfect.
IK Multimedia iRig Keys I/O
The second is the IK Multimedia iRig Keys I/O, available in 25 and 49 keys versions. At first glance, the 2018 iRig Keys I/O looks like a regular MIDI keyboard with a somewhat “strange” design. Turn it around, and you get an I/O range that no other MIDI keyboard on the market can match.
It offers a built-in audio interface with a Hi-Z 6.35mm audio input with gain control and 48V for line and microphone signals, two audio outputs, and a 6.35mm headphone socket.
To top it all off, the whole thing is battery-powered, so it can be used in extreme mobile conditions. With the Keys I/O, IK Multimedia shows what is possible when you combine a MIDI keyboard controller with an audio interface.
I bought it second-hand a while ago because I was curious about how it felt and operated. It’s not perfect in its implementation. I can only say that it has a bizarre design (probably by the same designer as the UNO Synth Pro), an unnecessary and annoying proprietary USB cable, MIDI encoders that don’t feel nice, and tons of touch strips.
Nevertheless, it is a prime example of a keyboard and audio interface combo.
IK Multimedia iRig Keys 2
The Irig Keys 2 series, also from IK Multimedia, are also classic MIDI keyboard controllers. Unlike the Irig Keys I/O series, they have omitted the extensive interface but left a headphone output.
This means you can hear high-resolution audio directly from the keyboard. It is, therefore, not a full-fledged audio interface, but it can handle audio, a rarity in the MIDI keyboard area.
We Need More MIDI Keyboard Controllers With Audio Interfaces!
Yes, the number of MIDI keyboards with built-in audio interfaces is dwindling. If you want a configuration like this, you are very limited. I don’t know why this is the case in the industry.
Is it because companies prefer to sell you a keyboard and interface separately and thus have better margins, or is the market too small? Controllers from the past and today, including Korg and IK Multimedia, show it is possible.
There are many reasons why it makes sense to have an audio interface in the MIDI keyboard controller:
- Keep it portable: instead of lugging a MIDI keyboard and audio interface to a jam, you only have to take one device
- mobile music production: to avoid the dongle madness (USB hubs…) on iPads and other mobile devices.
- workflow: plug it into your computer/iPad, and you have instant audio and MIDI
- …
In summary, there are far too few MIDI keyboard controllers with audio options on the market. I hope there will be more in the future. It would be desirable.
Available at my partners
You should add a round up of older controller keyboards with audio interfaces that can still be found on eBay and Reverb. The Novation X-Station comes to mind.
No need, I wrote it 😉 “In the past, there were some MIDI keyboards with audio I/O, including the Line 6 Toneport KB37, Novation X Station, and others.”
Oops. That’s what I get for reading before coffee…
it’s just hard to convince the market… why not make a MIDI keyboard with a built in amplifier? or an audio interface with additional MIDI CC controls? I mean, instruments serving multiple purposes that apparently have nothing in common will often be more difficult to sell, let alone to explain to the public in general.
OK, it might because I only use a couple of controllers, but paint me confused and would like to understand the use case. Is the reason we want audio in or out as we passing this via MIDI to a computer (or receiving it from a computer)? I thought the point of a MIDI controller is simply for playing modules.
(My limited exposure here is a venerable Kawai M8000 and an Arturia Keystep.)
I just didn’t see anything above that described what I would do with the audio if it is being received and from where the audio comes for sending it out. That might help me understand the why…
I don’t mind laying my ignorance here on the line.
Cheers and thanks…
For example in my iPad setup for live performance and studio use. I need a USB-hub, a MIDI keyboard controller, and an audio interface to work with it. A keyboard that has MIDI and audio capabilities would make the workflow way more easier and portable. I could also travel with it without taking with an audio interface, more cable… A combo gives me everything I need in a device, connected with one cable.
So the idea then is that audio is interfacing to the computer (or in this case an iPad).
I don’t use a DAW, so for live and studio recording, I play live (or use sequencers) – all audio goes to a mixer and then the mix gets recorded as a file onto a computer. If I don’t like what came out, I treat it like a practice session and re-record it. For MIDI, I use it to control gear (sometimes even the mixer).
I am guessing this type of need just hasn’t entered my use case per se as I don’t use the computer as a sequencer or with a DAW.
Cheers…
Now that most controllers are USB, and many computers have few ports, it makes perfect sense to combine and integrate audio into a keyboard controllers. Audio output is obviously useful: play VI, hear VI. The case for audio input is perhaps less obvious: you’re working with mics or other audio sources and don’t want to setup a separate box just for 2 jacks. Shoutout to Kurzweil for including a great audio interface on their K2700 (great workstation).
Thanks for writing this, @Synth Anatomy.
When people choose an audio interface, there are reasons why they might not care for MIDI i/o on that box. Likewise, people can choose a MIDI interface that has no audio i/o– and that’s justifiable.
But when I saw that the Korg KeyStage included the audio outs right on the back of the unit, it seemed so obvious, like, of course you’d want that!!
Though not a simple MIDI controller, the Kurzweil K2700 gets high marks for including two versatile audio inputs, and having USB that is Audio, MIDI, and Storage. Take THAT concept and apply it to any MIDI controller, and you’ve got something.
I’d like to add, my pet peeve is how many controllers only provide 1 or maybe 2 pedal inputs. The minimum should be 2 switch pedals (minimum!) and at least one expression pedal.
And, it should be a minimum that all pitch wheels be true 14-bit, and not just 7 bit or 8 bit.
– Keys
– Knobs
– Buttons
– Display
– Sequencer
– Arp
– Audio interface
Maybe MPC keys isn’t so bad after all. Let’s see what MPC Key MK2 will bring now that MPC3.0 is about to launch.
Don’t forget CV / Gate implementation too.
Push 3 also has a built-in audio interface although for 1000 bucks it better have a built-in audio interface (and adat and a few other things as well).
yes but not a keyboard but pad controller 🙂
Sorry for my similar posts. Had captcha trouble before and got hung up (so I thought)
I still use a first generation M-Audio Ozone with an old XP system and my E-Mu E4XT to be able to load samples in and record stereo. They just don’t make something like that anymore, with full MIDI programmability onboard and stereo I/O. If the drivers got an update I’d use it with my primary system.
The ultimate midi controller would allow you replicate the hardware experience with software and I think the pieces are just about there for a manufacture to put it all together.
There are handheld mini PCs available which can run full blown vsts like Diva and you can get a controller from Arturia or Native Instruments which provide some of the controls pre-mapped by wrapping the vst in a proprietary host that communicates with the software however they stop just short of allowing you to hide the pc away (or run it from a headless pc stick). You usually still need a mouse to do things like save a preset.
The korg keystage is almost there if midi 2.0 ever gets wide adoption but it needs buttons to navigate multiple pages of controls.
My dream controller would be a cross between one of the controllers mentioned above with an integrated audio interface and a hydrasynth like UI with its buttons which allow you to directly select a page of parameters (“osc 1”, “filter”, “lfo 2” etc) but the buttons would use tiny displays like a stream deck so they could adapt to the vst.
It could incorporate keyboard shortcut macros like a stream deck that would allow you to open, brows and save presets as well. All you would need is a mini-pc to install the host and plugin into and this controller.
The Roland fp-30x digital piano has a class compliant audio interface and built in speakers. A lot of times, my set up is one cable from piano to iPad, and then I listen to soft synths in iOS on the speakers. Very simple