Synido TempoKEY K32 Play is a new 32-key, battery-powered MIDI keyboard controller with built-in sounds and Bluetooth.
In the past few years, several young Chinese companies have emerged in the music tech sector, including Donner, M-VAVE, and Synido. The latter is primarily known for its range of portable MIDI keyboards and audio interfaces.
Synido has released the TempoKEY K32 Play, a new MIDI keyboard that can also produce sounds without an attached computer.
Synido TempoKEY K32 Play
TempoKEY K32 Play is a new MIDI controller keyboard with 32 pressure-sensitive keys. Synido TempoKEY K32 Play is a keyboard that offers more than many classic MIDI controllers.
The front panel has eight assignable encoders, eight drum pads, and pitch- and mod-wheels as touch sliders. I prefer proper wheels. The M-VAVE SMK-37 Pro shows that this is also possible in the affordable range; they are good for the price.
Then, it has an OLED display, classic transport controls (play, stop, forward, backward…), note repeat, and a multimode arpeggiator. A chord function is not onboard, but it has a speaker on the left side. Yes, it has a speaker, but that has a reason.
Built-In Sounds
The TempoKEY K32 Play can be used as a classic MIDI controller connected to a computer or mobile device such as an iPad. It’s also possible to use it standalone without a computer, thanks to its built-in sound engine.
It is not an FM-style Synthesizer like the SMK-37 Pro or the Donner Starrykey 37, but rather a PCM sound player. It features 10 different drum kit sounds (room, power, electronic, TR-808…) that can be triggered from the eight kits.
Alongside this, it features 16 sound categories, each containing 8 ready-to-use sounds. It includes: piano, bass, reed, synthetic effects, orchestral, synthetic leads, drum instruments, colored percussion, string, wind, class of ethnic, guitar, brass, and more.
Synido ships the TempoKEY K32 Play with dedicated editor software, where you can customize all the MIDI controls, including pads, knobs, transport controls, and more. The sounds are not tweakable, but you can change the drum assignments.
Connectivity
On the back, the TempoKEY K32 Play has a USB-C port, a 3.5mm stereo headphone output, and TRS 3.5mm MIDI input and output.
To make the keyboard even more portable, the developers added a built-in battery that powers the unit up to five hours. On top, it has Bluetooth MIDI.
First Impression
At first glance, this is an exciting new mobile MIDI keyboard. It’s great that more and more MIDI keyboards are coming with built-in sounds and battery power.
Interestingly, almost all of them are from Chinese companies. Arturia or Novation don’t have anything like it. There’s also the Akai MPK mini Play MK3, which lacks the battery and Bluetooth.
Synido TempoKEY K32 Play is now available on the official website for $139,99 or from retailers like AliExpress.
More information here: Synido
Available from my partner
the Same price Like the Akai? why?
not the same price
I tried ribbons for pitch & mod a long time ago and was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it. If the pitch ribbon supports multiple touch points, interesting trills are possible.
As ALWAYS, no specs will ever be given to describe the actual qualities that matter (real world velocity accuracy, release-velocity capability, mod/pitch resolution, scan rates, etc)
OK, 130€ for the Akai. this is too much for an unknown Chinese “Brand”
C’mon man, what is this about?! Now you take orders from aliexpress?! There was a time when your site was serios about music and stuff
why just covering stuff for people who have a higher budget? Why not covering some interesting stuff in the lower budget tier?
Because you don’t want to see these things? Scroll further, there are many other articles. I’m open to every direction. I covered cheap guitar pedals from the first minutes.
i think they are interesting, especially the FM1!
I like the design of this. Wouldn’t it be exciting if they could add a sequencer – a basic one. Someone has to do one for a cheap keyboard with PCM !
Wasn’t Behringer suppose to rip off Arturia with something similar?
Arturia don’t have a MIDI controller with a sound engine, so difficult to rip off them. There was a leak of a MIDI controller with sounds that goes
in the same direction as the Akai and this one
Their site says it has “Pressure-sensitive keys” which I find hard to believe but if true would make it one of the only mini midi controllers with aftertouch other than the keystep.
They’er making a big deal about the built in general midi sounds which of course sound cheap and is not a unique feature but if it’s actually a bluetooth midi controller with a rechargeable battery and aftertouch that would be the real selling point.
But giving that it’s a cheap ali-express keyboard I have to assume “Pressure-sensitive keys” is a english translation for, it has keys and you can put pressure on them.
I have the M-VAVE SMK-37 Pro for $70 and was surprise how well it works for the price. Quality ok but still solid for the price. Synido is more of a higher-quality manufacturer compared to Donner or M-VAVE. Aliexpress is a sales platform like Amazon, which doesn’t automatically mean it’s cheap. They also sell directly or on Amazon.
I haven’t had a chance to try any of the Donner or M-VAVE controllers yet and wondered about the build quality for the price but they do tend to offer more interesting sets of features for mini keys than akia/m-audio/Novation etc who all seem to offer almost the same thing.
Synido isn’t a brand I’m familiar with and the listed features seem too good to be true for the price which made me skeptical. I looked up some youtube videos and everything I found just talks about the built in sounds and doesn’t mention aftertouch.
I’ve been hoping for someone to make a bluetooth mini controller with a built in battery and aftertouch so if I can find confirmation that it really has aftertouch I’d be happy to have my skepticism invalidated and buy one to try it out.
I haven’t heard of Syndio either but the M-VAVE SMK-37 Pro is excellent for the price (and far better than any low-priced Akai I’ve played, though it has been several years). If I were to hazard a guess with the Syndio engine, it looks like they’re using something along the lines of a Dream.fr SAM series GM chip, which are basic low-power filterless PCM chips. The bluetooth connectivity is probably built-in to an ESP32 CPU which is very cheap these days and I know both Donner and M-VAVE have been building electronic pianos for years along with surprisingly good quality guitar equipment. The GM chip is likely more expensive than running an FM synth from an ESP32 or other ARM chip.
My guess with “pressure sensitive” is just velocity, which the M-VAVE/Donner also has. The only mini-keyboard I’m aware of with pressure sensitive aftertouch is the Hydrasynth Explorer.