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Palm Discovery gives a BIG THANKS to Brando for providing the product for this review.

To make things a little more fun and mix things up a bit, I decided to try out a gadget toy review instead of the usual Palm and Treo accessories review. This allows me to play, er, review something that is different and fun.

Today I will be reviewing Brando’s USB Roll Up Piano, which offers the creative music lover the ability to take their beloved piano with him wherever he goes, well, provided he has access to a computer. The USB Roll Up Piano as the name implies requires and connects to the USB port of your computer and is flexible enough to be “rolled up” so that it doesn’t take up as much space or be bulky to carry around.

Pics of Brando’s USB Roll Up Piano

Click on the images for a bigger picture

Video of Brando’s USB Roll UP Piano

Video at YouTube Part 1

Video at YouTube Part 2

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

Details of USB Roll Up Piano (taken from Brando’s website):

# Functions Include: Simultaneous 49 Key Activation — the 1st Ever!!

# 49-note Velocity-sensitive Keyboard
# Record Your Master-piece — Email To A Friend!
# Easy Storage!
# Innovative Interface Allows All Programming And Sound To Be Activated On Your Computer Screen Which Eliminates Unnecessary Bulky Plastic Bits!
# 8 Percussion Instruments
# 128 Non Percussion Instruments
# 6 Tones, 100 Prerecorded Rhythms
# Program Function To Record Your Own Rhythm And Beats
# Prerecorded Songs
# Tempo Adjustment (40-208 Beats)
# Metronome Adjustment
# Tone Effects (Librato and Portamento)
# Learning Feature
# Record/Playback And Program Option

Features:

# USB Powered
# No battery is required
# Plug and play
# Rolls up to small size
# Cable length: 108cm (approx.)
# Size: 75.5×16x0.4cm
# Weight: 625g

System Requirements:

# PC with Intel Pentium 4 or compatible processor that operates at 2.4GHz or faster
# 128MB or more RAM
# 100MB of available hard drive space
# Any Windows compatible soundcard using WDM, ASIO or DirectSound drivers
# CD-ROM Drive
# One available USB 1.1 port on your computer to plug in the piano
# Display adapter capable of 800*600 in 16 bit color
# Microsoft Windows XP with Internet connection

CD-ROM Included:

# * For the instruction, please right click on your cd-rom drive and select “open”, and follow the instruction in the “readme.txt” file

Package Contents:

# USB Roll-Up Piano
# Driver CD

Piano setup 3.0 and driver

The package comes shipped flat in a box with an installation CD. The roll up piano is made of a flexible rubbery material similar in texture to bicycle tubes in tires so you can understand that the material will attract dust and particles and quite grippy. There is a USB connector at the end of a cable that comes out from the top right (looking directly at the piano) so you’d obviously connect it to the USB port of your computer.

In order for this piano to work, you first need to install the software and drivers but I’d strongly suggest that you download and install the latest installation file from Brando’s website here. The reason is that the installation software in the CD is so outdated and will cause more problems if you install the older software than if you installed the latest one. It’s better to install the latest setup file version 3.0 instead. But, if you’re like me and installed the original v 1.0 file, you HAVE TO FIRST UNINSTALL IT before you install the newer version. Or, you will encounter problems. Originally, I didn’t uninstall the old version and couldn’t install the new version. Version 1.0 didn’t render the program correctly on my computer screen. At first I thought it was my laptop so I installed it on my desktop and the same thing happened. Buttons and other things were not aligned properly on the screen so I had to “guess” where to click in order to bring up pop up windows or do anything. So, it’s important to install the newest version. And the sound emitted didn’t sound anything like a piano but very strange twanging sound.

Once I uninstalled the old version and installed the newer version (I actually went to the developers’ website instead so my version is 2.3 instead of 3.0 as Brando currently has), it worked fine. The buttons and everything were aligned properly and the sound was as expected.

The USB roll up piano requires a computer for it to work. It does not emit the sounds from the piano but requires the sound card and software in your computer to render the sound. Actually, you will also need to run the program first before any key presses on the piano will be registered and played. So, it’s not enough to simply plug the piano to the computer, but also you’d need to run the program. So, in this case, it does require a working computer to be able to compose and play your masterpiece.

Once you have the program running, you can start playing on the piano directly and manually with your fingers. But, unlike most pianos, and even those portable Yamaha or whatever synthesizer ones, this piano’s keys aren’t really raised in such a way that is anything similar to a piano or music keyboard keys. You actually have to “press” directly on the keys in order for the sound to come out. For those who are familiar with any kind of piano keys, a lot of times, you will be able to simply place a bit of pressure on the key for it to collapse and render the sound. Not so with this. Due to the construction in making it flexible, the keys, although they are still raised to a certain point, isn’t raised enough or constructed in the same way to allow a piano player to play it in a similar manner. So, you are left having to press hard on a key or a set of keys to make the music. Needless to say, there’s no “touch” playing that most piano players will be accustomed to.

One good thing about this piano is that it allows multi-finger or pressing to render the sound. That means, unlike a lot of those fun one-button key music keyboard of yesteryears, you can compose chords to make a real song. Unfortunately, since I was tackling with the camcorder in one hand and mouse and keys in the other, I didn’t actually demonstrate that it was able to render a chord but believe me, it does play multiple keys.

In addition to simply playing manually on the 4 octave keyboard, you can also add additional sounds and effect and percussion to your song. As I’ve shown in the video, you can change the pitch of the sound, the beat, the tempo, the rhythm and even change the sound from, for example, a grand piano, to a bird chirp or even a helicopter (not that I can understand anyone playing with varying sounds of a helicopter).

As well, you can learn from the program. There’s a learning mode where you can select from amongst a few songs where it will display and “drop” notes on the screen so that you can play that note to learn how to play the piano. It seems fun but as a true learning tool, I don’t think that it can be very helpful.

Also, you can also save your musical composition. So, if you have the beat, rhythm and everything else loaded, you can start playing and record that special music composition. The resulting file will be saved as a .wav file. Although that seems like a great idea, the resulting recording when played back isn’t as nice the hear when played back. Now, I’m not sure if it’s due to the limitations of the software or, the limits of my sound card. You may want to try using an external microphone and just record the song outside of this program and see if the results are any better.

Here are my observations: The idea of having a portable and flexible piano is a good one since I’m sure that a lot of us dream of being able to make music anywhere so this may appeal to those musically talent people (myself excluded). Although the appeal is there, there are limitations to this particular USB piano that I am going to point out.

First of all, the construction of this piano doesn’t allow a true pianist or even someone who has ever played a piano to be able to play in the same way as he or she normally does. The keys are much harder to play since you need to press hard on them in order for the sounds to render. Second, you’d need to have both the software program running and have the piano plugged in, in order for the sound to be heard. Since a lot of us may not necessarily want to bring a laptop with us everywhere, the portability factor of this piano is somewhat dampened by its reliance on a computer. Third, the rubbery composition of the piano, although it’s there for the flexibility feature attracts dust and particles like crazy. Once you leave it out for a little while, you will find and will have a hard time getting rid of them. So, I’d suggest putting it away when not in use or you will find that your piano has become a giant dust ball in a big hurry.

As for the flexibility feature of the piano, at first, I thought that it was a great idea, but then, it doesn’t seem like it was that practical. I’m not sure whether it’s better to roll it up or leave it flat for portability. Compared to many other portable keyboards that are very rigid and thick and takes up quite a lot of space not to mention that it can be awkward to carry around, the Roll up Piano can be better in that respect. But how likely will you want to carry something that can’t create sounds on its own and isn’t as comfortable to play when you have to press a bit harder on the keys? So, as a toy, it’s fine but as a practical portable piano, I think you’re better off spending a bit more money on something that feels much closer to keyboard keys. Nothing compares to the feel of ivory on a piano so if you are looking to learn to play the piano, you’re better to get one, or at least practice on one instead.

Review Summary

The Brando USB Roll Up Piano seems like a great idea for a portable musical keyboard. It offers four octaves of keys, and much more than many other portable keyboards and with a software program that allows the user to customise the sound, percussion, rhythm, etc in addition to recording and saving your musical composition. But, although the idea sounds (pardon the pun) great, there are various aspects that limit the desired outcome. Due to the construction of a flexible and rollable piano, the keys are designed in such a way that they don’t stick out and require a bit of pressure on it in order to register a sound. For anyone who is familiar with piano or even portable keyboard keys, it will be quite different and even more difficult to play. As well, the rubbery, grippy material is quite an attractant for particles and dust and cleaning up may not be as easy. Lastly, although the program is capable of recording your musical composition, the resulting file may not sound as nice as we would have imagined once we play it back. Again, as I’ve mentioned, it could be due to limitations in my computer’s sound card or the software itself.

Keep in mind that this USB Roll up Piano is not meant to be a replacement for a portable piano or keyboard and is certainly not meant for learning purposes as it doesn’t offer the feel, touch that a piano or even a portable keyboard may provide. As a gadget or toy, and for entertainment purposes this isn’t bad but you must keep that in mind since it does offer a lot of features for what it does, but you must keep in mind that it is a gadget or toy rather than a true piano or keyboard replacement. This is something you may want to get as an attention getter to “wow” your friends. And it certainly does, as it got me interested enough to review it.

Keep reading Palm Discovery as I will likely be giving this away in a future giveaway contest (it’s taking up a bit of space at home) so you can experience first hand this cool gadget and claim to be the only guy or gal in the block to own something like this.

As always, I thank Brando for offering this product for the review and all Palm Discovery readers and supporters for your continued support of Palm Discovery to enable me to give these cool stuff away! THANKS!

Thanks for visiting and supporting Palm Discovery. If you are not reading this article from Palmdiscovery.com or Palmdiscovery.net, the website you are reading it from is copying and posting my content without consent. Please visit Palm Discovery for the original source of the material.

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