Korg NanoKEY Studio compatible w/Ubuntu-based distros?

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raffguitar++
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Korg NanoKEY Studio compatible w/Ubuntu-based distros?

Post by raffguitar++ »

Hi folks,

My old MIDI keybd controller has pretty much had it (numerous keys broken, etc), and I need to downsize a bit anyway; The Korg NanoKEY Studio controller looks awesome and would be absolutely perfect for me, IF it works w/Linux.

I don't care about Korg's software that's supposed to complement it, I just need the basic MIDI functionality and be able to use it w/ZynAddSubFX, etc. (Maybe assign some drums to the pads?)

So a YouTube video mentions that it's "Class Compliant" which gives me hope. Also Korg has a USB MIDI driver, but don't know if that's required or not (?)..

Has anyone tried this unit yet..? The distro(s) I would be using are io.GNU/Linux, Qiana Studio, (pretty much Ubuntu-based distros)..

Thanks in advance!

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Re: Korg NanoKEY Studio compatible w/Ubuntu-based distros?

Post by sysrqer »

Is that the one which is just the keyboard? Think that's what i have and it works, i can double check tonight and let you know.
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Re: Korg NanoKEY Studio compatible w/Ubuntu-based distros?

Post by ufug »

Don't know about the Korg, but since you are shopping: the Akai LPK25 about the same price, has the same number of keys, is tiny (only 1/4 inch longer than the Korg), has "real" keys instead of pads, and works without a hitch.
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raffguitar++
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Re: Korg NanoKEY Studio compatible w/Ubuntu-based distros?

Post by raffguitar++ »

@sysrqer: Cool, thanks! Actually I think this one is newer because it's the kybd with pads ( for drums, etc) and some controller knobs; the original NanoKeys I think is just the kybd itself. However, if yours works there's a good chance this one will too.

@ufug: OK, thanks! I'll check it out. Good to have options :)
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Re: Korg NanoKEY Studio compatible w/Ubuntu-based distros?

Post by sysrqer »

Just tried my nanokey and it works perfectly well 8)
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Re: Korg NanoKEY Studio compatible w/Ubuntu-based distros?

Post by wjl »

You should try before you buy, if you have the chance (I have a business notebook with Ubuntu on it, so I could if I'd go shopping).

Another reason to try: I've been in a huge music store in Cologne, Germany the week before Easter, and of course I couldn't let my hands off of all the nice instruments they have there (mostly classical guitars, fretless bass guitars, but also some keyboards).

My MIDI keyboard is pretty much in a state like yours, so I was interested in that area as well.

And: the nicest "touch", the nicest "haptic feel" (except from costly weighted and huge piano-style keyboards) I experienced was the M-Audio Code49 (in white, they also have that in black and with 61 or 25 keys I think). It just "felt" much nicer than other more rubber-like keys. Costs about 250€ list; dunno the dollar price of it. So altho that is a bit too big for my current setup (don't have much space), this is the one I'd get.

Oh, and a local computer magazine lately had an article about Linux compatibility (of programs, hardware, all that music-related stuff) - and the author said that he has had very good experiences with Korg, Nektar, and M-Audio MIDI input controllers. So chances are that the Korg you have in mind will work, but I'd still ask some search engines if I couldn't try it myself.

Edit: a short search on https://duckduckgo.com/?q=korg+nanokey+ ... fnt&ia=web revealed these two answers for instance:

http://wiki.linuxaudio.org/hw/korg_nanokey
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1686497

Hope that helps,
and cheers,
Wolfgang
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raffguitar++
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Re: Korg NanoKEY Studio compatible w/Ubuntu-based distros?

Post by raffguitar++ »

@sysrquer: Awesome, thanks! Just need to confirm that the controller knobs will work. So are you happy with yours, or do you find it difficult? I'm not really a kybd player anyway, I just need to be able to enter "pad" parts and some melodies, not much "piano" type parts really.

@wolfgang: Thanks for all the info! That's a great idea, never tried that before. Interestingly, I happen to have a small netbook with Mint on it and a few music apps (and I think I even installed JACK), might try that.

The Code25 looks awesome, but it's out of my budget and a number of people have had issues with it..

So at this point I have total confidence that the kybd will work, but following your links, it looks like I might need NanoBasket to get the knobs and pads to work (..?..maybe..?..) Will dig a little deeper..

Curious, do you remember what magazine that was that had that article? I'd like to check that out. (I actually discovered Linux audio from Computer Music Magazine some years ago).

Thanks again, Cheers!

raffguitar++

P.S. I'm also a DuckDuck user, for reasons you're probably aware of 8)
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Re: Korg NanoKEY Studio compatible w/Ubuntu-based distros?

Post by sysrqer »

raffguitar++ wrote:@sysrquer: Awesome, thanks! Just need to confirm that the controller knobs will work. So are you happy with yours, or do you find it difficult? I'm not really a kybd player anyway, I just need to be able to enter "pad" parts and some melodies, not much "piano" type parts really.
I'm fairly happy with it, I mean the keys aren't that great and I would prefer to have proper keys but it works well for what it is. I actually don't use it that much because I use renoise and you can use qwerty keys and keyboard which isn't that much different in the layout. It's quite good for doing drum parts though as there is very little movement in the key.
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Re: Korg NanoKEY Studio compatible w/Ubuntu-based distros?

Post by wjl »

raffguitar++ wrote:Curious, do you remember what magazine that was that had that article? I'd like to check that out. (I actually discovered Linux audio from Computer Music Magazine some years ago).
That was the German "Keys" of 04/2017. If you can read German, you can get it here:

https://www.ppvmedien.de/Keys-Ausgabe-04-2017 (printed hardcopy)
https://www.ppvmedien.de/Keys-04-2017-PDF-Ausgabe (pdf)

I quite liked those Linux/music related articles; the author wrote about the advantages and disadvantages (or challenges), as he's using it himself more and more, together with commercial VsT instruments and such.

Our daughter (12) discovered it - she's using UbuntuStudio on an older Lenovo notebook, and together with her Yamaha Arius piano and MuseScore she's mostly using it for transcribing her stuff. I'm on Debian with KX repos and a RT kernel from backports (but just discovered that VirtualBox doesn't work with that one).

Cheers,
Wolfgang
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raffguitar++
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Re: Korg NanoKEY Studio compatible w/Ubuntu-based distros?

Post by raffguitar++ »

@wolfgang: Thx for the links! Yeah, unfortunately I don't speak German..but I still might get the pdf and let GoogleTranslate have a crack at the article anyway. That's cool about your daughter. Nice to hear the younger generations discovering Linux and FLOSS..gives me hope. I started dabbling w/MuseScore as well, just in case I needed to print a chart out.

I've been learning Linux for about 5 years now and I haven't actually installed a distro yet; I considered doing a dual boot, but I think the better option for me is to install a "primary" distro on an external HDD to boot into, and any others I have on DVD or USB sticks. Some of them just load entirely into RAM anyway!

Thanks again :)
I'm fairly happy with it, I mean the keys aren't that great and I would prefer to have proper keys but it works well for what it is. I actually don't use it that much because I use renoise and you can use qwerty keys and keyboard which isn't that much different in the layout. It's quite good for doing drum parts though as there is very little movement in the key.
Yeah, I've been looking into the qwerty option as well; I'm also into Renoise and trackers in general, might buy a license eventually. I've been playing with Sunvox because of it's cross-platform compatibility (..to a certain extent). I have the app on my phone so I can sketch an idea out when I'm not home, and then transfer that project file to my PC when I'm back at the studio to develop it further - pretty cool! It's not as sophisticated as Renoise, but still..

Thanks for the info, the Korg might still be all I need if the controller knobs can be mapped..I'll keep digging..

raffguitar++
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