Entrepreneurship / Music Do you want a portable piano?
Mar 11, 2014 8 Comments It’s exciting to see the progress on the Groove digital piano I’ve been working on for the past several months. The first prototype should be finished very soon!
We decided not to make it fold after all, but it will separate neatly into three sections that can fit inside carry-on luggage. The prototype was pieced together from existing keyboard parts and the case is bigger than we’d like the final product to be, but it’s a good start.
The next step for us is to determine what features are important for pianists to have in a portable digital piano. To help with this, I’ve put together a little survey.
If you play the piano or are interested in an 88-key digital piano keyboard that can fit into carry-on luggage, please fill out this survey below and let me know what’s important to you.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L3VV2N3
Also, please share this with any musician friends you have.
Thank you!
Brandon
Brandon Pearce
Brandon is a location independent entrepreneur, musician, worldschooling father, and the principal author of this blog. He's all about reaching his potential and enjoying life to the fullest in each moment.
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Awesome, Brandon! I’m looking forward to seeing this piano come into being. Best wishes!
When I travel, I sorely miss playing the piano. I went to Florida once on vacation and took along a digital piano in a hard shell case and the airline still managed to damage it (fortunately on the return flight, so I was able to play it in Florida). My suggestions: put any of the “guts” that could be safely checked into a separate box to cut down on the weight and size of what folks would carry on. Consider making a version that would just be an input device (just keys) that would control software on a laptop. In other words, no speakers, no complicated circuitry for hard-wired software, etc.
Thanks for the suggestions, Martin. For now we’re moving forward with a professional digital piano that has built in speakers (and an amazing sound library), as this is what most people who filled out the survey wanted, over just a midi controller. Removing the speakers would reduce weight a little bit, but not size, as the bulk of the keyboard is in its realistic graded hammer action, and that’s an area of quality we don’t want to sacrifice. Our goal is still to make it fit into carry-on luggage so you could store it above or below your seat and watch it a bit more closely to avoid damage. The carbon fiber casing should help, but we’ll also probably have a custom carrying case designed for it, too, for those who want to check it.
Hi, I love this idea and hope it is something that you have now! My son plays and we travel so much this would be WONDERFUL to get for him!! What is the status?
We ran into a few hiccups because of some serious (fatal) health issues with one of our engineers. I’m currently in the process of finding a new engineering team to continue the job. The case is the designed, the electronic components for the prototype have been purchased, and we’re just working on finishing up the electrical work, mostly.
Hello! I am a professional pianist and am wondering if you’re still in the process of creating a portable keyboard. I hope it comes to fruition! Thanks for any updates.
Hi Pamela. Thanks for your interest. Due to several setbacks, we’re back at square one and the project has been on the backburner for a while. I am now looking (although admittedly, not very actively) for a good team to partner with to take the Groove to the next step. If you know any good engineers (especially if they’re musicians), who might be interested, please send them my way.
Thanks for your reply, Brandon! I will definitely let you know if I think of any musical-engineering types; there are a lot of pianists interested in and supportive of your idea:). All the best, Pam