A portable pocket keyboard for travelling tunes? Of course I want one
This tiny 13-key piano fits in your pocket, has its own speaker and battery, and can even work as a MIDI controller
Quick Summary
Pianni’s Orphea is a pocket-sized electronic piano with 13 physical chromatic keys, built-in sound and octave controls.
It’s still a prototype, but a Kickstarter launch is on the way.
If you’ve ever tried to take a keyboard on the road with you, it becomes pretty clear that keyboards are annoyingly big. Pianni’s Orphea solves this by shrinking a playable piano down to something only slightly larger than a smartphone. And now, I want one.
Orphea has 13 physical keys covering a full chromatic octave from C to C, including the black keys that tend to disappear on ultra-portable keyboards. You can then shift the octave up or down, with seven octave positions in total, so you’re not limited to the notes physically under your fingers.
It measures 170 x 78 x 28mm and weighs just 130g, making it actually pocketable rather than merely "portable" in the way that a 61-key keyboard technically is. There’s a built-in speaker too, alongside a 3.5mm headphone jack for quieter playing.
The rechargeable 1,200mAh battery is rated for up to eight hours of continuous use, while USB-C handles charging. There’s also MIDI In/Out, meaning Orphea can double as a tiny controller for other music hardware and software.
The obvious catch is that 13 keys aren't going to replace a proper piano. Orphea's keys aren't velocity-sensitive either, so this isn't going to give a pianist the expressive control of a full-size digital piano.
That's not really the point, though. Pianni describes Orphea as a portable musical sketchbook, designed for getting ideas down, practising or simply playing when you're away from a proper instrument.
The company says its founder Jordan Daniels has even tested the prototype with a three-voice Bach fugue, making it a seriously well thought out bit of kit.
There are still some unanswered questions. Orphea is currently a prototype, with Pianni continuing to refine the hardware before production, and there's no confirmed price yet. The company says it is preparing to launch the piano through Kickstarter.
But as a concept, I can see this working well. It's small enough that you might actually take it with you, rather than leaving it at home because carrying it is a pain.
Now all we need is a price that doesn't make that pocket look quite so much like a wallet.
