July 18, 2005

Rollup Your Piano and More

Imagine being able to roll up your piano and take it with you into the back yard, on a visit to friends, on a picnic, to a practice session and such. Using the Hecsan Rollup Piano Pro (available from www.hecsaninc.com, $249.95), you’ll be able to do just that: roll up your piano and take it with you anywhere.

The piano consists of a flat, rubberized 49-key keyboard and a permanently attached silver 7.5 x 3.5 x 1.25 inch control box that includes a built-in speaker. The keyboard is flexible and rolls up around the control unit for carrying or storage, and the combined keyboard and control unit weigh only one pound 12 ounces. Rollup Piano Pro is the newest version of the original Rollup Piano that we reviewed and recommended as a holiday gift last year (if you missed our review, send us a SASE at the address below and we’ll mail one to you).

The Pro version is a few ounces heavier, although the control box is a bit smaller. The piano is still completely portable and powered by four "AA" batteries, so it can be used anywhere there’s a 33 x 9 inch flat surface. Battery life is said to be 15 hours. An AC adapter is also included. The new version has 128 voices, including piano, organ, trumpet, strings, bells, guitar, sax and many more. Sound quality from the new built-in speaker has been considerably improved compared with the original. A headphone jack is available to use with headphones or to connect to external speakers or sound systems.

Also included with the Pro version is a sustain pedal, which operates like a piano sustain pedal--note(s) continue playing as long as you hold the pedal down. For some music this considerably enhances the song by keeping it from sounding "choppy." Other new features include 30 auto rhythms--from 8-Beat to Waltz to Salsa and more--to accompany your playing and add some fun. Also new is a vibrato control (on/off), sixteen built-in Demo songs showing the capabilities of the Rollup Piano Pro and a digital volume control.

For those interested in composing music, the unit now sports MIDI IN/OUT connections, so the Rollup Piano Pro can act as a master keyboard or a GM (general MIDI) module. Or hook it up to a PC (using a MIDI interface) and playback your compositions, or create new MIDI songs using appropriate software. The Rollup Piano Pro has 128 GM standard tones built in.

Using the keyboard requires a bit of practice to develop a definite, firm touch to keep from unintentionally repeating notes. The key outlines are full-sized, with a slight ridge between them to help give you a more accurate feel when playing. A bare-bones instruction manual is included, but since the unit is pretty straightforward to use, that’s OK. We had a ball with the Rollup Piano. Norma is the pianist, Tony is more the listener, and we fascinated our friends as we brought the unit around.

And, in case those around you start complaining about your playing, you can switch to the new, cool earbud-type earphones earphones from JVC. GUMY phones (JVC, $9.95) are available in wild colors: Peach Pink, Peppermint Blue, Kiwi Green and more. And, the phones sport a frequency response of 16-20,000 Hz, so they will sound great, fit comfortably in the ear and, with all the colors to choose from, will look cool too. At their relatively small price, you can buy different colors to match different outfits.

And, if you’re like us and never seem to have enough AA or AAA batteries to keep all your gadgets going, there’s the new Juice Multi-Battery Charger kit (Winner International, $34.99), with its built-in multiprocessor that can adjust automatically for the different requirements of the different types of rechargeable batteries since rechargeable alkaline, NiCad and NiMH each need specific charging conditions for best results. You can even mix battery types and sizes in the charger. Included with the charging unit, which can charge up to four batteries simultaneously, is an AC adapter, four AA and two AAA rechargeable alkaline Juice brand batteries (good for up to 100 recharges each) and two rechargeable NiMH AA Juice brand batteries (good for up to 1,000 recharges each). Red and green indicators on the Juice Multi-Battery Charger show the charging status of each battery. Charging time varies between 2-8 hours. Although optimized for Juice brand batteries, the charger will safely charge other brands as well.

On a different note: Roadwired "Thinks Pink" Skooba laptop bags are being offered by on-line retailer eBags (www.ebags.com, from $49.95) who is donating 10% of sales of pink-themed bags to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. These well built and well designed multi-compartmented specially padded bags are great for your laptop, complete with dedicated laptop pocket and pink-lined gadget organizer pockets. Check out this and their many other bags.

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