Donner N-25 USB Small Portable MIDI Keyboard Controller 25-Key, Donner N-25 with Velocity-Sensitive Keys & Light-up Rocker

This is a mini sized keyboard which is great for taking along on travel. It comes with a cable which is USB-C on one side, which connects to the keyboard, and regular USB-A on the other side. It has a joystick for pitch bend and also setting different things like octaves and transposition. For the functions such as octave you press the button and then use the joystick, pushing it left or right to set the values that you want. Long press on the button resets it. There's also a program button for you to send midi program change messages, if you want to try that out. The octave and transposition buttons work as they are supposed to. There is also a sustain button to toggle and sustain on and off when you press it. They are four small lights below these controls but I don't know what they are for as they are not documented. The feel of a keyboard is pretty good for mini keyboard and it is velocity sensitive. All in all, this seems like a pretty good keyboard to take around with you if you don't need a lot of other controls.

Testing this out on an M1 Mac Mini running Big Sur and Logic Pro (10.7.2) and it couldn’t have been any easier to set up. Plugged it in via USB-C cable (buttons light up briefly) and launched Logic. Created a new software instrument track, selected Addictive Keys and was about to check the MIDI settings / configure things when an experimental key press revealed it was already active and working! The keys are “mini” but very comfortable to play, nowhere near as cramped as I feared it would be. I have “medium” sized hands, for reference. The keys are very responsive, so you can go from featherlite touch to slamming them and many steps in between. Addictive Keys (Mark One) illustrates this very well, as the notes start to distort at higher velocity. Logic’s Studio Horns and Studio Strings also illustrate good velocity tracking. You can be VERY expressive. I’ve got another (bigger and more expensive) keyboard gathering dust because the velocity tracking is sketchy and makes playing stressful. Donner has made sure they got the basics right. The LED buttons are squashy and a little cheap feeling but the controller stick feels sturdy and, most importantly, is calibrated perfectly. It pitches up and down perfectly. You can switch octaves or transpose right from the keyboard during performance. It’s very intuitive and it holds the last note as you switch octave, so you can hold a low note or chord and change octaves to play a lead line over the top. You just make sure the octave button is pressed / illuminated and tap the joystick left or right. Maybe I should mention I’m a guitarist, little-to-no music theory and no piano training but this was super easy to get to grips with. The keyboard itself has no built-in sounds but Logic has a bunch of great virtual instruments included. Realistic ones like Studio Horns and Strings but also crazy synths like Alchemy. GarageBand (free on Mac and iPad) also has a few. In terms of value, this is a really capable basic controller for the money that FEELS nice to play. Very happy with it, 5 stars. -UPDATE- I was given the opportunity to test out the 32-key model and found that is everything I love about the 25-key model and more! There’s a power light above the joystick, which flashes tempo. There’s an LCD for helping to set some parameters (e.g. modulation, tempo). Dedicated Transpose Up/Down and Octave Up/Down are very useful. The sequencer is quirky and, given the tempo limits, not sure it’s a feature I’ll use much but it It’s a worthy upgrade from the 25-key and the extra keys allow for more dynamic playing while still being a very compact keyboard, plus more direct access to the octave up and down makes a difference. Was able to hook it up to an iPad (bus powered!) and it’s a LOT of fun in keyboard / synth apps, as well as DAWs like GarageBand. Something that surprised me was that you HAVE to use a Lightning to USB-A adapter and then the supplied USB-A to USB-C cable. Tried being smart and using a Lightning to USB-C cable but it wouldn’t provide bus power that way. Hopefully that helps someone. Overall, these are very capable and fun controllers and they’ve really opened up a whole new world of creativity for my recordings. The sensitivity is great and Kontakt and other synths sound so expressive!

I have a few midi keyboards which I use as with DAW station and live jamming. This 2 octaves Midi keyboard is very compact and could easily fit inside my gag bag or backpack. It has an USB C portable which could hook directly to my iPad Pro with a USB C to USB C cable (not included). It works perfectly with the Korg module iPad app which brings out a large variety of instruments sound for solo playing. On the left side of the keyboard, there are buttons for controling the Octave, transpose, and sustain functions. If portability is a key factor for your Midi keyboard selection, this is the one to consider.