From david@therogoffs.com Tue Mar 29 19:50:14 2011
Subject:6 lb, $600, battery-powered clonewheel that sounds great!

Hi all.

I've been without any electric organ for a long time, mostly fixing up old analog synthesizers. I just made a very nice discovery. I picked up the new iPad 2 a couple of weeks ago. I had lots of keyboard / synth apps, but not very playable from the screen! I search around found the Apple Camera Connection kit that includes SD card reader - and more to the point - a USB adapter for the iPad. With more research, I found that the Alesis Q49 keyboard was low enough power to work with the iPad without an external supply.

Just got the Q49 in the mail today (thanks Amazon!) and it works great. For $5 more, I downloaded Garage Band for iPad and was shocked at all the great instruments that come with it, including a quite nice B3 clone with almost all the controls you'd expect.

Obviously not up there with the Numa and Crumar, but pretty damned good for about $600 - including the iPad - and under 10 pounds and runs on batteries. If you've already got an iPad (should work with the older model too) or planning to get one, it's definitely worth the $120 for pick up the Q49, Camera Connection Kit, and Garage Band!

David