There’s one word that most musicians associate with their gear. Bulky. Everything is big, and clunky, and needs to get stored in large containers. There’s a massive logistical element involved when it comes to musicians touring. That’s why people are trying to make most of their music on software. Because a laptop is portable. A real synthesizer isn’t.

Piino tries to fill in the gap by being a super-thin synth for jammers, tinkerers, and serious musicians on the go. Fitting an electronic synth into something probably the size of a portable bluetooth keyboard, the Piino comes equipped with keys (the arcade kind), sliders, rotary knobs, a control panel (for recording, looping, and sampling), a wooden trackpad, a touch-sensitive display, and even a 3″ speaker! If you choose, you can even route audio to a headset. The overall aesthetic keeps things minimal and reminds me a lot of instruments like the MIDI Fighter, and Teenage Engineering’s OP-1 synth. Sadly though, Piino is conceptual, but would I give good money to try out a prototype!

Designer: Jack Marple