Looking for a small, fun, battery powered synth

[DarkMatter]

Hi everyone, just wondering if anybody can recommend a small synth, preferably with a keyboard for me to use around the campfire or in the car with my friends. We're just looking for something that's fun, has an onboard speaker, and uses a couple of D batteries. If it has a few connectivity options, great, but it doesn't have to, we're just looking to fool around, doesn't have to be anything super-serious... can't afford an OP-1...

Thanks,
Sam.

[Altitude]

Monotribe

[Stab Frenzy]

Monotribe

[Z]

[youtube][/youtube]

Er, I mean, MonoTribe.

Casio HT-700 is lots o fun, too.

[sequentialsoftshock]

Monotribe

[polar69]

I hear those things are awfully loud... (monotribe)
It glides as softly as a cloud. (monotribe)
Is there a chance the track could bend? (monotribe)
Of course it can my vintage friend

I swear it's Darkmatters only choice...
Throw up your hands and raise your voice!

Monotribe !!

[crystalmsc]

Monotribe

that or an ipad with the ims20.

[tim gueguen]

Battery power and speakers could be filled by any of the zillion Casio and other brand "tablehooters" still floating around. In a way driving in the car it probably doesn't really matter whether there's speakers or not, because you'd probably want to do something like run it through one of those FM transmitters that let you hear stuff through your car radio. The speakers on the little guys are likely to get drowned out by car noise if you're traveling at any speed.

(Whether you should be trying to play an instrument in a car is another question entirely.)

[StepLogik]

I find the term "tablehooters" to be hilarious. I wonder who coined it? I guess the guy that runs that Tablehooters website..?

[rhino]

Yamaha PSR-32 or -36. Toy rhythem and accomaniment c**p, but both have a section of sliders to allow you SOME control of the FM engine.

[bouzoukijoe1]

two pocket pianos

[Angstwulf]

I downloaded Animoog onto my wife's iPod Touch. I'm one of the converted. It sounds far better than a cheap piece of software should. That I spent $6 on that and iMaschine is ridiculous. This may convince me to let go of my flip phone and pager combo.

What's nice is the "keyboard" is fully customizable. You can set a chromatic scale and play only the root, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th for mistake free melodies or do whole notes or some fairly esoteric modes. And the keyboard has a 3rd dimension which is kind of like aftertouch or maybe a Haken Continuum.

Battery power and speakers could be filled by any of the zillion Casio and other brand "tablehooters" still floating around. In a way driving in the car it probably doesn't really matter whether there's speakers or not, because you'd probably want to do something like run it through one of those FM transmitters that let you hear stuff through your car radio. The speakers on the little guys are likely to get drowned out by car noise if you're traveling at any speed.

(Whether you should be trying to play an instrument in a car is another question entirely.)

I have a car stereo with a 1/8 inch aux input. Sitting in the back seat and pounding out teh beatz on iMaschine is dangerous. Someone else in the car will kill you.

[tim gueguen]

Yeah, I forgot that some of the newer cars have "mp3 cability" in the form of a jack.

[Stab Frenzy]

Monotribe

that or an ipad with the ims20.

As someone who owns both of those I can say they're both really good but I think the Monotribe is more fun. You can do a lot more with iMS-20 but the workflow is much less immediate than with the Monotribe.

[jeeroj]

what about the yamaha prs 480 etc? are they battery powered?