Prodikeys is a

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

and

computer keyboard A computer keyboard is a built-in or peripheral input device modeled after the typewriter keyboard which uses an arrangement of buttons or Push-button, keys to act as Mechanical keyboard, mechanical levers or Electronic switching system, electro ...

. It was created by

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

an audio company

Creative Technology Creative Technology Ltd., or Creative Labs Pte Ltd., is a Singaporean multinational electronics company mainly dealing with Audio equipment, audio technologies and products such as speakers, headphones, sound cards and other digital media. Foun ...

. So far, three different versions of Prodikeys have been launched: Creative Prodikeys, Creative Prodikeys DM and Creative Prodikeys PC-MIDI. The products are

computer keyboards A computer keyboard is a built-in or peripheral input device modeled after the typewriter keyboard which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. Replacing early punched cards and paper tape t ...

, extended by 37 mini-sized MIDI keyboard at the bottom. The MIDI keyboard is placed under a detachable palm cover. Prodikeys can also be used as a

MIDI controller A MIDI controller is any hardware or software that generates and transmits Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data to MIDI-enabled devices, typically to trigger sounds and control parameters of an electronic music performance. They mos ...

for third-party MIDI software. It supports

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...

Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft, targeting the server and business markets. It is the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RT ...

and

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

, but is incompatible with newer versions of

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Mac OS Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc. in a succession of two major series. In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the classic Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system ...

. Prodikeys gained popularity on the Internet after one of its product demonstration videos went viral after its release in 2003; in it, Paul Seow shows the keyboard's keys functioning as drum pads by playing a simple rock beat, but eventually culminating in an unexpected

drum solo A drum solo is an Solo (music), instrumental solo played on a drum kit. A drum solo may be set or improvised, and of any length, up to being the main performance. In Rock music, rock, drum solos are unique in that traditionally they are minimally ...

Prodikeys Software

The products are shipped with an additional software. It includes the following features: *EasyNotes is a software to learn to play melodies on the keyboard. It comes with an included song library which can be extended with MIDI files by the user. EasyNotes supports music format in SEQ and MIDI. *FunMix can create and record own music with pre-arranged mixes. *HotKeys Manager is a tool to customize the keyboard's hotkeys functions to change access to the software suite. *Mini Keyboard is a keyboard software with a sound library of more than 100 instrument sounds like piano, flute, guitar and drums. *Prodikeys Launcher is a Launcher for the software suite. It also has an interactive tutorial.

Prodikeys DM

The Prodikeys DM has one single

mini-DIN connector The mini-DIN connectors are a family of multi-pin electrical connectors used in a variety of applications. Mini-DIN is similar to the larger, older 13.2 mm diameter DIN connector. Design Mini-DIN connectors are in diameter and come in s ...

for the

PS/2 port The PS/2 port is a 6-pin mini-DIN connector used for connecting Computer keyboard, keyboards and computer mouse, mice to a PC compatible computer system. Its name comes from the IBM Personal System/2 series of personal computers, with which it ...

and is therefore detected as a regular typing keyboard. The included Windows software communicates with the keyboard driver in order to send and receive MIDI data over the PS/2 line. This protocol has been partly reverse-engineered, making it possible to use the Prodikeys DM on a regular USB port using an

Arduino Arduino () is an Italian open-source hardware and open-source software, software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Its hardwar ...

microcontroller as an adaptor.

References

{{Compu-hardware-stub Singaporean brands Keyboard instruments Computer keyboards