Sound on Sound reviews the Ta Horng iSmart roll-up keyboard. Essentially, they say it works about as well as you would expect — what you see is what you get. “As a MIDI data-entry device, the iSmart works fine, triggering notes reliably when the keyboard is on a hard surface.” However, of course the keys offer no feedback, and it’s hard to play accurately when all keys — including the black keys — are on the same level.

Overall, they think this is “an odd product”. I tend to agree. “Some consider a rubber keyboard about as useful as a rubber violin, no matter how portable. Others think the iSmart could be useful for data entry where budget and space restrictions are at their tightest. Hopefully you should know which camp you belong to by now, and will use your wallet accordingly!”

I could see the iSmart being useful for travelling — you could have your laptop and iSmart in your laptop bag, and make music wherever you go without having to use a fiddly mouse to enter notes, or carry a bulky MIDI keyboard.