MONKEY Manual

MONKEY is an ultra-portable and versatile 2-octave Bluetooth MIDI keyboard.

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Hardware overview

MONKEY features a 2-octave keybed starting on the F-key. Play it as a typical MIDI keyboard, or access its extended capabilities through the SHIFT key.

MONKEY gives feedback to the user through its LEDs. The light tower LED will give general feedback from function manipulations. The monkey LEDs will give feedback related to the loop recorder functionality.

The lock switch is used to disable the keybed. Note that it does not turn off the unit, but it prevents unwanted key presses. You do not need to turn off MONKEY. It will go to sleep by itself.

Communication is only through Bluetooth.

Insert a CR2032 battery to get going.

Getting started

To get started, we refer to the Getting Started guide. We recommend having MONKEY powered up and connected to a host while going through the rest of the manual.

Functions

The functions are organized into several sections. The functions highlighted with a white circle are the MIDI effects, going from ARP to DRM. The functions to the left of these effects are general settings, and to the right, we have the loop recorder + WAKE.

WAKE

The first function you should get familiar with is the WAKE key. Pressing SHIFT + WAKE will reset the device, and pressing SHIFT + long pressing WAKE will reboot the device. MONKEY has a workflow that you might not be familiar with. If you ever get lost, WAKE is by your side!

Show - reset demo

WAKE brief press to reset.

Show - reboot demo

WAKE long press to reboot.

OCT- and OCT+

Starting from the left, we have OCT- and OCT+. These are the most straightforward functions as they only change the octave range of the keybed.

Show - octave select demo

First adjust octave up, then adjust down.

BPM

Furthermore, we have the BPM function which lets you set the global BPM. Do so by pressing SHIFT + BPM. Keep the SHIFT key pressed, followed by typing in the BPM you want using the keys labeled with numbers. Notice the feedback you get from the light tower LED.

Show - BPM select demo

Setting tempo to 120BPM.

CH

Change the MIDI channel using the CH function. Similarly to BPM, press SHIFT + CH. Then release CH, followed by selecting one of the labeled number keys corresponding to the channel you would like to select. Selecting 0 corresponds to MIDI channel 10. Notice the feedback you get from the light tower LED.

CAUTION: Make sure to distinguish between a short press and long press on CH key. Long pressing CH allows you to mute/unmute specific MIDI channels. Use the numbered keys to select the channels which you would like to mute/unmute. This is useful paired together with the loop recorder, muting parts of your loop.

Show - channel select demo

Changing to MIDI channel 2.

HOLD

Toggle note hold using the HOLD function. Notice the light tower LED blinking once if the function was enabled and twice if it was disabled.

Show - hold demo

Toggling hold first on, then off.

MIDI effects

Similarly to HOLD, they are toggled, and only one effect might be enabled at a time.

Show - effect select demo

1 - Enabling ARP effect. 2 - Disabling ARP effect. 3 - Enabling STTR effect.

Once an effect is enabled, you can change between its presets. Do this by pressing SHIFT + one of the numbered keys.

Show - effect preset select demo

Assuming a MIDI effect is selected. Changing to preset 6 within effect.

ECHO

The ECHO effect will repeat the notes you play in a feedback loop. The presets of ECHO are varied and sometimes not so easy to understand. Some presets removes the note from the feedback loop when you release it and some does not.

Loop recorder

The loop recorder is your playground to combine recordings from multiple instruments into an idea. Currently, the loop recorder is fixed with a length of 16 beats. The loop recorder uses the following keys:

• PLAY: Toggle on and off loop playback. The monkey LEDs will blink in tempo during playback.
• REC: Toggle on and off loop recording. The behavior of this key depends on if the loop is currently playing or not. If it is not playing, it will toggle on and off “arm to record.” The monkey LEDs will then be solid. As soon as you start playing on the keys, the looper will start playing and recording. If the looper is already playing, then recording will be toggled on and off. Notice how the monkey LEDs blink differently between only playback and playback with recording. When recording, the LEDs will remain lit longer.
• UNDO: Each time you stop recording, a new record checkpoint is generated. Pressing UNDO will erase the last checkpoint. Long pressing UNDO will allow you to select an entire MIDI channel to erase. After SHIFT + long press UNDO, while keeping SHIFT pressed, select the MIDI channel to erase by pressing a corresponding numbered key. As always, the number 0 is MIDI channel 10 and is reserved for the drums.

Recommendations

It’s a good idea to record something rhythmical initially so that you keep track of the tempo and know when the loop recorder loops back on itself. If you don’t want to have rhythmical elements in your loop, you might first record something rhythmical such as drums. Then, when you have recorded something on top of the drums, erase the drums from the loop.

It is also possible to create a simple arrangement using the channel mute functionality (long press on CH function and toggle mute/unmute MIDI channels). Record various elements on different MIDI channels. Then you can arrange your idea by changing which channels are muted and not.

When recording drums into the looper, you might keep recording for a bit after it wraps back to the beginning. You don’t need to time a perfect key release as the looper wraps back to the start. The loop recorder will identify that you are recording something identical on top of the current recording and prevent duplicate notes.