For most of the past hundred years, tools for learning, making, and even composing music on the go were limited. In the pre-digital era, there was your voice, the harmonica, maybe a ukelele. Nowadays, all kinds of MIDI controllers paired with simple multi-track recording apps such as GarageBand and BandLab make using these products more convenient anywhere. 

Beyond that, improvements in MIDI over Bluetooth have spurred a new generation of digital instruments offering new spins on familiar instruments as well as novel form factors; many have come to market via crowdfunding campaigns. These are allowing aspiring musicians to learn and more experienced songwriters and performers to create and perform anywhere.

The keys

In the 1980s, novel synthesizers such as the Casio VL-Tone VL-1 provided a (chintzy) keyboard you could carry in your backpack. Now, those have given way to portable MIDI keyboard controllers such as the AKAI Professional LPK25 or MIDIPLUS AKM320. More recently, audio brand Roli, best known for itsSeaBoard Rise keyboard , which features "bendable" pitches, offered theLumi Keys , a wireless MIDI keyboard controller named for the LEDs that illuminate the keys in a rainbow of colors.

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