What is it?
There was a time when a mini keyboard with speakers would be shunned for fear of it being a toy or, worse, a 'home keyboard' with auto accompaniments and bossanova rhythms. Not so in 2025. Now we have small companies, start-ups and even larger companies stretching the boundaries of music technology, releasing all-singing and all-sampling keyboards and synths that are putting the fun back into music creation, without an accompaniment in earshot.
WoFi is one of the best examples yet, the first product from Kiviak Instruments, a small team of developers from France and (where else) Berlin. It is a portable lo-fi keyboard sampler with a 'Texturer engine' and other effects to mangle sounds, and all behind a supremely easy interface that lets you create totally new timbres in an instant. You can load in samples via its internal memory, plugin cartridge or wi-fi, and play them as normal, should you wish, but it's more about lo-fi than wi-fi as smashing those sounds up has never been such fun. Let's call it WoFi then.
WoFi is a surprisingly sturdy and well-built keyboard – it might look plasticky from a distance but it has an aluminium case and wooden ends – and is powered by AC (supplied) or battery with up to four hours playback time on a single charge. Make sure you have the unit well charged while you use it under battery power, as bugs do creep in as the battery power fades.
Performance
It's easier to get across what the sampler does by covering its front panel controls, so let's do just that. The central Manager section has a large screen that is wonderfully clear and to the point. Just load in a sample from the internal patches on offer in the 100MB on-board memory (using the Int for Internal button), or via a 100MB (up to 18 minutes) removable cartridge (via the Cart button) using the Nav rotary to select and press it to load.
It's pretty easy to move samples and patches between the internal memory and cartridge and you can also load and save samples to a computer via USB using the WoFi Manager software, or access sounds via wi-fi from mywo.fi. Here you can download banks of sounds, those created by Kiviak and other users, edit them in the browser and a lot more – best of all it's free; just register, connect and off you go.
Alternatively, record your own samples using the switchable on-board mic or mono line input around the back with a level rotary and Record arm switch to record. Once you have your sample, you can create a patch with sequencer information (up to 16 steps) and other edited parameters like start/end points, looping and more, can all be changed using the screen's Waveform view, and all done via controls in the Texturer section, simply by pressing Shift.
Mangling time
Now the real fun starts because you can play the sample back across the keyboard in various ways via the Player section, so play it looped, as a one-shot, reversed, or looping back and forward via the Boom switch. There are also rotaries here for Pitch, Stretch (time-stretch slower by turning anticlockwise, speed it up by turning clockwise), and Glitch (adds noise and distortion). A fourth rotary, Machine, introduces one of 12 playback modes or 'rendering styles' so you can play samples back of your sound at various bit rates (from 1 to 16) and sample rates (from 4kHz to 32kHz).
Dialling rotaries within each of WoFi's sections brings up a lovely set of hexagonal graphics on screen reminiscent of UK TV quiz show Blockbusters. (“We'll have some distortion please Bob.”) The screen can also show a main ADSR envelope with sliders to the left controlling each stage and a set of three buttons determining what the envelope applies to, those being volume, filter or a combination of the two.
A simple but dramatic and useful 2-slope resonant low-pass filter is next with standard Cutoff and Resonance options plus an Envelope dial to set the modulation amount. Like everything else on WoFi, you get what you need up front, with few layers to mess with so you can get to the drama in no time.
Texturer is probably the main edit event, an effect 'inspired by' granular processing with dials for Depth (mix), Size (larger means smoother, shorter more percussive), Chaos (changes the processing start point) and Density (high means thicker timbres). Again, a set of cool, hexagonal graphics offers an indication of what you are doing on screen.
To the right of Texturer, a syncable LFO has Rate and Intensity dials for three waveforms that can modulate any front panel parameter. It's very easy to modulate with and, again, all the controls are right there in front of you – no messing about. Finally there's a simple sequencer – for recording step-by-step, or overdubbing with a Solo mode – which also doubles as an arpeggiator.
WoFi sounds
The all-important WoFi sound is obviously what makes or breaks the keyboard and here both the Texturer and Machine controls come into their own. You don't get a huge amount of sounds to start with, some 25 patches in the internal memory, but these only take up 49 of the available 1,024 memory blocks so there is plenty of room for more. You can also download these from mywo.fi and once you get connected, this is very easy. It's early days, but there are dozens of extra patches and samples here, many produced by other users and rated. They are easy to audition and you can either upload them direct to your WoFi or place any favourites in a folder to upload later. The number here is only going to increase as more users buy into WoFi and it's set to be an excellent resource.
WoFi's on-board sounds vary from atmospheric pads to big basses and keyboard leads, with the odd acoustic instrument thrown in, but it's really all about messing with them where WoFi scores well. Texturer works better on some sounds than others, tending to have more of a dramatic effect on those with a sharp attack and with the Depth and Size controls notched up; then the artifacts really do start dramatically taking hold. You can't help thinking that a simple reverb and delay would help liven things up here, but sounds can easily be saved and exported to your computer and processed later.
The sonic experimentations get even more dramatic when you bring in the Glitch and Machine options, especially the latter which can take the bit-rate right down to 1 for what can only be described as the sound of an ancient computer loading in a program. These really do take us back to the early '90s when using low sample and bit rates was done out of necessity through lack of sample memory, resulting in proper filth. Rose-tinted spectacles, maybe, but we love these varied scrunch options and think you will too. Playback through the on-board speaker is OK loud enough, but you'll get a much better frequency response and feel for the sound through your studio speakers. You get this playback through the right speaker while the left speaker is used for sampling, which is incredibly easy via the mic or line in.
Verdict
WoFi is an enormous amount of fun with a side helping of inspiration. Sure you don't get the deep dive options that some hardware alternatives offer, but that is intentional rather than a failing; this is not about subtlety or nuance, it's about hands-on, instant sonic thrashing, real-time pulsing and sequencing, and if you want some of that – and who doesn't? – then WoFi delivers the dirt in large doses and will have you smiling while doing it all.
The price might not make you grin and we could have done with some effect extras, but these might come in updates, and Kiviak has to be commended for breaking ground with WoFi and making sound design and sonic destruction just about as instantly inspiring as it can be, not to mention finally making keyboards with speakers very cool indeed.
Hands-on demos
Kiviak Instruments
Alternatives
Specifications
- Portable lo-fi sampler.
- 100MB memory plus 100MB removable cartridge.
- 10-voice polyphony.
- 48kHz, 16-bit mono recording via line input built-in mic.
- 16-step sequencer.
- Effects: pitch-shift, time-stretch, bit-crusher, resonant state variable filter, granular Texturer.
- Connectivity: sync clock in/out, CV in/out, gate in/out, mod, 2 x 14-inch line out and line in, headphone out, MIDI in/out/thru, USB.
- Dimensions: (W x D x H) 510 x 230 x 65mm.
- Weight: 2.5kg.
- Contact: Kiviak Instruments
