SKB 61 Key Case For Access Virus TI2

Quick review for all of you looking for a road-worthy case for an Access Virus TI 2 Keyboard.

I’m about to move some gear over a great distance and I’ve been looking for suitable, rugged cases for my keyboards / synths. Check out my other posts on the cases and solutions I’ve come up with, but today we’ll focus on the Access Virus TI2 Keyboard.

The Virus TI2 is a 61 full size key synth measuring roughly 40″ long by 15″ deep and 4″ tall. Based on this size I decided to get the SKB Roto-ATA 61-Note Keyboard Case from Amazon since it’s interior dimensions matched the requirements and it looked rugged enough.

Screen Shot 2013-07-28 at 10.29.38 PMFirst in terms of build quality I would say it’s a 7/10. Not bad but also not as good as a Pelican case for example. I have no immediate concerns that the case itself will break in any joints or details, but the sturdiness and thickness of the plastic is not as high quality as I had hoped for. Still, with sufficient padding it should stand up to shipping / transportation just fine.

The included padding and wedges are of high quality, but because of the tight fit it is hard to use the wedges that are supposed to keep the keyboard from sliding around inside the case. You can squeeze them in there but then there is no room for any additional padding. I opted to leave them out and instead wrap the synth in large format bubble wrap. I also added extra foam, that I had left over from a pelican case, on the sides. Last I added sheets of bubble wrap below and on top of the synth to give it some extra padding from accidental bumps and such.

All in all I think it worked out just fine, and I feel pretty safe about seeing the Virus off in this case.

Moog Little Phatty Road Case Review

This is a short review of the Moog Little Phatty Road Case from (tada!) Moog.

It works. It fits. It’s well built. Buy it.

LPCase1Now for the details. Since I’m about to move some gear and I’ve been wanting a good case for the Little Phatty I decided to go all out and order the official Moog branded Little Phatty road case.

The case is actually made by Gator as you can see on the hatches that locks the lid in place. The interior foam however has been custom fitted to a Little Phatty, including the wedge shaped front panel.

The case also comes with 2 extra pieces of thick padding that you can move around to a position that gives you the greatest confidence in terms of securing the synth.

LPCase2

I put them behind the synth to keep it from rocking back and forth. When the case arrived they were placed in the bottom to raise the synth about 3 inches, but with this configuration the lid will not  close. If you look at the official product picture on the Moog site it shows the synth sitting level with the interior foam. This will not work as the wedged front panel will then be too high for the lid of the case to close.

Overall I think the build quality and the fit is very nice. It is not exactly a cheap case, but since the Little Phatty is an oddly shaped, expensive piece of gear I think it is totally worth its premium price.

You can buy it either at the Moog site directly, or from Sweetwater and get $20 off and free shipping. (Why Moog charges such outrages shipping prices is beyond me…)

Highly recommended!