Things are getting smaller these days (";And Leon is getting larger";), so it seems that Akai has joined the ranks with Korg in the micro controller market.  Looking forward to getting my hands on one of these. The keys on this one appear to be more keyboard like than the Nano (and it even has a ";sustain"; button), but the Nano also comes included with the M1 LE instrument.

http://www.akaipro.com/lpk25

Yeah, these are looking quite handy. The synth action keys in the small form look like they may be a little nicer to work with than the Korg nanos, but I haven't actually tried the Akai yet.

I just bought one and it's awesome. Haven't had a chance to test it out beyond basic functionality, but it feels nice. The only thing that's kind of weird is how they have the octave switch buttons labeled. They're positioned properly but the one on the left has an up arrow (suggesting that it goes up an octave) and the one on the right has a down arrow (suggesting that it goes down an octave). Other than that, it's a nifty little thing.  The sustain button is allow handy, in the absence of a sustain pedal.