Probably the best stage keyboard stand in the world. When you see a keyboarder on stage, no matter who or where, if they use a stand with just one column in the middle supporting their 'boards, it's the Apex. (Very uncool people use the Apex, too. It can be seen in Natural's video to Put Your Arms Around Me, MTV, heavy rotation. Sigh.)
When wrapped up, it's just a triangular column (stereometrically a prism) with a carrying handle, one or two large clamps screwed to the front, a lid at the top and the ends of three legs peering out at the bottom. Without the clamps, it would look like a mutant jumbo Toblerone made from black space-age alloys. Aforementioned clamps slide into grooves at the sides and, when screwed on tight, will support immense weights. Now witness the ultra-cool setting-up process:
- Press button to unlock rear leg. Slide it out.
- Repeat for left leg.
- Repeat for right leg.
- Folding the rear leg to the rear and the side legs to the side, put the stand upright.
- Slide down the floor stabiliser on the front until it is in firm touch with the floor. The stand now is supported in four points and safe against tipping over.
- Open the lid at the top.
- Slide out the four tribars (super-strong triangular rods with a rubbery top side and a special hook at one end)
- Hook tribars into clamps.
- Load bottom keyboard first, top keyboard last.
Ta-dah! It's an entire keyboard stand in a package about the size of a very large rolled-up poster, and it's not very heavy either. It sets up without having to loose or tighten any screws, and you can carry it with one handle. You can even adjust the handle for your personal configuration; if your Apex is top-heavy with the clamps, simply slide the handle to the front and it will carry just fine again.
The Apex comes in an 'Apex Plus' version, too; instead of the second set of clamps and bars, the Apex Plus features one normal set and one set consisting of a heavy-duty clamp and two extra-long tribars, which will support even large 88-key instruments; it comes with a microphone boom, too, that will slide into a gizmo on the top clamp.
Despite of its elegant silhouette, the Ultimate Apex can support keyboards with a total weight of ca. 100 kg, though I certainly wouldn't want to try. It wobbles very slightly if you hit the keys very hard on a heavy instrument, but overall it's extremely stable. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for here -- the Apex Plus costs more 200 euros and is a, though complete, very expensive solution for keyboard support.