Portable music production apparatus

A music production apparatus, comprising:

• a housing;
• a first control element disposed on an exterior surface of the housing;
• a second control element disposed on the exterior surface of the housing;
• a controller disposed within the housing and connected to the first control element and the second control element;
• and
• a USB connection configured to communicate an output from the controller to a connected external computer device and communicate one or more instructions from the connected external computer device to the controller;
• wherein the controller is configured to receive an instruction indicating an audio parameter to assign to the second control element, and the controller further being configured to, upon receiving an input signal from the first control element, determine and output a pitch variation value through the USB connection and, upon receiving an input signal from the second control element, determine and output a modulation value for the assigned audio parameter through the USB connection;
• and
• wherein the controller is configured to process and output only signals related to modulation and after-effects for music production, without generating primary audio signals from mechanical input actions;
• and wherein the apparatus comprises no other connections to external devices besides the USB connection to the external computer device.