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Gear Review: Startone MK-300 Keyboard

By Magesh MageshContributing Author

General Overview

The Startone is a great keyboard for children or adult students. It has 61 touch-sensitive keys. 5 octaves is enough for beginners! It has 2 built-in speakers that are surprisingly loud and would be fine for acoustic jam sessions. With nearly 400 sounds and over 100 in-built songs, it will keep people entertained for hours. It is super lightweight which makes it very portable. Having midi capabilities is a bonus.

Startone MK-300 see price

The Keys

Although the keys aren’t weighted they do feel surprisingly comfortable. They are truly touch sensitive making dynamic playing on classical pieces possible. Younger students will like the feel of the keys as they are not too heavy but do offer some resistance. I should also add it has 64 polyphony. This makes it easy for you to play lots of notes simultaneously without the sound becoming muddy.

Portability

Even though this keyboard was designed with beginners in mind, I can see professionals using it for low-key rehearsals. Mainly because it weighs just over 4 kilos. To put that in perspective, it is close to the weight of a laptop computer! It would be easy to put into a bag and take on the bus with little hassle. I would struggle to do that with my weighted keyboard with 88 keys.

The sounds

The sound quality for entry-level instruments is only getting better. This is no exception for the Startone MK-300. To my ears, the piano sounds sound like they are sampled. It would be difficult to tell the difference between the piano sound on the Startone MK-300 and a high-end keyboard. This goes for the bass sounds, strings, and organs. I was expecting to hear cheap drum sounds but was pleasantly surprised at how realistic the bass drum and snare drums sounded.

Extra features

I was happy to see that the Startone MK-300 had a MIDI input. This is a great function that not all entry-level instruments have! This means students can plug this keyboard into their laptop and start recording their own songs on programs like Bandlab or any other digital audio workstation. (DAW). The keyboard itself also can record your own parts. The metronome is great for keeping new students in time.

The Menu

This LCD menu was clearly made with children and beginners in mind. I think it’s cool that the actual notes come up in the menu screen when you play. This will definitely help students learn at a faster rate. It is super simple to navigate through instrument sounds, song mode, and the metronome setting. It was also not too bright to cause a strain on my eyes.

Notable features

Being able to split this keyboard in 2 was really the icing on the cake. I feel having the ability to play the bass guitar part in your left hand while playing the piano part in your right hand is very interesting. It is not something I would expect on a beginner's instrument. Most entry-level keyboards won’t do this because a lot of the time they are only 32 polyphony. (The MK-300 is 64 polyphony.) The sound quality usually goes downhill on instruments will a lower polyphony. I’m happy to say this isn’t the case with the Startone MK-300.

Rating

Build quality: 9/10

Price: 10/10

Functionality: 9/10

User experience: 9/10

Startone MK-300 see price

About Magesh Magesh

Magesh is a musician and producer who has worked with Rihanna, Lionel Richie, Ricky Martin, Chris Brown, The Pussy Cat Dolls, Nelly Furtado, and Vernon Reid of Living Colour. He released an instructional drumming DVD called "Unique Beats" where he mixed the drum kit with electronics and Indian hand percussion. He recently moved from Australia to the UK to explore new musical opportunities.
Website: mageshdrumteacher.co.uk

Contact Magesh Magesh at magesh.magesh7@gmail.com

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