Economising on control pedal inputs, only one is provided it's your choice whether to use this for a sustain pedal, assignable switch or expression-pedal duties. At first it looked as though there was no headphone socket, until I spotted the small mini‑jack tucked away at the front left-hand side of the keyboard. Like the M50 before it, a single pair of audio outputs on the Microstation are your route to the outside world. These, sadly, failed to materialise, and I therefore plugged in an external keyboard to reduce my inadvertent exploration of weird jazz scales. I couldn't reliably sense the position of notes I was aiming for, so my only hope was to evolve chameleon eyes able to follow each hand independently. However, extending this to 61 keys invites the notion of two‑handed playing, which presents a fresh level of difficulty. If you're prepared to put in the effort, I'm sure average‑sized fingers can adapt to it. Having already questioned the value of mini keys in previous reviews, I won't deny the keyboard action is fast and pleasantly springy. The sprung joystick is of healthy, unrestricted proportions but this simply draws your attention to the tiny grey buttons and stubby keys that make up the longest mini-key keyboard I've seen. Perhaps this impression is due to the different scaling of various components.
Highly portable, at less than 3kg, the Microstation's 778 x 210 x 82mm frame has a thin, almost stretched appearance.
I don't think the adjectives 'substantial' or 'rugged' will be on the tips of many tongues seeking to describe this vision in black and silver plastic. The Microstation's back panel features a single pedal input, MIDI I/O, a contrast control for the front panel LCD, an SD Card slot, a USB 2 port, stereo quarter‑inch jack outputs and a socket for the external 9V power supply.
And when it comes to the all‑important polyphony round up, the new boy squares up with an unexpected 120 voices, exceeding its larger sibling by 40 voices! Therefore, if you salivated over the M50's plush Korgness but your budget didn't match your appetite, or if you preferred something significantly smaller and lighter, the Microstation could be the OASYS spin-off you've been waiting for. Its sequencer - a vital workstation component - comes close to that of the M50, on paper at least. The Microstation's tale isn't all about economy and reduction.
#Korg microarranger keyboard workstation free
Fortunately, this criticism will be negated for many users by the inclusion of free editor software. The second wince comes when you peer at the two‑line display and realise that any task beyond a spot of superficial editing won't be fun. Leaving aside the externals for a moment, the first twinge isn't visibly obvious: in place of the M50's 256MB of wave ROM, the Microstation has just 49MB to play with. Indeed, much of the Microstation's functionality echoes Korg's impressive M50 - but at around half the price! Of course, not even Korg can shrink an already trimmed‑down instrument without some pain. The Microstation is the latest addition to Korg's 'Micro' range, and to their illustrious line of synth workstations.
#Korg microarranger keyboard workstation pro
Korg's latest keyboard blurs the boundaries between their affordable 'Micro' range and their pro workstations.
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