Yamaha keeps cranking out mini-keyboards!

The SHS-300 Sonogenic is squarely in the musical toy category. The SHS-500 keytar is a solid, well-built instrument with 28 melodic instruments, 2 drum kits (House and Power), and DSP effects. The SHS-300, on the other hand, is a plastic, reduced rendition.

Both keyboards interface with Yamaha’s ChordTracker app and implement Jam mode. Jam mode lets an untrained user flail at the keyboard while the software maps the played notes to the musical scale determined by ChordTracker.

The SHS-300 has just 12 instruments organized into four categories:

• Synth: Saw Lead, Square Lead, Synth Brass
• Piano: Piano, Electric Piano, Organ
• Guitar: Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Bass
• Other: Strings, Synth Bass, Dance Kit

The Dance Kit is the sole drum kit. The sounds are definitely entry-level PSR quality with no real effects. The nice solid controls of the SHS-500 are replaced by plastic buttons. Buttons control vibrato and sustain; Pitch bend is the sole wheel.

Street prices should be quite low as Yamaha are aiming for a super-casual, impulse-buy customer base.

Of course, the SHS-300 does not provide 5-pin MIDI out, an alphanumeric display or other niceties. I think I would stick with the bigger sibling SHS-500.