KORG Keystage MIDI 2.0 - Sand, software and sound

Thank you Gearnews and KORG for rescuing us from endless discussions about the meaning of “M”. [Be Zen. Labels are useless and wrong. Accept.]

A retailer slip-up previewed the new KORG Keystage line of MIDI 2.0 controllers. The retailer’s page is now gone.

Hmm, Gearnews and other big-name sites have been rather quiet about the Yamaha Montage M. Perhaps they have review units already? Rumor-wise, mark October 9th on your calendar. Gearnews, by the way, is a subsidiary of Thomann.

The Keystage are handsome beasts. The big news is polyphonic aftertouch (Polytouch®) in partnership with ASM. Neat! Keystage are equipped with an audio interface. Each of the eight parameter knobs has its own OLED display. Slider fans will be disappointed, however — no faders.

The 49- and 61-key models are light: 9.3 pounds and 11 pounds, respectively. Both have 5-pin MIDI IN and OUT. The 49 is priced at $599 USD (MSRP? MAP?) and the 61 is $699.

A small music/tablet rest is provided. The rest can be positioned at center or left/right. This is thoughtful.

From my own perspective, I wonder if the two pedal inputs support an expression pedal in addition to footswitch? At these prices, it should. The front panel seems a little short on assignable buttons. I like to use buttons for patch changes while playing. Hope it can send a full Bank MSB, Bank LSB, Program Change MIDI message sequence — my pet peeve and soapbox issue. Hope it’s all MIDI 1.x backward compatible, too.