MKB300 Redux

Back in the 1980s, midi was young, and so was I. It was then that I fell in love with the Roland MKB-300 controller keyboard. You can read Chapter One elsewhere on this blog.

I'd used it for years, but other synths and controllers eventually took its place. I'd tried, and failed, to sell it on Craig's list and Ebay. Shipping and packing seemed daunting anyway, so eventually the MKB-300 was just sitting in a closet gathering dust.

Chapter Two for the MKB-300 began when someone else fell in love with it. A Gearchild reader named Anonymous.

Anonymous, it turned out, had an actual name, Peter Ehrlich, and it turned out he was looking for one. He rocked a mellow techno groove, was into vintage synths and it seemed he really took a shine to the controller keyboard. Emails ensued, I posted the video, above, to show him the keyboard in action, we settled on a price. He was game.

 From Mr. Ehrlich:

"The Roland MKB represents to me the pinnacle of midi controller design because it sits at such a transitional period in the history of midi.  It is an instrument in its own right and, as such, is geared towards players rather than producer/engineers, where I fall. I enjoy the idea that I may be able to assist this instrument in continuing its musical journey.  At least I intend to give it my best shot.

But I was still wary about shipping the hulking monster keyboard.  Its hugeness was one of the main reasons I'd resisted putting up on ebay. It would likely be expensive to ship and be a huge hassle as well.

But Peter's enthusiasm won out and his shipping tips convinced me it would be possible: Hit your local bike shop trash for huge sized cartons, use a lot of bubble wrap, tape and ship it via the post office. The post office? Yes. He said he once even got a stove shipped through the post office.

Low and behold, the U.S.P.S. web site seemed to suggest they'd take a package of this size and weight. Unfortunately my local post office EMPLOYEE would NOT take it. The clerk with the tape measure said it was too big. I sensed ineptitude and my instinct was right—the post office two miles down the road had no issues with it. I heaved the coffin-sized box over the counter, and off it went.

After a a week and 3000 miles on mail trucks, it arrived without a hitch. The MKB-300 was home again.

Roland MBK-300 Midi Controller

The MKB-300 weighs a ton, on the other hand, how many 23 year old midi controllers do you have that still work perfectly?

This is the way they used to make them, solid metal all around and real wood too. Built like a tank, my MKB-300 controller has lasted over two decades and still performs flawlessly. When I got this around 1987 or so, a midi controller was still an exotic thing. I can't remember how many times I had to explain midi to my friends, musicians and non-musicians alike: "Well, it doesn't actually make any sounds on it's own, it triggers sounds in other equipment. . ."

Now days midi controllers are a dime a dozen. And they're flimsy, for the most part. But besides the build, this board was well thought out. 76 keys, semi-weighted action, and 128 memories all easily accessible, through its 8 bank buttons and 16 program change buttons. It allows two midi channels for each memory location. The two channels are set up as either programmable splits, in dual mode (2 midi channels stacked) or use the whole keyboard for a single midi channel, switchable with the second.

In addition, each of the two channels in each of the 128 memory locations had a programmable bank and program number associated with it. So when you hit a memory location, you got the channels you wanted, the split/dual or whole mode you wanted, and the program change you wanted. You were ready. If playing in a band, you could easily plan out a few sets worth of patches on a couple of outboard synths, or a multitimbral module. You could improvise as well, sending program changes at will, then conveniently snap back to your saved setups.

And no menus to navigate, a major annoyance, so for me, this early midi board hit a sweet spot in the development of midi gear. It did a lot, yet everything was on the front panel, perfect for performance. Just push a few buttons. May just one.

Ok, it had no aftertouch, but I usually turned reception of that data off in my sequencer anyway so as not to clog my midi pipeline. But it did have a bunch of midi outs, something you never see these days, and let's not forget the individual damper and soft pedals inputs for each channel, adjustable dynamics via a pot on the back and the handy-dandy transpose slider for easy key changes.

Back in the day (1984), his baby retailed way up there, somewhere between 1 and 2 grand. I have a feeling it didn't sell that well. It was overbuilt, and demand wasn't that great for midi controllers. I got it at a blowout sale for about $600 in 1988. I used it for about 10 years straight, and had it on the side, occasionally tinkling its ivories since, but less and less with the purchase of new toys that have replaced it. I hate to see it go, but I just need the space, and since it won't die, I finally decided to put it up for sale.