Alesis Melody 61 MKII Electric Keyboard

Description

• Alesis Melody 61 MKII with 61 touch sensitive keys
• Full size piano keys
• 300 in-built tones
• 300 in-built rhythms
• Layer and split function
• Powered by mains or batteries – for portable use
• 40 demo songs to play along with
• Record and playback function
• Included – headphones, music stand, stool and microphone

Alesis Melody 61 MKII review

At first glance the Alesis Melody 61 MKII keyboard looks sleek, polished and refined. It’s probably one of the best looking keyboards I’ve seen in a long time. But does it shine anywhere else, or does it just look good? Read on to find out!

Alesis Melody 61 MKII – Sound

Over the years I’ve listened to hundreds of keyboards and I can easily spot a quality sound from a duff one. This is certainly a quality sound, and has ample amounts of volume, tone and richness to each of its voices. With a total of 300 voices and 300 rhythms I obviously didn’t get chance to go through them all. But the ones I did play around with all sounded very authentic. You can never compare the sound of this keyboard to something which costs hundreds of pounds, but it isn’t far away and certainly a lot less expensive!

Touch and feel

Something which you don’t always get with a keyboard at this price is touch sensitivity. This means that when you hit the keys harder you get a louder sound, and if you hit them softer – well, you get the idea. It does have this feature but I would say that it is quite sensitive. But this doesn’t detract from the fact that you have a feature which isn’t always present when you only spend around £100.

I also like the fact that they are full size piano keys – not weighted of course, but still have the substance. It felt good to play, and as a pianist myself I wasn’t surprised to be able to hit the keys easily as they are of course lighter than the keys from a real piano. Keyboards are always designed like this so there isn’t anything to worry about.

Features

Well, where do I begin? I could write hundreds of words to explain all the features on this keyboard it’s that good. But instead I will condense it down to the most important ones. First of all you have 300 voices and 300 rhythms. That’s a ridiculous amount of sounds and beats for something which only costs £100. You cannot ask for any more, and if it had 200, 100 or even 50 – I would have been happy.

So if you like to cycle through lots of different sounds, create your own songs, and even play along to rhythms – then this keyboard is perfect. But the amount of features doesn’t stop there. This package also includes headphones, a music stand, stool and microphone. Headphone connectivity is a must for most people as they want to be able to practice without being disturbed and without disturbing anyone in the house. I especially like the fact that you get a microphone to sing along to the demo songs or even your own playing. Hours of fun to be had!

For a brief overview of the main features here is a great video:

Price

At around £100 this is ideal for the beginner who wants to find out if they will enjoy the learning experience. It’s also the perfect price for a parent looking to buy a Xmas or birthday present for their child. There are so many benefits when learning to play the keyboard or piano for children, and that’s why I get lots of people contact me regularly to ask me what they should buy to get stared, and of course, how much they should spend.

I would recommend this keyboard to a casual player, a beginner, a child, and even an adult who wants to learn. It is a very fun experience playing this keyboard, and I would love to hear your feedback if you do decide to buy.

Alesis also make a 54-key electric keyboard for almost have the price – aptly named the Alesis Melody 54. If you are interested in upgrading further to a full size 88 note digital piano, then the Alesis also have you covered with the Recital 88 digital piano.