If you own any or all of the V Collection instruments then Keylab Essential will, of course, happily converse with those. You are guaranteed to go places you wouldn’t normally go if you’re forced to mouse-click and adjust every time. The DX7 synth, for example, will have Operator levels and Algorithm adjustments the Piano instrument has a bunch of keyboard-relevant adjustments to make while Prophet VS has joystick adjustments and Wave Osc levels… you get the idea.īeing able to audition presets and mess with them without recourse to your computer or a mouse is a big deal. The parameters allocated to the row of faders depend on the synth engine. The top row of pots offer broadbrush control of the tone and the effects levels. The nine pots and nine faders of the controller match the pots and faders in the Controls section of Analog Lab. After that download and a restart, Keylab Essential and Analog Lab instantly shook hands, with everything nicely mapped. I discovered I’d not updated Analog Lab in a year. I eagerly connected it to my laptop using the supplied USB cable, fully expecting every Analog Lab virtual fader and pot to be automatically mapped to the controller, and feeling just a bit miffed when they weren’t! So Keylab Essential should really be up my alley. I often use Analog Lab when playing live and V Collection accounts for at least half of my synth sounds when I’m in the studio. Novation has released FLkey for the ‘fruity’ crew… and guess what, Arturia’s Keylab ranges are awesome if you rely on Analog Lab and its V Collection of instruments. Push is obviously an Ableton controller with deep Live integration. For example, if you spend most of your time in a Native Instruments sonic environment, you’d be mad not to look at the NI Komplete Kontrol. Which is why we see platform-focussed controller keyboards. So we quite reasonably expect the manufacturer to do the hard work for us and map all those pesky MIDI controller messages so we don’t have to. In other words, no one has that sort of patience, not even during covid. In fact, in the early days of controller keyboards, that’s kinda what we were expected to do… most of those people are now bald. So the truth is, if you had all the time in the world, you could program just about any controller keyboard on the market to perfectly fit your workflow. Just about everyone uses the HUI language for other control messages (something Mackie invented 20-plus years ago). They all spit out MIDI data to control (in most cases) your computer running a DAW or soft synth (MIDI is a 40-ish year-old invention). All keyboard controllers have more in common than they do differences. MIDI & HUIįor starters, let’s acknowledge the obvious. Let’s take a look at Arturia’s Mk3 of Keylab Essential and see if it’s for you. What’s more, some DAW integration would be handy - transport control, at the very least. You probably also want your controller to help you audition sounds, quickly mess with presets, and make sonic decisions quicker and easier than with a keyboard and mouse. In fact, a lighter touch that’s just as good for belting out lead lines, chords or drum parts, is more useful. If, on the other hand, you’re not worried about live performance, then an expensive keybed isn’t such a big deal. For example, many who use Mainstage will use an eight-slider controller for pushing up the right sound at the appropriate time (Korg’s NanoKontrol seems to be the unit du jour). I’m glad you asked, because it’s something I’ve been giving some thought to while testing the new Keylab Essential Mk3 - Arturia’s latest lightweight controller.įirstly, will you be mainly using it in the studio or on stage? If it’s a performance keyboard then you’re likely to want the best keybed you can afford (probably weighted if you’re a piano player) and enough pots and sliders to deal with whatever sound source you use. What are the key factors behind your choice of a controller keyboard? Good question.
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