My Arturia Keylab Essential 49 MIDI keyboard, is no more.

[Biggles]

Well I have had this keyboard for a few months and it has been very useful connected up to my iPad, the laptop and especially to my Wife’s Mac which has Main Stage installed on it.

I found that the software available with the Arturia to be very good, in particular the Rhodes emulator which I have played around with for hours.

Another piece of software that was available as a download was Analogue Lab which I did not use much but what I did use was impressive.

Then I came across Galileo 2 organ which I installed on my iPad and absolutely love it. Yet more hours spent noodling around with the drawbars and Leslie effect. Bags and bags of presets are available within the standard app.

Yet another App on the iPad I have played around with quite a bit has been Music Studio which is great for VSTs and it even includes its own simple to use DAW.

I can now fully understand users of Main Stage, 6Gb of vst’s for not much cash. Its goid, very, very good.

OK so enough ramblings, using the controller as an actual keybed has revealed its limitations for me, namely its feel and lack of aftertouch with using it more for playing than for DAW really brought to the surface the limitations I quited.

So its now been eBayed and sold so I now have cash in the pocket burning a hole there wanting to be spent on a better unit.

Having played a few MIDI keyboards and I do like the feel and build of the NI S61 but at £520, that smarts.

Favourite is another Arturia but this time the Keylab Mk II 61 which is £386 at the retailer 5 minutes away from me.

Anyone have any thoughts on the Keylab?

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I have no experience with Arturia's keyboards, but from what I've read about the Essential versions versus their more expensive versions, I'm not too surprised that you decided to part with it.

 

[Mighty Motif Max]

I’ve not played the Keylab MKII, but I know several players on another forum that highly recommend the 61, or if you want weighted, the 88. I almost bought one to use in a dorm room, but ended up going with something with built-in sounds (Kurzweil PC3).

 

[fazer]

@Biggles Did you ever get the Keylab 61 Mkii? I have that one and get some great sounds from Arturia’s and other software such as Mainstage. I’m a little newer to keyboards than many here though so I’m using my time mostly to improve my playing rather than explore endless sounds - although I can’t deny it’s easy to get lost for hours exploring!

My only issue with the Mkii is that the synth keys aren’t as nice to play as some - for example Yamaha’s synth keys on the MODX+ range feel much nicer to me. There seems to be some ‘springy’ feeling to the Mkii keys and somewhat greater pressure seems to be needed on the black keys. That’s pretty minor but I do notice. The keys on my Yamahas definitely feel nicer to me.

 

[Biggles]

@Biggles Did you ever get the Keylab 61 Mkii? I have that one and get some great sounds from Arturia’s and other software such as Mainstage. I’m a little newer to keyboards than many here though so I’m using my time mostly to improve my playing rather than explore endless sounds - although I can’t deny it’s easy to get lost for hours exploring!

My only issue with the Mkii is that the synth keys aren’t as nice to play as some - for example Yamaha’s synth keys on the MODX+ range feel much nicer to me. There seems to be some ‘springy’ feeling to the Mkii keys and somewhat greater pressure seems to be needed on the black keys. That’s pretty minor but I do notice. The keys on my Yamahas definitely feel nicer to me.

No.

I would not touch another Arturia product.

I have a small M Audio Oxygen Pro that does what I need.