You may even browse presets immediately from KeyLab, filtering them by instrument, sound financial institution, or model. Native Devices presents a flashier and arguably extra superior model of those similar instruments on its Kontrol series, however I discover Arturia’s UI extra responsive.
Integration with Arturia’s particular person devices is a bit more patchy in the intervening time. Just some, like Mini V and Piano V, will permit you to browse presets and present graphics, although I’m certain updates will repair that quickly sufficient. Because the interfaces of the devices fluctuate extensively, the way in which the controls are mapped additionally might be inconsistent. And for lots of the stand-alone devices there are extra parameters to deal with than there are hands-on controls. You may simply remap these to your liking, however it does add an additional step.
The KeyLab mk3 additionally presents some management over your digital audio workstation (DAW), as long as your DAW is Ableton Reside, Bitwig Studio, FL Studio, Cubase, or Logic Professional. Your particular alternative of recording software program will decide how tight the combination is. I solely examined Ableton Reside, and issues principally labored as anticipated. The transport controls allowed me to play and document, and the knobs and faders have been robotically mapped to controls for Ableton’s native devices and results. The pads can be utilized to set off scenes and clips in Ableton’s clip view, and massive enhancements have been additionally made permitting you to simply choose and arm tracks utilizing the primary encoder.
Different Goodies
The brand new KeyLab mk3 has a number of different good options, together with scale mode to maintain you from taking part in out of key and a very good arpeggiator with randomization instruments. Along with serving as a controller on your DAW and plug-ins, it has 5-pin MIDI out and in ports for immediately speaking to {hardware} synths. Plus it comes with a stable software program bundle, together with Analog Professional V, Mini V, Piano V, Augmented Strings, Ableton Reside Lite, and extra.
In the end, the explanation to choose the KeyLab mk3 isn’t the arpeggiator (I believe Native Devices’ arpeggiator is best). It’s high-quality {hardware} and seamless integration with Analog Lab. At $499 for the 49-key model and $599 for the 61-key, they’re truly cheaper than comparative controllers from Novation and Native Devices.
Should you’re already a devoted consumer of Arturia’s software program devices and need one thing a little bit extra premium than its plasticky KeyLab Important sequence, the KeyLab mk3 is an apparent alternative. However for those who’re not already dedicated to a selected plug-in suite, the KeyLab is a stable proposition. It delivers high-quality {hardware} at a lower cost than the competitors and comes packaged with a number of the most interesting emulations of basic synths in the marketplace.
