You may even browse presets straight from KeyLab, filtering them by instrument, sound financial institution, or model. Native Devices presents a flashier and arguably extra superior model of those identical instruments on its Kontrol sequence, 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 mean you can browse presets and present graphics, although I’m positive updates will repair that quickly sufficient. Because the interfaces of the devices range extensively, the way in which the controls are mapped additionally will be inconsistent. And for lots of the stand-alone devices there are extra parameters to take care of than there are hands-on controls. You may simply remap these to your liking, nevertheless 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 Dwell, Bitwig Studio, FL Studio, Cubase, or Logic Professional. Your particular selection of recording software program will decide how tight the mixing is. I solely examined Ableton Dwell, and issues largely labored as anticipated. The transport controls allowed me to play and file, 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 principle encoder.
Different Goodies
The brand new KeyLab mk3 has a couple of different good options, together with scale mode to maintain you from enjoying 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 straight 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 Dwell Lite, and extra.
In the end, the rationale to select the KeyLab mk3 isn’t the arpeggiator (I believe Native Devices’ arpeggiator is healthier). 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.
If you happen to’re already a devoted consumer of Arturia’s software program devices and wish one thing slightly extra premium than its plasticky KeyLab Important sequence, the KeyLab mk3 is an apparent selection. However if you happen to’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 traditional synths in the marketplace.
