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Arturia Keylab Essential 3 61 key controller - Black
(1)
Product code: AR-KEYES361BK
RRP $549.00
$439.00
This item is a recurring or deferred purchase. By continuing, I agree to the cancellation policy and authorize you to charge my payment method at the prices, frequency and dates listed on this page until my order is fulfilled or I cancel, if permitted.
KeyLab Essential mk3 is the focused, accessible, and fun keyboard controller designed to make your music-making workflow more personal and enjoyable than ever before. Control your DAW or hardware with the most vital controls at your fingertips, the most expressive features at your disposal, and the most inspiring musical software - included as standard.
Your essential ingredients for creativity
Whether you’re a beginner producer or an experienced music maker looking for a refreshed setup, KeyLab Essential distills everything you want in a controller into a simple, fun, expressive keyboard for production and performance. Enjoy comfy keybeds, tactile DAW-integrated controls, and thoughtful layout that simply makes your creative life easier.
Advanced features, simple workflow
KeyLab Essential provides an array of useful & intuitive controls that’ll get the job done. Interact with encoders, faders, pads, and more in a way that makes sense for your setup, giving you a hands-on experience balanced with software flexibility.
The best DAW integration
Get creative right out the box with KeyLab Essential’s custom DAW scripts, bringing pre-mapped controls into your workflow with any major DAW. Not only that, but the KeyLab Essential controls work seamlessly with Analog Lab V, the included sound anthology plugin - letting you freely explore thousands of sounds old and new.
Your musical workhorse
For when you want to get experimental, find a new sound, or just need a bit of extra inspiration, KeyLab Essential has a few tricks up its sleeve. Create fun ever-changing melodies with the Arpeggiator, weave rich chord voicings with Chord play, and always stay in key thanks to Scale mode.
For product compatibility and updates, please visit https://www.arturia.com/products/hybrid-synths/keylab-essential-mk3/overview
Full featured, lightweight, but not without some hiccups!
This is a pretty good MIDI controller that features some interesting features on its own, such as built-in keyboard split and arpeggio functions, and support for MIDI out and foot pedals, but unfortunately, there are some minor build quality issues with this controller.
The knobs are stiff and hard to grip (being smooth plastic and shaped rather thinly), the sliders are a little rough, and the 4 buttons on the main controller panel are rubbery and shakey (like Casio calculator buttons!), but otherwise, the keyboard plays well with a lightweight feel, has 3-level adjustable sensitivity settings and the DAW controls are actually rather handy to have near you to quickly start, stop and rewind your playhead in your favourite apps without reaching for your computer's keyboard and mouse.
The biggest issue with this keyboard is the driver software—on a Mac, you need to be logged in as an Administrator in order for the driver to communicate with your keyboard, which is required to configure it and update its firmware. Fortunately, though, once you have set it up the way you like, you can revert to using a Standard account on your Mac in order to use the keyboard with your DAW. This little nuance isn't stated in the keyboard driver documentation, and the software itself is unforgiving enough to simply say that an unexpected error occurred rather than tell you what the problem is and how to resolve it, which is all unfortunate.
All in all, I do like this keyboard, and there's nothing about it which disappoints me in any significant way. The hardware is of good finish, and for a MIDI controller, offers some versatile functions and enough controls for your instruments and your projects. You can also change the polarity of your external foot pedal to cope with the hardware you have!
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