At Musikmesse, we took a quick look at Arturia’s upcoming new KeyLab Essential range of affordable, but fully-featured MIDI controller keyboards.
The package combines an elegant yet rugged MIDI keyboard, DAW controls, deep integration (including transport and undo buttons) and a serious bundle of music software including Analog Lab, Ableton Live Lite, and UVI Grand Piano Model D. It looks like good bang for your buck and gives you enough to create and record right out of the box.
There are two variants — the 49-key KeyLab Essential 49 and the 61-key KeyLab Essential 61, priced at £189 and £235 respectively. Both feature a velocity-sensitive keyboard with pitch bend and modulation wheels, eight RGB-backlit performance pads, nine faders and nine rotary encoders.
The KeyLab Essential keyboard controllers also feature six fully-customizable user memories, Twin-line LCD Screen with backlit illumination and an useful ‘Chord Play’ mode.
It this is up your street, you will be able to get your hands on one in the coming weeks.
