Arturia MicroLab Mk3

Controller Keyboard

Published July 2025

If you’re looking for a controller keyboard that’s both compact and affordable, Arturia have got just the thing...

The MicroLab Mk3 from Arturia is quite possibly the least‑featured MIDI controller I’ve ever set my fingers on. The previous version at least had a jaunty‑coloured jacket and a natty recessed MIDI cable so that you would never be without it. With the Mk3, other than a dash of veneer on the ends, it is the plainest of the plain, no‑frills, off‑white or black, compact MIDI controller keyboard, and I’m pretty sure that’s the point.

Easy Does It

To spend some moments deep diving into the facilities, you get two velocity‑sensitive octaves, two touch strips and four buttons. It’s probably small enough to fit in your laptop bag without too much trouble, but it’s surprisingly thick. This lends it a certain amount of robustness and also makes room for the mini piano‑style keys. The keyboard is actually pretty great for its size. It has a decent feel and resistance to it, it’s relatively quiet and it plays much nicer than the Launchkey Mini I currently have on my desk.

The minimal theme is continued at the back of the unit where there’s just a quarter‑inch sustain pedal input, a Kensington security slot and a USB‑C port for power and connection to a computer.

There’s not much to see round the back, just a sustain pedal input and a USB‑C port.

The touch strips to the side of the keyboard represent the usual pitch and modulation wheels, but they also have a secondary function: if you load up the included Analog Lab Intro plug‑in and hold the Shift button, you can use the mod strip to scroll through the presets and the pitch strip to change categories. Tap on the strip to load the selected preset. The octave buttons can also get involved by stepping through the presets as you hold Shift. It’s a little hamfisted but is helpful enough to stop you from reaching for your mouse. That’s not it for the touch strips, though. Using the Arturia MIDI Control Centre, you can further repurpose them to control other things if you wish. You can also adjust the velocity curve of the keyboard and decide if you want the Hold button to toggle or gate.

If you press Shift and the Hold button and play a chord, the MicroLab will remember it and play the same chord on every key.

One last touch is the Chord mode, where if you press Shift and the Hold button and play a chord, the MicroLab will remember it and play the same chord on every key.

The Analog Lab Intro software comes with 500 presets from Arturia’s V Collection, which has a decent selection of usable sounds, and the obligatory Ableton Live Lite is also included, so you have everything you need to start making music.

Conclusion

There’s really not that much to say about the MicroLab Mk3. It’s not an exciting keyboard, but it has a good feel, takes up very little space and lets you surf presets in Arturia synths without taking your hands off the keyboard. And at £49$59 it’s undeniably affordable. It would have been great if it had a MIDI Out socket, but otherwise, it’ll do nicely.