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Arturia Analog Experience The Laboratory USB MIDI Keyboard Controller, 61-Key Reviews
Home >> Keyboards and MIDI >> 61-Key Keyboard Controllers
Average Review: 2
Manufacturer: Arturia
Price: $449
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About the Arturia Analog Experience The Laboratory USB MIDI Keyboard Controller, 61-Key
The latest member in the Analog Experience family - the Arturia Analog Experience The Laboratory 61 Key Keyboard Controller has everything that made this line a success: perfect hardware/software integration, a beautiful controller that meets the highest standards in the industry plus the software has been adapted for the 61 keys.
Arturia Analog Experience The Laboratory USB MIDI Keyboard Controller, 61-Key Reviews
The Arturia Laboratory 61 keyboard replaces an M-Audio and Roland small based 61 key keyboard controller. I purchased it for the controller and not the 3,500 patches worth of sounds. The software works great. I had no problems with the installation/authorization on a Dell laptop. The instructions were right on. I have no intentions of using the software but I did install it and I've spent some hours to go through MANY of the sounds and editing capabilities. The software is "fun", and although not useful for my purposes, sounds VERY good. It's fairly intuitive if you're familiar with the concepts. Again the reason I purchased this package was for the keyboard controller. I'm a heavy Native Instruments B4 II, Kotakt (Vintage Organs) and GSi VB3 user. The primary purpose for me is to use this in church for Hammond Organ type use. Unlike the Roland and M-Audio keyboards this one replaces, it has substance (weight) for its small size. The keys (although in the very beginning, I did not like) I've grown to like A LOT. It just feels right. The placement of the knobs, mod and pitch-bend wheel is great in my opinion. The rotary controllers and sliders work great (although the slider caps keep coming off - and I've lost one already!!!). Touch sensitivity and aftertouch work great (although aftertouch is a little sensitive until you get used to it, particularly on the white keys). Now the bad!!!! The firmware on this keyboard is HORRIBLE. As good as the instructions were for the software, the instructions for the keyboard are really bad. There are "Octave" up/down buttons that when you press you will see it also displays an option for "Semi" Transpose in the LCD screen. Nothing in the documentation and internet (including Arturia forum) could answer the mystery of how to move the cursor to the "Semi" to transpose chromatically. A question to technical support went unanswered until I sent an email to sales. Then I got the answer via email - which is - press both Octave up and down buttons at the same time and it toggles between the two modes!!! Then there is an upper and lower button, each of which can be assigned a tx channel. Good luck figuring out how to set those TX channels in regular/performance mode. You can do it in "global" mode, but then there's the whole issue with the keyboard not responding to mod, expression, sustain/pedal, etc. when you're in global mode. The editor software is fairly nice in that you can easily assign midi CC number to each of the controllers but the "global" parameters, including split (so you can use lower/upper) do absolutely nothing. There's a glitch in the LCD when you go into the global mode and then come out, where the LCD retains the "current" page when you, for example go into the transpose screen. All that appears is the value -2, -1, -, +1, etc. overlaid on top of the screen that was there from the previous operation. I think with a nice firmware update and some good instructions, this is a great keyboard. I'm really frustrated with the issues though!!! Does a good job controlling the organ VSTs though. My rating is going to be PURELY based on the keyboard! Can't recommend it until they fix the basics. If you want the synths - then it's great!!!
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