Arturia KeyLab Essential 88

KeyLab 88 MIDI keyboards from renowned manufacturer Arturia are popular among demanding musicians who know why they need 7 octaves and a huge number of faders and pads. But the KeyLab Essential 88 model, which entered the market last year, is distinguished by a more modest number of on-board controllers, simplified mechanics, and almost half the price. The keyboard costs about $500, and, like its much cooler predecessor, it has full integration with the proprietary Analogue Lab application, which emulates the sound of iconic analogue synthesizers.

Perfect appearance

The instrument is made in the best traditions of Arturia: a dazzling white matte body is decorated with wood-like side inserts, white keys have a glossy finish and a full-fledged unshortened edge, like in synthesizer models. Black keys are matte.

Comfortable aftertouch keyboard

The semi-weighted dynamic keyboard is equipped with an aftertouch function, which makes it possible to control the sound not only due to the force and speed of pressing the key, but also due to the change in pressure on it after pressing. That is, when playing, for example, a guitar part, you can imitate string tightening, and when recording a saxophone, change the volume of notes, etc.

Wealth of settings

The instrument offers the user more than 6500 Analogue Lab synth samples, intelligently linked to 9 faders, 9 knobs and 8 pads, for inspired and fruitful work. By the way, in addition to Analogue Lab, KeyLab Essential 88 also works great in DAW (sequencer) mode with support for programs such as Ableton Live Lite, Logic, Cubase, Pro Tools, Reaper, Studio One and FL Studio.

In addition, it is possible to create 6 user configurations in a separate MIDI Control Centre programme.

The function of octave shift, transposition, pitch and modulation controllers, programming capabilities allow the musician to customize the midi keyboard for themselves and create without limits. At the same time, all information about the current settings and parameters is displayed on a two-line monochrome display.

Connectivity

The keyboard is connected to the computer via a USB port. In this case, power is taken from the USB bus. For use with external synthesizers, a 9V power adapter is provided, which is not included in the kit. The keyboard also has one 5-pin MIDI output and an input for a sustain pedal.

Conclusion

In terms of control capabilities, design and reliability, the Arturia KeyLab Essential 88 is almost as good as the older line of KeyLab MKII keyboards, while it costs almost half the price. And that means the choice is clear.