Arturia Keylab 49 Review

[felis]

Only had it for a couple hours, but here's the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Opened the box, and the keyboard looked fine. Nice and solid, a bit heavy even for its size.
The knobs and faders felt pretty good - not as much slop as I was expecting.
The box said it included some type of piano software, but there was nothing in the box for it - maybe on the site?

Anyways - hooked it up and only about half the keys worked. The lower section from F down and one upper C key didn't do anything.
Don't panic, I told myself.
Try to check settings first. I thought it might be something with a split setup.
Worked with it for a bit with no luck.
I really want this keyboard to work instead of sending it back.

I pulled it apart and there was a loose cable. Hooked the cable back up, tried it again, and the keys worked - yay!

The two knobs that were supposed to select the synths and sounds from Analog Lab didn't seem to be working right. I figured that would be a firmware issue, instead of hardware. Checked the site and found a later firmware version than what the board had. Loaded it up and it did the trick.

Everything seems to be working fine now. I checked release velocity with the demo of the Matrix 12V.
Yep, RV works just as it should. Having the pads as well as the keys producing aftertouch is going to be cool too.
This thing even has a breath controller input. As soon as I find my old breath controller, I'll give it a whirl.
Haven't used one for a long time.

I suspect this might have been a returned unit, or it was sitting unsold for quite a while, because of the old firmware it had. I think the one on the site was from 2013 and it was newer than what the board had.

Anyways - after some initial disappointment, I'm now a happy camper.
Hopefully, I won't run into too many more problems, because as of right now, it seems to be exactly what I was hoping for.

I had read about some problems with Arturia hardware, so was hesitant to take a chance on it.
There has been a recent price drop on the Keylabs, and that was enough for me to risk getting it.
I'm writing this review partly in the hopes that if someone gets one of these and runs into similar problems, they might find an answer to it here instead of sending it back right away.

[Bio~Rhythm]

Hi,

I've just sold one of these.I had no problems setting it up. This 'Hybrid synth' , it sounds good in theory and the keyboard/controller is well made.

It's advertised as a hybrid synthesiser,in that the keyboard/controller is designed specifically so it integrates with the Analog Lab software, which includes thousands of 'classic' sounds .I'd recommend anyone thinking of buying one of these keyboard/controllers to first try out the Analog Lab demo https://www.arturia.com/myarturia?view=demo&id=60 .

Also ,though the keylab >> analog lab does have some preselected parameters that you can alter for each synth patch,you have to have the actual specific software synth installed in order to alter the sound beyond the preselected parameters. I sold it because many of the sounds sounded to me comparably lo-fi.

[felis]

Well, I didn't really get it for the Analog Lab software. That was just kind of an extra.
I think the software is more of a taste of what the full V collection will give you.
The Analog Lab software is pretty limited in the amount of parameters you can control.

The keyboard itself though is a very, very nice general purpose controller that has almost all the features I would ever want from a controller board.
It can be used to control any softsynth that you can assign CC's to, and I have lots of those.
It can also be used to control my hardware modules.

I don't consider it a hybrid synth, but just a well spec'd controller.
I had a Clavia G2 that was really a hybrid. You could program synths on the computer and then load them into the keyboard to be used stand alone.

I like this Keylab because it's got velocity, aftertouch, release velocity, pads that are velocity and pressure sensitive, and a good amount of knobs and sliders.
It's also pretty rare for a board to have a breath controller input. I found my breath controller and tried it out, and it works just fine.

One thing I would have liked would have been an X/Y touchpad like some Novation and Korg controllers have.
But that's just a 'would have been nice' thing, not a deal breaker.

So far, after the initial snags, I'm pretty happy with it.

[K-Bee]

Here's a "one year later" review of the Keylab 88. Seems the knobs/pads/keys issue are frequent. I almost bought a Keylab 88 but now I'm glad I stuck with my ol' Kurzweil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eQ3IMMKEiE

[felis]

Not good. I'll report back in a year. Hopefully I'll have good luck with it.

I also had a Kurzweil - a K2600. Fantastic board, and it makes an excellent controller.
I especially liked the dual ribbons.
It was much too big and heavy for my needs though, so I thought I'd take a chance on
something smaller.

I've always wanted Kurzweil to come out with an updated, much lighter version of the MidiBoard.
I don't think there's much chance of that though.

Arturia has most of the right features. I just hope it proves to be durable.
Polyphonic aftertouch, and an X/Y pad are the only other things I would add
to have the truly perfect controller board.

[sprnva]

I really wanted to get a Keylab when I was in the market for a MIDI controller but read too many horror stories of issues like this.

I read down through the comments on that Youtube video and it seems Arturia fixed a lot of these issues in the second production run. So hopefully the chances of running into something like this will reduce over time.

[K-Bee]

Not good. I'll report back in a year. Hopefully I'll have good luck with it.

I also had a Kurzweil - a K2600. Fantastic board, and it makes an excellent controller.
I especially liked the dual ribbons.
It was much too big and heavy for my needs though, so I thought I'd take a chance on
something smaller.

I've always wanted Kurzweil to come out with an updated, much lighter version of the MidiBoard.
I don't think there's much chance of that though.

Arturia has most of the right features. I just hope it proves to be durable.
Polyphonic aftertouch, and an X/Y pad are the only other things I would add
to have the truly perfect controller board.

X/Y pads we pretty much never get. Imagine a Wavestation style stick for using the Omnisphere orb. Sheer heaven!

My Kurzweil - a PC3X - wasn't really intended to be my main controller but for years, it ended up as being just that. I initially wanted it because of the (still unrivalled) pianoes and rhodes. The overly complicated V.A.S.T synth engine is incredibly powerful but with 2000 presets, I usually just call one of those up

I wanted a synth key MIDI controller for my rack synths and plugins too though. I looked at the Keylab but then AKAI released the Advance series. It has the features I needed and is a great controller. The whole VIP software control system takes some getting used to and I had loads of installation issues as well.
I finally got through all that and now I'd never part with my Advance 61. It's not cheap but well worth the money.

[felis]

Just took a quick look at the Advance manual - it looks pretty neat. You can assign the pads to polyAT.
With that you can hold 3 or 4 pads as a chord and bend just one note - I like that.

Would you happen to know if it can send release velocity?
That was one of the main selling points for me with the Keylab.
It seems no manufacturer ever states that.
And midi implementation charts are few and far between nowadays.

[K-Bee]

I'm not sure about the release velocity. I'll have to get back to you on that. The Kurz has it but obviously it's an essential feature when playing pianos.