Your experience with Arturia KeyLab 61 MKll

[Cromoteq]

Hello,
does someone owns or tried out the Arturia's KeyLab 61 MKll?
how does it feels in terms of keyboards sensitivity, knobs, sliders, pads, pitch bend, after touch & programming In comparison to the new Keylab essential 61 MK3?

actually I own the MiniLab 3 but the rotary knobs feels heavy when tuning while the sliders are so light. does the professional KeyLab 61 MKll knobs & sliders also feels the same? how about the pads in comparison between both?
does it support MPE?

Is the professional one worth buying?

[Arpangel]

Hello,
does someone owns or tried out the Arturia's KeyLab 61 MKll?
how does it feels in terms of keyboards sensitivity, knobs, sliders, pads, pitch bend, after touch & programming In comparison to the new Keylab essential 61 MK3?

actually I own the MiniLab 3 but the rotary knobs feels heavy when tuning while the sliders are so light. does the professional KeyLab 61 MKll knobs & sliders also feels the same? how about the pads in comparison between both?
does it support MPE?

Is the professional one worth buying?

I bought one and had it for two weeks, everything else I tried in comparison had a good feel, even my Behringer 610 feels much better, of course, personal tastes can be a factor, but in this case, it’s beyond that, I’d be looking elsewhere. Sorry Arturia, but it’s not one of your best products.

[Essex Boi]

I’ve had a 61 MKII for about 6 months. The keybed and aftertouch have a decent enough feel. I wouldn't say it's premium though and the action’s quite shallow. Knobs, sliders, pads, etc. are functional and do a job. Important to remember they’re encoders linked to software and inevitably don’t have the same feel as a pot directly controlling a voltage. As Arpangel has already highlighted, whether this feels good or bad is a matter of personal taste.

I tried the Essential MKII in the store for comparison. It’s OK, but it's built to a different budget. I thought it was more plasticky - which I could live with - and the keys had an inconsistency and wobbliness - which I couldn't.

You could gather opinions and read reviews (including SOS's here https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ar ... eylab-mkii) but nothing beats going to a store and trying them both.

The main reason I can see to go down the Arturia route, is the bundled V collection. It gives a taste of the soft synths and, if you find something you like (as I did), you can buy the full-blown version. I haven't checked, but I think you get the same software with the Essential so on that front there's no difference.

[Cromoteq]

I’ve had a 61 MKII for about 6 months. The keybed and aftertouch have a decent enough feel. I wouldn't say it's premium though and the action’s quite shallow. Knobs, sliders, pads, etc. are functional and do a job. Important to remember they’re encoders linked to software and inevitably don’t have the same feel as a pot directly controlling a voltage. As Arpangel has already highlighted, whether this feels good or bad is a matter of personal taste.

I tried the Essential MKII in the store for comparison. It’s OK, but it's built to a different budget. I thought it was more plasticky - which I could live with - and the keys had an inconsistency and wobbliness - which I couldn't.

You could gather opinions and read reviews (including SOS's here https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ar ... eylab-mkii) but nothing beats going to a store and trying them both.

The main reason I can see to go down the Arturia route, is the bundled V collection. It gives a taste of the soft synths and, if you find something you like (as I did), you can buy the full-blown version. I haven't checked, but I think you get the same software with the Essential so on that front there's no difference.

Thanks for your info both looks fine because they contains (knobs, sliders & pads) all in one.

Perhaps the professional MKlll will be released soon. The pro MKll became old a bit now.

For the Pro MKlll I’m expecting more features & more rounded corners I hope the scale feature also will be included as well as more colors else than black & white. But the new one might be more expensive.

I shall wait for the new Pro MKlll perhaps will be released soon on October or at end of the year.

[Cromoteq]

Hello,
does someone owns or tried out the Arturia's KeyLab 61 MKll?
how does it feels in terms of keyboards sensitivity, knobs, sliders, pads, pitch bend, after touch & programming In comparison to the new Keylab essential 61 MK3?

actually I own the MiniLab 3 but the rotary knobs feels heavy when tuning while the sliders are so light. does the professional KeyLab 61 MKll knobs & sliders also feels the same? how about the pads in comparison between both?
does it support MPE?

Is the professional one worth buying?

I bought one and had it for two weeks, everything else I tried in comparison had a good feel, even my Behringer 610 feels much better, of course, personal tastes can be a factor, but in this case, it’s beyond that, I’d be looking elsewhere. Sorry Arturia, but it’s not one of your best products.

Regarding the professional KeyLab 61 MKll when pressing on it's keys does it feels heavy? does the knobs rotate heavily?

[Arpangel]

Hello,
does someone owns or tried out the Arturia's KeyLab 61 MKll?
how does it feels in terms of keyboards sensitivity, knobs, sliders, pads, pitch bend, after touch & programming In comparison to the new Keylab essential 61 MK3?

actually I own the MiniLab 3 but the rotary knobs feels heavy when tuning while the sliders are so light. does the professional KeyLab 61 MKll knobs & sliders also feels the same? how about the pads in comparison between both?
does it support MPE?

Is the professional one worth buying?

I bought one and had it for two weeks, everything else I tried in comparison had a good feel, even my Behringer 610 feels much better, of course, personal tastes can be a factor, but in this case, it’s beyond that, I’d be looking elsewhere. Sorry Arturia, but it’s not one of your best products.

Regarding the professional KeyLab 61 MKll when pressing on it's keys does it feels heavy? does the knobs rotate heavily?

No, they feel light, too light, to me, but it’s a matter of taste, you can’t buy stuff like this without trying it out, it’s like buying a piano without trying it, you just wouldn’t do it, this is just as important.

[Eddy Deegan]

Doing a quick comparison, the knobs on my KeyLab 61 MkII offer less resistance than those on most of my synth collection but are pretty much the same as those on the MatrixBrute, PolyBrute and KingKorg and I've never found any of them a problem in use.

The keyboard action is certainly on the light side. It's roughly the same weight as that on a KingKorg or Hydrasynth Deluxe. It's quite playable and for some synth sounds, especially leads, works extremely well. For sustained chords/pads the action makes little difference anyway but I'd choose something a bit stiffer for keyboard sounds given a choice.

I don't use it that often (mainly as I have many options in the studio) but it's a goood all-round general purpose MIDI controller. Trying one out is a good idea.

I like mine a lot but everyone has their own preferences of course.

[adamburgess]

I really like mine. Don't mind the faders at all, or knobs at all. They're no worse than the 'premium' ones on my Kronos.

Keyboard feels fine… the best I found trying out the other similar models. Keys are a bit 'sharp' on the corners, and makes it a bit tricky to do any organ smears, but synth wise - I like it. I bought the 88 at the same time and sold it within a month. Tried all sorts to get the keyboard to respond to my liking, but, just couldn't do it.

Not a pad person, so can't really comment.

Software, both editing and the synth bundles are really good. Cannot complain at all.

[MarkOne]

I can't comment on the keybed of the 66 MkII, I have the 88 Mk2 and have no complaints about that (but it is a fully weighted keybed which is I think the same Fatar unit as used in the Native Instruments Kontrol 88.)

Comparing the sliders to others I have here, they are quite light, a little lighter than those on my Novation Impulse, and a lot lighter than my Roland Gaia sliders

Knobs are similarly light, but don't feel flimsy or like they might fall off, and they are smooth, not exhibiting any roughness.

The Alpha Dial has a satisfying detents and pushing it gives a pleasing click.

All of the buttons are positive hard click affairs, and there is no flexing of the board under the steel top plate.

I do find the trigger pads a bit annoying with no positive feedback when you press them, but that's the same on the Novation and on the Alesis Vortex. I guess that's what people want.

I don't personally put much store in how light or heavy a control is (other than the keybed itself )- If they do the job accurately in the middle of a gig, then that's what interests me.

I think the Keylab 88 feels and acts like a professional keyboard. nothing creaks, everything feels reasonably well engineered and screwed together.

Of course there's nothing like trying it for yourself

[tag_in_denver]

I've owned a KeyLab 61 Mk II for years now, and I think it is a great controller to have in front of you to sketch out ideas while interacting with your DAW's arrange and mixer screens in a home or studio recording situation. I think it is also just fine for playing soft synths and pianos live.

The faders and knobs are great for working with Ableton Live or the other popular DAWs that are supported (the mapping is sufficient but not amazing), and the synth-style key bed feels good enough to play fairly expressively. However, if you are mainly interested in the the response of the keys, I would say that it is too stiff and lacking in dynamics in comparison to a reasonably affordable hardware synth by sequential, like the Prophet Rev 2 or even a (now) classic synth like the Access Virus Keyboard. Whenever I need to capture an expressive performance on the keys, I will switch from the Arturia to my Nord Stage.

Having said that, I really like to use the KeyLab 61 Mk II in my home studio. I do also own Arturia's V collection, and those plug ins are pretty awesome. So, in combination with those amazing plugins, I'm happy to use it for sketching out ideas and for setting fader, pan, and other settings in whatever DAW I'm using.

Interestingly, the Mk 3 versions are out, but my brother just bought one - the Mk 3 49 - and despite its cool screen and other bells and whistles, it is not operating correctly with Ableton Live 12 on Windows 11 as advertised! In contrast, my lowly Mk II is working just fine! (BTW, I've been able to help my bro troubleshoot the issues, and we've tackled some, but the Internet is full of users having problems with the Mk 3 right now!)

[kingsize]

Yes the Mark2 - keybed is plain awful to me. Love the integration, really slick software, it’s lasted less than a year in the studio, but I bought it online without trying it so it’s my own fault. To be fair though I’ve bought dozens of boards in my career and have no trouble playing piano, organ or semi-weighted synth keybeds, this is the first one I have rejected solely on feel.

If you are listening Arturia - The controller concept is almost spot on, just use a korg keybed, oh and make it 76notes, something with midi 2 and visible parameters on board that has a mainstage / logic / ableton/ studio one mode that works flawlessly and you will own the market. Less concerned about poly after touch, very concerned about how it feels (primary touch) - can I reliably play a scale or run on it without slipping?