I really like my Arturia KeyLab MkII. However, the sliders still are on the wrong side for me to use it as the upper board in my rig.
As I’m moving away from my hybrid setup (Keylab + Kurzweil Forte SE) I’m considering to pick a KeyLab 88 MkII as a new lower board and swap the upper board to one with the sliders on the left.
As far as I can see the offering here is little. Fast synth keybed, aftertouch and 9 faders are a must.
So, from a first look there are
M-Audio Oxygen Pro 61 (described as half weighthed - so more piano style
Novation Impulse 61 (same…)
Nektar Panorama T6 (?)
Any opinions about the keybeds - I’m looking for something comparable to the Arturia, which I find quit good
What about the support of LED feedback by GP widgets?
I had a M-Audio Oxygen Pro 61, but besides a few little things the keys were too sharp for me, I could get injured. Now I use a Fantom-0 for this purpose, but it lacks aftertouch. There are also other suggestions in the thread quoted above. For example, I really liked the Behringer MOTÖR 61, but it’s obviously no longer available for purchase.
I can wholeheartedly recommend the Keylab 88 MkII. I’ve been using it live for a few years now and it’s the centre of my rig.
You will notice a difference in feel (quality) with the three keyboards you mention above compared to the Arturua 61 MkII. They may feel cheaper to you (subjective, of course).
Consider weight (overall product weight I mean, not the weight of the action), and include that in your decision making. If that is a factor to you.
How about a separate control surface instead of relying on the keyboard’s configuration?
Also I have the M-Audio Oxygen Pro 61 as a second controller. I don’t love the action.
The thing that stopped me from considering the (otherwise really nice) Keylab is the location of the sliders. If you need to do much hammond-organ soloing, then the sliders (aka drawbars) are on the far right of the controller which means that you have to reach over with your left hand to change drawbar settings - that can be awkward if you’re soloing.
I have the Novation Impulse 61 sitting above a Studiologic SL 88 Studio in my current setup.
The Impulse is very lightweight and feels a bit flimsy. The keyboard action is quite light, Novation calls it semi-weighted and it has channel aftertouch. Works for me, but the keys are quite clicky = noisy.
The faders are flat, so nothing to grab but rather lay your fingers on. Not ideal for drawbar use, but I got used to it. Buttons, knobs and pads work ok, although the knobs have endpoints and are not endless encoders. I didn’t get LED feedback from GP to work though.
I bought a used Impulse, because I could get a near new one for EUR 120,-.
I don’t konw how “road-worthy” it is, I am using it right now only at home for sound design.
Having said all that, I tried the Novation SL Mk3 in a musicstore and really liked the action. The overall build quality is miles ahead of the Impulse. This keyboard is mentioned here in the forum quite often. It has a lot of functionality geared rather towards controlling other hardware that you would’nt need for GP, though.
Or maybe look for a used Novation SL Mk2. That seems to be a nice board as well, although I never played one.
Hope that helps.
The Novation SL is out of my scope as it provides 8 faders only. Also the faders are centered, which would only be a slight imporvement compared to the KeyLab. I would like to have 9 faders on the left side!
An ‘inverse’ KeyLab 61 MkII would be perfect
Thanks for your thoughts so far, I think I will wait some more time. I think there might come a Keylab MkIII. In some FB groups there are already discussions and EOL mentions of the MkII from some stores.
It’s a pity that the Korg Keystage 61 does not provide any sliders and some more buttons
An other idea is to try adding a Crumar D-9x drawbar controller however I have no (good) idea so far, how to mount this on my stand on the top tier
BBB
Edit: back in the days (25+ years ago) I used a Viscount D9E left of an ensoniq TS-10 above a Doepfer LMK3+ on a modified (wide) Jasper stand. This was quite OK, however a pain on smaller stages as the Jasper stand needed a lotz of space on the floor…
At the moment i play on a Roland A-800 pro which is layout-wise exactly what we are talking about, but looking at details, there are some things i don’t actually like.
The Aftertouch implementation is quite poor, the knobs are pots with a fixed range (no endless encoders) and no visual feedback (like LED-rings or such), the buttons don’t work with bidirectional midi (no visual interaction with widgets).
I’ve been thinking about trying a new keyboard for quite a while now, but didn’t take the plunge yet.
Maybe i go for a very simple keyboard and get an additional controller with faders and stuff.
A combination i would consider to be nice, is a Nectar Impact GXP61 (or even 88) in addition with a Studiologic SL Mixface, which would stay well below a total 500€.
The only thing is the placement of the additional cntroller - i guess i would have to build/improvise some kind of auxiliary holder for the keyboard stand (or for the keyboard body).
This is exactly why I sold my A-800 after 2 months and replaced it with a KeyLab 61 MkII I also didn’t like the Keybed - the Arturia feels much better (but still slightly away form perfect match for me)
I also thought about the SL Mixface but stayed with a KORG nanokontrol (only 8 sliders…) together with StudioLogic SL88 which currently replaces one of my Kurzweil Forte SE at home to leave it in the rehearsal room (big thanks to Rig Manager )
At home to prepare rehearsals this is OK, but I don’t like multiple devices stackes ‘somehow’ on each other.
If organ playing is the priority for the upper keyboard you could try to get an actual affordable, maybe second-hand clonewheel organ like a crumar. You wouldn’t use its sound engine.
The Roland Fantom 6 and 06 have a good layout (and an additional Joystick) - but that would be overkill, also the Kurzweil K2700 in 61 Keys would provide a great layout
We need controller keyboards in that fashion! At least I do
I still have a Numa Compact 2X which has drawbars, 88 lightweighted full size keys with aftertouch (from Fatar), and i still would play it, if it only had a real Mod- and Pitchwheel - instead they used those little joysticks for it… terrible!
If you don’t need pitch/mod action, this could be a good choice.
BTW: I still plan to sell it.
In German i call them “Fummelwarzen”.
I even planned to build a separate case with a Pitch/Modwheel to be placed on top of the Numa, but i dropped that plan although i have all the components (wheels and circuit board) for it, but i had no clever idea for a case…
I also didn’t like the Keybed - the Arturia feels much better (but still slightly away form perfect match for me)
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