Arturia Keylab 49 mkii? Anyone?

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MrFigg
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07 Jun 2020

Finally decided to get rid of that Line6 MIDI controller piece of crap I've been hanging onto for far too long. Really what I'm looking for is something solid and from what I read the Keylab is built like a tank. I saw that it's got a bunch of pads on it which is kind of nice for playing drums on instead of using the keys. I don't really ever use remote but it's nice to have a few knobs. Also it's got an expression jack which a lot of keyboards don't seem to have these days for some reason. The LCD display thing is confusing me a bit...I think it's specifically for use with Analog Lab which I believe comes bundled. Don't know what else it does and so it's maybe an expensive extra I may or may not use.
It's pretty expensive but I'm out more for something I can have for a good long while so I'd happily pay for quality. Anybody use them and can tell me anything about their experience using them? Thanks
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DaveyG
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07 Jun 2020

If you are talking about the Keylab rather than the Keylab Essential you should be weighing it up against the Novation SL MkIII and the Komplete Kontrol S49. For me the latter is head and shoulders above the others. You'll never get a better synth type keybed and the integration with VSTs is top notch. Worth paying for imo.

However, why don't you go for a 61 key solution? Only a little more money and a bit less octave switching.!

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MrFigg
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07 Jun 2020

DaveyG wrote:
07 Jun 2020
If you are talking about the Keylab rather than the Keylab Essential you should be weighing it up against the Novation SL MkIII and the Komplete Kontrol S49. For me the latter is head and shoulders above the others. You'll never get a better synth type keybed and the integration with VSTs is top notch. Worth paying for imo.

However, why don't you go for a 61 key solution? Only a little more money and a bit less octave switching.!
Thanks. Yeah I’m talking about Keylab. Not essential. I took a quick look at the ones you mentioned and at first glance, and this is without seeing them in the flesh, I thought they looked a bit “plastic” and too many flashing colored things. Kind of trying to avoid that and that was the main reason I was looking at the Arturia. Just seems straight forward with no frills and good build quality. But again I haven’t seen them in real life. Reason for wanting the 49 is so I have room on my desk. At the moment I’ve got a 37 in the desk and a full size electro piano on the side which also serves as a midi keyboard. Just really wanted to know anything good or bad about the Arturia one. Thanks for taking the time though. Appreciated.
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DaveyG
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07 Jun 2020

Arturia keybed is good - almost as good as the NI. You really need to try them side by side in a music shop. I remember when that was possible!

The NI has lots of flashing lights but also has two good-sized colour screens which makes the integration with any plugin that supports NKS is a winner. It's the closest thing you'll get to a plugin running on the keyboard.

But the keylab is a good keyboard too. It will make you happy.

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MrFigg
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07 Jun 2020

DaveyG wrote:
07 Jun 2020
Arturia keybed is good - almost as good as the NI. You really need to try them side by side in a music shop. I remember when that was possible!

The NI has lots of flashing lights but also has two good-sized colour screens which makes the integration with any plugin that supports NKS is a winner. It's the closest thing you'll get to a plugin running on the keyboard.

But the keylab is a good keyboard too. It will make you happy.
Cool. I don’t have any NKS NI stuff so it’d be wasted on me. I know the Arturia has presets built in for 10 DAWs but Reason isn’t one of them so I wonder how well the two integrate. Guess it might just be a case of assigning stuff and saving if that’s possible.
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1reasonable
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08 Jun 2020

You may have issues with setting it up as a controller with Reason 10. I have a minilab Mk II and there isn’t a specific surface setup patch for it. If you use [Auto detect] you will find that R10 only offers the MK 1. I’ve checked, and it appears to be the same for the Keylab 49. When you use remote mapping you will probably find erratic input from your assigned knobs which will effectively make them unusable. As a result, in order to assign remote controller knobs, I had no choice but to use the [Other] option in Reason Preferences to manually set it up in order to get reliable input from the minilab. Both the Props (at the time) and Arturia effectively (and typically) blamed each other for the problem. I’m more inclined to believe Arturia however, as they stated they had contacted the Props requesting the MK II controller patches be added, and the latter did not respond.
Having said all that, the [Other] setting has not caused any issues with remote mapping, only that I’ve had to set up each knob manually. It’s only a 25 note, but the build quality is impressive for such a small keyboard. I don’t think you’ll have any issues there. As far as Analog Lab is concerned, I’ve had great fun with 6000 high quality synth patches covering the whole gamut of sounds across the board . I really can’t fault this software package - there are loads of really practical useable sounds.
So to conclude, it’ll take some work to set up as. MIDI controller, but I think you will like the build quality, and really enjoy Analog Lab ( which by the way does include some FM type sounds, including the DX7! )
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MrFigg
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08 Jun 2020

1reasonable wrote:
08 Jun 2020
You may have issues with setting it up as a controller with Reason 10. I have a minilab Mk II and there isn’t a specific surface setup patch for it. If you use [Auto detect] you will find that R10 only offers the MK 1. I’ve checked, and it appears to be the same for the Keylab 49. When you use remote mapping you will probably find erratic input from your assigned knobs which will effectively make them unusable. As a result, in order to assign remote controller knobs, I had no choice but to use the [Other] option in Reason Preferences to manually set it up in order to get reliable input from the minilab. Both the Props (at the time) and Arturia effectively (and typically) blamed each other for the problem. I’m more inclined to believe Arturia however, as they stated they had contacted the Props requesting the MK II controller patches be added, and the latter did not respond.
Having said all that, the [Other] setting has not caused any issues with remote mapping, only that I’ve had to set up each knob manually. It’s only a 25 note, but the build quality is impressive for such a small keyboard. I don’t think you’ll have any issues there. As far as Analog Lab is concerned, I’ve had great fun with 6000 high quality synth patches covering the whole gamut of sounds across the board . I really can’t fault this software package - there are loads of really practical useable sounds.
So to conclude, it’ll take some work to set up as. MIDI controller, but I think you will like the build quality, and really enjoy Analog Lab ( which by the way does include some FM type sounds, including the DX7! )
Thanks man. After sleeping on it I decided I'm probably better off getting a Nektar Panorama T4.(see other thread). Seems like it's got the stuff I need and less of the stuff I won't use. Apprecitae you writing though. Many thanks.
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Carly(Poohbear)
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08 Jun 2020

1reasonable wrote:
08 Jun 2020
Both the Props (at the time) and Arturia effectively (and typically) blamed each other for the problem. I’m more inclined to believe Arturia however, as they stated they had contacted the Props requesting the MK II controller patches be added, and the latter did not respond.
Not taking sides however if this is true then why did Arturia not just provide the files to you?

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selig
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08 Jun 2020

MrFigg wrote:
08 Jun 2020
Thanks man. After sleeping on it I decided I'm probably better off getting a Nektar Panorama T4.(see other thread). Seems like it's got the stuff I need and less of the stuff I won't use. Apprecitae you writing though. Many thanks.
I'm super happy with the SL Mk III - looked at Keylab and NI but the SL was absolutely perfect for my particular setup. Works great with Reason FWIW, works great with Eurorack, and the built in sequencer does things I've wanted a software sequencer to do for years. There are many useful and creative things you can do with this keyboard, and I've go no complaint about the key bed either (seems there's something that someone doesn't like about EVERY key bed out there…).
Selig Audio, LLC

1reasonable
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09 Jun 2020

Carly - unfortunately individual files for control surfaces can’t be imported to Reason (as far as I’m aware). The Props would have had to issue a Reason update to include the control surface patches. I suppose the Props didn’t think this was worth the effort, as they didn’t respond to me (probably too busy with R11 development too!) .This was only 18 months ago, and at the time I couldn’t find any 25 note keyboard controllers that had specific Reason control surface set-ups.
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Jackjackdaw
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09 Jun 2020

I have imported codecs to Reason before, some custom midi channel thingys to get the beatstep pro working. Also with the custom Panorama maps. I think if the thingys existed Arturia could provide them in an installer.

1reasonable
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09 Jun 2020

Jackjackdaw wrote:
09 Jun 2020
I have imported codecs to Reason before, some custom midi channel thingys to get the beatstep pro working. Also with the custom Panorama maps. I think if the thingys existed Arturia could provide them in an installer.
Arturia advised me at the time to use the [Other] option in Control Surfaces.
Well, if anyone out there has a Reason 10 control surface for the Arturia Minilab Mk II, please post it with instructions to install it to Reason 10. I couldn’t find an [Import] or [Load] button anywhere.
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Carly(Poohbear)
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09 Jun 2020

1reasonable wrote:
09 Jun 2020
Carly - unfortunately individual files for control surfaces can’t be imported to Reason (as far as I’m aware). The Props would have had to issue a Reason update to include the control surface patches. I suppose the Props didn’t think this was worth the effort, as they didn’t respond to me (probably too busy with R11 development too!) .This was only 18 months ago, and at the time I couldn’t find any 25 note keyboard controllers that had specific Reason control surface set-ups.
There is nothing to import you just add the files, I make my own all the time, they might be small except the for the massive Nektar ones however for different things, not just controllers, patch randomisers, kong auto remapper etc..

1reasonable
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10 Jun 2020

Carly(Poohbear) wrote:
09 Jun 2020
1reasonable wrote:
09 Jun 2020
Carly - unfortunately individual files for control surfaces can’t be imported to Reason (as far as I’m aware). The Props would have had to issue a Reason update to include the control surface patches. I suppose the Props didn’t think this was worth the effort, as they didn’t respond to me (probably too busy with R11 development too!) .This was only 18 months ago, and at the time I couldn’t find any 25 note keyboard controllers that had specific Reason control surface set-ups.
There is nothing to import you just add the files, I make my own all the time, they might be small except the for the massive Nektar ones however for different things, not just controllers, patch randomisers, kong auto remapper etc..
Interesting! Could you let me know the process please Carly?
…………………………………………………………………

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Carly(Poohbear)
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11 Jun 2020

1reasonable wrote:
10 Jun 2020
Carly(Poohbear) wrote:
09 Jun 2020


There is nothing to import you just add the files, I make my own all the time, they might be small except the for the massive Nektar ones however for different things, not just controllers, patch randomisers, kong auto remapper etc..
Interesting! Could you let me know the process please Carly?
The simple quick answer is if they have the maps.
You drop the remote files into the Arturia folder.
C:\ProgramData\Propellerhead Software\Remote\Maps\Arturia

The codec to
C:\ProgramData\Propellerhead Software\Remote\Codecs\Lua Codecs\Arturia

OSX: //Library/Application Support/Propellerhead Software/Remote/

Now the real long answer is long, too long for me to type out as I would end up explaining everything about remotes.
I noticed you said there was an old remote for the "MK 1" maybe that just needs a slight change to make it work, a number of Keyboards\controllers have to be put into a mode for them to work correctly.

Midi-OX may help as you can see from there what CC numbers the knobs are assigned to and you can cross reference that with the codec file.

1reasonable
Posts: 101
Joined: 19 Aug 2019

12 Jun 2020

Carly(Poohbear) wrote:
11 Jun 2020
1reasonable wrote:
10 Jun 2020


Interesting! Could you let me know the process please Carly?
The simple quick answer is if they have the maps.
You drop the remote files into the Arturia folder.
C:\ProgramData\Propellerhead Software\Remote\Maps\Arturia

The codec to
C:\ProgramData\Propellerhead Software\Remote\Codecs\Lua Codecs\Arturia

OSX: //Library/Application Support/Propellerhead Software/Remote/

Now the real long answer is long, too long for me to type out as I would end up explaining everything about remotes.
I noticed you said there was an old remote for the "MK 1" maybe that just needs a slight change to make it work, a number of Keyboards\controllers have to be put into a mode for them to work correctly.

Midi-OX may help as you can see from there what CC numbers the knobs are assigned to and you can cross reference that with the codec file.
I had no idea that these files could be accessed and edited! Thanks very much, much appreciated!
…………………………………………………………………

:reason: 11.3.6 ,  iMac Intel Core i5 (late 2012) OSX 10.13.6 High Sierra

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MrFigg
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12 Jun 2020

Nektar T4 arrived today. Unboxing soon.
Just ordered a Morley M2 Expression Controller. Wah wah waaaaah!!!!!!! :)
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Carly(Poohbear)
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12 Jun 2020

1reasonable wrote:
12 Jun 2020
Carly(Poohbear) wrote:
11 Jun 2020


The simple quick answer is if they have the maps.
You drop the remote files into the Arturia folder.
C:\ProgramData\Propellerhead Software\Remote\Maps\Arturia

The codec to
C:\ProgramData\Propellerhead Software\Remote\Codecs\Lua Codecs\Arturia

OSX: //Library/Application Support/Propellerhead Software/Remote/

Now the real long answer is long, too long for me to type out as I would end up explaining everything about remotes.
I noticed you said there was an old remote for the "MK 1" maybe that just needs a slight change to make it work, a number of Keyboards\controllers have to be put into a mode for them to work correctly.

Midi-OX may help as you can see from there what CC numbers the knobs are assigned to and you can cross reference that with the codec file.
I had no idea that these files could be accessed and edited! Thanks very much, much appreciated!
Note:
If on Windows use NotePad ++ as a normal text editor will break the white spaces (tabs) and Reason won't load the file
Excel works well however it does pad out the file with a lot of extra tabs which only is really a problem with the Nektar mappings as they are so big.

1reasonable
Posts: 101
Joined: 19 Aug 2019

12 Jun 2020

Carly(Poohbear) wrote:
12 Jun 2020
1reasonable wrote:
12 Jun 2020


I had no idea that these files could be accessed and edited! Thanks very much, much appreciated!
Note:
If on Windows use NotePad ++ as a normal text editor will break the white spaces (tabs) and Reason won't load the file
Excel works well however it does pad out the file with a lot of extra tabs which only is really a problem with the Nektar mappings as they are so big.
Thanks for the tip!
…………………………………………………………………

:reason: 11.3.6 ,  iMac Intel Core i5 (late 2012) OSX 10.13.6 High Sierra

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altron
Posts: 261
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21 Dec 2020

Hi, sorry for waking up this old thread again but I finally brought myself to buy a Keylab mkII 61 keys and was wondering if anyone figured out how to set it up properly with Reason? I'd also be interested if it is at all possible to get the middle buttons (Category/Preset back/foward) and the jog wheel to be assigned to Reason controls at all.
Trap is where music goes to die.

malikgcolon
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27 Dec 2020

altron wrote:
21 Dec 2020
Hi, sorry for waking up this old thread again but I finally brought myself to buy a Keylab mkII 61 keys and was wondering if anyone figured out how to set it up properly with Reason? I'd also be interested if it is at all possible to get the middle buttons (Category/Preset back/foward) and the jog wheel to be assigned to Reason controls at all.
I am also curious. I am looking to make that purchase. If someone can describe the capabilities/limitations/pros/cons of the Arturia Keylab 61 MKii as in depth as possible, that would be great. Or some of the main issues or details. Also, how much of a hassle is it to setup up keylab 61 mkii with reason? What needs to be done to get maximum control?

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