Arturia Keylab 61 mkII

[jam-s]

If only Reason Studios would get their act together of investing into development of a high quality hardware controller that integrates well with Reason! Nothing too fancy, just a professional looking and feeling control keyboard with decent integration.

Instead of (co)developing special hardware RS could simply invest into creating very good remote mappings for the most suitable controller hardware. Of course the manufacturers themselves could also simply write some good remote maps/codecs (as Nektar apparently does).

[altron]

Reason includes a codec and remote map for the mkI version of the Keylab 61 which almost works with the mkII, but you have to add it manually.

You can request Arturia to add proper integration with Reason by going here:
https://www.arturia.com/support/askforhelp/issues
To quote Arturia:
“The more users are asking for it, the more the priority of this project will be important.”

Does anyone know how to add and possibly modify the mkI remote map to work with the mkII? It would be great to get the two preset buttons and the knob wheel to work with preset selection.

I actually got a reply from Arturia support with a step-by-step guide on how to set the mkII up with Reason as far as possible but running into blockers, first one being that no device named "Keylab mkII DAW" shows up in my Reason options and second, the two dedicated preset prev/next buttons on the mkII seem not to be mappable in Reason whatsoever for me.

[Italophile]

Does anyone know how to add and possibly modify the mkI remote map to work with the mkII? It would be great to get the two preset buttons and the knob wheel to work with preset selection.

I did eventually write my own codec for the MkII, but then lost interest in using Reason so I haven't actually used it, though I did get it working.

I think I mapped the two preset buttons to prev patch/next patch but wasn't able to get the knob wheel to work as I couldn't find what values it output.

[separator]

Does anyone know how to add and possibly modify the mkI remote map to work with the mkII? It would be great to get the two preset buttons and the knob wheel to work with preset selection.

I did eventually write my own codec for the MkII, but then lost interest in using Reason so I haven't actually used it, though I did get it working.

I think I mapped the two preset buttons to prev patch/next patch but wasn't able to get the knob wheel to work as I couldn't find what values it output.

Thank you for posting this! I just purchased an 88 mkii and have been looking for these files. Once I get it set up (I still have a desk to build to house the mkii) I'll start playing with these remote files. This is really helpful.

[altron]

Does anyone know how to add and possibly modify the mkI remote map to work with the mkII? It would be great to get the two preset buttons and the knob wheel to work with preset selection.

I did eventually write my own codec for the MkII, but then lost interest in using Reason so I haven't actually used it, though I did get it working.

I think I mapped the two preset buttons to prev patch/next patch but wasn't able to get the knob wheel to work as I couldn't find what values it output.

Thanks for sharing this! Is there any specific way we have to setup the Keylab in the Arturia MIDI Control Center? I was so far only able to get the included "Keylab MkII Keys" working.

[Italophile]

Is there any specific way we have to setup the Keylab in the Arturia MIDI Control Center? I was so far only able to get the included "Keylab MkII Keys" working.

I think I may have set up a user template. Can’t check at the moment as the Keylab is in the attic now.

EDIT:
Dragged the Keylab down from the attic.
Here are the settings in Reason:

Arturia Keylab MkII.png

Only MCU uses a different port.

Arturia Keylab MkII MCU.png

I have also attached my user template for the Keylab which you can import using the MIDI Control Center.

DAW mode should be set to Standard MCU but Keylab is only used in User mode. This gives you access to the DAW commands panel when the "Arturia Keylab MkII MCU" device is locked to the Master Section.

You get three banks of encoders, sliders and buttons. Thanks to some code I found on the developer forum the sliders work in pickup mode, something not available as standard on the Keylab.

You will need to create your own remotemap files as I lost interest in Reason before creating them.

[altron]

Thanks for your efforts Italophile!

following your instructions I could get part of DAW controls working with the Keylab MkII MCU map but preset prev/next arrow buttons don't work no matter what. The keyboard seems only to work when I use the Keylab MkII Keys map but then the pads don't work. I guess that's what the Keylab MkII Pads map file is supposed to be for but since they map to the same channel Reason will point this out with a warning icon.

I would try to figure this out myself and edit the map and lua files but I'm lacking the necessary background info for this.
The Keylab MkII MCU map for example seems to have all the necessary assignments but some don't work.

Thanks anyway!

EDIT: Got patch buttons working in DAW mode after I did a factory reset on the Keylab! Now only need to get the drum pads working.

[Italophile]

The keyboard seems only to work when I use the Keylab MkII Keys map but then the pads don't work. I guess that's what the Keylab MkII Pads map file is supposed to be for but since they map to the same channel Reason will point this out with a warning icon.

Lock the Keylab MkII Pads to the device you want to control. The pads actually output on a different MIDI channel to the keys (channel 10 AFAIR) though Reason only sees the connected port, which is what it warns you of. I separated them so that I could play chords from the pads on one device whilst also playing a lead on the keys.

I have the Keylab MkII Keys set as the Master Keyboard. The Keylab MkII follows whatever the current device is and controls that, whilst the Keylab MkII MCU provides transport control etc.

I followed a similar setup to my Novation ReMOTE SL which also splits the keys from the controls.

[altron]

The keyboard seems only to work when I use the Keylab MkII Keys map but then the pads don't work. I guess that's what the Keylab MkII Pads map file is supposed to be for but since they map to the same channel Reason will point this out with a warning icon.

Lock the Keylab MkII Pads to the device you want to control. The pads actually output on a different MIDI channel to the keys (channel 10 AFAIR) though Reason only sees the connected port, which is what it warns you of. I separated them so that I could play chords from the pads on one device whilst also playing a lead on the keys.

I have the Keylab MkII Keys set as the Master Keyboard. The Keylab MkII follows whatever the current device is and controls that, whilst the Keylab MkII MCU provides transport control etc.

I followed a similar setup to my Novation ReMOTE SL which also splits the keys from the controls.

Thanks for the explanations! I just disregard the warning icons and added all devices, works top notch now.

[altron]

Just wanted to sum together instructions here for anyone who wants to use Italophile's Keylab mkII remote maps ...

1. Download and unpack the attached file Keylab MkII Remote codec.zip
2. Copy the two folders (Codecs and Maps) to C:\Users\[yourUserName]\AppData\Roaming\Propellerhead Software\Remote
3. Open Reason Preferences/Control Surfaces and manually add all the devices from Arturia/Keylab MkII*:

Keylab MkII MCU - set MIDI In to MIDIIN2 (Keylab mkII 61), set MIDI Out to MIDIOUT2 (Keylab mkII 61)
Keylab MkII - set MIDI In to Keylab mkII 61, set MIDI Out to Keylab mkII 61
Keylab MkII Keys - set MIDI In to Keylab mkII 61, set MIDI Out to Keylab mkII 61, set this as your master keyboard
Keylab MkII Pads - set MIDI In to Keylab mkII 61, set MIDI Out to Keylab mkII 61

Reason will display warning icons because all these devices use the same MIDI input but you can safely ignore these warnings.

4. Download and unpack the attached Reason template zip for Arturia MIDI Control Center, import it into MIDI Control Center and store it onto the Keylab.

You should now be able to:
- Use DAW transport functions (play/stop/record, etc) on the Keylab with Reason (you don't have to lock the Keylab to the Master Section for it).
- Map DAW Command buttons on the keylab to various functions in Reason (e.g. Metro button to metronome on/off, etc.).
- Switch to DAW mode on the Keylab and switch patches prev/next with the two arrow buttons (the encoder knob unfortunately is not supported).
- Play the piano keys as expected.
- Lock the Keylab MkII Pads to any Reason device and control that device on the pads besides the piano keys.
- In User mode map any of the knobs, faders, and buttons to devices in Reason.

If any of this isn't working it's best to do a factory reset on the Keylab and see if it fixes it. To factory reset the Keylab turn it off, then hold the Oct- and Oct+ buttons down while turning it back on, then confirm by pressing the large encoder wheel. Don't forget to load the custom Reason template into the device again afterwards!

Thanks a lot to Italophile for creating and providing the custom remote maps for the Keylab mkII! (something Reason Studios obviously couldn't be bothered with )

[altron]

Hi,

I've created an updated version of the Keylab MkII codec for use with Reason 12 and for future extending the list of mapped Reason rack devices. The new version (1.0.2) and future updates can be found at this Git repository: https://github.com/ciathyza/reason-keylabmkii-codec

[EnGee]

Hi,

I've created an updated version of the Keylab MkII codec for use with Reason 12 and for future extending the list of mapped Reason rack devices. The new version (1.0.2) and future updates can be found at this Git repository: https://github.com/ciathyza/reason-keylabmkii-codec

Thank you for your efforts It is better much better now.

I have sent Arturia's support a request for adding Reason to the list of the working DAWs and give us full functionality of the keyboard. I have also sent a link to this thread.

Cheers,

NG

[Despondo]

Hi,

I've created an updated version of the Keylab MkII codec for use with Reason 12 and for future extending the list of mapped Reason rack devices. The new version (1.0.2) and future updates can be found at this Git repository: https://github.com/ciathyza/reason-keylabmkii-codec

Thanks for the effort! I'm getting my Keylab 88 MKII tomorrow and will try these out and report back.

[Despondo]

Thanks for the effort! I'm getting my Keylab 88 MKII tomorrow and will try these out and report back.

This is working beautifully! Thanks for doing this.

[AndrasHaasz]

I just tried it out of curiosity and it works great on Reason 8 as well!

FYI: I only dared to buy the keylab MKII because I saw this thread, and was able to test the codec in the instrument store... thank you!