Arturia's NEW Keylab Mk3 MIDI Controller // Review and Demo

It's Arturia's latest in the Keylab range. We have a nice new colour screen, and upgraded keys, and it comes with a nice package of bundled software, inclusing Analog Lab Pro, Piano V, Mini V, Aug,ented Strings and Rev Plate 140, plus NI Gentleman and some subscriptions.

Its a nice unit, and compact for 5 octaves but we have, however, lost the aluminium body and CV connectivity.

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► Clubbing TV From the Studio:

11:44 Scales
12:31 Chord Mode
16:16 Arpeggiator
18:33 Keybed
20:11 Pros and Cons

[GavinLendt]

If you don’t need poly aftertouch and don’t already have a premium controller, I highly recommend this. It still has channel aftertouch. It arrived yesterday and I was amazed at the build quality. The semi weighted keys feel great and the screen along with analog lab makes this keyboard feel like an Astro Lab. I agree that it’s a tough sell if you already have a Keylab 2, otherwise it was an easy buy for me.

[MreenalMams]

Wow that feature where you can play the pads from outside the box is amazing.. instant buy

[grrttshw]

I just bought this as an upgrade from a very basic NI a49 keyboard. This is an INCREDIBLE upgrade from that. I think thats where arturia was aiming for the mk3 to land, that second / upgrade from your basic controller that you start with. At it's price point it's very fair feels incredible and comes with some fantastic plugins to make use of right away.

I see a TON of people marking no poly after touch and the removal of the buttons under the faders (never had faders before) but I genuinely believe that the poly aftertouch keybed would have put a near +50% or more price tag onto this thing and thats probably why they strayed away from including it to be more widely affordable.

The keybed is among the best i've every played, pads feed good, resistance on the knobs is fantastic and the fact that they're infinite encoders is a win over other options that had my eye. I can easily recommend this to people looking to upgrade from something basic to a more powerful, more feature rich controller. However I could also see if you have a mk2 this not being a huge leap for you, and thats OK! Just like every phone generation, you don't NEED every single version, skip a few and then buy when it's worth it.

[prizmprty]

I'll compare it to my mk2 when it comes in but so far I like the layout, screen, features and design better on this one. Best review I've seen of this yet. Thanks Starsky!

[stevehord]

Great review mate. You’ve convinced me. Ordering tomorrow 👍

[MakeSomething]

Even better this time around! Great review.

[fredmanteghian]

Hmmm nice screen I guess. But the control buttons by the sliders of the KeyLab Mk2 are gone.

4 of the original 16 pads are gone, though I heard the new ones are an improvement. Aftertouch is global still. I will not be upgrading from the KeyLab Mk2

[sinewaymusic]

Helpful commenting on the playability of the keys up at the top end of them. How does that stack up against the Essential, in case you know?

[michaelt_tamtam]

I hope Arturia can somehow update the KEYLAB Mk2 to have an arpeggiator as well.

[paQ]

Novation SL MKIII has everything this one has, , plus an 8-track polyphonic sequencer with 256 steps per track, swing per-channel, 8 simultaneous arpeggios, better integration with Ableton Live... All for the same price. A controller from six years ago. Good(?) try, Arturia.

[neelenpatten]

I would like to know about the keybed feel of this model compared to the Keylab MK2 which I really didn't like because it really felt a bit like a toy keyboard. I hope they have improved the keyboard touch of the 61 version. A real semi weighted touch would be most welcomed.

[ConstantLittleGhost]

People passing this up because it doesn't have poly aftertouch at this price need to realise the "expressive keybeds" do not exist for this money.

And not all software responds to polyAT anyway

[nickosparkol]

Thanks for the review. In your opinion, where are the keys better, specifically the keys themselves? On the Arturia mk3 88 Essentiall or on the new Arturia mk3 61? I'm only interested in the keybed.

[furiobisotti]

Being a live keyboard player using VSTs on stage I am always checking controllers quality. Previous version of Arturia keylab was a big delusion (missing some notes off, very soft action, bad management of yamaha fc7 expression pedal). I would be interested to buy this one if all problems have been solved. I'm not sure about that after many YouTube reports...

[PedroMiguel-ifll]

Also on my MK2, some faders and rotary buttons don't send Midi CC as before, just crazy values.I've tried to open and clean everything but no luck.
Arturia sure knows how to make good looking MIDI controllers, but the quality of components is really bad.

[Bashanvibe]

I’ve said this on many channels I’m waiting for the 88key to drop but; I do have a question, does it control the piano editor inside Logic?🤔

[Parapsyglider]

Nice video friend, thank you. Btw how’s the integration with Logic? are you able to control third party plugins out of the box? And is there a way to control Logic Eq using the controls? Novation has added that feature to their new lineup. Split between both these, main issues being Logic integration.

[gianni]

This would be a “super” review if you didn’t place the the overlay graphics over your hands. We can’t see what you’re touching on the Arturia. Are you able to re-edit this for us?
Love and respect,
Gianni❤

[mscman]

I thought this had touch sensitive knobs and faders... you shouldn't have to wiggle them to see what the level/parameter is.

[logiclust]

being only channel aftertouch makes this a hard pass at this price. i like most of the other aspects. just waiting for that and keystep features.... the wait continues.