Arturia Keystep pro

[seta666]

It is official now:

https://www.arturia.com/products/hybrid ... o/overview

__________________________________

It was anounced in a website, removed now. I could save some images. Rumored price 349€

My keystep may need a new home soon..

Some features :

4 polyphonic track, with up to 16 notes per step (via midi?)
All tracks can act as an arpegiator
Probability per step
Patter nudge via 2 dedicated buttons
Metronome via included speaker or audio out
16 projects, 16 pattern per track up to 64 steps

[mrhooks]

I wish they'd put larger keys on it, but otherwise it looks great. That rear panel...wow.

I wish it were priced closer to the BSP, but if it has multiple polyphonic sequencers, I guess the higher price is to be expected.

[deftinwulf]

Oh come on, almost $400 and they couldn't bother to put physical pitch and mod wheels on the "pro" version?
(at least it's 3 octaves and has a USB B port this time...)

[lud]

Oh come on, almost $400 and they couldn't bother to put physical pitch and mod wheels on the "pro" version?
(at least it's 3 octaves and has a USB B port this time...)

And if it's primary function is as a keyboard (for adults), a "pro" one, surely it shouldn't have dinky toy keys?

[Zijnzijn Zijnzijn!]

I mean it's basically a BSP plus two KeySteps right? For $400 thats a significant bang for yr buck

[Chopper]

It's still cheaper and with far more features than a lot of sequencers out there those days. Win.

[EPTC]

Looks like an actual barrel pin power connector. That's a comfort.

[StillNotWorking]

Oh come on, almost $400 and they couldn't bother to put physical pitch and mod wheels on the "pro" version?
(at least it's 3 octaves and has a USB B port this time...)

I can see it be very useful as a improvised performance tool. But I agree, mine non pro version have seen very little use due to shitty keys and limited expression possibilities. Keys feels like they hurt my fingers in a way, — maybe a few millimeter longer travel length for the keys and Roland style bender would helped me like it.

[ciso]

It would have been wicked if it could act as a USB host and power/sync with a beatstep pro. That being said, I wonder if a BSP can slave to this over a midi channel.

[rew_]

That being said, I wonder if a BSP can slave to this over a midi channel.

why wouldn't it be able to? BSP can be a midi slave right now; it doesn't know or care who the master is, midi is midi

[mrhooks]

And if it's primary function is as a keyboard (for adults), a "pro" one, surely it shouldn't have dinky toy keys?

I suspect Arturia considers its primary function to be a sequencer, and thus the keyboard's primary function is pitch input.

I settled on the KeyStep, despite all of its shortcomings, because there was nothing else on the market with its feature set at its price point, and because I didn't/don't have a polysynth yet. The KSP would've been my controller of choice with a poly module, if it had full-sized keys. I wonder if someone could replace the keybed and build a wood case for it...

EDIT: Only 16 save slots per track? Damn.

[StillNotWorking]

KeyStep Pro offers pitch, velocity/mod and gate outputs for each of its four tracks, eight individual drum gate outputs, plus analogue clock in, out and reset out ports.

My crystal ball foresees there are a commercial 9U rack forthcoming where this device can be mounted on a hing plate function as partial front cover for easy transportation and setup. Maybe another one that are 6U + 1 U and deep enough to host a mutitimbral rack synth

Wonder if the 400 price tag include any patch cables to utilize these ports, or if that is for the limited black version only?

[slicetwo]

I have tiny hands and can barely play keys to begin with, so the small keys don't really bother me. I just switched from a Novation Remote SL to a Keystep as I wanted something with a smaller footprint that fit better under my desk. Given my aforementioned lack of skill, I've barely noticed a difference in my amateur diddling. While I can see the smaller keys being an issue for more skilled players, I think that the KSP has so many other features that there will be a lot of people like me who pick it up so they have the physical interface to stumble around on, but also have all the cool sequencing and such that comes along with it.

[StillNotWorking]

I have tiny hands and can barely play keys to begin with, so the small keys don't really bother me.... <snip>

Actually it's not the size that are the problem for me. It's the short action (travel length) for the keys. It feels "almost" as bad pressing on a table or tablet screen. It might be that this keybed is different, but I doubt it.

[kay_k]

Gotta make space on my desk now.

[srogers]

$450 FYI. Other than that it looks pretty great.

https://www.arturia.com/products/hybrid ... o/overview

[slicetwo]

I have tiny hands and can barely play keys to begin with, so the small keys don't really bother me.... <snip>

Actually it's not the size that are the problem for me. It's the short action (travel length) for the keys. It feels "almost" as bad pressing on a table or tablet screen. It might be that this keybed is different, but I doubt it.

Gotcha. I did notice that difference between my RSL and KS, but again, my amateur skills mean I don't know any better. Hahaha.

[Tomorrow Sounds Good]

Listed for £339

[galaxie]

Attractive price. Really hoping for more demo videos to show its capability, with good firmware too.

[soon_come]

Arturia build quality makes me think this is overpriced, even with this feature list.

[Man-In-A-Suitcase]

.

[h4ndcrafted]

I bought a keystep a little while ago, build seems excellent compared to the comp , I find the aftertouch really responsive in a positive way for such a cheap midi keyboard.

The only thing I could complain about is it’s easy to leave the mod slider activated , wish it had some indictation, just a simple led would of done. Other than that , for £99 I couldn’t think of a better alternative at this price.

Consolidating them into one device seems like a smart move. Could of gone with a bigger keyboard now it’s less portable , but I imagine they wanted to keep it a low cost device.

[TheRosskonian]

My crystal ball foresees there are a commercial 9U rack forthcoming where this device can be mounted on a hing plate function as partial front cover for easy transportation and setup. Maybe another one that are 6U + 1 U and deep enough to host a mutitimbral rack synth

Looking at the pictures on the website, I didn't spot any mounting points on the sides like the rackbrute/minibrute system has. Such a shame as I think the Link System is a really cool concept that they seemed to have abandoned. Arturia did say it is open source though, so maybe someday someone else will adapt to it.

[ciso]

That being said, I wonder if a BSP can slave to this over a midi channel.

why wouldn't it be able to? BSP can be a midi slave right now; it doesn't know or care who the master is, midi is midi

I mean more than just clock, start and stop. I mean if you could somehow control the bsp from the ksp, such as changing patterns.

[mrhooks]

Actually it's not the size that are the problem for me. It's the short action (travel length) for the keys. It feels "almost" as bad pressing on a table or tablet screen. It might be that this keybed is different, but I doubt it.

It's both, but for me, the aftertouch provides a bit of a cushion, so the short travel isn't that bad. The short key length, however, is terrible. When you have to play certain chords, such as Bb Major in root position with the octave, where you play white keys closer to the fulcrum, the KeyStep is almost unusable. This is where Korg's slimkey design has an advantage, although that advantage is lost due to the narrowness of the keys.

I wonder if it will only do quantized CV like the KeyStep.

Looks like it will be $399 street.