Arturia keylab or NI kontrol?

The Lounge Other Gear
#1

So I’ve been eyeing this out, and the included analog lab is very interesting, any one have any negatives about the keyboard? I know some people dislike arturia.
Also if I had the money what would be best, keylab or komplete kontrol?
I realize the NI keyboard is almost twice but just curious.
Thx

#2

i had a keylab49 a couple years ago. it was nice, but id rather have the integration of the NI unit if i were shopping for a controller today.

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#3

My brother had the Arturia and I had the NI. NI integration won, hands down.

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#4

If you are in any way committed to the NI ecosystem then the Komplete Kontrol is the obvious winner. In my experience it is worth the premium.

However, if you aren’t using that many NI products, then there is nothing wrong with the Keylab. A while back I borrowed a friends Keylab 61 for a few months and had no problems with it. The keybed action wasn’t my favourite of all time but still totally usable.

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#5

I use replika xt and supercharger gt all the time, but I can edit those from push. other than that I’m not too fussed about their synths.
And I am a little miffed they didn’t make a 25 key mk2
How is the browsing on the keylab?

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#6

From what I can see on videos and one in-store unit I tried, the display is rather small on the keylab which makes browsing a lot less sexy. It’ll get the job done, but nothing compared to the NI Kontrol MK2 dual screens (which are btw, way under-utilized if you ask me). But from the keyboard you can browse sound categories, types, instruments, presets etc.

I’m also on the fence. I currently have a S61 MK2 but am actually considering selling it and switching to a Keylab. Few reasons for me: I use Arturia’s V Collection a lot more than I use any of the Komplete sounds, I think the integration of the controller to the V Collection is absolutely perfect plus you get knobs AND faders (vs. all knows on NI Kontrol), and finally it’s a price thing. Even after a few months of use, I can still get a good $600 out of my Kontrol, buy a new Keylab instead and maybe even have a few dollars left.

My only concern is about how well will non Arturia VSTs integrate with the Keylab. I’d hate it if I had to redo my midi mappings everytime I switched presets but hey… can’t have everything I guess

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#7

Let me know if you switch.