Arturia keystep pro

Can the Keystep pro change time division of a sequence to make it longer like the original Keystep or my Digitakt? I have read the manual but I’m hoping there is something that I’ve missed. Cheers

Yes it can. :+1:

It’s also simple to chain patterns together too to keep your 16ths division and go to 8 bar plus seqs.

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Hey there, does any body know if KeyStep Pro’s MIDI thru is an exact mirror of the incoming signal or is it buffered by firmware? Can it be trusted to be bang on time? I really don’t want a MIDI thru box if I can avoid it. Cheers!

Pretty sure it’s soft-thru, as you can switch modes between out and thru. Bang on time, I don’t know, haven’t tried using the thru much. But having trouble to slave KSP over DIN MIDI at all sometimes, no matter which master (PC, OT, DT, other hardware seq). Other days it seems to work just fine, hit and miss. Still trying to figure out a pattern. I haven’t ruled out Astrology.

Sync over USB seems to work better. After registering with the USB driver, i.e. connected to a PC, slaving over DIN MIDI also seems to work more stable for me. Still testing…

So, what’s the verdict from long-term owners of the KSP?
I ask because I saw a lot of KSPs going up on ebay here in Germany for low prices.
It feels a bit like the situation after the Novation CMS came out, not many people had one of them and the used ones where sold very cheap.

The lower prices could be misleading, because retail price went up substantially this year, around the time the black model was introduced.

It used to be ~ 75% of that (new), when I got mine.
Probably manufacturing / supply chain issues, like seen with other brands.

Would not have bought it for the current price, tbh.
Although I would like a black one, the white model is a bit of an eyesore.

Aside from the occasional syncing issue (s. above), I think it’s a decent sub-sequencer for polyphonic tracks and/or modular. CV + gate interface is pretty cool, but not using it much in my setup at the moment.

Would also like to hear other opinions on this.

I have been on the fence for a while, thought about selling a few times. But it has found a place for the moment.

Anyone using the KSP with a MIDI to CV module in their eurorack?

What are the pros and cons?

Pros: One cable

Cons: Wasting gate and CV outs :wink:

You could be clever about it and still use the outs for separate gate tracks, for example…

I wish they had just included an Octalink / Doepfer Multicore RJ45 socket. I thought about putting a little breakout box next to it (BSP in this case).

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Patching one cable saves a lot of hassle when using the ksp for other gear as well. It would also prevent the spaghetti monster crawling across the desk and kept safe in his rack where it belongs.

Which modules are recommended?

I do, sort of. I have an Octatrack that reaches into my modular via an FH-2 with a few expanders. A bunch of the MIDI tracks are set up with a particular configuration on FH-2: Tracks 1-3 are on MIDI channels 1-3 and each have pitch, velocity and gate turned into CV. Track 4 is on channel 16, which is the channel my Disting Ex is on, which is connected to Octa via FH-2’s MIDI thru connector on the back. Other MIDI tracks have a bunch of CC set up so I can send LFOs/plocked CV through the FH-2. In front of this I have a KSP with one track set to Octa’s auto channel, so I can play directly into the modular with KSP via the Octa.

Really the pro here is that it expands the CV voice count of the KSP - I’ve still got all my CV voice/gate outs available to connect wherever. And I’ve always got an always-connected setup with minimal patching required that can control a bunch of stuff on the modular.

Cons are… well it’s a bit redundant really? My set up is really to kill a few birds with one stone (wanting to play into the Octa with a keyboard + play the modular with a keyboard, and already having a set up designed around getting lots of CV out of an Octatrack). I don’t really see the point too much if you just want to play your modular with KSP, because you’ve already got direct ways to do that on KSP without having to have a whole expensive utility module taking up HP (personally rack space is at way more of a premium than desk space). TBH… why even have a KSP for controlling a modular if you don’t want to use the CV outs? You could just use any MIDI controller if you’re gonna get a MIDI to CV module regardless.

If you do want to do it (or do any MIDI to CV stuff) I think FH-2 is the gold standard in any case. The fact it has configurable slew to smooth out steppy MIDI-generated CV is essential for anything continuous, and it even has it’s own onboard CV generation that can be directly controlled by MIDI CC if you want to avoid the whole smoothing thing entirely.

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I own the ksp for a while and i love most of its features and recording options. Still i wouldnt recommend it to anyone because of weird legato bugs appearing. If u dont wanna play live u dont need it but why would u get a keyboard then. When i play a note hold it and play a second one it sometimes retriggers the note and when letting one key go it retriggers again. It really annoying and makes it impossible to play glides and other funny stuff.

I wrote them a ticket but other kspusers described thesame behaviour so this is probably not even a bug.

Did anyone experienced the same when using a midi to cv converter?

The Keystep pro seems to me like a pretty unique all in one intuitive, fast and easy keyboard/sequencer to make sketches, even with a DAW and VSTs.

How are you guys liking it ? How would you rate the sequencer ?

I’ve seen a bunch of videos about it but for me, the only big con might be the control track, which is only one track for the 4 sequencers, if I’m understanding it correctly.

I don’t own one, own a regular Keystep. I think the Keystep Pro is a great device, but there’s one design choice Arturia made that kept me from getting one - which is that midi channels for each track can’t/couldn’t be changed on the fly like on the other Keysteps - instead it takes some menu diving (not sure if a firmware update changed that down the line). This is a downer for handling bigger setups in live situations, at least for my workflow.

But otherwise I’d say it’s a somewhat unique proposition with a powerful sequencer in a comparatively tiny package, lots to love there.

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theres a shortcut. you hold down the track button of any track and it brings up the global midi assign window for said track. turn the encoder to the desired channel and press encoder to set.

keystep pro is ok but it becomes obsolete around an elektron sequencer. still, the full drum kit mapping on track 1 is like having an extra 15 midi tracks so that in itself is valuable. overall it’s overpriced and only worth it if you need and enjoy what it does, but the connectivity isn’t as there as they sell it to be. it’s all first world complaints though.

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I am thinking about getting one as I dont like the polyphonic limitations in the elektron sequencers. I would like to play me some chords, by that I mean chords that starts with one note and end with 4-6 notes. Not 4 notes all at once only.
You think this would be a good option for me.

I can see that the KSP can change patterns via. Midi CC, anyone have experience with this?

Well, I’m having trouble with the KSP.

I ran 5 pin midi out to the Malevolent, and routed usb midi to Logic.

Then used the external midi with the KSP selected in Logic.

With the record enabled, it glitches like crazy.

Hey folks, My KSP BPM drifts, consistently (latest firmware). It runs slightly faster than the stated tempo number on the screen, so 111 becomes 111.01. Not MIDI latency. Not MIDI jitter. Just MID DRIFT. Even when internal sync is on with nothing connected the metronome drifts!

If anyone has the time can they do this simple test. Set BPM to 111 record metronome for at least 5 min then dragging into DAW and see how bad it is?

I am experienced with MIDI and have never felt with this with any other sequencer. It really fucks up my multitrack recording, Is it just my unit?

Many thanks