Arturia Beatstep Pro Reviews

Beatstep Pro

OK for the money, but limited as a 4 x track sequencer. Works well with the Keystep pro, but there are many compromises in the concept and the execution. It (and the Keystep Pro) were advertised as a " Connect all your sequencers together and control everything concept " They (Arturia, )should have combined both and made one sensible larger sequencer product, which could become a real centrepiece sequencer.. In my opinion, they are merely little more than toys, and combined, not really a sensible work-place sequencer. (not everyone wants to carry a sequencer in their backpack and Arturia miss-judged the market in my opinion) . They work OK, but neither is exceptional, especially for the combined price, which almost equals a Hapax..

Simply terrible if you are looking for tightness in your loops

The beatstep pro, on paper, looks like it's a "do everything" piace of equipment. Unfortunately, the tightness is just note there. Notes were out of the grid big time and manual adjustment is required. For the money you pay do not expect tightness. I measured EVERY module many times with its internal clock.

What a shame, that could have been something, for the price

top product for the price

basically as the title suggests

Great for beats!

Great for beats!

The drum/tapping pads are much better on this, than the ones on my Arturia Minilab MK2. It feels better, and comes out more musically, when putting drum beats with the Arturia Beatstep pads.

I use this for VST's only.

Works like a charm.

Solid build!

Decent sequencer to control various studio gear

I have bought this sequencer to control synths with different ports (MIDI, CV, ...). What I liked about it was that it is really straightforward, it enables decent connectivity.

However, it seemed a bit uninspiring to me and I got tired of using it quite quickly because of its "basic" sequencing functions. I would recommend you this sequencer if you need to connect studio gear on a budget and master clock it from one device. I would suggest to look elsewhere to more "seasoned" producers with more specific sequencing demands.

Very good tool for dance music!

Great built, bright lights and great sensitive buttons/knobs

what can I say, this is the best controller/sequencer out there

Great Quality Musical Instrument

I really like this sequencer, easy to use, really well built and with tons of features.

I use it with a MU Factor modular synth, so I have to use miniplug-plug cables but that's ok.

I needed to adjust CV out using the software to match the voltage to my C4, on my modular 4volts is C4.

I would love Arturia release a new firmware adding a feat. where you can loop any given 16 bar so you can work that part before moving into the next 16 bar part (when you have more that 16 bar sequence).

Also having printed the outputs labels on top too will be really handy (I already did with a pencil but looks horrible).

Other than that for its price this is an awesome sequencer.

Great tool for sequencing

It's a great tool for sequencing. The casing is fairly robust, and also heavier than I thought it would be. Plus the CV output is super accurate.

Definitely an interesting device for a reasonable price

When I first got it I was mainly going to use it with analog synths, but after testing it I've hooked it up to DAW and MIDI-synths and really found it interesting/helpful in a studio situation.

It can be an amazing drum machine connected to just Logic Pro (or any other DAW). It is simple to use, but there's a learning curve if you want to get the most out of it.

It did get a firmware update after purchase with a lot of new features, where I must admit I've only scratched the surface. I can highly recommend this product for anyone just slightly interested in what it can do, it's fun and easy to get into.

OK if you like REALLY BRIGHT FLASHING LIGHTS

I am a little underwhelmed by this device. Very good build quality though what is under the hood is pretty basic which may be the point?! After reading all the hype I thought that I would use the BSP all the time but turns out I hardly use it. Really basic sequencing, drum triggering etc which you dont need such a device to achieve. And the lights are WAY to bright. There is no way to dim them or switch them off which makes playing a set in a dark room (every gig) unbearable. It actually makes other modules hard to see because of the glare. I have contacted them about this but......

Capable multichannel sequencer

I am pretty happy with beatstep Pro and mainly use it to sequence Vermona DRM (Via MIDI) I do not own any gear with CV inputs so I cannot comment on that part. it is in my opinion a good pair of gear, as Vermona lacks sequencing and Beatstep Pro lacks sound engine.

MIDI wise Beatstep Pro is awesome, you can quickyl dial in long sequencer and even do polyrhythms, which I like much.

Overall it is great unit, solid build, nothing flimsy. It was much heavier and mre solid than it seemed to be on the pictures and videos. I think the unit is well built and takes quite a bit of the abuse and torture what average user could put out. It is easy to learn to program it, I did not need the manual for basic actions. It was quite intuitive for the start. Things get more elaborate once you start using it as DAW controller or start tweaking it through computer, but I never really used it that way as I like to keep things simple.

Super simple use

Friendly user and very comfy, easy to use sequencer.

Unreliable USB

OK - writting this review after having had the unit for some time: My unit is currently 'binned'. The problem is the very weak connection of the USB socket to the board. There are fixes on this, and one rainy day I might get the soldering iron out. Do a Google Search...

Meanwhile, I thought it was the cable (and indeed that looks reasonably shot too....), so I looked for a replacemt cable. LOL. Arturia are having a joke. So, yes the fix is, third party cable, cut the end off and get the soldering iron out to fix the usb socket issue.

Meanwhile, no urgency, I've sort of moved on and abandoned the unit. Arturia are very slow on software updates and support... this product was virtually obselete by the time they got their act together. There where many bugs at release, specifically to do with MIDI and Clock (CV) timing, which is kind of important for a sequencer!

I will go further, and state that personally, I will not be buying another Arturia Product. Sad to say their keyboard broke on me after 12 months... the keybed was a toy and not fit for purpose. Always of course though, just out of warranty. These guys are a one company land fill site.

Sorry to be harsh, but yep, great features but junk hardware. You gets what you pay for.

An absolute gem except for one thing

Short review:

Absolutely amazing, condensed, well built, triple sequencer: Analog and software sequencing separately or at the same time. Arturia remotely provide firmware updates which allow them to totally change the potential of the machine but they haven't released one in a while. You can also revert to previous firmware versions with ease.

Full review:

The capabilities of this thing are endless. It's crazy that so much is packed into such a small unit and it's simultaneously an analog and digital sequencer meaning you can control outboard gear while also arming at least tracks inside of a DAW at a time. That's a lot of sound. As far as software live performance goes, I could see this being a little bit awkward, requiring a lot of prepwork and ensuring your setup of the gear to your DAW is correct. Performing fully analog is a breeze with enough practice. If you buy, do not waste time looking at Arturia's own guides. Look up independent videos on the unit.

This problem is irrelevant now but I think it speaks for Arturia as a company. The initial release was poor. I bought it when the polyrhythm/arp/roller/looper update had just dropped and a load of problems had been fixed. From my understanding, it was a nightmare to use prior to that update; many customers voiced their disgust across the interwebs. After the superb polyrhythm/arp/roller/looper update, Arturia seem to have put the BSPro low on the priority list now that they have other synths on the market, both hardware and virtual. Their guides and videos are terrible, do not expect to find answers to your pondering from their own material.

Fair play to them nonetheless, I'm chuffed with this purchase. It's a solid build to be honest, proper bargain.

Great controller/sequencer

Initially bought to sequence hardware synths but recently have been using it as a controller for virtual synths, It's good with both. Once you read around, interfacing it with gear/DAWs is easy enough.

It handles fine, but I feel there should be a better way to solo parts on the drum sequencer (maybe there is) - lost one star for that. Plenty of useful features otherwise.

Sound is what you'd expect from a sequencer :p 5stars obvs

I'd say Arturia designed a decent product as there's a pretty minimal learning curve and it has a heft to it. 5stars

Versatile controller used with Eurorack

I bought the Beatstep Pro to control a rack of modular synth with its deck saver. The device is quite small and easy to power with usb cable. It is very powerful and has a lot of features to create sequences and a lot of connection to plug your synths. The cons is the features need digging in the manual to find the shortcuts. Maybe one of the best product from Arturia,

Great, but randomly triggers my drums

When connected via MIDI, it plays all three sequences at once into your synth, instead of just the sequence you want. Perhaps you can adjust the MIDI assignments in the software but most of us just want to make music. It should be as easy and intuitive as the other features of the Beatstep. This is something Arturia has to sort out.

Another thing that needs fixing is the double and triple triggering. It happens quite a lot on my drum machine (dm5), so often that it sounds like somebody is building a shed next to me - constantly annoying. Please fix it Arturia.

Having said that, the Beatstep Pro is one of the best things you will ever buy, if you have a few noisemakers you wish to have running at the same time.

From the first moment you start using the Beatstep Pro, your creative juices will be pulled into action. You will be creating sequences you had not imagined.

Incredibly well put together unit, very well designed and intuitive, well engineered and has great connectivity.

If your thinking of buying one of these, then stop thinking, just buy it.

well built - good workflow

another good product from Arturia.

changed and improved my workflow

Still the best buy seq.