Arturia KeyLab Essential 88 BE

Perfect for this price

This is my first MIDI keyboard. Looks really good. It's the better than most i've tried in stores. There are intuitive to operate, for me it wasn't difficult even without instructions.

By the way, Arturia's support works 24/7, as it turned out, and this is insanely pleasing. Maybe someone needs this information.

I give 4 for the quality - this is due to the noise keybed, it seems that at night i'll disturb everyone in the house. Not critical, but still. The keys themselves are semi-weighted and pleasant to press.

And i would also like some kind of resistance of rotary encoders, they turn too easy.

But in general, for this price it's great.

Best cheap 88note controller by far

I you use any Arturia software, this keyboard is perfect.

The build quality is good. The feel of the keys is OK.

The Essential 88BE stands up to anything I can throw at it.

I compose for TV 8 hours a day, and I thump keyboards.

Slightly more challenging was getting it to talk to Logic PRO X properly. It does work though, and the faders can control the volume sliders in Logic's mixer which is a huge bonus.

I also have a Arturia KeyLab 88 MK1 but the paint came of the casing where I used the mod wheel too often. The quality control on this keyboard seems to be much improved.

Very satisfied.