Arturia Keystep Reviews

I use it with many different synth plugins to record music at home. I needed more keys to play cheezy lofi jazz chords, and this replaced my garbage 50$ midi keyboard. The Keystep has the right sensitivity that I need, and it just feels like quality. The only thing I don't like is the pitch bend/modulation bar. It is not very easy to use, a classic wheel is much better.

Can't stop lamps. Can't use faders.

Not satisfied because of un-mutable lamps which is constantly blinking. My eyes are in illness by that.

Also there is necessary to constantly setting up MIDI-mapping in Logic Pro X settings for the transporting because it is not saved after Logic reopen.

Material quality is OK, but why do i need them if the device make me nervous?

Sensibility of pitch/modulation slider is too poor!

p.s.

I don't understand why are so many lovers of this keyboard.

does the job

very interesting tool to explore and get creative with arpeggios, sequence mode. too little for my fingers.

high quality :)

A quality worthy of the name Arturia. the arpeggiator mode doesn't work well for my style of music. i am using it with daw. It would be more useful if I used an analog system

Simple but excellent midi keyboard!

I use this keyboard in my home studio to play/record synths, string instruments and drum beats.

Every time I've tried to use a 49+ key midi keyboard it tends to overwhelm me more than this smaller 32key keyboard.

I like the fact that it’s small/portable, has good features, feels durable, has comfortable keys (even has aftertouch).

I feel like it feeds my creativity more than complicated keyboards (bigger and expensive ones).

Thanks!

Synth Best Friend

Perfect midi controller keyboard for modular synthesizers. All you need from sequencer to arpeggiator.

KeyStep

Fun, easy to use with many features that make it very flexible. keyboard is playable, and functions are clear, No manual with the box, but you can download a pdf. Other issue is confusion over input voltage with manual and lithograph in disagreement.

Great midi keyboard

Arturia Keystep is great for connecting to analog synths (like my Behringer Model D). Very compact tool. The keys are compact, but have good velocity. In my opinion, the biggest disadvantage of this keyboard is that it has onboard encoders for the arpeggiator, but moreover, none of them can be assigned in the DAW. Why was it impossible to make at least a couple of twists for the DAW?

Well, also in the keyboard is a mega-idiotic pitch band and a modulation bar. They are good for nothing. Why didn't you make classic wheels? Fail!

perfect keyboard for synthesizer setups.

amazing and portable

mini keys but very nice aftertouch

sequencer works like a charm. versatile cv and midi connections

Brilliant for everything!

Its perfect for everything, I use it with Eurorack and also synths,

love how easy is it in use and portable . Its also syncs up with my computer and juve love it. Go for it if you don?t have one!

Good feel, reliable

I have had this for a few years now, and so far it has been flawless. My only wish was that it has more knobs, but you can't have it all. Easily the best feeling mini keyboard.

Pros:

+ Great feel

+ Compact

+ Solid build

Cons:

+ Wish it had more encoders

+ my personal preference is for modwheels, but the touch strip is very functional

Excellent portable keyboard.

Genuinely a brilliant MIDI controller. Excellent for use in the studio or when travelling. Lovely response on the keys (for the price), and the inbuilt sequencer is really special.

It's also satisfyingly weighted, not too flimsy, and not too bulky. I use it over nearly any other controller I have simply because it feels the best to use.

Perfect for Analog setups

Still discovering new type of workflows on this one. I can use it for almost everything, very durable and very trusted!

A fantastic MIDI controller for use with modular and software, it has it's limitations but at such a good price it is excellent. I got it to replace a broken MiniLab II and miss having the controlling potentiometers but that's what the Keystep Pro is for!

Excellent

One of the best products from Arturia. Excellent quality and very fun to experiment with arpeggios and sequences!

Must have

Does great job, if quality was better i should rate it at 5 stars.

My first key after an year stops working and it just because de key pcb board has no screw on left side of it, to get correctly stand, i put a sticky sponge under the pcb and it works fine now.

great product for the price. The seq and the arp. functions are very nice. Highly recommended to use 2 or more A Keystep together. Enjoy!

Best Midi Keyboard

This is literally the best midi keyboard of that size and portability that I've ever tested and played on.(not taking in the Rise keyboard with vibrato and other sensitivity stuff on keys)

The sequencer and arp is great, all the features are wild if you're using outboard gear like synths, modules.

ONLY thing I could ask for is a mod and pitch wheel and not this touch bar(feels harder to get the stuff accurate when you play).

Other than that 10/10

You get what you pay for

My hopes for this keyboard were high, because on paper it all looks very nice. The first thing that I didn't like was that the keys are of uneven height. The mod and pitch strips are extremely sensitive and just a slight touch will get them going, so be careful. The unit froze a few times when I used it via USB with iPad3 and Windows PC.

But I can tolerate these minor nuisances.

What is a bit more difficult to accept is that Arturia doesn't seem to care about user input when it comes to firmware updates, thus we are still stuck with a feature that most of us could live without - globally defined transpose key. This means, that no matter what was the first key of your stored sequence, next time you'll recall it and want to transpose it via keyboard, the root note of your sequence will always be the predefined (in the editor) transpose note. If your transpose note is set to C, then even if you have recorded your sequence in D, when you play D it will actually play E, because your global transpose center note is set to C. This is really annoying and despite numerous user requests Arturia hasn't implemented a more normal way of dealing with transposition of sequences in the latest firmware.

Thus, keep this in mind before buying.

Other than this, the keyboard is very usable, but don't expect any real ease of programming sequences. It can be awkward. Still, if you're on a budget and want to control some analogue CV/Gate gear, this is quite hard to beat at this price.