Studiologic SL88 Studio Reviews

good touch, good built, no problem

good but issue with pedals

I bought this to be used with a DAW. the issue is the mult-function pedal doesn't work with all plugins, perhaps it's an issue with the DAW I am using? The piano itself feels nice, and has heavy keys.

Great Value for Money

As a soft touch piano player I am very satisfied!

Excellent product for the price!

This is one of the best midi controllers out there,the key feeling is something i didn't expect at this price range!

You can just plug it with a usb cable on the computer and it's ready to go, it has multiple pedal input to control different parameters(I personally use the pedal as: Sustain, Sound Switch with the boss FS-5U and volume control with the StudioLogic VP-27 all connected to the gig performer)

The only cons i found is that is not too clear in the manual on how to use it with the program that it comes with the keyboard to customize it.

In conclusion, after some months of using it i can say it worth the money!

Great keybed and connectivity. I am a little disappointed with the display which went cloudy after a few months.

Top quality

For the money you get an absolute bargain. The quality is top notch, nothing on this keyboard feels or looks cheap.

Keys feel and play really well, makes writing and playing music fun and exciting.

I was looking for an 88 keys midi masterkeyboard with a piano feel, that wouldn't make too much noise. I use it for my DAW (Reaper), to compose music with VST's. I'm not a well trained pianist, but took lessons for 3 years and I know how a piano feels. And if I could choose again, I would have made a different choise.

The SL88 is sort of OK.

I own a piano, and the SL doesn't play like a piano at all, but other keyboards that I tried felt the same or worse. I didn't try the most expensive ones though, such as a Doepfer or Kawai.

The keys are a bit hard and muddy to press at first, just like the Arturia Keylab 88 (still MKi back then). Same Fatar TP/100 LR keybed. But after even a few days of playing the resistance is going down considerally. Alas, the noise becomes much bigger as well. After a year of playing, I can hear and feel where my hand is, in the dark and without switching the power on: the lowest keys still have a bit of resistance, and they're much more quiet. None are as noisey as my old M-audio Code49 though.

I doubted a lot back then between the Arturia, which had a few problems with Dead On Arrivals according to the reviews, and the SL88. I've got a bit of regret. I really miss having a pitch and modulation wheel. The tiny joysticks on the SL88 are quite useless: you can never give any nuance to for instance the vibrato of a violin with such a small travel.

I bought a second hand BCF2000 with 100 mm faders to do that now, and a Native Instruments Maschine MK3 for the pads. So with the Arturia, twice the price of the SL88, I would have spend much less money, and also I'm still not sure where to park all this equipment.

My old footswitch doesn't work on the SL, as Studiologic wants you to buy theirs for extra $$. I hate that. Oh, if you want faders, you can get Studiologics SL Mixface, but don't do that. You can't assign any new CC number to those faders, which in my mind is the only reason why you would buy such a thing. They don't seem to have any idea of what their users want, apart from having okayish keys for a low price.

Still, not everything is bad. You can set sensitivity of the keys, there's aftertouch, it's cheap, the build is not bad apart from being a bit noisey, and nothing broke so far. Or did it? I've got a problem with double midi notes being sent, that I could only solve by switching off one of the triple sensortechnology...

It's such a pity I can't control my DAW with my 120 year old piano. The SL keys are much slower than my standing piano's, they feel plastic, you really need to hammer to get more then just a low volume, and they make much more noise when playing softly then the old piano, that has much and much more dynamic.

But at least you don't have to tune this one, and my old piano, well, sadly it's too old to tune, and my piano tuner gave up on it.

End verdict: this is not worth more than its price. It's quite OK for the cost, but don't expect too much.

Fine controller

This controller obviously does not offer lots of hands-on controls, but thanks to the excellent SL-Editor it offers respectable flexibility not easily found in its price range. But what matters the most to me is the quality of the keybed and it does not disappoint. As a classically trained pianist I immediately felt at home, though the key-mechanics does not feel stiff and heavy, and could be successfully used for common synth parts duties. The only negligible criticism is the noise that the keys produce on key-off, but that is not a big issue.

good for using as a 'practice' instrument

I've owned this keyboard for a few months now. I bought it because I started playing the piano, and I needed a cheap solution to practice. That means I'm not a proffesional keyboard-player, and you have to read this review in that manner, I don't have a lot of experience playing other keyboards.

So, the SL88 Studio is fine for it's price. It does the job without too much complications, but there is already one key that gives an extra noise that shouldn't be there. I don't know how this will evolve in the future, and I'm aware that you probably can't expect more from a keyboard at that price, so overall I'm quite happy with the performance of the Studiologic.

This is a great hammer action keyboard for this price and even more.

There were some problems with settings and connection that gone after firmware update.

After tuning the velocity curve of keyboard and corresponding virtual piano it feels very realistic compared to acoustic piano. Additionally I with pleasure use it for play on synthesizer.

There is some limitation to one note repeat due to the sensor positions and speed of key return. So if you need to play very fast repetitions of one note, this keyboard maybe not suitable for you.

A class act!

Got this keyboard as an upgrade to the semi-weighted 88-key I've been using for years. The difference is bigger than I expected! My midi performances have shifted to lower velocities, which has transformed my sound. I am finally able to take advantage of the middle range of the velocities which is where the most detail is, in both synthesized and sampled instruments. It is build like a tank, all metal. Software is powerful and can be programmed for a zillion of applications.

Warning: If you are coming to a weighted keyboard for the first time, take time to strengthen your hands. I went straight into playing for hours per day (that's how much I enjoyed playing it) and ended up with tendonitis.

Great keyboard

I received SL88 a couple of months ago and I'm very happy with it. The quality is better than expected, the keys are heavy and nice to play.

I have another midi for electronic music production, but when it comes to playing classical music this it the one I really enjoy. I checked and tried many of them and for this price it is a great piece of a gear. Highly recommend it.

Product well built and fast shipment just what I need for starting to learn piano thru flowkey )

The best key feeling I ever used

Fatar TP100 L/R are the best Velocity response keys I ever tested for Software Instruments. Studiologic gave us phenomenal Midi Controller for such a low price.... After 2 years I am still impressed

Good affordable product

The product is sturdy and good enough for beginners like me.

Pros: build quality, solid keybed, good looking simple design

Cons: joy sticks are too light, lack of function controls due to its simple design.

Overall, very impressive!

UPS is the worst delivery service in the world ever!

Good keyboard, but ugly delivery service. Now in Russia this item is cheapier than here.

Great midi controller

To heavy keys for me but great this is great :)

Great Value for Money

Using as a master controller for scoring films with software.

Really nice size, and it's minimal design fits really well.

I am not a piano player per se, but the feel of the keys is great, not too heavy or sticky, but feels organic and piano-like.

Beautiful screen and simple to navigate menus.

The x/y and modulation levers are a little strange at first, and I do miss the traditional wheels, but ultimately they can lead to more expressive playing, particularly when adding articulations to strings etc.

The cheap one

Bought to be my master MIDI keyboard, let's review it after 18 months of use.

Cannot say anything new about the keyboard itself... basically it's good but noisy. Total device size is the minimum possible for this Fatar TP/100LR, which is a plus.

MIDI controller is horrible. It consistently misses the 6th keystroke since boot, leaving one note hanging (workaround: always remember to press some keys immediately after switching it on, before starting your software). After some hours, expect it to just stop working. It has been doing this through several OS installations, and now with a brand new PC. This is my second unit, the first one was too noisy (it also was b-stock), and had exactly the same MIDI problems.

Out of 3 X-Y joystick controllers, the first one is completely useless. It has springs on both axis, and both directions are the same.

The LCD display was cute, but now it's just a bunch of blobs, almost unreadable. And finally, the three buttons for the menus had some black magic thrown on them... i always use the wrong one.

Pros: TP/100LR, minimum total size, sturdy, cheap (now cheaper than when i purchased it)

Cons: Everything else you can think of.

Affordable quality

Great action on the keys and really well build.

With the software editor coming with the Sl88,you can edit the parameters to your liking and create patches/programs for different uses.

The screen is clear to read and easy to navigate through your programms.

A definite purchase for a well build and low priced midi controller with hammer action keys.