Go for the Essential 49 in order to get the full version of Analog Lab 4 with over 6000 presets including guitars, drums, special effects, Concert Pianos (which also includes the Concert D software from another company but since it's included in Analog Lab 4, I don't use it anymore.)īoth come with Ableton Live lite which allows you to record/edit your compositions. You have velocity (on tyhe keylab, the minilab and keystep) whereas the sound gets louder the faster you press the key (depending on the preset) and aftertouch allows you to control the sound itself, filter and other parameters by pressing harder on the keys (it feels like a hard sponge as you press harder.) The other reason for the keystep was that it was even more portable to bring to the cottage than the 49 key version.
Until June 23, you can download Analog Lab Intro by Arturia for FREE (regular price 20). The Keystep also has an arpegiator (though I don't see why you wouldn't use the sequencer to record steps - On the other hand, the arpegiator also has random steps so that if you want to play a sequence of several keys in random order, it would be able to do that.) The other thing I liked about the keystep is that it has aftertouch which is nice for some of the presets so that you can control the sounds by pressing harder on the keys. The next offer in Audio Plugin Deals free download series has been announced. I later added the KEYSTEP 32 key controller which also includes a Sequencer so that I can program a sequence and record it and play the essential for the main tune. A Salesman at the Moog store recommended the 49 key version since I was mostly interested in composing rather than playing live (which I can't do yet) so that's what I went with. I had a cheapie Cassio 61 key system which was hard to bring to the cottage so I thought of the 49 key version. I was torn between the 49 key vs the 61 key version. They both seem to have all 17 instruments so it would seem that your best bet is to go with the Keylab Essential 49.Īnother thing to consider is that the keylab essential has full width keys whereas the Minilab Mk II has narrow keys which is fine if you're only composing. There's not much info about the lite version since this is a new version and, it supposed to come with hundreds of presets whereas the full version has thousandsof presets. Minilab Mk II however seems to come with the LITE version. When I got my Keylab Essential 49 a few years ago, it came with the full version of Analog Lab 2 which got updated to Analog Lab 3 then Analog Lab 4 (free updates)įrom what I can see, it still comes with the full version.