Arturia KeyStep Controller and Sequencer

Great keyboard with ease of use. Great for Expanding sounds with modular synthesis. A great tool fir tweaking sounds.

A controller that I can use without a computer. And that can control analogue modular synths.

I wanted a small keyboard that would work on Garage Band without any problems and that would work on my small desk but that also had good build quality. This fits the bill perfectly. I also like that the keys are not as small as some other mini keyboards and that I have a but more than 2 octaves to work with. The sequencer and arpeggiator are an added bonus. The controls are not always the most intuitive, but once you read up on them and get it figured out, it's no big deal. I wish they had an lcd screen that showed the tempo for the arpeggiator so that I could sink it with the tempo at which I'm recording things. But that's not a big deal. Again, I mainly bought this as a plug and play keyboard in a tight space, and it's perfect for that.

Got this to use with my Roland Botiques but it makes them miss trigger things and stay holding notes forever. The sequencer is not as easy to master without any visual clues of the step you are on. Also it's not easy to clear the patterns or the arp. If you hit the play button it changes the patch sound on my Korg monologue to an overdriven tone that I did not program. Overall is a great concept and price but the amount of features that don't work correctly make it a dud for me.

I found that my music was sounding a bit too static, and realized I was programming too much. This thing took my samplers (octatrack, digitakt, microgranny, organelle) and synths (0coast, microbrute) to a whole new level of expressiveness that I was missing. It's been so much fun to use and it's immediate.

I run this through multiple sound modules. Great sound, great fun.