Ribbons are a (minor) compromise compared to the tactile response wheels provide, but their main downside is probably lack of visibility. In place of a regular pitch-bender and mod wheel are two ribbons, the former having a ‘snap to zero’ action. Compact and portable (at just 482 x 145 mm), it’s easy to imagine the Keystep at the heart of a live sequencing and performance rig. The first touch of its 32-note ‘Slimkey’ keyboard is equally promising, and the experience gets better when you learn it is equipped with velocity and aftertouch transmission. Key Pointsįirst impressions are good the Keystep is a solid marriage of metal base and creamy plastic shell. It might be the performance keyboard and sequencer many have been waiting for at the very least, it promises to be a step in the right direction. Arturia have avoided the primary shortcoming of the original Beatstep by including all the essential synchronisation options from the word go, along with the increasingly sought-after CV/Gate sockets. Reminiscent of the step sequencer that graced Roland’s JX3P, this keyboard-based design offers polyphonic sequencing to the masses, kindly bundling in an arpeggiator and chord memory too. And yet, flexible though it is, the BSP’s pads and encoders don’t cover every aspect of step sequencing, hence the arrival of the Keystep. With its balanced set of features for MIDI control and sequencing, plus a generous dose of CV/Gate outputs, this was - and is - a worthy addition to setups ranging from monster Eurorack systems to totally in-the-box environments. It’s not so long ago that Arturia dipped a toe into the hardware sequencer market with the Beatstep, quickly following it up with the more assured Beatstep Pro. The app did everything I asked of it and applying some filtering and delay to the second track was a breeze.Arturia’s cut-price creation combines step sequencing with keyboard control. It really is incredibly simple to create a convincing blend.īar a small glitch in the breakdown, due to a '3G-enabled' badge popping up on my screen, the whole thing went very smoothly indeed. It wasn't going to win me a Grammy but I was happy with the results. The truth is I'm much happier behind a mixing desk than a pair of decks but in the first 5 minutes of using DJ Rig I recorded my first mix. IK have gone to painstaking lengths to make DJ Rig sound authentic and both the movement and sound of the vinyl is spot on.Īlthough I only tested on an iPhone I would imagine that on an iPad the larger surface area would allow much more freedom to scratch and set up Cue points (which are color coded by the way!)ĭue to everything working so well and the workflow being so clear I was loading up tracks and recording a rough mix almost straight away. The sound quality also seems to be very good, with no unwanted artifacts or degradation.Īnother thing that immediately struck me during this quick test was the quality of the virtual deck. MP3s from my personal library loaded quickly and were analyzed for BPM matching purposes on the fly. I got playing straight away and found that the whole thing was amazingly intuitive. This is a neat trick but it's worth remembering that the accessible parameters are cut down pretty heavily in the dual deck view. I immediately noticed that flipping my iPhone 4S from portrait to landscape gave me either a single or dual deck view, respectively. DJ Rig's GUI is certainly graphically impressive
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