ARTURIA KEYLAB MKII (feat. VCV Rack, Benn’s Modular, & Seaboard Block)
It took a lot of willpower to not name this video “This is the best MIDI keyboard in 2018…”
I don’t have a Patreon or advertising affiliates, although this channel does have a lot of expenses to keep going. In the meantime, if you want to show your support, my Bandcamp page has a “pay what you want” option: https://theflashbulb.bandcamp.com/
0:00 – Nonsense
1:31 – Roli Seaboard Block
4:00 – Keylab mkII
9:47 – VCV Rack + Actual modular rack
13:37 – Controlling the modular with the Keylab
@ageshero
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Make ii..😅
@TheMirolab
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Before my Keylab 61mkII, I had a Novation Remote 37SL, and that thing was terrible. I never could figure out Novation's Automap software, and the Remote SL's sliders did not operate smoothly. I also had an M-Audio Code 49, and I did like it, but the drumpads were to the left of the keys, and they made the 49 key controller equally as wide as the Keylab 61. The Keylab MkII is far superior to the Remote37 controller, and of course comes with the amazing Analog Lab bundle of sounds.
@hostnik777
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Given that you have so much hardware, I'm surprised you haven't reviewed the Novation SL MK3. Have you compared it to the Keylab since it came out?
@jamessusbilla
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
thank YOU and honored to 'meet' the first person to post a vcv rack video on youtube. TODAY is my first day with VCV Rack. =) arturia is now on my wish list.
@JeighNeither
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
"The keys are hammer-action, & nobody should expect that for under a $1000", then Arturia shocks again with the MKII 88 for $899. The intro was great btw. I've got both the 88mkii & the Beatstep Pro, & you're right; suddenly my entire studio, the analog & digital parts, are all connected & controlled amazingly well for only $1,150. It's hard to understand why anyone would buy elsewhere.
@HalfGodHalfBeast
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
I got one of these and i'm finding the user memories have a bug where if i set up cc assignments for user memory slot 1 and then a different set of cc asignments on user mem slot 2 the first user mem changes too, meaning that i can only set it up with one lot of controler assignments at a time. Am i doing something wrong or do you have the same issue with yours?
@Fetterbruhmoment
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
You say many times you’re not on drugs but I don’t believe you
Overall great video!!! Really like it!
@Polyend
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
😀
@Renzsu
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Just bought one, great keyboard. Scrolling through the V-Collection using the keylab keys is a bit of a pain though, I'll just stick with my keyboard and mouse.
@PasIvre
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
this is an old video, but how are the black keys? I play a good bit of music where I have to play pretty far up onto them cause of the chords involved and I'm wondering how well they respond near the edge of the keyboard body, if that makes sense
@floppydisk921
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Midi does have 128 values from 0 to 127
@danielmulholland5869
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Laughed my ass off on the Netflix bit
@samprock
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Great presentation on important stuff, Benn 🙂 enjoyed!
@richieringga
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Hi.. thanks for the great video.. quite informative.
I interest to have this arturia MIDI controller.
Question, in layer mode, can we have more than 2 layers to play at the same time?
Can multilayer mode to be split?
Can we assign the each individual faders to control each sound layer?
@shitmandood
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
You still using the Keylab Mk 2?
@RF-js9yj
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Dude, your fucking hilarious 🙂
@LandOfBits
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
what daw u using Jordan ??? Fl studio
@AJbassist
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
you should check out
Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S series it has little screen 🙂
@Leo-eg8mq
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Well, you can use MPE stuff with Bitwig Studio & FXpansion (basically Roli since they bought FXpansion) synths…
@SomeDud-lm1mi
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Do you know any VST plugins which have or can make modulated sounds like Alesis A6 Andromeda? I will very appreciate if you reply.
@shitmandood
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Seaboard Block isn't completely useless. It's MPE works with Bitwig & Bitwig's devices like Phase 4, polysynth, etc. What I found disappointing is that the Keylab Mk2 doesn't have Bitwig support even though it says it supports Bitwig on their web page. I was really looking forward to buying this keyboard to use with Bitwig, but Arturia decided to crush my hopes & dreams.
@t.m.itimmarkham5296
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Love your work. you're like the Music Idubbbz
@BobbyDreamland
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
It works out of the box with Analog Lab 3, which is great. Does it work any differently with the V collection than a typical MIDI controller?
@robertsyrett1992
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
8:08 You killed me with that one. Just slayed me, I can't even type on account of being dead. 🤣🤣🤣
@francocapelli
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Hi Benn! Thank you for your videos, really helpful and cautivating 🙂
Also, can you make a tutorial for your glitchy hi hats and drum patterns? It has always been very intriguing to me, how you (and other IDM artists) manage to create those incredible textures and sounds.
@thestever
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Hey @Benn, I just got one of these and I'm having issues recording automation from it in both Logic and Ableton. I record myself playing some chords, then I turn on overdub and record myself fiddling with the mod wheel and the cutoff knob (knob 1 on the arturia). When I listen back, the automation sounds like it recorded, but the automation lines are not there. Then, even weirder, if I go to record again but do nothing, the lines draw themselves! The problem is they redraw themselves each time I try to do an overdub recording – as if it keeps trying to re-record the initial automation I did. This makes it really confusing to know what I'm modulating and what the software is trying to re-record.
Have you had any issues like this?
@vincentizghra6144
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
You look great. Also do you think there will ever be another protocol to replace MIDI with a larger range? Will everyone be satisfied with 0-127 forever?
@rguitar78
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
I recently found your channel and in most of them you speak of the numerous videos you have on multiple subjects. I have subscribed because I really enjoy what I have learned, but with only 33 showing up in the channel, have I missed the boat? Have you moved many of your videos to another platform? Again, wonderful production quality and thoughtful content. Thanks so much. With this video specifically, I love the feature set and wonder if Arturia is about to release a MKII of their 88-key offering. Cheers!
@1sthisajojoreference
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Hey Benn, if Arturia is holding you as a hostage, just wink us twice. Or say something ridiculous, like ‘beatstep pro is stable and has no bugs, glitches or freezings’, and we'll send a team to get you out of this nightmare.
@suddengaps2320
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
U Rule …
@VCVRackIdeas
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
mm VCV Rack really deserves more…
@NoHitRuns
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
"I dont think i wanna b a youtuber"
jk good stuff 😉
@JakesGuitarThing
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
Glad to see you're back.
1:54 How do you know what a sex toy feels like Benn? 😉
@Devinedivinity
February 12, 2026 at 12:11 am
I own a KeyLab 61(MK1) since 3 years. By now, 3 keys have broken and been repaired (by me) and I have never succeded in making the transport bar sync to the transport bar in Cubase. I'm hesitant to buy another Arturia keyboard again even though it's a very pleasant sight for the eyes 🙂
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