Final 12 months, Arturia launched its first stage keyboard, AstroLab. Not like a synthesizer, stage keyboards are extra centered on delivering performance-ready presets than sound design. They’re geared in direction of touring and performing musicians who want entry to a spread of sounds with minimal fuss, moderately than bed room tinkerers. However, whereas the primary entries within the sequence have been sizable and dear — $2,999 for the 88-key mannequin, and $1,999 for the 61-key mannequin — the AstroLab 37 delivers the identical sonic repertoire in a smaller, way more reasonably priced package deal. It’s a conveyable 37-slimkey instrument that prices solely $699.
What makes the AstroLab vary stand out from a lot of its competitors is that it’s basically Arturia’s AnalogLab basic synth emulations in {hardware} kind. Arturia’s synth plugins are extremely well-liked, and with good cause — they’re wonderful. However till final 12 months, they have been constrained to your pc. The AstroLab provides you entry to most (although not all of them) in a standalone instrument, albeit in a stripped-down kind.
Arturia’s V Assortment provides you deep modifying instruments and wealthy recreations of synths just like the Yamaha CS-80 and Fairlight CMI, that are principally unobtainable. (And, even when you handle to trace one down, they’ll value you tens of hundreds of {dollars}.) AnalogLab, and by extension AstroLab, are extra like preset browsers, a biggest hits assortment of sounds harvested from the way more costly V Assortment suite.
Within the case of the AstroLab 37, it comes preloaded with over 1,800 presets, masking 44 devices from acoustic pianos, to analog classics just like the Minimoog, to ‘80s digital lo-fi machines just like the Ensoniq SQ-80. A lot of the synths are wonderful. The Rhodes emulation is my go-to (and there are lots of choices on the market), and entry to Arturia’s Pigments (my favourite software program synth) in {hardware} kind is nice. Solely the organs and acoustic pianos are a bit disappointing. They’re not unhealthy by any means, however I feel if these are your precedence, you could be served higher by one thing from Nord.
You’ll be able to load it with extra sounds utilizing the AnalogLab desktop software program over USB or the AstroLab Join cellular over Wi-Fi. The previous is good, nevertheless, as wi-fi connectivity is sort of unstable. You’re supposed to have the ability to join over your Wi-Fi community, however I by no means bought it to work. Connecting on to the AstroLab utilizing its personal hotspot was extra dependable, however even that had an inclination to disconnect after some time.
Navigating a library that deep can get overwhelming. Arturia makes issues simpler by permitting you to filter primarily based on sound sort (bass, lead, and many others.), instrument, favorites, or sound financial institution. There are additionally Songs, which group presets collectively for fast, one-button entry, and Playlists, which let you group Songs collectively for transferring by way of your setlist with ease. That’s positively helpful for dwell efficiency.
The presets have 4 macros which you could management with knobs on the left, and what they management can change relying on the patch. On the proper are 4 knobs for dialing in results, like refrain, reverb, and delay. This offers you a minimum of some management over the sound, however there’s no option to create a patch from scratch and do critical sound design. As a substitute, you’d must shell out for V Assortment, which begins at $199, and add your individual customized presets. It’s not unusual for stage pianos to have minimal hands-on controls, however the AstroLab is especially sparse contemplating the depth of its sound engines.
Sonically, you’re not dropping something by downsizing to the AstroLab 37 from the bigger variations; all of the variations are within the {hardware}. The faceplate is plastic, however not cheap-feeling, and the 37 retains the good-looking wood cheeks of the bigger fashions. Whereas the 88- and 61-key fashions have a big navigation wheel with a coloration display screen embedded in it, the 37 has a small separate encoder beneath a display screen. It’s additionally lacking the locking energy twine, which could be a problem when you’re a very lively performer.
The largest tradeoff, although, is within the keyboard. The AstroLab 61 has a semi-weighted keyboard, and the 88 has a hammer-action Fatar keybed. The latter, particularly, which feels similar to an actual piano, is opulent when you’re accustomed to the cheaper, springy synth-action keybeds of most reasonably priced synths and MIDI keyboards. The AstroLab 37 has a synth-action keybed with mini keys and aftertouch. It’s not unhealthy, it’s probably the identical keybed discovered on Arturia’s current KeyStep mk2 controller, however it definitely lacks the premium really feel of its bigger siblings.
On a smaller keyboard like this, a few of AstroLab’s options, like the flexibility to separate the keyboard in two with a bass on the decrease keys and lead tone on the upper ones, don’t make a ton of sense. Most critical keyboard gamers, particularly skilled gamers, are going to need one thing bigger. However musicians seeking to cram essentially the most sounds into the least quantity of area, with out having to fret about an OS replace shutting down their laptop computer mid-set, may discover so much to love within the new AstroLab 37.