An INSPIRING MIDI Keyboard! 🤯 | Arturia Keystep Pro 2.0 Tutorial & Review

[@VenusTheory]

More KSP jams in the future? 🤔 🎹 Get A KeyStep Pro 🎹 bit.ly/3nwp4PL Thank you to my patrons for making this video possible! ⯈venustheory.com/buckaroonie-babez

[@maydaygoingdown5602]

Yes mate more KSP jams please. It's a great peice of kit.

[@xavierxeon]

yes, please

[@cryptout]

Yes more please, also now a year later do you still use it?

[@TheTimeshadows]

Please, yes! I just purchased one and I am eager for more of your usual top-flight tutorials.

[@therealmattmann]

More! More! More! 🤘🏼😎🤘🏼

[@MikiStrange]

I'm past 50 years on this planet and have used many many pieces of studio gear and the KSP is by far the best. It fits any project from modern DAWs to old MIDI setups (and both at the same time). I'd personally love to see more KSP jams because every time I watch a KSP video I either re-learn a technique or learn something new. Thanks.

[@bassnsax]

Great video! I can see where the Keystep Pro would be amazing for people with a drum machine, a modular setup, and/or additional synths! I think it's a bit outside of my needs & skill level (plunking out synth bass lines at live shows), but the Keystep 37 is looking *MIGHTY* inticing! I've got the MiniLab mkII, and it is a fantastic mini keyboard.

[@randommcranderson5155]

If you use a bunch of noise making synths on your computer or iPad as long as they communicate over USB you can use that as well. It’s a very interesting controller and sort of the key step pro to the keystep, like the beatstep pro the beatstep.

[@Skyverb]

I can't have this. People would be like, sick song bro. You got the sheet music for it? Me: "Uuuuuhhhhh"

[@JasonGillmanJr]

One of my coworkers uses his KSP with his modular setup, and I'm lending my KSP to another coworker with a modular setup. They both quite enjoy it!

[@barrycooper9451]

@@Skyverb You can see what the notes are etc per step and write the music from that. You can do a similar thing with the Beatstep Pro too.

[@kourosholiverfloydadhamy4629]

any chance of making these pigment patches available? I can't seem to find them on your current available pigments pack

[@JohnBaronian]

Are you a ham radio operator? Around 18 min you sent out in morse code tempo -CQ- the equivalent of "Calling all listeners?"

[@SmileyFabian]

Sounds awesome! Love the Pigments presets. Are they availabe to buy/download?

[@VenusTheory]

I've got a handful of free Pigments presets on my website!

[@richarddufresne2683]

Greta video ! :-) This video is the reason why I bought the Keystep Pro, and Pigments. However, I cannot get the KSP setup correctly on each track in Pigments. I only see one MIDI channel globally, not four MIDI channels, one per track. Am I missing something here ? Keep up the great video ! :-)

[@VenusTheory]

Haha well hey glad to hear it, welcome to the cool kids club. As for MIDI routing, you would need to check your DAW manual to see how to assign each MIDI track to a different channel.

[@richarddufresne2683]

@@VenusTheory Thank you for the quick reply, well appreciated! Since that comment, I have figured this out in my DAW. It was not that dawfficult when I did it in the DAW, my lower jaw dropped, I was in haw ! :-) I am serious about your video and the KSP/Pigments. You, and Loopop are the reason I bought this sequencer. Keep up the good work !

[@sudhanva-bhat]

I can't do this with my keystep pro and Waldorf iridium 😭

[@jeffryarchambeau5441]

The intro sounded great but I couldn't understand a word you said!

[@Xochiyolotl]

Bro! Nice rig. Anyway, if I had a voice like yours, I would make millions doing nature documentaries. There’s something about if it wants me to hear you scientifically discuss the mating habits of the female Monitor lizard or something. I don’t know. Anyway, it’s meant as a compliment. I love nature documentaries. Carry on and God bless.

[@ThadGuidry]

You have actually made a better tutorial than Arturia's official tutorial videos. Enough said.

[@VenusTheory]

Haha well hey, thanks! Glad the effort that went into the video doesn't go unnoticed!

[@Indianabones007]

Arturias own videos are driving me nuts

[@doctorauxiliary]

cameron's vids are always thoughtful, helpful & really well-produced. arturia's videos are not. I love arturia's wares, but...

[@GaryR55]

Maybe Cameron can help me get more out of mine than Arturia has, then. I have the Keystep 37, though, which, strangely enough, is actually the better of the three Keystep models.

[@GaryR55]

@@doctorauxiliary True. Arturia's are more like ads than tutorials.

[@hock4540]

Thanks! You showed all the details that the 100 other reviewers (and Arturia) didn't show or show clearly in practical use. Well done!

[@dedicatedspuddler7641]

I've had mine for a while. Continually learning new things with it...thanks for this video. I paired it with the Casio CZ1000 I just picked up, and played 4 sequences using four different voices on the CZ and the same time. What a fun time!

[@VenusTheory]

Nice! The CZs are interesting little boxes. Might have to grab one myself sometime!

[@dedicatedspuddler7641]

@@VenusTheory highly recommended!

[@rishpanjeet7479]

I don’t understand how you can have sequences going to different multiple patches from the same machine…

[@dedicatedspuddler7641]

@@rishpanjeet7479 Just something the CZ1000 can do. Pretty cool, too.

[@rishpanjeet7479]

@@dedicatedspuddler7641 that’s absolutely wild

[@garygimmestad4272]

I love my Keystep Pro for all of the reasons you expressed and more. I also have the Audiofuse Studio which solved all of my audio routing issues with a great hands-on design. Arturia rocks.

[@mattv.-drakedraco6803]

Great overview and insight to what it can do. I’d love to see how individual tracks could be routed to different instruments in the DAW. Wink wink.😉

[@dizeezbiz4505]

Man, your production value has skyrocketed. You'll hit 100K this year easy.

[@9hundred67]

The voice is over processed to sound more manly.

[@DiamondWoodStudios]

Almost there!

[@simonrigby2776]

What a fun little beast .. I've got the Keylab 88 MkII and echo your comments about your 61. It's the best controller I've ever owned by some considerable margin. But this is a whole load of fun waiting to happen. Might have to look into one after the Microfreak purchase :)

[@hjkhhjkh3635]

Hey man, can you explain to me what benefit of the key lab over the key step would be, and vice versa? I’m a piano player and I want to start making beats, I’ve got no idea where to start with hardware

[@SketchieRecordsUK]

I was an early adopter of the Keystep Pro. possibly the most versatile midi/CV/Gate controller available. I love mine. I use it for everything! Arturia did well good on this baby🤘😁

[@klangr4usch]

does the slmk3 also have the randomize melodies functio

[@ZiwaHD]

😂 I like how he low key referenced the unison midi chord pack ads on KZbin in the intro

[@DomeRokRz]

Shit had me rollin' 🤣

[@ArpLaszlo]

That is seriously dope. I was thinking of getting a Keystep 37 but maybe I should just save up for the Pro. I’m interested in generating new musical ideas and the sequencer would let me decouple from the mouse and be more hands on creatively.

[@chandeleerjet5637]

There’s currently 4 brand new on “clearance” for $199 at guitar center Lynnwood Washington. It’s weird because on the website the cheapest I could find is $399 for a used one. If you haven’t gotten one yet definitely call that store. I bought two so there’s 2 left.

[@MrRelys]

​@@chandeleerjet5637 I just bought one at the Guitar Center in Redmond for $199. Had to call a few stores to find one in stock and confirm the price.

[@brannum9307]

You need an Oxi One sequencer!!!!!

[@boolage]

Love mine. Considering getting a novation circuit tracks as well to augment the number of tracks I can easily sequence and modify in real time for performances. I’ve also found the midi hub by Blokas to be really useful in taking the 4 tracks allowed by key step and expanding it to more by having it route notes in certain octaves to different channels - thereby giving you something much closer to 8-12 tracks possible.

[@suntzu6122]

Oh shit thats actually brilliant. I could be wrong but I think this keyboard has splits as well. Might be worth looking into, you might not need the special midihub.

[@petercane6376]

Such a brilliant tutorial. So crystal clear, slowly explained and hey...I understood everything you said!. I am getting one. The oxi one is fabulous but a bit too much for what I know. The KSPro will be way enough for me. Thanks.

[@andrew6889-p5c]

Take this and the keylab mk2 61 and combine. That would be the ultimate. I’m hoping that’s what Keylab mk3 is.

[@aidanduffy5443]

Hi folks. I have a synth query. All help appreciated. Esp any owners of the keystep pro Disclaimer. I have used synths before BUT this is my first dive into controlling synths externally and first ever time using cv. I just bought an arturia keystep pro to control my korg minologue XD, microfreak, model D and volca sample. (I was under the impression I could control all the above with a KSP, sequence and compose dawlessly. Maybe I was mistaken) I plugged in all my hardware. Each piece is making sound when played on its keyboard so I know audio is not the issue. My volca keys is hooked up to midi out 1. My minologue to midi out two. The other two are three and four with a single cv Here are my three issues: 1. On track 1 the volca is sounding when I hit a key! Hurray. The problem: it just triggers one sound no matter what key I press (yes, the keystep pro is set to drum mode). Also, when I switch to any other track, the volca is still sounding when I hit a key. But it's a different drum being played. 2. The minologue is being sounded on track 1 instead of track 2. So I'm hearing a tom drum AND whatever note I'm hitting on the minologue together on track 1, but no sound on track 2. (So track one is triggering two instruments at once) 3. Track three and four there is no sound coming through. As I've said, I have never used CV before. And I think the issue may be that I need two connections per instrument, one for pitch and one for gate. Is that correct? The obvious answer is internal midi needs to be routed differently. Well, I can try! I don't know how this works on the keystep, there seems to be 16 midi channels but I don't understand what that means. Also, I assumed that out of the box it would be routed logically ie. Midi/cv outputs 1 2 3 and 4 correspond to those tracks. Could it possibly be a software bug? I've heard they're buggy? Should I do a firmware update? Am I missing something obvious? Does anyone have any insight? All help appreciated. Thanks

[@Skyverb]

*V.T Reviews plugins that have randomizer effects on melodies and beats* Arturia: "Hold my beer"

[@cuba1234100]

hahahahahaaha so cool...... dont ask me why ,,,but ,,,,cool......hang on mabe !!!! ya ...cool.....

[@AdamsOlympia]

Have you all found any work around to get the drum track voices to each send to a different midi channel? Probably not achievable on board KSP itself - but some kind of external solution? I'm not really familiar with what midi utilities are available (HW or SW) that'd be able to route specific notes to specific channels. Got a KSP and Virus on the way and I'd love to setup a bunch of multis on my TI2 to cover different drum sounds, without taking up KSP's seq tracks.

[@PaulPomeroy]

Thanks for the tutorial/review, Cameron! Much appreciated. I just got one last week. Overall, I'm loving it, but I would like to know if you find that the black keys are more than a little oversensitive to velocity. If I'm playing something pretty fast paced (using a velocity sensitive sound - e.g., a Pianoteq sound) I end up with notes on black keys "ringing out" and when I look at the MIDI data I can see that the note velocity was sitting way up in the ear-bleed section, so to speak. Playing adjacent white and black keys at the same time and with the same hand as evenly as possible, once the velocity gets up above 25-30 on the white key the black key is registering 60 or more. I switched the velocity curve to Logarithmic but that didn't help much. It could be I got a bad one ..., but maybe this is just the way these little keys behave?

[@itsanthony1980]

Can each track be routed to a different VST instrument or DAW channel at all?

[@alexandervalentinhenggeler5168]

Me as a complete noob to sound sythesis needs a controller. Mee thinks ill get this piece.

[@caseylockwood5512]

I love Perfect Circuit! Glad to see them getting attention here. Also absolutely love my Keystep 37

[@jdssurf]

Dude it went up 100 bucks wtf

[@EntropicEcho]

Just got my KSP, and holy shit, what a game changer for controlling my modular hardware synth. No more menu diving and finding obscure button combinations to make and edit sequences. Thanks for the video, it really helped me see what's possible. Seeing you actually do things while it's running helps a lot!

[@Err0r500]

I use a makenoise rene and ordered the KSP for the reasons you mention 🤞😁

[@EntropicEcho]

@@Err0r500 Cool! Enjoy!

[@final_ascent_music]

Incredible video. Now I have to buy one. Would love to see an in depth tutorial like this for the beatstep pro.

[@zalione]

Is it possible to change a pattern length to less than 16 steps?

[@Urfinchannel]

Soundbrei ,sinnlos alles mit einem Sound zu zeigen

[@doctorauxiliary]

I LITERALLY just had my LAST sip of delicious cold-brewed coffee at the EXACT moment that cameron said, "drink your coffee." (I think I've had a bit too much this morning, y'all.) onward....

[@SuperStarO]

Not the midi pack shots fired 😂😂

[@FellowScorpio]

*ambient twerking*

Hi colleague. If I want to built an entire song trought keystep pro, i have a question. I'm not able to find if it's possible to send program changes to the synths. Thanks in advance 🌞

[@threalkrazyk8852]

What a great video. New sub right here 🙌 greeting from Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@DopamineOverload]

Was a little confused about the Loop probability in the "Getting Weird" section-- your patterns are 32 steps long, but when you hold the step button, you get a probability option that is only for 4 loops/times around, right? So basically it's like the Model:Samples Condition thing.. 2:2, 1:2, 1:4, etc. Could you clarify exactly how that works? It seems really dope! Nevermind-- I figured it out, just "step skip".

[@playeveryday01]

Key step pro is cheap?……. I think not lol I guess for everything it does it’s a lot of bang for your buck but 500 is an investment for a small controller

[@sevenfifteen]

Awesome camera work during the intro! Great!

[@EricF]

Awesome video! The song at the end reminds me a lot of Trentemøller’s “Miss You” in the best possible way. Nice one!

[@CornellBentley]

They make really nice products, and they have nice service as a company but O'd end up selling it if it was given to me for free ... just don't see the major leap forward

[@mescalinum]

Can you control the LEDs above the keys via external MIDI input? I need a quick chord display (without the need for a computer screen) for a sequencer app I'm writing.

[@mattster303]

Very inspiring, brilliant sense of humour, great info very well presented, thanks !!

[@VenusTheory]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@tris421]

I've not gelled w KSP after owning it for 1 year - but this video may change my mind!

[@UrbanGarden-rf5op]

Thanks for the crash course. I'll hit the ground running on my new DAW-less setup😎

[@GaryR55]

Well, after this, I'm wondering whether the Pro is "better" than my Keystep 37, or whether it's simply more complex. In either case, I'll need to watch this several more times.

[@jennyheidewald5006]

Your demo music is gorgeous!

[@yzimsx]

Is it possible to realtime-quantize all notes recorded live, forward only, so that no unquantized MIDI note is ever transmitted? Meaning that you'll have to play slightly in front of the beat, but it sounds like more notes appear in the sequence, without it sounding like you played it live. Even slight timing errors break the illusion of an evolving sequence.

[@TheCubeMusic]

Holy Crap Cameron the music 🎼 has taken over with the keystep pro

[@touchcircle22]

have had mine for a few years now and just actually learnt more here then I did by myself in 3 years lol....loved even thought it was made a while ago...still relevant : }

[@hovermotion]

The ultimate review...

[@fischergreen4134]

Love the midi pack reference 😂 just got my key step pro and been getting my head around it for a couple of hours. Blown away 😻 However you've just shown me where I can take this. It's a godsend for a non-musician like me

[@TheTonyTitan]

I'll admit, I had this playing in the background as I relax... sorry bro, didn't even actually SEE the whole video lol

[@rubberplant6375]

They're great. I have 2 now (Still paying off the second one)

[@AnugrahPrahasta]

GREAT Intro's man!!!! Haha

[@SonicVibe]

I like my keystep the pro seems maybe worth it for Vegas mode and another octave and screen 📺

[@AdrianGeorges]

Your voice is fascinating and your content is awesome. Keep up the good work.

[@marklholloway]

Your voice sounds identical to Booth Junkie (voice over artist) 🗣🎤 Love my Keystep Pro. Great video 🖤

[@twiglet2214]

Just fired mine up for the first time and struggled with it - very few tutorials offer the clarity and inspiration that you do so i'm going to experiment with it and hopefully have some fun ! Thanks for a great review VT.

[@neonether]

Damn, I waited so long to get one. This opened up major creative routes with my vintage Roland gear. Truly inspiring!

[@stratofargus]

another great vid as was your building your studio in your pyjamas..excellent work as always...

[@CoderCoronet]

Very nice video. Does it allow transposing a sequence by playing chords like on a arranger keyboard?

[@krazywabbit]

Well done. Appreciate these types of videos that demonstrate vs talking specs.

[@5eZa]

only video i've found that explains chaining. thanks!

[@docjoesweeney]

Dang you! I was just thinking I needed a second keyboard for my voltage modular 2 and NDLR set up. Now this! Looks now I have a target for my own Christmas present.

[@sebaszwarc6028]

I have birthday in September ;) YKWIM

[@scholzdigital]

So if I have a Digitakt would the Pro be overkill to add to the setup. I thought I would use it to control my Hydrasynth but not sure if a smaller version of the Keystep would do as well.

[@modgrip805]

I DIDNT KNOW YOU COULD AUTOMATE PATTERNS!!! 💦💦💦💦

[@istvantoth7431]

Very nice demonstration. Really like this 80s new age sound.

[@matrix12x]

Great video. I hope they incorporate some of these updates in the Keystep37.

[@randommcranderson5155]

I don’t think the pro features are likely to go down to the non-pro devices

[@matrix12x]

@@randommcranderson5155 good point.

[@deemarr9151]

Exactly what I thought...also chip shortages suk

[@boogs8112]

I was about to start making unison midi chord pack jokes until Venus did it himself genious

[@katelikesrectangles]

this was absolutely excellent, thank you so much. there were a few things that immediately clicked for me, when i saw you do them. incredibly helpful

[@cuba1234100]

i think its .......coooooool..... ya its cool !!!!!

[@hotzemusic]

Great vid, now we just need a Benn Jordan/Venus Theory synth love letter collab

[@nemoitrex9643]

Venus Theory, great overview! I have A MiniLab MKII and Beatstep, which I love. I want to step up to Arturia's pro tier controllers. However, while researching and having watched several vids, I'm torn between Beatstep Pro and Keystep Pro. Anyone have suggestions on narrowing down to one or the other? 👊🏽😏

[@silverfiltersoundlab]

I went with the KSP. it also can sequence drum tracks but with the ease of sequencing other synths as well. Seems to be more well rounded.

[@Jonas-km4qx]

How many projects can one save on this?

[@PsychicWarfareUnit]

I bought one a couple months back. It is one of the best pieces of gear I've ever purchased

[@FRMTHREE]

The shift + knob shortcut is so good. Thank you!! 🙌🏿

[@kevinbaker6242]

HI is there anyway of making this play Tangerine Dream Style Ratchet Sequencing cheers

[@VenusTheory]

At the moment no, but perhaps in a future update!

[@jmcbeady8210]

Is this the guy who does instruction video for Acoustica Mixcraft 9?

[@VenusTheory]

It is!

[@Trollberg]

its 250 bucks right now at guitar center

[@endonyxoneaudio8644]

Hi, how well does this controller integrate with bitwig ? like can you use the step sequencing functions for inputting into clips within bitwig ?

[@citizenofearth]

Not sure if my question is technically correct, but: can you run 4 instances of Pigments 3 and make each instance receive MIDI notes on a different channel from the KeyStep Pro? I'm asking because I have the older Beatstep Pro and I tried something like that but failed for some reason.

[@VenusTheory]

Definitely! As long as you set them up on different MIDI channels in your DAW that's totally doable.

[@DopamineOverload]

Superb tutorial and video! Quick question-- with the random generation stuff, can you constrain it to one or two octaves, instead of having the notes jump all over the place? Thx, and subbed!

[@VenusTheory]

At the moment no - it's purely random. Hopefully they add some updates to improve that in the future!

[@DopamineOverload]

@@VenusTheory That would be awesome if so. What I noticed too, is the more you hit the Random Notes button.... the more ridiculous the octaves get. It seems like it spreads further and further out, the more you do it. Kind of a drag, there!

[@suntzu6122]

Something worth noting: Anyone can make a tutorial and show things off. Doing it in an elegant, simple to digest manner where the SOUNDS were hearing (its a midi keyboard, not a synth!) are pleasant and not horrible to listen to on loop fifty seven thousand times on repeat is such a blessing. Such a good way to ruin a tutorial is loop some god awful 'demonstration purposes only 1/10 quality' melody or w/e. Makes tutorials unwatchable sometimes. So thank you for that attention to detail because it really does help a lot. This was a great tutorial for that reason.

[@cybernaumemusic]

I want this with 16 track step sequencer.

[@dickiebuison8298]

Great video! Where is that midi cable Out going to? Is it going to external hardware like a synth box? Is it going to an audio interface to a computer with a DAW? Thank you.

[@VenusTheory]

Yo! Everything here is Pigments. MIDI cable is running into the Audiofuse Studio and then routed in Bitwig.

[@zeding8030]

If I use it with ipad pro,how do I use them？

[@cuba1234100]

WoW this is cool .You are cool

[@maydaygoingdown5602]

Does anyone know if you can link up the Keystep pro to a SL Mk111, say midi 5 pin out from the MK111 to the 5 pin midi in of the Keystep pro so that you could then be able to use the 4 tracks of the keystep pro synced to the 8 tracks of the MK111 and all be controlled via the MK111 start play record controlls?

[@VenusTheory]

I don't see why not - it would just be a matter of making sure the MKIII transmits the correct message to trigger the transport controls of the KSP. The MKIII manual should have some information on that I'd guess. Arturia's support or Perfect Circuit may also be able to confirm that.

[@maydaygoingdown5602]

@@VenusTheory yeah theoretically it should work I reckon. I already have the Keystep pro and I've been using the SL Mk11 since it released for VST usage but as much as I've loved the SL Mk11 I think it's time for an upgrade and the SL MK111 seems to be a good option. I was thinking I could then mid it i up to the Keystep pro and have 12 sequence tracks combined and runing in sync. Thanks for the reply my friend. Great content from you as always.

[@synchronisticmelanatedmysitic]

I barely understand my beatsteppro but i still want a keystep as well

[@synchronisticmelanatedmysitic]

@ghost mall thank you!!! I’ll get one!!

[@mrdudeperson449]

i have to have one

[@fumarolas]

Thank you!