KeyLab mk3: DAW Mode - No pitch/mod wheel? No drum pads?

Lab KeyLab
#1

Hi all - when my KeyLab 49 mk3 is in DAW mode, the pitch and mod wheels don’t send any signals to the DAW/VSTi (in my case, using both Cubase and Bitwig with dozens of VSTi’s). I see the indicator on the mk3 screen that the parameters are being moved, but nothing changes in the DAW/VSTi. In User mode, the wheels work as expected.

Additionally, it appears the drum pads also don’t send midi info to the DAW while in DAW mode, even though the mk3 screen will display the midi note and show the pad velocities as they’re being tapped. Again, these work fine in User mode.

Any advice here? I’ve just finished reading the manual cover-to-cover and I’m stumped. It’s a bit tedious having to keep switching from DAW mode to User mode just to be able to record midi with the pitch/mod wheels (and play the drum pads).

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#2

I can confirm that the pads don’t work in daw mode with bitwig.

In studio one, daw mode, setup as Mackie control… The pitch wheel controls volume.

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#3

As an update, the midi controller now works perfectly in Cubase. I don’t know why the pads and mod/pitch wheels work now in DAW mode, but they just do.

In Bitwig, (while in DAW mode) I’m finding that if I switch the setting of the midi/daw drop downs in the controller settings, I can get the pads to play and the pitch/mod wheels to work, but then the keys themselves stop sending midi signals. So still not sure what’s going on here with Bitwig.

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#4

I can confirm this too. Have you submitted a bug report to support@bitwig?

As a workaround, If you select Prog + Arturia, then pads, keys, and wheels will work.

#5

I haven’t submitted a bug report as I don’t believe it’s a bug. If you watch all the Arturia videos on using the mk3 in different DAWs, Bitwig seems to be the only one that doesn’t explicitly show the mod/pitch wheels and/or drum pads being used. So I think it’s intentional.

I know you can switch to Arturia/User mode to gain use of the mod/pitch wheels and drum pads, but it’s really annoying to keep having to switch the program mode just for that. I want the mk3 to work the same way in Bitwig as it works in all the other DAWs.

#6

From Bitwig 5.2.6 release notes:

Arturia Keylab Mk3: Pad Bank A-D now send correct note data, improved encoder operation, quantization now works on selected clips both in Launcher and Arranger

#7

Thanks for that follow up! I guess it was as bug! Have you tested this yet? I don’t want to download the pre-release just yet… I’m particularly interested in seeing if the mod-wheel and pitch-bend wheel work properly in this update (while in DAW mode).

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#8

In DAW mode:

  • Pads work as expected.
  • Pitch bend and Mod wheel are not recognized as such by default. If you move them, you can assign them to whatever with MIDI learn – I think this is a bug that you could report. :slight_smile:
    • In Arturia device mode, Pitch Bend and Mod Wheel work by default as expected.

Tested on Bitwig 5.2.6 with Polysynth’s default preset.

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