Keylab MKII, and some real frustation :(

Hi peeps, sorry to have to do this but I’m really struggling with this. Forgot there was a new forum here so this is late. Maybe I could have saved some frustration. Specs are either OSX Ventura (silicon) or Win 11. Same results on both between 3 computers.

First, the good. I’m not a fantastic key player, but to me these are the best I’ve used. The pads are excellent as well and Live integration has been excellent (though I mostly use my Push 2 for that. But still, there are some things the Keylab does with more ease.

But other hosts? Not so much. First, Reason 12. Though it has a map native, I can’t get the knobs or mixer to work properly. I’ve read up on it with the manual and youboob, but just can’t pin it down. I think explaining the painstaking things I’ve tried would be a waste of time, but I’ll answer any question. It’s not critical because I mostly just use it for the Reason Rack in Live right now, but it tasks me :wink:

Reaper doesn’t count anymore because I’ve decided to concentrate on just Live for composing and Luna for mixing*. Tried it when 7 was released though and couldn’t get anything other than keys/pads to work no matter what I did. Personally I feel better docs should be out there. Since you have a native map for that, maybe an updated vid?

*I only use Luna for mixing, but I cannot get (again) faders or knobs to do anything.

One other thing, Live and Luna and logic when I was demoing it, certain controls/buttons send midi note messages. In Logic, there was an excellent vid somewhere with rather different setup instructions that solved this. I figured it out in Live, had to uncheck a couple of things, now works fine. Reason doesn’t seem to do this, nor did Studio One (yes, I know, too many hosts! ) but the point is that some do and it can really drive someone to drink! LOL.

So in conclusion, there is much to like, but something is just not quite right following the directions for every user. I’ve seen a few vids so it’s not just me, but it’s not consistent from host to host.

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It’s true that the absence of Map to make the Keylab MkII compatible and functional with Reason is incomprehensible.
Reason is an excellent DAW and it deserved its integration with Arturia products without having to go through more or less successful tips collected on the internet…
Perhaps in future firmwares updates ?
I really hope so…

The thing is, Reason has a “keylab” native setting. Most of it works, but there is no “lock” for that, so faders/pans don’t do anything. But the transport and a few other things work. I have a “secret” area I can post this at (not sure why I haven’t yet.

With reason, I’ve also tried to use a generic controller for that which you can lock, but then it introduces other issues.

There are indeed parameter tips for, for example, making the faders and knobs work but this remains approximate, often tedious and as you say, generates other conflicts. No simple and easily applicable solution exists to fully utilize all the possibilities of the Keylab MKII.

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