Creativity Reinvented
With everything you need to express your musical ideas, take command of your studio, and perform like you’ve always dreamed, KeyLab Essential is an intuitive, powerful, carefully crafted controller keyboard that’s easy to master.

Creating music in the digital world is sometimes a little challenging. So many distractions, so many new things to learn. KeyLab Essential lets you focus on what’s important

Music is at the heart of this controller. Every aspect of KeyLab Essential has been carefully chosen to give you the best possible experience when creating and performing. From the responsive keyboard to the intelligently assigned knobs and faders, you’ll feel like everything you touch turns to gold. KeyLab Essential makes navigating your track a breeze thanks to the dedicated DAW Command Center, and makes browsing your presets an exciting, inspiring experience.

KeyLab Essential helps you keep your eye on the target. Spend less time with a keyboard and mouse, and more time creating, performing, and playing.

Make music – your way
Never been fan of menu excavations and setting headaches? We think the same.

That’s why we’ve created KeyLab Essential: to make the technical stuff as simple as possible.

It’s easy to let your concentration drift and your inspiration slip when you spend hours on tedious tasks. KeyLab Essential is the result of careful research, with the aim of streamlining your creative process, giving you more time to express yourself through music. With the KeyLab Essential on your desk and its comprehensive set of music software loaded in your computer, the only required step to start experimenting, composing and recording is sitting in front of them.

Once you’ve experienced the creative workflow of KeyLab Essential, you’ll wonder how you ever made music without it.

In tune with your studio
Geared for maximum compatibility, KeyLab Essential gives you unadulterated control of your digital world, seamlessly integrating with virtual instruments and DAW software.

KeyLab Essential is packed with clever controls that help you make swift work of everyday tasks within your recording software. Play your track, jog forwards and back, save, toggle your metronome and loop, record, and punch in on the fly. This functionality keeps your hands on the controller and your mind in the music. As well as offering ultimate integration with Analog Lab, KeyLab Essential is a universal MIDI controller, compatible with any third-party instruments or software. KeyLab Essential also comes with Ableton Live Lite so you can start recording, editing, and releasing your music with one of the most popular music platforms on the planet.

Whether you’re a total newcomer to the world of recording, or a seasoned pro who’s set in their ways, KeyLab Essential has the potential to revolutionize your creative process.

A world of sound
A complete keyboard production studio, KeyLab Essential comes with some incredible software titles.

Whether you want a searing-hot synth lead or an ethereal string pad, a vintage upright piano or a complex, animated soundscape, KeyLab Essential gives you everything you need to perform and record. All the ingredients of the cocktail are there and ready to be mixed according to your own style.

Analog Lab
Your very own vintage keyboard collection.

Analog Lab gives you access to thousands of the best sounds from our award-winning V Collection, and gives an amazing introduction to our whole software instrument catalog. Featuring 17 iconic instruments, including analog synths, revolutionary digital workstations, organs, string machines and pianos, all pristinely recreated using Arturia’s exclusive True Analog Emulation technology.

Ableton Live Lite
An introduction to one of the most intuitive, popular production platforms around.

New users and seasoned pros alike love working with Ableton Live Lite. Featuring an innovative twin workflow, time stretching and pitch shifting functions, as well as numerous studio quality effects, you’ll be releasing professional quality tracks in no time.

Grand Piano Model D
An essential instrument for any songwriter’s sound palette.

Steinway pianos are found in only the very best concert halls and recording studios. Thanks to KeyLab Essential, you can have one in your living room. The UVI Grand Piano Model D puts the sound of the famous Steinway Model D grand piano at your fingertips, sampled in exquisite detail, and ready to play.

KeyLab Essential is packed with software that will inspire your creativity and unlock your musical potential.

Sound Corner

Superbravo (Simon Gallifet)
Groovy and laidback house beat. All the synth parts have been made using Analog Lab and the built in presets.

Radio Zimer (Simon Gallifet)
Inspired by the work of Radiohead and Hans Zimmer this songs demo and arpeggio and a bass made with Analog Lab 2.

KLE Movie_Soundtrack (LAAKE)
Music soundtrack made by LAAKE for the Keylab Essential release video.

Roll Call of Features!
Piece by piece the KeyLab Essential gathers all the elements required to take the control of your studio.

1. Performance controls
Bend your notes, modulate your sounds and transpose your keyboard by semitones or full octaves.

2. Chord play
Quickly create full arrangements with intelligent chord feature.

3. Midi channel select
Quickly change MIDI channels with dedicated control.

4. Performance pads
Dual-purpose dynamic, back-lit pads also let you select your favorite mapping options.

5. DAW command center
Take control of your recording software thanks to the MCU/HUI protocol.

6. Screen and Analog Lab remote
Read the right info when you need it thanks the twin-line LCD screen and browse your Analog Lab presets directly on your keyboard.

7. Pre-mapped knobs and faders
Adjust the panning and level of the tracks in your DAW, and the essential parameters of the Arturia virtual instruments.

8. 49 note Keyboard
Durable, velocity-sensitive keys will capture every nuance of your performance.

9. MIDI out
Control any MIDI-compatible synths, outboard, and modular gear.

10. Sustain pedal input
Push forward the expressivity of your keyboard play with a sustain pedal. The polarity can be inverted to comply with all types of pedals.

11. USB connectivity
Bus-powered, class-compliant, and powered through usb.

12. Optional DC power
Power KeyLab Essential without connecting to a computer.

KeyLab is a one-stop solution to creating music, convenient enough for new users to enjoy straight out of the box, but with features that experienced producers will love.

KeyLab Essential gives you everything you need to start creating, performing, tweaking, editing, and releasing your music: a keyboard to perfect your part; a virtual studio to record your ideas; a vast array of sounds to fire your creativity; and controls to fine-tune your sound. Arturia live at the forefront of music tech world, and we have created the KeyLab Essential to strike the perfect balance between powerful features, incredible sounds, durable construction, and inspiring design, all at an irresistibly affordable price tag.
Essential by name, essential by nature. This KeyLab is about to redefine the focal point of your studio.

Everything in its right place
Designed to make the process of creating music as fun and barrier-free as possible, each component, function, and design element of the KeyLab Essential is a tribute to you.

Quality playing surface
The durable, smooth-action keys will capture every nuance of your performance. You can shift the keyboard using the dedicated octave switches, get creative with your performance using the pitch bend and modulation wheels, and make use of the optional sustain pedal. A chord feature is also included to save a chord and then to play and transpose it with a single key press.

8 multi-purpose performance pads
Versatile and space-saving, the bank of dynamic, RGB back-lit pads features switchable modes, letting you punch in awesome drum rhythms and percussion patterns, while also letting you select your favorite mapping options to control Analog Lab, your DAW, or any other software or hardware you create maps for.

Rotary knobs & faders
Adjusting the panning and level of 8 channels at a time could not be more natural than with the automatically mapped knobs and faders. And if your creativity requires more tracks to fully express, no problem, two switches are there to move back and forth across your whole mix. Using the Analog Lab dedicated memory they will give you a direct control of the parameters of your Arturia virtual instruments.

DAW Command Center
MCU/HUI enabled DAW Command Center lets you totally master your creative environment. This great little control hub lets you play, pause, stop, record, toggle your metronome, and fast travel around your project. Take a break from the screen and focus on the music.

Extras
Extras KeyLab Essential packs a smart and effective twin-line LCD display to let you know the right info when you need it such as your presets and parameter info. In user memories, you can even customize the label it displays for each knob and fader. Just underneath is the preset remote for Analog Lab and all the other Arturia instruments. Your mouse will maybe miss you, not the opposite.

KeyLab Essential makes your musician life easier, your creative work more effective, and your track more mind blowing than ever.