May I ask, where's the keyboard now? And are you willing to sell parts? I was looking to replace mine's LED screen because the blue backlight just randomly died, but don't know where to source it :( (and also looking for one of those slider knobs haha)
I put it back together and, a few months ago, sold it locally. Sorry I couldn't help with your screen/sliders/knobs! I'd check eBay; sometimes people are selling random small parts.
@@alexcapmx Thanks❤️🌸. I had AC water leak on my keylab and dryer it with hairdryer (cold Air) 3 days ago and wanted to make sure it had dryer from the inside. So u think this will cause rust on the inner electric boards?? 😩
Alex, thanks for sharing this! So, here's my situation--I'm hoping you can provide insight based on your teardown--several months ago the F6 key stopped working. I sent it back to Arturia and they did the repair (no explanation as to what actually failed). Now, the D6 has failed. I can get a very low-velocity response from the key at times, but for all practical purposes it's dead. I couldn't tell from your video if any of the keys are interchangeable. Rather than send the keyboard in again, I'd rather swap the failing D6 with the D1 on the keybed. I had done something similar with an old M-Audio monster I used to have.
I actually never needed to replace the keys on my Arturia. The keybed it uses is the TP/100LR made by FATAR (www.fatar.com/Pages/TP100LR.html). I assume there's a way to swap keys, but I've never tried. Try contacting FATAR and see if they have suggestions. The keyboard I use now has a TP40WOOD keybed, which is very straightforward to replace keys. The only replacement keys I found on eBay were TP40, though, so I ended up contacting a distributor FATAR recommended (americanmusicandsound.com/). Their email is just "info@" followed by that same domain. They gave me the part numbers for the replacement keys and told me to contact one of their dealers (Sweetwater.com, Fullcompass.com, Instrumentalparts.com, Syntaur.com, etc., or locally, Guitar Center, Sam Ash...) and ask someone in the parts department if they have it or place a "special order" for the part through them. I didn't end up placing an order, but I believe one of the dealers did get back to me and gave me a quote for special ordering a key or two. All that being said, if you are able to swap D1 and D6, you might still run into the same issue, so in that case the key itself may not be the issue & it might by some underlying mechanical problem or something off with the way the key pushes down the velocity sensor. Hope you find something!
@@alexcapmx It was the velocity sensor on the board. I ended up buying the Mk II version and so far, a year in, it's still performing well. I relegated the Mk I to my studio for practice and DAW work (where I can always compensate for the velocity issue on D6 digitally).
If I just want to take the bottom plate off to take a look at the keys from underneath, do I need to remove more screws than just the ones on the black plate? Also it looks like after you got those off there was a lot of fiddling before your could pull it off, could you describe what had to be done there?
I think I was just making sure that I wasn't going to damage any cables by pulling the plate off. So it's just those bottom screws, then check that nothing is glued to the underside so you can easily remove the plate.
I’m stuck on the ribbon cables, they don’t seem to have a release? I realize I’m on the mkii so things are slightly different. But any help here would be appreciated
@@DuneArchitect I'm not sure about the mkii, but on my older model I was able to unclip the ribbon cables from the circuitboard fairly easily. The other end of the ribbon cables goes inside the keyboard and was unaccessable.
@@alexcapmx Hmm okay thank you. I'm not super familiar with them, but I was unable to see any kind of release for the ribbon cables. If anyone has knowledge on this please drop below. Also for any future readers to this thread: Do not unscrew the keybed when attempting to take apart the unit for the first time. It leaves you with 3, awkward moving pieces that are each connected by electrical wiring and is a nightmare. Instead remove all the screws from the rear of the unit, except the ones that are clearly holding the power+midi ports in place, and leave the screws in the bottom that are holding the keybed in place. You can tell these screws because of their location, and they are significantly longer than the other black screws
I accidentally spilled water on mine last week. I am so ashamed. one key isnt working. I feel terrible. can water damaged be repaired at all? i feel like such a moron. this is the most important piece of equipment I have. any ideas?
Sorry to hear! I'm not sure. I didn't see an obvious way to take individual keys off, but that's where I'd start, & see if I can air it out or try to dry that area without disturbing anything else.
You can take the keys of rather easily once you have access to the keybed. You just have to push (using some force) the key you want to remove in the direction that is towards you (when you and the piano are in playing position - youre facing the keys and could "play" them). So you just kinda have to push the rear of the key toward yourself. The key will just click out of the keybed without damage. Under the key there is some springy rubber and beneath the rubber there are sensors which you can clean if a key is not responding properly. Worked for me (it had some dust buildup). Good luck!
Joey, also see my comment to Miro on another more recent comment on this thread. My experience mirror Protegit's on this sub thread - it is well worth a go. I just saved myself a few weeks without to and no doubt £100+ / $100 + repair bill.
My transport buttons are starting to go bad since I use them constantly. Do you happen to remember what kind of buttons they are or in what way they tend to wear out? Also - would it have been possible to take the top housing off without removing the keybed?
Sorry, I can't help you with your transport buttons - never really used them. Not really... In order to remove the top housing, you have to unscrew the bottom and sides. At that point all you'll have is the keybed and the top housing, but the keybed has several wires that run to the underside of the top housing which you'll have to disconnect before you can access the controls/interface.
Hey so I've got to replace the USB power socket, because the cord's pins broke off in the socket. I've got about a few hours of experience with soddering in my life, and I suppose my question is, would you say that replacing the power socket should be as simple as unscrewing the back and resoddering the connection? anything beyond that, I might be out of my league trying to repair it myself, and the last thing I want to do is open this thing up and break other components, especially considering the keyboard is functional as is (only using the broken socket + broken cord). if you've got any advice on this, I would really appreciate it. Thanks either way for uploading this!!
I've since sold the keyboard, but if it's only the pins, try pulling them out with tweezers or something before you take the entire thing apart. And then you'd just need a new USB type B cable, right? Doesn't sound like soldering is required, unless the connection from the socket to the internal hardware itself is actually severed somehow (doubtful as since it's screwed into place, no strain or pressure is being put on the internal wiring).
Alex Cap i’m sorry, i think i originally worded that incorrectly. The internal component of the Keylab’s usb socket broke off into the power cable, so only the usb cable with the piece still in it would be compatible with my currently broken socket. Seems like my only solution is to replace the current usb socket.
Hi Alex, great video. Just wondering, i have the chance to buy an Arturia Keylab 88 at a good price, but it has one dead key on it. Would it be easy to repair that dead key. I've done it before on other keyboards, but the keybed on your video looks somehwhat different to what I'm used to seeing. What do you think?
I should also add that that dead key I'm referring to is not broken mechanically. The seller says the instrument was never abused and that it's probably a contact fault. Anyway, thanks in advance for your thoughts.
@@alexcapmx Thanks very much for the reply, much appreciated! Can I also ask, what's your overall impression of the keyboard. Do you find the keybed enjoyable to play? I'm not especially interested in the onboard knobs and sliders (I have dedicated tools for that), but I am looking for something that feels enjoyable to play, something which approximates the action of an acoustic piano. Would you describe the Keylab as enjoyable to play? Is it close to a piano in feel? Be grateful for your thoughts 🙂
I wouldn't count on it. Not only may those ribbon cables be coming out from a different place inside the keybed (on the TP/40WOOD, they exit farther to the left & probably wouldn't reach the Arturia control panel), but the dimensions of the keybed itself may differ from this one, the TP/100LR.
If a key goes dead, is it easy to fix? I have some experience fixing the contacts of dead keys with other keyboards, but this looks a little different. Penny for your thoughts.
I was planning to build a custom "keyboard desk" (with the MIDI controller embedded in the desk) and wanted to see if this controller's keybed (FATAR TP/100LR) would fit the bill. I decided against the TP/100LR and went with the TP/40WOOD.
@@RufusLoacker It didn't have an obvious way to attach it to the desk I made. It has screws on the underside, but those are hard to access and would require a lot of measuring if I were to come from underneath the desk. The TP/40WOOD (and the TP/40 and TP/20 for that matter) have a long metal strip that juts out the back, through which I was able to put some screws to easily hold it in place.
@@alexcapmx Thanks for your feedback! I'll try opening it up as well and try to fit the desk to the keyboard (and not viceversa), so maybe I could pull it off. What about electronics? I'd use just the keybed, not even mod+pitch wheel. Do you know if all the other circuit boards could be disconnected without issue?
@@RufusLoacker I did design my desk around the keyboard, I just decided not to design around this particular one. Although I could see why you might want to try to make it work with this one, it has a great touch! The issue with what you're interested in doing is that the ribbon cables (exposed at 2:44) that come from the keys go straight into the larger circuit board (I'm reattaching that at 3:02). There's then an additional cable that leads to the secondary circuit board that has USB/MIDI/pedal/etc. ports. You can see that when I've reassembled it at the end without the shell. So unless you're really good with soldering/circuit boards (I don't trust myself to modify something like this without breaking it), you might have to live with letting the circuitry just hang out inside your desk to be able to still make use of the USB/MIDI connections.
You are paying for the keyboard and housing because the electronics inside this seems to be minimal. If you opened up a korg M1 it is crammed with pcbs and chips, so they must be making a fair profit on these controller keyboards.
I don't have a clear idea about overall making price, but as an electronics engineer i can say electronic boards on these things don't have much impact on overall price, they are all cheap components compare to overall price(not low quality but there isn't an i3 in midi keyboards)- in mass production how many boards, does not count for more than 4$ difference and they all use mcu of some sort, maybe some use 20$ solutions, and others use 30$ one. so on electronics side of thing I would say the most difference in mass production would be 20$ , so what actually determines the cost is keybed, sensors (type, quality and quantity) and casing. for connectors and other things still I think all companies are using overall equal ones.
@@danielnaturani5912 yes, that was my point. The midi controllers should be significantly cheaper as they are basically just a keyboard. The old workstations had to have everything the computer does on board the appliance. In the past when looking at different workstations the keys and action didn't come into it. Now it seems to be everything.
@@patricksmith4424 you're comparing apples with oranges. The M1 is a 61 key synth 1995, whereas this is a recent 88 key controller. The extra size and keys add to the cost. If you buy a 61 key synth these days it's going to cost twice as much as this MIDI controller.
![Ask Me Why (As Played by Joe Hisaishi) [from "The Boy and the Heron"] for Solo Piano](/img/1.gif)
Discuss: www.reddit.com/r/AlexCapMX/comments/xt92mr/taking_apart_an_arturia_keylab_88_midi_controller/
thanks for the video and the comments, really helps me out!
Thank you for this!
May I ask, where's the keyboard now? And are you willing to sell parts? I was looking to replace mine's LED screen because the blue backlight just randomly died, but don't know where to source it :( (and also looking for one of those slider knobs haha)
I put it back together and, a few months ago, sold it locally. Sorry I couldn't help with your screen/sliders/knobs! I'd check eBay; sometimes people are selling random small parts.
Hello Alex. Thanks for the video. Can u pls tell me if unscrewing keylab 88 mkii is the same ??
I've never owned the MkII, so I can't say for sure. They do look similar though, so I imagine there's some crossover.
@@alexcapmx Thanks❤️🌸. I had AC water leak on my keylab and dryer it with hairdryer (cold Air) 3 days ago and wanted to make sure it had dryer from the inside. So u think this will cause rust on the inner electric boards?? 😩
@@raniazantout Sorry to hear! Hope your keyboard still works. I'm not sure how prone circuit boards are to rusting if they get wet...
Do I just need to undo the bottom screws to vacuum the dust below and between the keys?
There's no other way to get underneath the keys.
How many cables do you have to disconnect to remove the bottom plate?
Some cables are glued to the bottom plate, but you don't have to unplug them. Just pull off the adhesive and the bottom plate can come free.
Alex, thanks for sharing this! So, here's my situation--I'm hoping you can provide insight based on your teardown--several months ago the F6 key stopped working. I sent it back to Arturia and they did the repair (no explanation as to what actually failed). Now, the D6 has failed. I can get a very low-velocity response from the key at times, but for all practical purposes it's dead. I couldn't tell from your video if any of the keys are interchangeable. Rather than send the keyboard in again, I'd rather swap the failing D6 with the D1 on the keybed. I had done something similar with an old M-Audio monster I used to have.
I actually never needed to replace the keys on my Arturia. The keybed it uses is the TP/100LR made by FATAR (www.fatar.com/Pages/TP100LR.html). I assume there's a way to swap keys, but I've never tried. Try contacting FATAR and see if they have suggestions.
The keyboard I use now has a TP40WOOD keybed, which is very straightforward to replace keys. The only replacement keys I found on eBay were TP40, though, so I ended up contacting a distributor FATAR recommended (americanmusicandsound.com/). Their email is just "info@" followed by that same domain. They gave me the part numbers for the replacement keys and told me to contact one of their dealers (Sweetwater.com, Fullcompass.com, Instrumentalparts.com, Syntaur.com, etc., or locally, Guitar Center, Sam Ash...) and ask someone in the parts department if they have it or place a "special order" for the part through them. I didn't end up placing an order, but I believe one of the dealers did get back to me and gave me a quote for special ordering a key or two.
All that being said, if you are able to swap D1 and D6, you might still run into the same issue, so in that case the key itself may not be the issue & it might by some underlying mechanical problem or something off with the way the key pushes down the velocity sensor. Hope you find something!
@@alexcapmx It was the velocity sensor on the board. I ended up buying the Mk II version and so far, a year in, it's still performing well. I relegated the Mk I to my studio for practice and DAW work (where I can always compensate for the velocity issue on D6 digitally).
Got it, thanks for the update!
If I just want to take the bottom plate off to take a look at the keys from underneath, do I need to remove more screws than just the ones on the black plate? Also it looks like after you got those off there was a lot of fiddling before your could pull it off, could you describe what had to be done there?
I think I was just making sure that I wasn't going to damage any cables by pulling the plate off. So it's just those bottom screws, then check that nothing is glued to the underside so you can easily remove the plate.
I’m stuck on the ribbon cables, they don’t seem to have a release? I realize I’m on the mkii so things are slightly different. But any help here would be appreciated
@@DuneArchitect I'm not sure about the mkii, but on my older model I was able to unclip the ribbon cables from the circuitboard fairly easily. The other end of the ribbon cables goes inside the keyboard and was unaccessable.
@@alexcapmx Hmm okay thank you. I'm not super familiar with them, but I was unable to see any kind of release for the ribbon cables. If anyone has knowledge on this please drop below.
Also for any future readers to this thread: Do not unscrew the keybed when attempting to take apart the unit for the first time. It leaves you with 3, awkward moving pieces that are each connected by electrical wiring and is a nightmare. Instead remove all the screws from the rear of the unit, except the ones that are clearly holding the power+midi ports in place, and leave the screws in the bottom that are holding the keybed in place. You can tell these screws because of their location, and they are significantly longer than the other black screws
I accidentally spilled water on mine last week. I am so ashamed. one key isnt working. I feel terrible. can water damaged be repaired at all? i feel like such a moron. this is the most important piece of equipment I have. any ideas?
Sorry to hear! I'm not sure. I didn't see an obvious way to take individual keys off, but that's where I'd start, & see if I can air it out or try to dry that area without disturbing anything else.
You can take the keys of rather easily once you have access to the keybed. You just have to push (using some force) the key you want to remove in the direction that is towards you (when you and the piano are in playing position - youre facing the keys and could "play" them). So you just kinda have to push the rear of the key toward yourself. The key will just click out of the keybed without damage. Under the key there is some springy rubber and beneath the rubber there are sensors which you can clean if a key is not responding properly. Worked for me (it had some dust buildup). Good luck!
Joey, also see my comment to Miro on another more recent comment on this thread. My experience mirror Protegit's on this sub thread - it is well worth a go. I just saved myself a few weeks without to and no doubt £100+ / $100 + repair bill.
My transport buttons are starting to go bad since I use them constantly. Do you happen to remember what kind of buttons they are or in what way they tend to wear out? Also - would it have been possible to take the top housing off without removing the keybed?
Sorry, I can't help you with your transport buttons - never really used them.
Not really... In order to remove the top housing, you have to unscrew the bottom and sides. At that point all you'll have is the keybed and the top housing, but the keybed has several wires that run to the underside of the top housing which you'll have to disconnect before you can access the controls/interface.
@@alexcapmx Thanks though - the video is very informative anyway!
@@synthuaxed You got it!
Hey so I've got to replace the USB power socket, because the cord's pins broke off in the socket. I've got about a few hours of experience with soddering in my life, and I suppose my question is, would you say that replacing the power socket should be as simple as unscrewing the back and resoddering the connection? anything beyond that, I might be out of my league trying to repair it myself, and the last thing I want to do is open this thing up and break other components, especially considering the keyboard is functional as is (only using the broken socket + broken cord).
if you've got any advice on this, I would really appreciate it. Thanks either way for uploading this!!
I've since sold the keyboard, but if it's only the pins, try pulling them out with tweezers or something before you take the entire thing apart. And then you'd just need a new USB type B cable, right? Doesn't sound like soldering is required, unless the connection from the socket to the internal hardware itself is actually severed somehow (doubtful as since it's screwed into place, no strain or pressure is being put on the internal wiring).
Alex Cap i’m sorry, i think i originally worded that incorrectly. The internal component of the Keylab’s usb socket broke off into the power cable, so only the usb cable with the piece still in it would be compatible with my currently broken socket.
Seems like my only solution is to replace the current usb socket.
@@ttruiett did you get this sorted?
Hi Alex, great video. Just wondering, i have the chance to buy an Arturia Keylab 88 at a good price, but it has one dead key on it. Would it be easy to repair that dead key. I've done it before on other keyboards, but the keybed on your video looks somehwhat different to what I'm used to seeing. What do you think?
I should also add that that dead key I'm referring to is not broken mechanically. The seller says the instrument was never abused and that it's probably a contact fault. Anyway, thanks in advance for your thoughts.
@@nads5907 Sorry, not sure, I've never had to do that!
@@alexcapmx Thanks very much for the reply, much appreciated!
Can I also ask, what's your overall impression of the keyboard. Do you find the keybed enjoyable to play? I'm not especially interested in the onboard knobs and sliders (I have dedicated tools for that), but I am looking for something that feels enjoyable to play, something which approximates the action of an acoustic piano. Would you describe the Keylab as enjoyable to play? Is it close to a piano in feel?
Be grateful for your thoughts 🙂
@@nads5907 Yes! I've played piano for 27 years, and I really like the feel of the KeyLab.
@@alexcapmx Thanks so much for that, Alex. Appreciated and subbed :)!
Is it possible to swap the keybed for a different fatar action keybed?
I wouldn't count on it. Not only may those ribbon cables be coming out from a different place inside the keybed (on the TP/40WOOD, they exit farther to the left & probably wouldn't reach the Arturia control panel), but the dimensions of the keybed itself may differ from this one, the TP/100LR.
@@alexcapmx darn it, it would definitely be dope to do so
If a key goes dead, is it easy to fix? I have some experience fixing the contacts of dead keys with other keyboards, but this looks a little different. Penny for your thoughts.
Did this work after it was put back together?
Yep. When you're unsure where the connections are, you just need to move slowly so you don't damage any cables.
So why did you take this apart???
I was planning to build a custom "keyboard desk" (with the MIDI controller embedded in the desk) and wanted to see if this controller's keybed (FATAR TP/100LR) would fit the bill. I decided against the TP/100LR and went with the TP/40WOOD.
@@alexcapmx I have the same keyboard, and I'm interested in this process. Why did you decide against it?
@@RufusLoacker It didn't have an obvious way to attach it to the desk I made. It has screws on the underside, but those are hard to access and would require a lot of measuring if I were to come from underneath the desk. The TP/40WOOD (and the TP/40 and TP/20 for that matter) have a long metal strip that juts out the back, through which I was able to put some screws to easily hold it in place.
@@alexcapmx Thanks for your feedback! I'll try opening it up as well and try to fit the desk to the keyboard (and not viceversa), so maybe I could pull it off.
What about electronics? I'd use just the keybed, not even mod+pitch wheel. Do you know if all the other circuit boards could be disconnected without issue?
@@RufusLoacker I did design my desk around the keyboard, I just decided not to design around this particular one. Although I could see why you might want to try to make it work with this one, it has a great touch! The issue with what you're interested in doing is that the ribbon cables (exposed at 2:44) that come from the keys go straight into the larger circuit board (I'm reattaching that at 3:02). There's then an additional cable that leads to the secondary circuit board that has USB/MIDI/pedal/etc. ports. You can see that when I've reassembled it at the end without the shell. So unless you're really good with soldering/circuit boards (I don't trust myself to modify something like this without breaking it), you might have to live with letting the circuitry just hang out inside your desk to be able to still make use of the USB/MIDI connections.
You are paying for the keyboard and housing because the electronics inside this seems to be minimal. If you opened up a korg M1 it is crammed with pcbs and chips, so they must be making a fair profit on these controller keyboards.
It'd be interesting to know how much it actually cost them to make.
I don't have a clear idea about overall making price, but as an electronics engineer i can say electronic boards on these things don't have much impact on overall price, they are all cheap components compare to overall price(not low quality but there isn't an i3 in midi keyboards)- in mass production how many boards, does not count for more than 4$ difference and they all use mcu of some sort, maybe some use 20$ solutions, and others use 30$ one. so on electronics side of thing I would say the most difference in mass production would be 20$ , so what actually determines the cost is keybed, sensors (type, quality and quantity) and casing. for connectors and other things still I think all companies are using overall equal ones.
The Korg M1 is a synthesizer, this is only a MIDI controller. Synthesizers need way more electronics to generate and manipulate signals.
@@danielnaturani5912 yes, that was my point. The midi controllers should be significantly cheaper as they are basically just a keyboard. The old workstations had to have everything the computer does on board the appliance. In the past when looking at different workstations the keys and action didn't come into it. Now it seems to be everything.
@@patricksmith4424 you're comparing apples with oranges. The M1 is a 61 key synth 1995, whereas this is a recent 88 key controller. The extra size and keys add to the cost. If you buy a 61 key synth these days it's going to cost twice as much as this MIDI controller.