Audiopilz: *slaps roof of YT channel* Full Tracks, Extended Jams, Sample Packs: www.patreon.com/audiopilz Follow me on Instagram: instagram.com/audio.pilz/
Me: "I'm thinking of going to Vienna for a weekend break and seeing the sights". My colleague: "Oh wow. What would be your first port of call - the Schönbrunn Palace, the Kunsthistorisches Museum"? Me: "Klangfarbe".
On a more serious note, I visited Vienna in 2018 to see the amazing Bruegel exhibit at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. I intended to stay for three days, mainly because I don't much like big cities. Long story short, I ended up adding on another week to my visit because I enjoyed the place so much! Seriously, a big city with a wine growing district located within the city limits?!?! And if you don't know what a flak tower is, be prepared to see one of the most frightening buildings anywhere in the world. They absolutely REEK of evil!
Well this didn't take long, and it absolutely deserves a spot here. Hardware manufacturers are going to keep trying to make hardware tied to a single-user license in order to make money off of the used market. The fact that Arturia is trying this again even after the failure of the Origin shows how convinced the industry is that there is gold in those hills. I hope consumers won't go for it.
What about that one all $800 digital one voice beige synth that a bunch of sunthfluencers shilled for a few months back? That was definitely worthy of bad gear
Every episode is an instant classic, except for when you own the specific gear, you just ignore those video(s) just like you do with the flaws of said gear.
@@MrTomaat23 I pay closer attention when it's gear I own (or plan to own - I've bought stuff because he covered it); I figure I'll learn stuff about how to get the most out of it.
When you follow a channel like this one, after a while, you can learn to tell when a musical instrument is able to stir the flames of creativity in the performer's heart. You can hear and feel how the instrument magically becomes an extension of the body and the mind of the player, granting them the ability to will their ideas into song and emotion. And for the person listening to that performance, time stands still, as they witness the sublime fusion of instrument and player, of man and machine, of spirit and matter. This, my friends, this is not one of those times.
Apple offers with MainStage - a 30$ software that turns any Mac into powerhouse 100 times better than that Arthuria, AND it can load Arturia synths. Once I saw MainStage I understood that I won’t ever play another live show without it
Everyone: Wow, a knob per function midi controller for Pigments would be amazing! Arturia: Here it is!! A..... 4 knob controller. That will be one kidney please.
Adobefication would entail at least some commercial applicability. This doesn't appear to have any. Odd, given they're expecting arm chair keyboardists to invest $$ to edit presets that will never make it to air.
As many people said: more than 10 years later they still can not do something better than the Virus Ti2. This keyboard is just a variant but it is not an evolution, it does not solve a problem. If you have a controller you can just bring your tiny laptop any way and run the same sounds with unlimited polyphony.
I don't think this is in anyway intended to be anything at all like a Virus. That would have been an Origin (which was a literal contemporary of the Ti2.) This is clearly much more like modern interpretation of a stage piano.
I'm guessing their vision was more like hey let's do like Teenage Engineering and make something totally useless that some rich dudes are gonna fall for instantly. Arturia does make very cool stuff otherwise though, maybe they needed a quick cash influx.
@@sub-jec-tiv Probably only in the US. In Europe i never experienced any sort of music in churches, other than people just singing. But there where never any sorts of instruments involved, other than maybe the church organ.
@@youtubevideos415 it's mainly a US and Canada thing, where the mega-churches have absolutely massive auditoriums... and in-house closed-circuit cameras projected on giant screens behind the guy. Even the medium-sized NA ones offer to send-home recordings of the sermons, or have a pretty hefty speaker system for their organ (which is actually a digital multi-instrument arranger keyboard in an organ shell, or might just be an arranger keyboard without even pretending).
On a serious note, you could buy a laptop with better performance, an Arturia Keylab 61, Arturia Minifuze 2, and Arturia V-collection X for around £200 more, and then have significantly more power, plus all the benefits of Astrolab. WTF were Arturia thinking?
"£200 more" People don't understand computers more than ever. You're probably thinking of overkill. Your list has no real reason to exceed or even match the cost of V-Collection + this half-assed keyboard, in reality. Then buying everything used saves even more money, too.
@@Jason75913 My list is fine as it takes into account thee need for a well specified mid-range laptop to give you good enough audio performance to run V/Analogue lab with reasonable polyphony, plus the cost of the full V-Collection X and a good quality 61 key midi controller with a decent keybed and the audio interface to ensure low latency. You could settle for a cheaper controller and audio interface potentially, but my point is that Arturia undercut Astrolab with their own products, making it overpriced and essentially redundant.
Must confess when I first saw these coming out I put one on pre-order - a few weeks later I came to my senses and cancelled. After seeing your video I’m glad I managed to overcome that particular attack of GAS.
I fell victim to all the hype and bought one. It's a good keyboard to always have set up for a drive-by-playing. There is a good variety of presets, but if you wanted to use it in a live setting you would need to do a lot of planning ahead on your computer. It's fun to split and layer different sounds, and is simple to navigate the menus, but the lack of UI edibility is definitely frustrating. The CPU limitation is very present. Some presets crackle if you play them too hard, which is why I would probably never use it live. I hope Arturia improves it with updates so I don't end up feeling like it was a waste of money.
Every time there’s a Bad Gear video, the whole world stop spinning for a split second, markets drop down a point, people take a bow. Oh. And what a lovely french accent. This is the only YT channel worth our collective time. Period.
For all your VST in a box needs we present the disASterLAb!...complete with a ring doorbell display so you can watch your front door whilst playing at home! ....Disclaimer: the lack of knobs may lead to Knob twiddling withdrawal symptoms
@@AudioPilz *gasp* My people! 😀 * * - I am after all a guitarist who generally knows which note is on which key, but expecting me to make them come out of a synth in a musically useful manner? You gotta be kidding me.
@@mrz80 have you looked into the Linnstrument? (I've been vaguely considering one even though I _can_ play keys, just because it's so much more like playing my bass.)
I have the Arturia KeyLab 88 II. Fully weighted, piano-style keys with velocity and aftertouch. Comes with Analog Lab V and a variety of modeled physical keyboard instruments which all sound good. The Arturia software doesn’t play nicely with Apple DAWs so I seldom use those sounds even though they’re nice. The firmware is a little buggy at times but I love the heavy weighted keys so much that I don’t even mind.
@@UncleMilty - surprisingly, no! It’s a mid-2021 with 32 gigs of DDR4 RAM, a 4TB SSD, and an M1 Max processor with 10 cores. Arturia software just doesn’t like to play with Logic Pro or GarageBand, for whatever reason.
Dear Florian. I would like to thank you for all the hard work and time you put on your videos. I suffer from severe depression, and I found that my mood changes ever time I hear “Welcomme to Bad Gear!”. Sincerely I appreciate it. Thanks again and keep the good work. Sincerely Sid PS Let’s do an episode if possible on the Alesis ‘nano’ synth line. I would love to watch an episode from you on the nanobass or nano synth!
thank you for covering this!! when i heard arturia made a hardware pigments i was over the moon because i am a self-admitted pigments simp, but when i stopped daydreaming and read about it i cooled down the same day it was revealed 🤣
They missed the opportunity to make a board with loads more controls, two versions of the keyboard, fast loading times, an onboard multitracker and make it so people just download the virtual instruments they need at some sort of reasonable price.
Midi controller + Lenovo legion go (screen only) + analog lab license = perfect cheaper alternative. It really is mad that the astro lab is so expensive when you can literally get a better experience for significantly less money.
So basically this is a Roland Juno DS-61 with more bougie design, aftertouch, and some nicer sounds, but less polyphony and twice the price tag. And the Juno actually has some onboard programmability if you’re willing to menu dive.
And sequencer that makes a Beatstep Pro unnecessary. And ability to play backing tracks stored in a USB flash drive connnected to the Juno. And far faster load times. And the phrase pads can be used to select layers on the fly in the 16-part Multis.
I was initially fond of this instrument because of the concept and then I got deeper into the the specs and found out about the drawbacks, so my findings match those here in this video. It's like one of those GM/GS sample-based instruments from the 90ies. For playback useful, but not for anything else.
It is a gorgeous form factor, and being able to use software like Pigments without a computer is very exciting. I have been an Origin user for 14 years now, and once the loading time is finished there is no hiccup when loading different patches. Cheers!
@@AudioPilz I think the Astrolab would work live, but only if you were in a slavishly devoted cover band who had to be note- and timbre- perfect every song, every performance. Any expectation of on-stage musical inventiveness goes right out the airlock without a spacesuit.
@@AudioPilz Sure they can, but at least you'll only have the Astrolab and a keyboard stand to carry on your endless journey home from whatever random port they shove you ashore at.
dude that use of picard being tortured is next level sublime.... I dont remember the episode exactly but they tortured picard to the point where almost saw what wasnt there....
Somehow I suspected Astrolab to be on your table. "The keyboard doesn't react to MIDI properly.- What does Arturia expect me to do? Actually play it? Award worthy lines! No lubricant reminiscent to astro lab's name appears to me yet but this time's suggestion: Soma '"The Rumble Of Ancient Times", an 8 bit desktop synth indeed named that way (& located at Klangfarbe).
Haha, very apt title! ~4:50 Ffs! It's even worse than I thought! What were they thinking?? They couldn't have *at least* included that stuff with purchase of the hardware?? 7:17 Minor note (meme) - it kinda irks me how some people call all patches "presets." If you made it yourself/ it's not a factory patch, it's not really a preset, is it?? Heh. Great work as always, Florian! Honestly, this one does seem to really fit the "Bad Gear" designation, particularly because of the required extra software, AND the fact it's an additional ~600 bucks on top of the kinda high base price! You still managed to do nice stuff with it, though, as usual! Edit: Plus the additional issues!? Oh, man. *Facepalm.* 9:00 Okay, that meme is unironically pretty damn cute. [And the Skrillex one - hahaha.]
Come for the memes, stay for the jams. Oh, and the visuals. They’re great. Oh, and the production values are top notch. Oh, and the humor. Gotta love the humor. Oh, and the delightfully cynical perspective. Some much to love! Keep up the good work!
When I first saw this keyboard.. I knew you were going to cover it on the channel… But this soon?!?! Impressive!!!!!! *checks thermostat while playing*
"Merci beaucoup" ! Your French is impeccable! :) Excellent video as usual, but, this machine leaves me hungry ... I'm looking forward to the test of the STVC from Waldorf, Florian.😀
Within the first hands on scenes of this video, I thought that Arturia and other hardware manufacturers should include you in their R&D and beta programs for your feedback as early as possible! I never thought about buying any of their hardware even though I have multiple software apps and plugins from them! With your videos bringing new inspiration and highlighting benefits that they originally missed, the price of the used gear have to spike with every video that you create! Now if they make a software emulation of this keyboard, take my money lol 😂😂😂😂🎯💯🏆 Thanks for another great video! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
I love the mass number of sounds you can get out of this thing. Especially, if you have all of their plugins in the collection. I will stick with my hydrasynth to avoid the cost and the bugs, tho. Thanks again for another epic episode of bad gear.
I wouldn't want to be stuck on a gig and be limited to the sounds in analog lab... This whale is gonna flop, and they're gonna be forced to include the licenses for v-collection to sweeten the deal. That is, unless all the yuppies take the bait and keep the price high.
I love Arturia gear. The Polybrute, Minifreak and Keystep Pro are foundational to my studio. I'm not much for VSTs these days, but Arturia stuff is an industry standard for a reason. I do not know why they would make this thing. What is it for. Who is it for. Why does it cost so much.
Great video! I was very excited about Arturia's Astrolab when it was announced. So I bought an Arturia Keylb Essentials Mk III 61 key MIDI controller which comes with the Analog Lab 5 software which works great with Logic Pro. Now I've sold my microKorg-S, WaveState (buying the plugins instead) and I've got a nice consistent workflow. Maybe if the full V collection upgrade goes on sale for $199 I would consider buying that, but for now it's fine.
This really could've been cool but saying they dropped the ball would be a serious understatement. They should've been $1000 at the most. I'm sure it'll drop sometime soon like what happened to the Akai Force
What a great gift for your channel, lol. This thing will piss you off sooner or later. Minifreak has a near perfect solution, regarding editing/controlling via PC, but this looks to be a nightmare...
Ah, tu m'as tué avec ton "Merci beaucoup"! (remember, im french). I have the Roland RD88, and it's a little the same but Arturia flavor. Less limitations, but less keys too.. And because I love the first one I cannot think this Arturia isn't right. 'Cause I love Roland!
Yep. It's a performer's keyboard. For someone who doesn't want any other gear on stage. And loading times can be worked around if you're in a band. Loading times have always a bit of an Achilles heel with Arturia, TBH. All their VSTs have that problem, so I'm not surprised this has it.
Loading times can be worked around in a band? I don't care about loading times in my daw, on stage in another story. I guess have the guitarist play chords while we wait indefinitely for the next patch to load 😂 Better to get a used XP-50 or a Triton ftw
Probably people who own the V collection, or who would like to get it for all the sounds it offers, edit them at home, and be able to play them on stage easily and without a computer, because they are first and foremost musicians for live performance but they like to prepare their sounds in advance. Is it complicated to understand?
It not being able to sustain notes after changing patch is oddly pathetic for something at this price point, my mid-2000s yamaha clavinova can do that, not to mention, load its sounds instantly
It's like a minimalist clone of Akai MPC Key 61 but with a better keyboard and worse everything else, and no sampling, editing and pretty much everything else. I want to love it, and I'm sure it has it's niche use, but the ARM and Loading times seem eerily familiar to me (An Akai MPC Key 61 owner who is already painfully aware of the non-streaming-sample-loading times) so My electronics background is kind of suspicious of them probably using a similar architecture with the similar limitations. Ok I'll show myself out now...
The MPC Live, Key 61 etc are all using an ARM design which is quite old now. It's noble of them to keep updating the firmware and developing the ecosystem but they would be able to do a lot more if they moved to something newer.
Y'all are right on all accounts. Ultimately for the few Arturia V-Collection users that want a very simplistic keyboard that can allow them to perform without a laptop and have enough time between songs to switch patches. Niche as fuq.
That load time is unforgivable if you're performing live. Sounds good, but that's a performance issue that I couldn't vibe with as a live looper that needs to get to presets very quickly sometimes.
That’s something that Yamaha does with their edrum kits - the iOS apps wind up being discontinued, and if you have one of those kits, it’s either do a lot of button pressing combinations going in blind to change parameters, or finding a used Android device to use as an interface because it’s still possible to find the Android equivalent online. It’s too bad as the apps make editing those a breeze.
Audiopilz: *slaps roof of YT channel*
Full Tracks, Extended Jams, Sample Packs: www.patreon.com/audiopilz
Follow me on Instagram: instagram.com/audio.pilz/
Me: "I'm thinking of going to Vienna for a weekend break and seeing the sights".
My colleague: "Oh wow. What would be your first port of call - the Schönbrunn Palace, the Kunsthistorisches Museum"?
Me: "Klangfarbe".
I think I need to send a screenshot;)
On a more serious note, I visited Vienna in 2018 to see the amazing Bruegel exhibit at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. I intended to stay for three days, mainly because I don't much like big cities. Long story short, I ended up adding on another week to my visit because I enjoyed the place so much! Seriously, a big city with a wine growing district located within the city limits?!?! And if you don't know what a flak tower is, be prepared to see one of the most frightening buildings anywhere in the world. They absolutely REEK of evil!
Only visited Vienna once, but i loved it so much. The people were so cool and friendly (and educated). It was a huge pleasure.
Klangfarbe is a Bad Gear Museum so each and every one of us just got to be there at least once in our lifetime.
Has all of the aesthetics of a hospital waiting room.
Lol😂😂😂
So... basically a typical Arturia product.
Well this didn't take long, and it absolutely deserves a spot here. Hardware manufacturers are going to keep trying to make hardware tied to a single-user license in order to make money off of the used market. The fact that Arturia is trying this again even after the failure of the Origin shows how convinced the industry is that there is gold in those hills.
I hope consumers won't go for it.
None too soon;)
Consumers are complacent sheep, don't hold your breath.
Finally the perfect bad gear. A rompler from '90s in 2024. Even Roland won't be able to touch this for years to come.
Word!!!
What about that one all $800 digital one voice beige synth that a bunch of sunthfluencers shilled for a few months back?
That was definitely worthy of bad gear
And you thought the UI on the D-110 was bad!
A rompler like the FA-08/Fantom-8 has 128 note polyphony and changes sounds instantly. This is not really as good
Bang on the money! Disturbingly many of the sounds are also more interesting
Saw the thumbnail and knew this episode was going to be an instant classic
❤️❤️❤️
Every episode is an instant classic, except for when you own the specific gear, you just ignore those video(s) just like you do with the flaws of said gear.
@@MrTomaat23 I pay closer attention when it's gear I own (or plan to own - I've bought stuff because he covered it); I figure I'll learn stuff about how to get the most out of it.
When you follow a channel like this one, after a while, you can learn to tell when a musical instrument is able to stir the flames of creativity in the performer's heart. You can hear and feel how the instrument magically becomes an extension of the body and the mind of the player, granting them the ability to will their ideas into song and emotion. And for the person listening to that performance, time stands still, as they witness the sublime fusion of instrument and player, of man and machine, of spirit and matter.
This, my friends, this is not one of those times.
Sad but true....
@@AudioPilz In this case, blame the instrument not the playa !
Arturia laughing at Uli as they stuff clones of everything into one box.
Shots fired;)
"Haha" but but if Behringer did it, the price would be 5 times lower
do you know that arturia at least pays licences right?
😂
@@keomg4718 Prove it.
What a bungle by Arturia. A playable, tweakable hardware VST host would be a dream. Instead they've made something Apple might have come up with
Apple offers with MainStage - a 30$ software that turns any Mac into powerhouse 100 times better than that Arthuria, AND it can load Arturia synths.
Once I saw MainStage I understood that I won’t ever play another live show without it
“Reddy? Grab yer gitar, got Yousician and let’s play”
If I get that goddamn ad one more time lol
Don't blame me;)
Adblocker for RUclips is your friend.
The biggest statement in this video was the fact that there is empty space enough for a Elektron machine to sit on it and not block any knobs.
Everyone: Wow, a knob per function midi controller for Pigments would be amazing!
Arturia: Here it is!! A..... 4 knob controller. That will be one kidney please.
The tragedy!!!
The Adobefication of Synths!
Nice analogy!!!
If it’s real Adobefication they would make you pay monthly 😉
@@UncleMilty just wait.... it'll come!
@@UncleMilty wait an see..
Adobefication would entail at least some commercial applicability. This doesn't appear to have any. Odd, given they're expecting arm chair keyboardists to invest $$ to edit presets that will never make it to air.
As many people said: more than 10 years later they still can not do something better than the Virus Ti2. This keyboard is just a variant but it is not an evolution, it does not solve a problem. If you have a controller you can just bring your tiny laptop any way and run the same sounds with unlimited polyphony.
Sad but true...
@@AudioPilz It is pretty, is a conversation topic... but I already have a Virus Ti2 Whiteout keyboard and a Roland JD-800 for that.
@@AudioPilz Hmmm... can you find enough negative commentary on the Virus to justify putting it on the channel?
I don't think this is in anyway intended to be anything at all like a Virus. That would have been an Origin (which was a literal contemporary of the Ti2.)
This is clearly much more like modern interpretation of a stage piano.
@@StopTryingSoHard It could have more polyphony and a better interface. It si a and product even by 15 years ago standards.
A THX 1138 reference is one of many reasons I watch this channel. :)
Underrated movie!!!
I've had a Nest. That's definitely the same screen and ring.
Thanks for the heads up!!!
The Arturia vision for this keyboard was for a musician to make an album on it, and then go live and play it… but it fails in both applications.
Sad but true!!!
I'm guessing their vision was more like hey let's do like Teenage Engineering and make something totally useless that some rich dudes are gonna fall for instantly. Arturia does make very cool stuff otherwise though, maybe they needed a quick cash influx.
@@electrosonicnebulaTBH i think it’s for "worship." The church market is huge. At least in the U.S.
@@sub-jec-tiv Probably only in the US. In Europe i never experienced any sort of music in churches, other than people just singing. But there where never any sorts of instruments involved, other than maybe the church organ.
@@youtubevideos415 it's mainly a US and Canada thing, where the mega-churches have absolutely massive auditoriums... and in-house closed-circuit cameras projected on giant screens behind the guy.
Even the medium-sized NA ones offer to send-home recordings of the sermons, or have a pretty hefty speaker system for their organ (which is actually a digital multi-instrument arranger keyboard in an organ shell, or might just be an arranger keyboard without even pretending).
BTW its not a home keyboard - its REALLY obviously a church keyboard
The Lord will strike you down for messing up the prayer section bc of the loading times
No self-respecting self-praising Pastor should be without one -as long as there is real gold trim.
I’ll take the worship players over the ambient lofi dawless succulent crowd anyday
Everybody knows that devout Worship Leaders only use the Montage! And some Strymon pedals!
The patch will load when Jesus returns
Thanks, Florian. I just learned about "Dungeon Synth." Solid STEM content right here.
Always a pleasure;)
I wish there was a vst version...
😂😂😂lol😂😂😂
LMAO 😂
righteous
Arthuria & the Knights of the Round Screen-Knob
@@AudioPilz it farts in your general direction
(accuracy is promised later for a small-ish (well, not really that small) fee)
We are the Knights who say, "VCollection!"
@@AudioPilzbrooooo 💀💀💀💀
And I thought touch screens were as bad as it could possibly get.
I guess voice control is next.
As a humanity, we've come a long way with the design of multicookers
lol
On a serious note, you could buy a laptop with better performance, an Arturia Keylab 61, Arturia Minifuze 2, and Arturia V-collection X for around £200 more, and then have significantly more power, plus all the benefits of Astrolab. WTF were Arturia thinking?
True!!!
"£200 more"
People don't understand computers more than ever. You're probably thinking of overkill. Your list has no real reason to exceed or even match the cost of V-Collection + this half-assed keyboard, in reality.
Then buying everything used saves even more money, too.
@@Jason75913 My list is fine as it takes into account thee need for a well specified mid-range laptop to give you good enough audio performance to run V/Analogue lab with reasonable polyphony, plus the cost of the full V-Collection X and a good quality 61 key midi controller with a decent keybed and the audio interface to ensure low latency. You could settle for a cheaper controller and audio interface potentially, but my point is that Arturia undercut Astrolab with their own products, making it overpriced and essentially redundant.
Must confess when I first saw these coming out I put one on pre-order - a few weeks later I came to my senses and cancelled. After seeing your video I’m glad I managed to overcome that particular attack of GAS.
You dodged that bullet!!!
Sometimes the Bad Gear™ really *IS* bad gear.
I fell victim to all the hype and bought one. It's a good keyboard to always have set up for a drive-by-playing. There is a good variety of presets, but if you wanted to use it in a live setting you would need to do a lot of planning ahead on your computer. It's fun to split and layer different sounds, and is simple to navigate the menus, but the lack of UI edibility is definitely frustrating. The CPU limitation is very present. Some presets crackle if you play them too hard, which is why I would probably never use it live. I hope Arturia improves it with updates so I don't end up feeling like it was a waste of money.
That sums it up nicely
I love synths that can’t handle it when you play them normally! 😂
The Astrolab is the nicest hardware dongle ever
Heavy too;)
Every time there’s a Bad Gear video, the whole world stop spinning for a split second, markets drop down a point, people take a bow.
Oh. And what a lovely french accent.
This is the only YT channel worth our collective time. Period.
❤️❤️❤️
5:08 oh no, now you got me singing PRESET POLICE, ARREST THIS MAAAN 🎶
That one had me rofling
For all your VST in a box needs we present the disASterLAb!...complete with a ring doorbell display so you can watch your front door whilst playing at home! ....Disclaimer: the lack of knobs may lead to Knob twiddling withdrawal symptoms
I'd buy that for a $!!!
This synth would just lead to me twiddling my own knob in frustration.. and i don’t need any more reason to do that, certainly.
0:55 A THX1138 reference? You've outdone yourself!
Thank you so much!!!
“Spouse-friendly design” LMAO
😀
Only a true knob twiddler would connect a Beatstep to an Astrolab.
You mean "people who can't play";)
@@AudioPilz *gasp* My people! 😀 *
* - I am after all a guitarist who generally knows which note is on which key, but expecting me to make them come out of a synth in a musically useful manner? You gotta be kidding me.
@@AudioPilz I wish I couldn't play as well as you can't play!🥺
@@mrz80 have you looked into the Linnstrument? (I've been vaguely considering one even though I _can_ play keys, just because it's so much more like playing my bass.)
🤭 You said knob..
Oh come on Florian! I love the Thermostat!🤣
A nice thermostat it is...
For the money would be nice if it doubles as a wall mounted panel heater too. The studio gets very cold in winter waiting for the presets to load.
Turn up the bass!!!
If Florian's face was on the thermostat, I'd consider buying this insult of a keyboard. Strong brand Florian is!!
@@sophiepooks2174 Just get an intel CPU
I have the Arturia KeyLab 88 II. Fully weighted, piano-style keys with velocity and aftertouch. Comes with Analog Lab V and a variety of modeled physical keyboard instruments which all sound good. The Arturia software doesn’t play nicely with Apple DAWs so I seldom use those sounds even though they’re nice. The firmware is a little buggy at times but I love the heavy weighted keys so much that I don’t even mind.
Is your Mac old? I used to have problems but that went away when l upgraded my 10-yr old machine to a new model. 😊
@@UncleMilty - surprisingly, no! It’s a mid-2021 with 32 gigs of DDR4 RAM, a 4TB SSD, and an M1 Max processor with 10 cores. Arturia software just doesn’t like to play with Logic Pro or GarageBand, for whatever reason.
Dear Florian. I would like to thank you for all the hard work and time you put on your videos. I suffer from severe depression, and I found that my mood changes ever time I hear “Welcomme to Bad Gear!”. Sincerely I appreciate it. Thanks again and keep the good work.
Sincerely
Sid
PS Let’s do an episode if possible on the Alesis ‘nano’ synth line. I would love to watch an episode from you on the nanobass or nano synth!
I feel you and thank you so much! Great suggestion, thanks!!!!
@@AudioPilz thanks for taking the time replying Florian!
...hatte ich mir genau so gedacht! Danke mal wieder für die Bestätigung!
@TE-LE-GRAM-OfficialAudiopilz nope.
your videos really work out my j,k,l, comma, period, left and right arrow keys
Nice technique!!!
thank you for covering this!! when i heard arturia made a hardware pigments i was over the moon because i am a self-admitted pigments simp, but when i stopped daydreaming and read about it i cooled down the same day it was revealed 🤣
They missed the opportunity to make a board with loads more controls, two versions of the keyboard, fast loading times, an onboard multitracker and make it so people just download the virtual instruments they need at some sort of reasonable price.
Agreed!!!
that chord pad @01:22 wow that really took me back to a better time in the late 90's and early 00's
that was my favorite too
Classic!!!
It's like the smart fridge of keyboards. Buy the upgrades, or your frozen food thaws out.
Lol, true!
the virtual analog patches sounded like 1997 VA. nice job guys.
Midi controller + Lenovo legion go (screen only) + analog lab license = perfect cheaper alternative.
It really is mad that the astro lab is so expensive when you can literally get a better experience for significantly less money.
Wie immer großartig!
Deinen Kultstatus hast Du echt zurecht.
Vielen herzlichen Dank!!!
So basically this is a Roland Juno DS-61 with more bougie design, aftertouch, and some nicer sounds, but less polyphony and twice the price tag. And the Juno actually has some onboard programmability if you’re willing to menu dive.
Lol
And sequencer that makes a Beatstep Pro unnecessary. And ability to play backing tracks stored in a USB flash drive connnected to the Juno. And far faster load times. And the phrase pads can be used to select layers on the fly in the 16-part Multis.
Love to see the DR-5 make a cameo at 6:30 . I bought it after seeing your Bad Gear video ;)
Nice!!! Classic unit!!!
Dear lord, that is DEFINITELY a gray market Nest.
😂😂😂lol
I was initially fond of this instrument because of the concept and then I got deeper into the the specs and found out about the drawbacks, so my findings match those here in this video. It's like one of those GM/GS sample-based instruments from the 90ies. For playback useful, but not for anything else.
Or like a $200 Casio on a hell of a lot of steroids, but never becoming a workstation(-adjacent) like the super popular MODX and such.
Nice you mentioned Boards of Canada on that thing, true Kings.
Legends!!!
It is a gorgeous form factor, and being able to use software like Pigments without a computer is very exciting. I have been an Origin user for 14 years now, and once the loading time is finished there is no hiccup when loading different patches. Cheers!
When I read Most expensive home keyboard of all time I thought you had the Yamaha Genos 2 in the show.😊
I think you could actually survive in a real band scenario with a Genos2;)
@@AudioPilz I think the Astrolab would work live, but only if you were in a slavishly devoted cover band who had to be note- and timbre- perfect every song, every performance. Any expectation of on-stage musical inventiveness goes right out the airlock without a spacesuit.
1:19 that's great idea including a thermostat to switch on the air conditioning when things get hot in the studio! ❤
Lol
Probably handy if you've landed a gig on a hipster cruise ship...
Yeah, they can't really fire you there...
@@AudioPilz Sure they can, but at least you'll only have the Astrolab and a keyboard stand to carry on your endless journey home from whatever random port they shove you ashore at.
dude that use of picard being tortured is next level sublime.... I dont remember the episode exactly but they tortured picard to the point where almost saw what wasnt there....
Yesss , FOUR lights;)
Somehow I suspected Astrolab to be on your table.
"The keyboard doesn't react to MIDI properly.- What does Arturia expect me to do? Actually play it?
Award worthy lines!
No lubricant reminiscent to astro lab's name appears to me yet but this time's suggestion: Soma '"The Rumble Of Ancient Times", an 8 bit desktop synth indeed named that way (& located at Klangfarbe).
Great suggestion, thank you!!!
Astrogl*de
Rather play with myself, than using Retardia Astrogl1d3. Give me a Keylab mk3 with PolyAT and alot is forgiven!😅
@@johantorneheim1384 🤣That's true!
Haha, very apt title!
~4:50 Ffs! It's even worse than I thought! What were they thinking?? They couldn't have *at least* included that stuff with purchase of the hardware??
7:17 Minor note (meme) - it kinda irks me how some people call all patches "presets." If you made it yourself/ it's not a factory patch, it's not really a preset, is it?? Heh.
Great work as always, Florian! Honestly, this one does seem to really fit the "Bad Gear" designation, particularly because of the required extra software, AND the fact it's an additional ~600 bucks on top of the kinda high base price! You still managed to do nice stuff with it, though, as usual!
Edit: Plus the additional issues!? Oh, man. *Facepalm.*
9:00 Okay, that meme is unironically pretty damn cute. [And the Skrillex one - hahaha.]
Come for the memes, stay for the jams. Oh, and the visuals. They’re great. Oh, and the production values are top notch. Oh, and the humor. Gotta love the humor. Oh, and the delightfully cynical perspective. Some much to love! Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much!!!
Spouse-friendly-design for expensive music gear would be a significant step towrds world peace!
I can't believe the plastic film was still on the circular display! :-O
#plasticfilmp*rn
@@AudioPilz Florian, you took its virginity away.
Klangfarbe: "well i guess this is a ‘used’ unit now… 😂
Brilliant review. Now you need to do the Roland Go Keys 3 or 5, as almost the antithesis of Astrolab….
Thank you!!! Great suggestion!!!
When I first saw this keyboard.. I knew you were going to cover it on the channel…
But this soon?!?! Impressive!!!!!!
*checks thermostat while playing*
Direct to Bad Gear;)
It was pretty quick, but not quite as quick as the Gaia 2 😛
@@mrz80lol no kidding 😂
Word has it Florian’s still there scrolling….
Two more days and he’ll finally scroll round to those Spandau Ballet sounds…. 😀
That's exactly what I think of it: An over-expensive home keyboard.
😀😀😀
I particularly enjoyed the final analysis of the product in this episode, academic!
Thank you so much!!!
So funny. Clever keeping the visual gags so short that we have to watch again in slow motion 😂
I have no idea what you're talking about;)
@@AudioPilz haha!
Came for the review… stayed for the Astroglide reference. Well played Sir, well played.
There is Arturia Microfreak, Arturia Minifreak and then there is this Arturia freak. I see a pattern here.
Arturia FreakLab!
You had me at Freak;)
"Merci beaucoup" ! Your French is impeccable! :)
Excellent video as usual, but, this machine leaves me hungry ...
I'm looking forward to the test of the STVC from Waldorf, Florian.😀
Thank you so much!!!
“Work” Station for Future Dentists.
lol
Ha! I can only imagine Timbaland is looking at this thing and yelling about how he did it first. Lovely jams as always, and top tier jokes throughout.
Thank you so much!!!
The merci beaucoup was brilliant 😂😂
Enchanté;)
They need to upgrade that display to a peephole
😂😂😂
Or a detachable smart watch, really had high hopes 😂
That Turd Polisher effects pedal looks amazing! I need to check that bad boy out!
I want it soooooo bad
Perfect to use with a $40. electric guitar.
Mr. Florian, what about Maschine Plus? We DEFINITELY need it on the show😄
Great suggestion, thank you!!!
Within the first hands on scenes of this video, I thought that Arturia and other hardware manufacturers should include you in their R&D and beta programs for your feedback as early as possible!
I never thought about buying any of their hardware even though I have multiple software apps and plugins from them!
With your videos bringing new inspiration and highlighting benefits that they originally missed, the price of the used gear have to spike with every video that you create!
Now if they make a software emulation of this keyboard, take my money lol 😂😂😂😂🎯💯🏆
Thanks for another great video! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Thank you so much!!!
VST in a box, this has been going on now for decades. The difference here is a highly priced VSTs in a box
True that!
At least if the "in a box" part of "VST in a box" is a laptop, I can also use it to track expenses and watch Bad Gear videos between gigs.
@@mrz80 watching bad gear through that clicky watch face screen would be unique
This one isn’t even vsts in a box though unless you cough up the extra money to get the V collection. It’s demo versions of vsts otherwise 🤡
you guys!! - you could say any digital synth from the dx7 onwards is a vst in a box!! - although this actually is
Yes! He did it ! Thank you for the hard work ! 🎉
❤️❤️❤️
I love the mass number of sounds you can get out of this thing. Especially, if you have all of their plugins in the collection. I will stick with my hydrasynth to avoid the cost and the bugs, tho. Thanks again for another epic episode of bad gear.
I wouldn't want to be stuck on a gig and be limited to the sounds in analog lab... This whale is gonna flop, and they're gonna be forced to include the licenses for v-collection to sweeten the deal. That is, unless all the yuppies take the bait and keep the price high.
Hydra is awesome!!!
You started working on this as soon as it was released, didn't you?
I actually had all the hate I needed within 2h after its release
I love Arturia gear. The Polybrute, Minifreak and Keystep Pro are foundational to my studio. I'm not much for VSTs these days, but Arturia stuff is an industry standard for a reason.
I do not know why they would make this thing. What is it for. Who is it for. Why does it cost so much.
0:23 "When you get to the end of a bad gear video and none of your memes were used."
and 2 memes later is mine
Thanks for that one!!!
Great video! I was very excited about Arturia's Astrolab when it was announced. So I bought an Arturia Keylb Essentials Mk III 61 key MIDI controller which comes with the Analog Lab 5 software which works great with Logic Pro. Now I've sold my microKorg-S, WaveState (buying the plugins instead) and I've got a nice consistent workflow. Maybe if the full V collection upgrade goes on sale for $199 I would consider buying that, but for now it's fine.
Thank you!!!
This really could've been cool but saying they dropped the ball would be a serious understatement. They should've been $1000 at the most. I'm sure it'll drop sometime soon like what happened to the Akai Force
Waiting for the blowout sales;)
Should be free with an eye watering subscription
@@cloudseer had they made it multitimbral and added more controls, I think this would've been better received
What a great gift for your channel, lol. This thing will piss you off sooner or later. Minifreak has a near perfect solution, regarding editing/controlling via PC, but this looks to be a nightmare...
True;)
Florian getting so mad he starts defocusing
Yes, ran out of batteries (literally) and forgot to refocus;)
Ah, tu m'as tué avec ton "Merci beaucoup"! (remember, im french).
I have the Roland RD88, and it's a little the same but Arturia flavor. Less limitations, but less keys too.. And because I love the first one I cannot think this Arturia isn't right.
'Cause I love Roland!
Enchanté;)
What an absolutely unacceptable UI. All that wasted space that could've had knobs or sliders or something!
Agreed!!!
(*looks at Astrolab*) (*looks at Keylab*) (*looks at Astrolab*) (*looks at Keylab*) (*shakes head and walks away*)
Yep. It's a performer's keyboard. For someone who doesn't want any other gear on stage. And loading times can be worked around if you're in a band. Loading times have always a bit of an Achilles heel with Arturia, TBH. All their VSTs have that problem, so I'm not surprised this has it.
Loading times can be worked around in a band? I don't care about loading times in my daw, on stage in another story. I guess have the guitarist play chords while we wait indefinitely for the next patch to load 😂
Better to get a used XP-50 or a Triton ftw
👍👍👍
I don't understand who Arturia imagined would buy the AstroLab.
I certainly won't;)
Probably people who own the V collection, or who would like to get it for all the sounds it offers, edit them at home, and be able to play them on stage easily and without a computer, because they are first and foremost musicians for live performance but they like to prepare their sounds in advance. Is it complicated to understand?
Another great episode! Any plans for making a video on Dirtywave M8 Tracker?
Thank you!!! Great suggestion!!!
It not being able to sustain notes after changing patch is oddly pathetic for something at this price point, my mid-2000s yamaha clavinova can do that, not to mention, load its sounds instantly
It is but as soon as you hit the first note your sustain is gone;)
I know, that's what I meant
every video seems to have an octatrack meme in there somewhere! massive love for that machine. that would be my biggest gear request by far
I’ll save that one for a special occasion;)
It's like a minimalist clone of Akai MPC Key 61 but with a better keyboard and worse everything else, and no sampling, editing and pretty much everything else. I want to love it, and I'm sure it has it's niche use, but the ARM and Loading times seem eerily familiar to me (An Akai MPC Key 61 owner who is already painfully aware of the non-streaming-sample-loading times) so My electronics background is kind of suspicious of them probably using a similar architecture with the similar limitations. Ok I'll show myself out now...
😂😂😂
Exactly my thoughts 😎👍
The MPC Live, Key 61 etc are all using an ARM design which is quite old now. It's noble of them to keep updating the firmware and developing the ecosystem but they would be able to do a lot more if they moved to something newer.
Y'all are right on all accounts.
Ultimately for the few Arturia V-Collection users that want a very simplistic keyboard that can allow them to perform without a laptop and have enough time between songs to switch patches. Niche as fuq.
That load time is unforgivable if you're performing live.
Sounds good, but that's a performance issue that I couldn't vibe with as a live looper that needs to get to presets very quickly sometimes.
Agreed!!!
It's an excellent keyboard in the right hands
👍👍👍
That hardly anyone will prefer over the MPC Key, MODX, Fantom-0, and so forth.
Finally u made a valid avaliation to a keyboard 😮
A hardware synth with a mobile app is a slight red flag; what happens when the app and/or plugins get discontinued?
They're certainly gonna open source it...NOT!!!
Yeah see the Bluetooth Nikes
Version 2 for $2400 will come out just in time.
That’s something that Yamaha does with their edrum kits - the iOS apps wind up being discontinued, and if you have one of those kits, it’s either do a lot of button pressing combinations going in blind to change parameters, or finding a used Android device to use as an interface because it’s still possible to find the Android equivalent online. It’s too bad as the apps make editing those a breeze.
Good video, I love the jam 1
Thanks!!!
Can’t wait to so these thing going on sale 😂 must be approximately half a year 😂
I'd say Spring 2025 the latest...
6:40ish jam is so good
Thank you!!!