Arturia KeyStep Pro Chroma Review
The (actually) Pro MIDI Controller.
In the past year that I started my modular synth, I have been in the search of the best controller for my modular rig. I’ve been lucky enough to test out some amazing sequencers like the OXI ONE and the T-1 by Torso but I was always in need of actual keys. I’ve it said before that while sequencers are great and I do love them, I’m more of a keys person.
My main controller for modular was the OXI ONE, which is probably the best sequencer ever made, but I also went out and bought a KeyStep 37 just have the option of a regular keybed. The KeyStep 37 is also an incredible value-for-money option if you need a small keyboard controller that has full-size MIDI ports, CV & Gate outputs, and an onboard sequencer & arpeggiator.
Only a couple of months after I got the KeyStep 37, I talked with Arturia and decided to try out their latest release - the KeyStep Pro Chroma! The KeyStep Pro is a huge upgrade to the original Keystep for many reasons that we’re going to cover in this review and - spoiler alert - it’s a fantastic keyboard controller.
To get this out of the way, the KeyStep Pro Chroma Edition has the exact same features as the original Keystep Pro but with a new color and the ability to change LED colors per track which is a cool little touch. Other than that, both keyboards work exactly the same so it’s just a matter of taste if you prefer the white version or the black one. I’m kind of torn between white and black gear, to be honest. But since my Eurorack synths are full of black modules, I really love the looks of my setup with a black modular synth, the KeyStep Pro Chroma, and the black version of the OXI ONE.
Overview & Features
The KeyStep Pro Chroma has 4 independent tracks to sequence your gear. Those four tracks are identical with the only difference being that Track number 1 has a Drum Mode instead of an Arpeggiator. It has a 37-key keyboard (3 Octaves) with mini keys, velocity, and aftertouch which is fine for most parts and feels quite nice. If you ever had experience with a Keystep, these are the same keys and the whole interface will feel very familiar.
On the front panel, there is a small but very clear OLED screen to check out parameters and work with the menu. But don’t be afraid. Despite having a screen, almost all functions are very nicely laid out on the panel with knobs, buttons, and key combinations (most of them are the same as other Keysteps) so you’ll have to use the menu very rarely. That is a very big advantage for me. I really can’t work fluidly and fast when I have to look at screens and dive deep into menus and the Keystep Pro is a very “hands-on” controller which is something I love.
In general, the build quality of this thing is excellent. It is hefty and has a metal baseplate, satisfying rubber knobs, and everything feels good in your hands. I’ve had quite a lot of Arturia controllers and synths and they always have amazing build quality. And after years of using some of them, they still work and feel like new.
The KeyStep Pro Chroma combines all the elements you’d need to play and sequence your gear. Whether that is software, hardware, modular, or anything else. You can record a sequence by playing it or using the step sequence to enter notes and triggers. The sequences can have up to 64 steps and they have 16-note polyphony, the arpeggiator has 7 modes and a 5-octave range, and the Drum sequencer can have up to 24 parts.
The Pitch Wheel and Mod Slider are replaced with touch strips like all the controllers of this series. I have mixed feelings with touch-sliders in general and this is not an exception. They’re super responsive and the LED lights on the side give you visual feedback on where it is but I will always take physical sliders instead of touch strips.
You can of course edit notes per step after you recorded them and you have separate control for Pitch, Velocity, Gate length, Time shift, and Probability with the 5 encoders on top of the step sequencer for each note.
Other notable features are pattern randomization, the ability to record quantized or unquantized, and the ability to set a scale and have the keyboard play only notes within the selected scale. The scales available are Chromatic, Major, Minor, Dorian, Mixolydian, Harmonic Minor, Blues, and 2 User scales where you can create any scale you want! For less experienced Keys players the Scales feature is crucial. I used to use Scales within Ableton Live all the time as I was learning new scales and it’s also a great piece of mind feature when you play live. I don’t consider myself an incredible Keys player so having that built-in makes me a lot more comfortable. On top of that, there are those little LED lights above all keys that show you settings but also light up when a note is played. A small but very useful feature mainly for educational purposes. For example, when you play with a scale on, you can see what is the note that it’s actually playing every time you press a key. This way you can start by only using the white keys but seeing what you actually play will help you get familiar with scales and eventually play them!
Another really neat trick you can do with the KeyStep Pro is to play two tracks at the same time by splitting the keyboard. I actually found out about this by accident when I first started playing with and it’s so great to have it. You can press and hold a track button and then choose a second one. This way you have both tracks sharing the same keyboard!
Lastly, keep in mind that you can store up to 16 projects and within each project, you can have up to 16 patterns per track plus 16 patterns for the Drum sequencer. On top of that, you can create chains of patterns like building a song and save them as a scene. I didn’t go very deep with the scenes and chains functionality because I was more hands-on making patterns with different gear but it’s cool that it’s there if you need them.
You’ll notice that the features-set of the KeyStep Pro is quite extensive and we can’t cover everything in this review. As you know, I try to talk way more about how an instrument feels and how I integrate it into my workflow rather than having a list of features!
Connectivity
The most impressive thing about the KeyStep Pro Chroma is definitely its Connectivity! The original Keystep back when it was first released stood out because it was one of the very few mini keyboard controllers that had two full-size 5-pin MIDI ports on the back. It was a very different time back then and people really appreciated the fact they could use their controller and a synthesizer without having to plug it in the computer and then route it to MIDI control a synth. A lot of things have changed since then in the Music Gear industry, but Arturia still does not hold back when it comes to connectivity.
Since gear has become a lot cheaper and a lot of people can actually afford to have a big home studio with lots of synths, drum machines, samplers, etc., the KeyStep Pro is probably the best MIDI keyboard to control multiple things at once. The list of Ins & Outs is impressive!
For each of the 4 Tracks, you have a Pitch, Velocity or Mod, and Gate output to connect to synths that accept CV or Eurorack Modules
You have 8 Gate Outputs that can be used to trigger drum sounds or anything that accepts Gate signals
A Clock In, Out, and Clock Reset Out. KeyStep Pro Chroma can become the Master Clock and send its Clock to your other instruments or accept a Clock signal and sync to another Master Clock. The Reset is extremely handy when you’re working with modular and it’s such a nice touch that it’s there. For example, if you’re using additional sequencers alongside Keystep Pro, you can have them always start their sequences when the sequences on the KeyStep start.
A full-size MIDI In port and 2 full-size MIDI Out ports
Output for the Metronome and a Level control for it. I didn’t mention it before but the Keystep Pro has a metronome onboard that you can toggle on & off and it also has a small speaker to hear the metronome without having to plug in headphones or route somewhere else. I mostly used the KeyStep Pro Chroma with my Modular setup and didn’t plug in the laptop while doing that. So having a Metronome onboard was so helpful when I wanted to record a sequence by playing it!
A Sustain Pedal input
I don’t think there is anything else like the Keystep Pro when it comes to connectivity. It’s impressive how many things you can simultaneously control with it and when it comes to modular synths, it’s a beast! And this is what set its positioning in the MIDI-Controller market.
You don’t really need a Keystep Pro if you’re planning to only use it with a DAW and Software synths. Switching tracks is definitely great but you can do that just by arming one synth at a time and recording a MIDI sequence. Using the KeyStep Pro for software will be more fun and intuitive but I’m not sure if that extra workflow upgrade is worth it. But when it comes to controlling lots of hardware gear at once, the KeyStep Pro is unmatched. And you won’t care about plugging in and out cables every time or going into the DAW to switch what you’ll control each time. You just press a button to change the track and you can keep on playing!
Who is it for?
That comes to the question everybody is asking me about any piece of gear. Who is it for?
The answer is very simple. Anyone with a home music studio that has a few synths will love having a KeyStep Pro Chroma. If you’re also working with Eurorack and have a few oscillators and voices in your system, then you also need a Keystep Pro. Simple as that.
The Keystep Pro will become the centerpiece of your studio and will enable you to control everything with one piece of gear. Either you’re working with a DAW or you prefer to work Dawless. An alternative to the KeyStep Pro would be something like the OXI ONE which we reviewed a few weeks ago. But the OXI ONE is not a keyboard but a step sequencer. So it’s just a matter of what you prefer to work with. If you’re a sequencer person, you’ll probably enjoy having a sequencer with a few tracks but if you prefer keys, then the Keystep Pro is a no-brainer.
It has just the right amount of keys to allow you to play complex stuff while still being fairly portable and small. Nowadays there are dozens of small, desktop synths, and having a keyboard like that is essential to play them. And when you have more than one, the KeyStep Pro can be the one MIDI controller for all of them. I’ll go through my setup later to see what I’m talking about.
So yes, I can’t see anyone with a fairly big studio that won’t benefit from having a KeyStep Pro Chroma. It’s as simple as that.
How do I use it?
So besides the testing I did to cover as much as I could, I would now go through the two main setups I used the Keystep Pro Chroma with and hopefully, you’ll get a better idea of how powerful this thing is!
Synth Setup
So the first setup I tried and I’ve been jamming a lot with was the following:
Arturia MicroFreak: Although I really like the touch-sensitive keyboard that it has, sometimes playing it with actual keys feels a bit better. And it can do up to 4 voices or paraphony
Dreadbox Nymphes: A 6-voice, fully analog, desktop synth that needs a keyboard (full review here). The Chord mode comes also quite handy when you play a poly-synth because you can just store a chord shape and play chords throughout the keyboard while staying in key!
Korg Volca FM: Probably the best Volca ever made. Sounds amazing but the tiny keyboard is practically unplayable.
Arturia MicroBrute: My first analog synth that has a special place in my heart. Monophonic and still sounds amazing!
Plus, having the Keystep Pro connected to my laptop and DAW I can always switch to some software synths and sample libraries or even work on a drum sequence using a drum rack.
Eurorack Setup
My modular synth has grown quite a lot in the past year so I have an abundance of available voices to play with. So having the KeyStep Pro makes my life so much easier. Using the CV outputs for Pitch and Gate I can control up to 4 different voices at the same time which can result in some very interesting intertwined melodies and complex rhythms.
For me, it would be impossible to just have a single keyboard with CV to play with my modular. The KeyStep 37 that I also have was used in parallel with the OXI ONE so I could play up to 5 voices at the same time. Now the KeyStep Pro Chroma took its place and I can play up to 8 voices with just it and the OXI ONE! Which is crazy! And maybe a bit too much I know.
The 4 tracks on the KeyStep Pro give you plenty of room to play with. Since most modular synths are used monophonically you’ll probably have a few oscillators you can use with the 4 tracks that it offers. Quick note: Polyphonic Modular is a thing and it was the main reason I got the Keystep in the first place - check out this post for that!
As I mentioned above, the KeyStep Pro has an onboard arpeggiator in 3 out of 4 tracks that you can of course use with the CV outputs too and it’s very cool! Overall, gives you the option of playing and recording, step sequencing, or using the arp function. If you happen to have drum modules too, then the drum sequencer will be more than enough to lay down some beats!
What would I change?
No piece of gear is perfect. But Keystep Pro Chroma is really close to that. As always there are a few things that I would change.
First of all, it is something that I’ll probably add to every review from now on. Battery! I really wish that the Keystep Pro (and a lot of other gear) could work with a rechargeable battery. If a Macbook can last 10 hours I’m sure we can finally have synths and MIDI controllers work with a battery for hours. It’s not a huge problem but it’s one less cable to worry about. And speaking of cables, I think it’s time we forget about the USB Type B and move on to USB-C for everything.
Another thing that I feel is a bit limiting is the fact that a lot of settings are tied to a key combo like Arp types, Scales, etc. I mean there is a specific amount of keys and that won’t change so there is no more room for adding more features. For example, they could add more Time Divisions or Sequencer patterns. That could be easily added by using the menu to access them and would free you from any limitations. Don’t get me wrong, I much prefer the key combinations to change settings instead of having to use the menu! It’s faster and easier to navigate.
Lastly, I think that the next step for the Keystep Pro would be to have a 49 or 61-key keyboard with full-size keys. Maybe a Keystep Ultra? That would of course make it non-portable but at the same time we would have the absolute MIDI keyboard for every player. More tracks and more features would create the definitive MIDI keyboard that no one will even come close to competing with.
Conclusion
I stand by my previous statement that the KeyStep Pro Chroma is an almost perfect piece of gear. If you have a somewhat bigger studio, it will solve so many problems and accelerate your workflow. You might think that you don’t need the extra tracks and you can play any synth one at a time with another more affordable controller. But that’s where the magic happens. The ability to instantly swap between instruments and sequence or play them all together is much more intuitive and inspiring.
Having 4 tracks makes you think more of a composition instead of just one melody at a time. I really enjoy that because it makes me think of having a band with me that reacts to each instrument and each melody. That small mindset shift makes a ton of difference when you’re recording songs. Your workflow is more fluid and you feel more connected to your great by not thinking of one melody at a time. You can go back and forth easily and make changes that work in relation to the other tracks and that’s priceless!
It looks beautiful, it has a great build quality and a wide set of features that will satisfy anyone from a beginner to a professional. I have a few MIDI keyboards, MIDI controllers, and a couple of hardware sequencers and I now feel that this is one of the two things I wouldn’t want to lose. Yes, there are times that I wished it had more keys, preferably 61, to play piano libraries or strings however I can work around this. After all, the KeyStep Pro is not a piece of gear that targets the piano players per se. It’s a MIDI keyboard for producers and musicians who have a lot of gear and are in need of a master keyboard to control multiple things. And also, for the Modular enthusiasts who will fall in love with it.
If you work a lot with modular and have a medium or big Eurorack synth, I can not recommend this enough to you. If you like to play your synths with keys the KeyStep Pro is indeed the perfect piece of gear for you. It not only gives you a keyboard but also a very powerful sequencer, arpeggiator, and drum sequencer to play with.
The KeyStep Pro Chroma might not be super affordable for a MIDI keyboard - it lies somewhere in the middle for MIDI keyboards - but for a lot of people, it’s the exact piece of gear they’re missing from their studio. For that reason, you can definitely justify the investment. It is indeed a “Pro” level type of controller not only because of its specs but also for what it can actually offer to a professional or a hobbyist who takes his synth game seriously.
So to wrap this up, KeyStep Pro is an incredible MIDI Keyboard and Sequencer. It has its strengths and weaknesses but, overall, it’s a keyboard you won’t be disappointed when you buy it. It’s more of a quality-of-life piece of gear that will certainly elevate your workflow and studio.
PS: On a personal note, this is a full-circle moment for this website and myself. A couple of years ago, when I started this website I wrote this article (Why Arturia is the best synth manufacturer right now) about Arturia and now I had the chance to work with them for this review and hopefully for more to come in the future!
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