You can look directly at the transmitted MIDI data and see this can’t you ?
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Thanks! I’m now fooling around with the editor a bit more. It looks like the play/stop/etc buttons are just generic buttons when it comes to midi control and it won’t send or receive “real time” commands.
Well, this may be a very quick honeymoon. It also doesn’t seem to pass through external clock even when it is receiving an external clock signal. Ex: if I send midi out from the Digitakt 2 to the Keystage, it will receive the clock and adjust internal tempo for its arp to match the Digitakt. However, it will not send that clock to its midi out. It only sends the clock value of what you previously set its tempo to before bringing in the external clock. So to keep things as in sync as possible with the synths I’m controlling with the keystage, it will require me to manually change the BPM to match whatever clock value I have coming in. Going to go down the Korg support path. This seems like very basic midi stuff but maybe with the focus on midi 2.0, they just left out a bunch of important things from 1.0. Or I’m really missing something.
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Also worth mentioning you cant update the software with older Macs. Catalina 10.15 for example. Had the 61 and returned it.
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How are people liking the Keystage?
I am looking for a poly aftertouch midi 2.0 keyboard and this still looks like the only option
Anyone unhappy with it?
I tried one in store (spent about half an hour with it) and FWIW I really disliked the keyboard action. Felt very lightweight, almost flimsy. Not quality at all. TBF I am fussy about keybeds, my benchmark is Nords so probably not fair on Korg. But all the same, it’s not a cheap bit of kit and IMO should have a keyboard at least comparable to Arturia or Novation.
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You can see my comments right after I bought it a few notes above yours. I did end up keeping it but the main flaws for me are no din midi thru, so you cannot have a hardware sequencer (i.e Digitakt 2 in my case) pass clock or start stop through the keystage. Conversely, you also cannot send start/stop messages from the keystage over din midi if you want to have it at the front of a midi chain. If you use your DAW as a central clock (I only use Logic when I’m recording), I think it’s pretty solid all around but can’t comment as that is not my use case. I ended up buying an MRCC 880 to merge the digitakt and keystage signals so that the digitakt can send clock, start stop, and sequence data, while I can also play live with keystage and have clock sync’d parameters still line up. the clock is filtered from the keystage by the MRCC in this use case
It works really well with my IPAD as an auto interface and controller. The korg module ecosystem is pretty great. The scenes for different synths (set up with the korg software) is really convenient. I current use it to control a Freds Lab Tooro and Microwave M as my main hardware poly synths and it is a great fit with both machines. The poly aftertouch for modulation is fantastic and really is great for wavetable machiens like the M and Tooro for having a single note of a chord go wild. For me, it just gives everything a lot more life and makes me want to play along to my sequences a lot more.
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Damn this is disappointing. I was hoping it was the same as the Hydrasynth, but maybe there is slight quality differences
Most other reviews said the same, it’s not terrible but compared to the cheaper Arturia and Novation, it’s not the best
I am not super fussy, my best keyboard is a key step 37 and I am just trying to find something nice that is future proofed with some new midi stuff
I mainly want to use it to control my Push 3 SA and Desktop Hydrasynth
I may just trade the desktop for the key version and wait until more midi 2.0 keyboards turn up
Yea saw those posts. I have a MRCC so I was guessing I could get past these issues outside of the unit. But I agree it’s weird they added midi 2.0 but not basic midi passthrough
I hear you, I was disappointed too because on paper the Keystage looked like a good option.
I am fussy about keybed action though, so what bothered me may not bother you… if you can get the chance to try one out in person (and just as importantly, A-B it against other keyboards) it may not be a problem for you.
The other point for me (a little OT perhaps) is that MIDI 2.0 is taking a looooong time to become a thing. It’s really surprising to me that a bunch of new gear is coming out that still is not MIDI 2.0 compatible.
Even the new Melbourne Instruments RotoControl (which for me is the most interesting bit of new gear at NAMM this year) doesn’t use MIDI 2.0.
I would have thought a MIDI controller designed to map easily to multiple plugins would be exactly the kind of MIDI 2.0 use case the MIDI Association had in mind. But Melbourne Instruments said they didn’t incorporate MIDI 2.0 because they didn’t need it… the RotoControl is fully functional with current MIDI protocols.
I’m sure MIDI 2.0 will be everywhere one day (at which point the Keystage is a good bet) but it may be some time off in the future.
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Yea I had the exact same thoughts about the Roto Control, it does seems like the perfect use case for what 2.0 has currently, so I thought it was a no brainer, and at first glance assumed that is how it worked
Agreed, I think I am going to just find a local store and A B a bunch of them
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It is the same as the Hydrasynth. I had a Keystone 61 and Hydrasynth Deluxe in the studio at the same time last year. I was going back and forth trying to articulate the differences between them - and I really think it’s a unit implementation thing, they’re basically identical.
Way less difference than say, how a Fatar 9/S is different between different synths.
@MuttBeats has the right of it - key feel is a pretty personal thing. I love the Hydrasynth action, but really don’t get along with Fatar TP/100 Piano (like on the Studiologic 88). For some, that is the other way round.
But if you like the Hydrasynth keyboard, you’ll like the Keystage.
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