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The Arturia AstroLab 88 is a stage keyboard with a full-sized piano keybed, combining the integrated sounds of the Arturia V Collection and Arturia Pigments with a modern workflow. Its weighted Fatar keyboard will satisfy even the most demanding musicians with its exceptional playing feel, and the sophisticated user interface design provides extremely detailed and accessible control over the device's many parameters, in addition to which the innovative navigation encoder – with its OLED screen – allows users to load presets and playlists quickly and intuitively. The rear panel is fitted with a comprehensive array of connection options that allow the AstroLab 88 to be effectively integrated into any setup. Wireless connectivity also comes as standard, of course, via both WLAN and Bluetooth. All these features and functions add up to make the Arturia AstroLab 88 an outstanding choice for a wide variety of uses, from composing in the studio to playing live on stage.
The keyboard of the Arturia AstroLab 88 has an authentic-feeling hammer action, with a whole range of easily accessible additional keys located above the main keybed, which is primarily used for playing melodies or rhythms. The sounds users can select here include some truly first-class piano emulations, but also organs, strings, and wind instruments, as well as a huge variety of basses and synth sounds. The brightness and timbre of the sounds – and of course countless other parameters – can be adjusted using the encoders also found above the main keyboard. The sounds can be given further depth with one of Arturia's integrated effects, such as reverb and delay, with two further slots that can be assigned to control one of the 12 other effects. In addition, the AstroLab 88's keyboard can be separated at one or more split points, allowing dextrous musicians to play several sounds at once. There's also a scale mode, to ensure that everything is always in the right key, while the chord mode and the arpeggiator make it easy to create lush, complex compositions.
A stereo input and output can be found on the Arturia AstroLab 88's rear panel, with mono playback or patch-in made possible using the right-hand jack. A microphone (sold separately) can also be connected to the right-hand signal input in order to use the internal vocoder. Further to the left are connections for a sustain and expression pedal, two AUX jacks, and MIDI in and out connections. On the far right, next to the connection for the power cable (which is included here), there is also a USB interface for connecting to a computer, which can be used to work with and save sounds, as well as for creating playlists using the AstroLab software. Sounds can be selected and managed even faster using the AstroLab Connect app on a mobile device with a Bluetooth connection, and silent practice is easy thanks to the headphone output.
Arturia's success story began with software emulations of well-known analogue synthesizers such as the Moog Minimoog, Sequential Prophet-5, and Oberheim SEM. The popular software instruments included in the V Collection are still flagship products of the French developer today. Over time, Arturia has gradually expanded its range and now also offers a host of hardware devices, ranging from synthesizers and keyboard controllers to sequencers. Since then, the former software developer has thus also become a household name in the world of analogue synthesizers and other equipment.
The Arturia AstroLab 88 was developed for musicians who want to bring their own take on Arturia's signature sounds to the stage: minimal loading times, an almost effortless workflow, and an uncompromisingly stable performance – all this without a laptop. The AstroLab 88 offers something for every genre of music out there, with a selection of 40 virtual instruments and more than 1,600 presets, which include analogue emulations, hybrid textures, and state-of-the-art digital sounds that can all be applied with just a few flicks of the wrist. Sounds and setlists can be easily assigned to the preset buttons, and played just as quickly. The Arturia AstroLab 88 can also be seamlessly integrated into any DAW via Arturia's AnalogLab software, which musicians can use to effectively prepare complete live shows with their own unique sounds.
The extensive functions of the Arturia AstroLab 88 are more than enough to ensure that every performance will be expressive and innovative. The split function can be used to layer percussive sequences, deep basses, soft piano sounds, and soaring leads. Up to 32 bars of melodies, chord sequences, and textures can be looped using the MIDI looping function: Skilled musicians can thus play a complete track with a single instrument, without losing any of their nuanced musicality and individuality when performing live. Detailed adjustments can also be made to every one of the AstroLab 88's parameters and instruments – for instance, the velocity of the keyboard hammers or the cutoff of an analogue filter can be optimised to suit every playing style.