The upgrade has brought with it a 50% increase in weight (up to 1.5kg from 1.03kg), but we’re quite happy to trade a bit of shoulder ache for such tank-like construction. It might be all-plastic apart from the base, but there’s none of the creak and flex that controllers in this price range all too frequently exhibit - this is the level of quality we generally expect in keyboards costing three times as much.

A handful of Multis layer or split two sounds in a single preset, with the encoders switchable between controlling either one, or serving as macros, governing multiple parameters from both.Īrturia states that MiniLab MkII has been comprehensively beefed up in every material department, and we can confirm that its already admirable solidity has only been improved.

Loading sounds is done by selecting synths in a virtual studio-style GUI or navigating the tagged browser, and the keyboard’s rotary encoders are automatically assigned to the most relevant parameters for the loaded preset (filter cutoff, LFO depth, envelope time, etc), with reassignment to a handful of alternative made possible in the software. Enter the serial number and unlock code on the base of the MiniLab MkII to activate the software and you’re all set. Getting up and running with Analog Lab Lite is a quick and painless process thanks to the perfectly amenable Arturia Software Center, which acts as a hub for registering, downloading, updating and activating all your Arturia stuff. Nonetheless, it’s still a worthy inclusion, comprising 500 sounds from Arturia’s 17-strong roster of classic and vintage synth emulations - Minimoog, Prophet 5, CS-80, Jupiter 8, ARP 2600 et al. While owners of MiniLab v1 can continue to enjoy the 5300-odd V Collection-derived presets of Analog Lab 2 (last year’s free upgrade to Analog Lab, introducing a new look, improved browser and extra presets), investors in MkII only get a tenth that number in Analog Lab Lite (VST/AU/ AAX/standalone).

Minilab mkii ableton