Arturia AstroLab 88 review - The missing one

A sober, effective design for the stage as well as the studio

Taking it out of the box, the AstroLab makes an impact on both the back and the eyes. Let’s start with the eyes. It reproduces the same design and dashboard as its 61-key counterpart, featuring the brand’s signature white metal that resists fingerprints. It’s sober, elegant, with imitation wood cheeks. The overall look remains timeless, and it’s visually clear. The blue backlighting on the scroll wheels, buttons and keyboard keys is a real eye-catcher. These little keyboard landmarks take on an orange and green color to delineate the split zones.

The weight, of course, differs, and that’s saying something, as this baby still weighs 22.2 kg (48.9 lbs.) for dimensions of 1316 × 352 × 127 mm (51.8 × 13.9 × 5 inches). The length of the machine and its specific keyboard mechanics come into the equation, but it’s still 3 kg (6.6 lbs) more than the Nord Piano 6 88.

Like on the AstroLab 61, the central color-screen thumbwheel serves as the centerpiece. On power-up, the animated AstroLab logo comes to life, quickly displaying the list of sounds and a depiction of the instrument in use. Not only is this original, but it is also pleasant to use and to look at; this thumbwheel gives the keyboard a unique identity. The wooden legs, not supplied, are a real visual plus and add to the feeling of quality offered by Arturia (not received for testing).

The keyboard also comes with a music stand. The design features the Arturia logo, which is original and cool, as is the imitation wood touch at the bottom. But aesthetic research is not always compatible with practicality. The stand is designed like cheap metal lecterns, with lots of empty space between the branches, which isn’t always very stable or easy for readers (lights through the leaves, and a pain when it’s windy). The advantage is that it folds up and is easily transportable, as it’s small and light.

Interface-and-controls: a complete and intuitive control panel

The dashboard remains the same as on the AstroLab 61. To the left are the modulation and pitch bend wheels. Just below them are the two transposition knobs (plus or minus 2 octaves). The space is then quite substantial, with a blank area of 42 cm (16.5 inches), which can be handy for taking notes on or placing any device (smartphone, tablet etc.). Then there are the Arp, Chord, Play and Record buttons for the built-in MIDI looper, with an auxiliary function written in gray just below (Hold, Scale, Tempo and Metronome). Now we come to the famous central wheel, which you can turn to find the instrument you want, and also click to confirm your choice. Beneath the wheel are four buttons; Back/Home, Up Arrow, Down Arrow and Shift to access secondary functions.

The next section features shortcut buttons leading directly to a specific family of sounds: Piano, E. piano, Organ, Bass, Lead, Keys, Pad, Strings, Brass, and Seq. They are all backlit in blue, unlike the Playlist button, placed just after them. Above, we find three buttons: Part 1, Part 2 and Split. Finally, four instrument encoders provide access to the parameters selected instrument: Brightness/Volume, Timbre/Bass, Time/Mid and Movement/Treble. Effects come at the end of the line, with four encoders: 2 FX, Intensity, Delay/Time, and Reverb/Decay. Each encoder has its own dedicated activation button. The Volume master completes the tour of this dashboard.

Immediate-grip-and-fluid-navigation

As soon as you switch on the AstroLab for the first time, it’s clear that everything is very intuitive and straightforward (and not in a bad way). The dashboard is well designed, and you can immediately appreciate the versatility this keyboard has to offer. It’s easy to customize each preset to your playing style, and it’s nice to come across a machine that’s efficient but not overly complex. The sounds flow smoothly, although some of them take a little longer to load and will require some adaptability when played live. The waiting time is not enormous, but this may come as a surprise, especially as some recent keyboards with large sound banks offer the same fluidity throughout.

Its software integration is a success, whether via the AstroLab Connect app or the Analog Lab plugin. If you own the V-Collection, you’ll be able to access the complete interfaces of each instrument on your computer. Versatility is the name of the game for this keyboard, which is designed to excel for both live performance and the studio. All its functions, such as looper, Bluetooth, splits, or multi 2 presets are easy to access and use.

A light Fatar action: sensations and limits

If there’s one thing that’s truly aesthetically surprising about this keyboard at first glance, it’s the key height. Traditionally, that has varied according to the piano brand and, above all, the era, but today the size is pretty much standard, at 2 cm (0.8 inches). On the AstroLab 88, it’s much higher, measuring 3 cm (1.2 inches) giving the whole thing a giraffe-like appearance. So why such a height, especially as the sinking is quite normal and play is not affected. Sensor? Specific mechanism? It’s a mystery.

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As for the action, there’s nothing new or original here, as we’re using the widely-used Fatar TP-40 mechanics, which have proved their worth on many keyboards. The version on offer is the L, the lightest of the TP-40s. This is a matter of personal taste, but if the heavy touch of an acoustic piano is what you’re after, it won’t feel quite as you’d expect. That said, if we exclude this, the response of the keys in action is quite good. They’re responsive and sensitive to aftertouch, despite a rather artificial return for a weighted instrument. So it’s a safe bet, without taking any risks and, above all, without anything new. The finish of the keys is disparate. The white ones are glossy and smooth and the black ones are matte and slightly textured.

Complete-connections-for-all-modern-uses

Connector-wise, there’s a MIDI input and output on a 5-pin DIN, four pedal inputs (expression, sustain, and two aux), two XLR/Jack audio inputs with a gain potentiometer, two audio outputs, and a headphone output, all in 6.35 mm (1/4-inch) format. The right-hand side includes everything to do with computing and power: a USB socket for powering the keyboard, but also for using a MIDI controller or for storage, a USB-C port for connecting to a computer, smartphone or tablet, a power socket with a screw thread for plugging directly into an outlet (mains power is supplied) and finally an on/off button.

The keyboard also features a Bluetooth connection for injecting audio via any compatible device (mobile, tablet) and Wi-Fi, enabling connection to a computer to control Analog Lab Pro, or to a smartphone via AstroLab Connect, the navigation app available on iOS or Android.