Review: Arturia AstroLab

It’s French; it’s avant garde; it’s deeply integrated into the sonic world of Analog Lab. It’s a stage keyboard like we’ve never seen.

5 June 2024

On the face of it, Astrolab should totally be my jam. I’m an Arturia V Collection kinda guy and I like using Analog Lab for live performance. So, in theory, AstroLab is Arturia’s long-awaited love bomb for someone like me. AstroLab allows me to rehearse and mess with my V Collection sounds; organise those sounds in Analog Lab; and then sync with AstroLab, which hosts the patches and powers the synths.

So let’s be clear: AstroLab is not a controller; it’s a proper digital monster-synth. It’s not a workstation; it’s a bi-timbral performance instrument. But to truly understand AstroLab you need to understand Analog Lab and the integration of the two. Can you run AstroLab without recourse to Analog Lab? Yes, that’s possible, but it’s kinda missing the point.

GALLIC ELAN

Let’s address the AstroLab quirks. It certainly has an aesthetic. Arturia is French and it calls AstroLab an ‘avant garde’ stage keyboard. I appreciate good-looking objects and always applaud companies for eschewing prosaic design. The danger is you can sometimes sacrifice usability on the altar of the bleeding edge.

As far as looks go, they’re in the eye of the beholder. I’m good with the timber end cheeks and the off-white colourway. Correction: according to sources the timber end cheeks are bakelite (a hardwearing plastic favoured by 1930s kettle manufacturers) – cool! I’m a tad concerned about how much the cream-coloured fascia will show finger-scunge. The LED skirts around the pots and the mod wheel are colour coded and look good. The layout mirrors the main controls of Analog Lab. The presets are categorised via the 10 pushbuttons.

THE BINNACLE

AstroLab’s UI design centres around the central LCD, which is about 6cm across and functions as a multipurpose dial and pushbutton, with haptic feedback. It’s somewhat of a technical marvel. The UI is at times, radial – with icons around the perimeter on the circular display. Click on an option and the menu extends down in a more conventional (linear) fashion. I’ve got to tell you, I wanted to like this gorgeous UI ‘eye’ so much, and I was more than willing to forgive any slight shortcomings in deference to just how cool it is. After all, I’m no fan of a ‘kitchen sink’ UI, where no consideration has been given to refining visual feedback. In this regard, the AstroLab ‘astrolabe’ is winner. But it wasn’t until I started to use the AstroLab Connect app that I realised I was being a little too forgiving. The app is considerably easier to use when it comes to exploring sounds, Liking them, and saving them to a playlist. Way easier. Which makes me wonder if Arturia’s circular conceit is entirely worth it.

TAKE TO THE STAGE

AstroLab is a stage keyboard. A stage keyboard is built for performance. It’s designed to easily flip between selected sounds for your set; have a great feel (whether fully-weighted or semi-weighted); provide a wide gamut of eminently playable sounds (not just a selection of piano sounds); and have the requisite I/O to support all the controllers/pedals you need.

The Nord Stage, probably the best known of the current batch of stage keyboards, set the template for an easy-to-use stage keyboard with a piano, a synth and a Hammond engine and all the hands-on control you need. Institutions are more than happy to pony-up for the considerable Nord Stage outlay, safe in the knowledge that not only does it sound great, anyone can use it. Others, such as Yamaha with its YC series also seek to compete in that market.

AstroLab doesn’t attempt to be an ‘everyman’s’ stage keyboard. If you rocked up to the AstroLab completely cold, you’d have no trouble auditioning the sounds and making basic modifications using the eight pots but you’d struggle to Like a patch or create a set list, add presets to it and get ready for a gig. So now that we know what AstroLab isn’t, let’s check out what it is. Because what it is, is kinda special.

NEED TO KNOW

Arturia AstroLab
Stage Keyboard

PRICE

A$2599
CONTACT

CMI: cmi.com.au
PROS
- Deep Analog Lab integration
- Nifty control app
- Great V Collection sounds
- Bluetooth play-along streaming
CONS
- LED disc UI a bit compromised
- Non-IEC power connection
SUMMARY

A stage keyboard loaded with 1300+ amazing Arturia V Collection sounds, AstroLab thrives within an Analog Lab ecosystem. According to Arturia, AstroLab is ‘avant garde’, which is an apt descriptor – it breaks some new ground and unapologetically makes some design and UI choices that won’t work for everyone but will be very alluring to those gigging musos already bought into the V Collection/Analog Lab ecosystem.

ECOSYSTEM

AstroLab is designed to be the performer in a larger ecosystem, ideally comprising your computer running Analog Lab (and, even more ideally, V Collection) and a smart device running the AstroLab Connect app.

Plumb all this in and AstroLab becomes a real performance dynamo.

Your PC connects via USB and is mediated via Analog Lab. Once you’ve downloaded the latest edition of Analog Lab Pro, a new tab materialises: ‘AstroLab Linked’. Now the fun can begin.

As you work in Analog Lab your moves are reflected on the keyboard itself. Change a patch in Analog Lab, the patch changes on AstroLab; create a playlist in Analog Lab and that playlist instantly appears on AstroLab. And on it goes. It’s very responsive and reassuring. When I first heard about AstroLab, I presumed I would get my playlist ready then be required to connect via USB and manually sync after I’m finished. No, it’s all in real time. I can visually see from the AstroLab UI that I’m synced and ready to roll.

APP PAIR

Now that AstroLab is loaded with your playlist and songs, and you’re ready for the gig, the app comes into its own. AstroLab Connect pairs with the keyboard via wi-fi. The app promises: ‘discover and organise the sounds of AstroLab’, and in that regard, it’s ‘mission accomplished’. Much like a letterboxed version of Analog Lab on a PC you can browse instruments via category or instrument. For mine, one of the best aspects is having your playlist in front of you (to get a visual on the next patch in the song and being able to trigger that patch). Sure, you can call up playlist patches from the keyboard’s front panel but seeing them queued up in front of you on a smartphone is reassuring. Less reassuring is if you’re struggling with wi-fi coverage. I wonder if a bluetooth pairing would have been a better approach?

Speaking of bluetooth, AstroLab is bluetooth-equipped but not to pair with the app. Rather, you can stream music from a device via bluetooth and have that mixed in your headphones for rehearsing. This is a very neat feature.

IN THE FAMILY

I mentioned the Nord Stage and the Yamaha YC earlier in the review. In theory, they share DNA with AstroLab as stage keyboards but AstroLab is a different beast. If I decided to purchase AstroLab, there’s no question that it’s Chris’s keyboard and it won’t be for sharing. The Stage and the YC can be found in thousands of rehearsal rooms, school halls and church auditoriums but AstroLab isn’t that kind of ‘keep most people happy most of the time’ synth. The minimalist design and the deep integration with Analog Lab ensure that.

In fact, that’s the whole point. The deep integration with Analog Lab is its greatest strength and its greatest constraint. If you’re not a V Collection/Analog Lab person then I wouldn’t blame you for looking at AstroLab and thinking ‘huh?’. If you are a V Collection/Analog Lab person, and you’re a gigging or session musician, then AstroLab might be the only keyboard you’ll ever need.

to truly understand AstroLab you need to understand Analog Lab and the integration of the two

FEATURES

• 61-note semi-weighted keyboard
• 10 sound engines: Virtual Analog, Samples, Wavetable, FM, Granular, Physical modelling, Vector Synthesis, Harmonic Phase distortion, Vocoder

• Piano-size keys
• Over 1300 in-built sounds from Arturia instruments
• Up to 10.000 sounds via Arturia software
• Navigation wheel & screen for easy browsing
• 10 Preset Buttons for quick sound access
• 4 macro controls for quick editing
• 17 insert FX & dedicated Delay/Reverb
• 4 dedicated knobs to control FX

HOW COULD I FORGET

There are a bunch of non-headline features that are, nonetheless, very cool. The audio inputs, for example, unlock a looper function, along with an onboard vocoder. It’s kinda odd that V Collection isn’t part of the AstroLab package (I know it’d be a mammoth value-add but might really bring AstroLab to a whole new audience), but if you are a V Collection operator then you can have the keyboard’s macro controllers manipulating any parameter on the V Collection synth. I’m kinda infatuated with the (optional) wooden legs and I’d personally budget that into the purchase (~A$349)!