Read on for our picks for the year’s best MIDI keyboard controllers!

What I love most about the KeyLab Essential is how it makes great use of space. The design is superb. It never feels cluttered while offering a huge amount of controlling power for a really great price. Control, value and a great feeling keyboard – what else could you need?

There’s more than just great MIDI control going on. The KeyLab Essential also include the Analog Lab virtual instrument that’s packed full of hundreds of classic synthesizers that turn the controller into what feels like a hardware synth. All the controls are automatically mapped to the right controls on the screen. I’ve found nothing else that’s quite this well integrated. Usually you have to mess around mapping controls but here it’s instant and fabulous. You’ll find no barriers to your music making here.

Talking of which, the KeyLab also has some deep level integration with a range of DAWs like Cubase, Bitwig Studio, Logic and Ableton Live. With very little setup your have transport control, mixer management, and effects all assessable from the keyboard controls. It’s all so simple, elegant and works out of the box. Yes, I’ve been really impressed with this new Mk3 version of the KeyLab Essential.

At the time of writing it’s available as a 61 key and 49 key version in either black or white with wooden trim. I imagine a weighted 88 keyed version and a mini version might be along at some point.

Street Price: $199 49 keys, $249 61 keys
arturia.com

The Launchkey Mini Mk3 is a tiny controller that is packed with features and punches well above its weight. It’s perfect for running with a laptop or tablet and will fit perfectly into your bag for mobility. It looks great and plays great even with those slimline keys and only 2 octaves.

This controller comes alive when paired with Ableton Live. The pads match the color and configuration of the Live Session view and you have automatic mapping over the devices, parameters, and clips. It’s completely seamless and lets you get on with making music rather than staring at a screen or using a mouse. You can add tracks, set it recording, mute and solo channels, dial in effects, and control your session.

But that’s not all and you certainly don’t have to restrict yourself to Live. Inside is a very powerful arpeggiator that you can route to any MIDI destination in software or hardware. It’s controlled by two very creative parameters called Deviate and Mutate. One starts to push to melody into interesting places while the other messes with the gate timings.

Once you have a regular arp running you can use these features to work the melody into all sorts of interesting places. There’s also a very handy chord mode for banging out one-fingered progressions.

It’s a fun and creative little keyboard that’s more than just a Live controller and has a MIDI output for controlling hardware, which is very unusual for this sort of controller.

There are larger versions available with all the same features but with full-sized keys from 25 to 61 and the larger ones also have MIDI faders to expand the control. While they are probably easier the play the “Mini” is just so convenient and easy to take with you.

Street Price: $109
novationmusic.com

Mini MIDI keyboards just get better and better. The Akai MPK Mini Mk3 does the job brilliantly by super-portable, dynamic and feature-rich. The feel of the keybed is really very good for a keyboard of this size and improves on the Mk2 in almost every area.

You can’t help but notice the eight MPC-style pads on the top. These are taken straight from the Akai MPC samplers and controllers and offer the same feel and velocity sensitivity. They are backlit, precise and extremely playable for you drum tracks and sample triggering. They even have Note Repeat built in for rolls and flams.

The little joystick is a great way to get your thumb involved in pitch bend and modulation. The eight knobs are endless encoders that can be quickly mapped to your virtual synth parameters. Under a button or two is a superb little Arpeggiator for getting things moving right from the go.

It’s a study little machine that will drop lightly into your bag. It also comes with a big bundle of software include MPC Beats, AIR Hybrid and a bunch of instruments and expansions. The MPK Mini Mk3 is great starting point for your music-making. There’s also a larger 37-key version available if you need a bit more playing surface.

Street Price: $99
AkaiPro.com

There’s a trend for MIDI keyboards to be the center of everything and to control everything. Not content to simply play notes, they want to offer drum pads, clip launching, transport controls, and parameter tweaking — and that’s awesome! Novation’s SL Mk III goes one step further and adds pattern-based sequencing into the hardware.

The SL Mk III has a lot of functionality built-in for Ableton Live. It has 5 little screens that can display parameters directly from Ableton Live devices and give you instant knob control over them. But it also has a library of hardware and software devices so that you can dial up instant mapping to a variety of sound sources and the displays reflect those parameters.

You can also create your own templates for how you want to work. The semi-weighted keyboard can be split into multiple layers and zones and you can apply scales and key changes with color-coded lights above the keys providing a guide.

The 8-track pattern-based sequencer is the stand-out feature. This is taken from their Circuit groove box and allows you to build real-time or step-based patterns directly from the keyboard. This is a fantastic feature for integrating external synthesizers and MIDI boxes into your DAW-based setup.

The SL Mk III also has two sets of CV, Gate, and Modulation outputs so you can sequence analog and modular gear as well. Many people are looking to go “DAW-less” in their creative workings or live performance and the SL Mk III can definitely provide that while being completely software integrated when you want it to be.

If all singing and all dancing are what you need in a MIDI controller for both your DAW and your external gear then the SL Mk III is a perfect choice. It’s $599 for the 49 key version and $699 for the 61 keys.

Street Price: $599
novationmusic.com

Building on the Keylab Essential we have the premium version in the Keylab Mk3. This keyboard really is quite something. It’s heavy out of the box and feels like a genuine synthesizer. Gone is the chunky plastic and we are left with a solid metal underside and elegant wooden ends. It’s very handsome and very smooth, especially in black although it’s also available in white.

You have 12 pads for playing drums, samples and launching clips in compatible DAWs like Ableton Live and Logic Pro. On the right is a line of serious looking knobs and sliders, taking on parameters and mixing duties for a very hands-on experience. There are transport controls, mod and pitch wheels and on the 61 key version a beautiful, custom made keyboard with velocity augmentation and aftertouch.

In the middle is a color screen that follows the action in the included AnalogLab software instrument suite. It has over 2000 presets taken from 39 vintage instruments and the front ends are all seamlessly mapped to the knobs and sliders for instant hands-on control. With a button you can switch to DAW control and everything remaps to mixing, or takes over the parameters from internal plugins and devices. A third mode is pure MIDI where you can map and create your own controls for whatever you want to play with.

Built-in is a remarkably good Arpeggiator with some fascinating probability-based functions and movement. A Chord and Scale mode makes playing and staying on course simple and impressively effective.

The Keylab Mk3 is superbly competent and is one of the finest synth-style MIDI keyboards I’ve played.

Street Price: from $449
arturia.com

While the massively featured Arturia KeyStep Pro tends to hog all the limelight the more compact KeyStep 37 is one of the best MIDI controllers I’ve used. Not because it has the greatest keyboard or a large amount of knobs or sliders but because it has a couple of awesome features that mean I use it all the time. Whenever I want to play with some synths, rock my modular or have a bit of fun this is the keyboard I reach for.

Firstly it has a regular MIDI output port so I can plug it into any external MIDI synthesizer. Secondly it has a CV/Gate output which means I can plug it straight into analog gear or my modular synthesizer. But more importantly it has a brilliant arpeggiator and step-sequencer which gets you immediately writing tunes without having the think about it.

One arpeggiator mode in particular is fantastic. It’s called “Pattern” and rather than going up and down the notes you hold it creates a sequenced pattern out of them and it always nails it. It just sounds great, every time. If you want something more deliberate then the step-sequencer is simple and easy to use and you’re off. All the notes come out of the CV/Gate outputs as well as MIDI and USB so you can plug it into anything you want.

The KeyStep 37 is not going to run your whole studio but as a working controlling within a hybrid setup of MIDI and modular it’s perfect.

Street Price: $199 (starting price)
arturia.com

The M-Audio Oxygen range of keyboards has been around forever. They’ve been useful, chunky and able to deliver the basic control we all need. With the Oxygen Pro range M-Audio has elevated the classic controller into something more at home in the studio, more elegant and with better creative facilities.

Cool and intelligent features like Smart Chord and Smart Scale help you develop ideas quickly and easily without finding yourself in the wrong key or struggling to find the next appropriate chord. Wrong notes could become a thing of the past. The arpeggiator is excellent for finding melodies and the Note Repeat function can generate a lot of fun interactions.

The sliders, knobs and pads can be used in any MIDI situation keeping the action on the keyboard rather than on a mouse. There’s a lot of built-in mapping for DAW control and software synth editing which can be very convenient.

The action of the keyboard is far superior to previous M-Audio controllers and offers a semi-weighted feel with advanced high-speed key bed scanning technology and channel aftertouch.

Street Price: $259
m-audio.com

Something a bit different, a bit futuristic perhaps? Osmose is an instrument more than a controller, although it does that too and in more ways than most. It has the mechanical feel of a piano while offering the sort of expressive control found in specialist MPE controllers that are usually very unlike pianos, like the Joué in this list. Osmose is a ground-breaking controller.

Each key has 3 dimensions of control with its Augmented Keyboard Action. It has the initial pressure, aftertouch, and pitch control on each note and every note with full polyphony. So you don’t just trigger a sound, you play it, enter into it and control it with every press, every note. For synthesizers and software that support MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) it offers an amazing level of expression and nuance when playing.

To show this off beautifully Osmose contains a specially designed instrument sound engine called EaganMatrix. It’s a digital modular synth designed by Haken Audio. You can shake sounds, strum them with your fingers, bend and manipulate like you would with strings or breath. It’s a wonderful playing experience and is unlike anything else out there.

Street Price: $1,799
expressivee.com