Arturia - MiniLab MkII - Portable MIDI Controller for Music Production, with All-in-One Software Package - 25 Keys, 8 Multi-Color Pads

I’ve trusted this Arturia controller for years, and it continues to impress. It’s highly functional—perfect with Ableton Live—and the design is not only beautiful but also durable and compact, fitting right into my studio setup. The keys and pads are responsive, the knobs give me precise control, and the touch-strips are great for expressive modulation. The included software bundle was a huge bonus for getting started immediately. A fantastic, long-lasting tool that works flawlessly—highly recommended!

As someone who loves the sounds of synthesizers, I had no idea that there have been affordable software-based synths out there for years now. I didn't want to invest a lot of money because I didn't know if this would hold my interest enough. This is the right piece of equipment at the right price point. The construction of the unit is superb, it isn't all plastic, part of the case is metal which gives it a good heft, it really feels solid. The keys feel great as well, especially for a unit this inexpensive. I had no problems installing any of the bundled software and had it all up and running in short order. It turns out that there are literally hundreds of free virtual instruments available out there (as well as effects, samples, host software) that you can download and use with this controller. If there are two caveats (especially for a non-trained player such as myself), it would be that 25 keys really aren't enough to play stuff that requires both hands, and that these are "mini keys" rather than full size ones, which I find are a bit more forgiving for my adult hands. I wound up selling mine after a few months to upgrade to an Arturia controller with 49 full-size keys, but enjoyed every minute with the MiniLab25 mkII. Keep in mind that the included Ableton Lite host software (sometimes referred to as a "DAW", or digital audio workstation) only allows you to create with a maximum of eight tracks. Even though Ableton is the industry standard DAW, a more capable version will run you around $300. You can get some great DAWs for free, or for far less than what Ableton charges. Unless you eventually plan on upgrading to a better version of Ableton, I'd recommend getting a less expensive DAW and learning on that one rather than learning Ableton Lite and eventually switching to a different DAW and learning that one from scratch. I personally recommend Mixcraft 9 Pro, which comes with many outstanding bundled synths and effects (including Melodyne) and is a killer DAW in its' own right.EDIT: Even though I sold my original Minilab MKII in favor of a controller with more keys, about a year later I saw someone selling a Minilab MKII on Craigslist for $50 and bought it. It has become my "travel keyboard", easily fitting into my backpack along with my laptop. It gives me something portable to play around with when I'm not in my home "studio". I can even foresee using it as a second controller for "live" playing.

The Mini Lab MkII has a quality build. The keys, the knobs and pads are all well done. It's not light weight but, is very durable. I would carry the extra weight because it's build quality and apparent durability.The limitless knobs a are perfect design choice. Moving from one instrument to another doesn't require that the knobs physically reset to the previous instrument. You just pick up where you were.Arturia provided a firmware patch which fixed the blinking octave lights. They did not blink with your DAW (like a metronome) so it was distracting. The patch fixed that. The lights glow solid now, no blinking.The pads were double and triple firing when playing rapid patterns. The patch appears to have fixed that issue too.The modulator and bend pads are preferable to me They are much more flexible than the standard wheels. I can put a finger down in a specific spot without sliding there. That opens up interesting options of playability the wheels don't provided. And, of course you can slide your finger and you have the standard wheel action.It comes with Analog Lab 4, a collection of classic keyboards, including my favorite the Hammond B-3. The MkII is worth the money for that collection alone.It interfaces with your DAW so you can control parameters right from the the keyboard. I have a full 88 key keyboard but, I use the MkII more now.5 stars for this little beauty.

I purchased this in October of 2022, and didn't start really messing with music production until April 2023. The Keyboard is built stout, it feels like a quality piece of hardware.The software you receive for the Keyboard itself is Arturia's "Analog Lab V". You will have access to over a couple hundred presets with fairly limited adjustability. However, don't take this as a bad bit of news, as you can still make a ton of amazing sounds.The other Software included is Ableton Lite 11. It's an amazing DAW that also comes with lots of features for an entry level software. The biggest downside is the amount of tracks it allows (8 Tracks), but if your just starting out. This a sufficient amount.This is the best $80 you will ever spend on if you are starting out, as every tool you need is there. 5 out of 5

I’m an Arturia guy. I also have a MicroBrute, Keystep, Pigments and their V Collection 7. I got this as a desktop module for Ableton, and it’s pretty seamless for that purpose, allowing a great amount of built-in automatic control once you connect by MIDI (painlessly). The knobs are endless and have the right amount of pushback to offer refinement. The pads are tight for nice control. My one issue is that I wanted to take this on vacation to practice some songs. It’s great for one-handed use on stage, for sure. But any sort of two-handed playing is about 5 keys too short of any but the most basic one-octave riffs on the right, and too short for a standard G-chord on the left. So I ended up taking my Keystep instead (also one key short on the second octave right, but overall much more useful). I’d say if I want to “play piano” I probably have to size up to a wider bed. But for quick riffs where you can manually adjust the octave range up/down as you loop, this is great, super tough, comes with great software, and has nice responsive (springy) velocity keys.