Studiologic SL88 Studio

Product Information

The piano-playing experience may surpass even the Kawai VPC-1. The Lachnit offers a modicum more real-time control, and its appeal reaches beyond piano purists in at least one case we know: It’s the controller of choice for Microsoft Director of Sensory and Sound Design Matthew Bennett, who works on Xbox and the HoloLens VR platform. “After working with this keyboard for at least a couple of months now, I can say it’s amazing,” he told us. “It has changed the way I work and will make a big difference to any pianist who really cares about touch.” M-Audio’s Hammer 88 Pro is the more capable big brother of the original Hammer 88. It’s a rugged 88-key controller that takes the sophisticated hammer-action feel of the original model and adds an abundance of features and assignable controls. In terms of getting good dynamics and therefore emotion out of your sample libraries, I easily had great success with this keyboard. It was one of those moments when you wanted to keep playing, as you were getting so much more life out of the sounds than previously. The MK-22 has dynamic resolution of over 32,000 values. Of course MIDI can’t reproduce that, but the idea is that every MIDI value that doesresult is uniformly close to the player’s intentions. (Analogy: Recording audio at a high sample rate has value even if most listeners will hear the song as an MP3.) For software pianos that can interpret it, the MK-22 employs CC 88 to transmit high-resolution velocity. The MK-22 Studio model senses Aftertouch. But at least you don't have to tune this one, and my old piano, well, sadly it's too old to tune, and my piano tuner gave up on it.

I love it<3 The feeling of the keys the sensitivity you get from this keyboard is just awesome. Long time since I felt so inspired to just keep playing and enjoying myself. The center console has an elegant 320x240px TFT color display, and the control knob is actually a multi-position selector and Enter key when depressed. The SL88 has memory for 250 Programs, and each program has four programmable zones for splits and layers of your instruments. As you can see from the image below of one zone, you can easily set bank select messages (along with program changes and MIDI channel) for each zone. Such a simple little detail that is overlooked in so many controller keyboards today, yet it is essential for sending program change messages to MIDI gear containing multiple banks of sounds. Taking inspiration from some of the non-weighted M-Audio controllers, this model comes with 16 velocity-sensitive pads. The Hammer 88 Pro is also one of the few weighted controllers with fantastic aftertouch. It also features a built-in arpeggiator and new modes like Smart Scale/Chord. I own a piano, and the SL doesn't play like a piano at all, but other keyboards that I tried felt the same or worse. I didn't try the most expensive ones though, such as a Doepfer or Kawai. Performance controls are few but useful. Dedicated octave-shift buttons double as transpose buttons, there is a split/layer button with selectors for the lower and upper zones, two buttons and two knobs are freely assignable, and two signature Roland controllers are present: The pitch-mod “paddle,” and the D-Beam, an optical sensor you move your hand over in Theremin-like fashion. It can control pitch, volume, or an assignable parameter.Adding to the hands-on workflow is a small but handy OLED screen that means less time looking at a computer. It’s a legitimate all-rounder. Again there are factory settings, but you can create a library of user settings, where you can adjust each and every key to fit your playing/distinct instruments. The only thing that might leave some players wanting? Although those knobs and individual displays are undeniably cool, you don’t get faders or drum pads as you do on the KeyLab. Still, the S88 is a stellar deal and a no-brainer for musicians already using Native Instruments software. The StudioLogic SL88 is a pleasure to work with, as all of the right features are in all of the right places to make controlling your keyboard rig a breeze, assuming four zones per program is enough to meet your requirements.

Form factors are interesting. A piano spans seven octaves plus three notes, A to C. The VAXMIDI kit comes in four, six, or eightoctaves, Fto E. (Why didn’t they put a low Eon it?) StudioLogic lapto stand for SL88 controller keyboardsStudioLogic currently offers a few optional accessories including dual and triple sustain pedals, a music stand, and a computer plate. The music stand and laptop plate are rugged metal options that attached via strong, rare-Earth magnets to an indented rail path running along the rear of the keyboard.Feel of the keyboard suits us guys who are not entirely piano players but want a piano like action (I am a synth, and organ player primarily and piano alternately) The Studiologic SL88 Studio offers an 88 note hammer action keybed with an innovative editor for in-depth control. First a big round of applause for anyone who can ship this amount of functional gear at this price point. There are two main reasons to go for an 88-key controller. One is that your playing focuses on piano; specifically, a premium software piano such as Synthogy Ivory, Modartt Pianoteq, or the Spitfire Hans Zimmer Piano (reviewed in our May 2016 issue). The other reason is, if you’re a composer and/or arranger, 88 keys give you more than enough spread to set up lots of zones for splits and layers, so you can lay out all the sounds you need to craft your counterpoint right in front of you.

Last but not least the included soundware. NI bundles in Komplete Select, which comprises nine virtual instruments and soft synths—Massive, Reaktor Prism, Monark, The Gentleman piano, DrumLab, Retro Machines, Vintage Organs, West Africa, and Scarbee electric piano. An SSL-style bus compressor rounds out these goodies.

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Studiologic is a brand that regularly flies under the radar of many potential buyers, and the SL88 Studio is a prime example of that. It’s one of the best weighted keyboard MIDI controllers but doesn’t seem to get the credit it deserves.