Last year, Artoria launched its first stage keyboard, the Astrolabe. Unlike a synthesizer, stage keyboards focus more on providing performance-ready presets than on sound design. They’re geared toward touring and performing musicians who need access to a variety of sounds with minimal fuss, rather than bedroom tinkerers. But, while the first entries in the series were bigger and pricier—$2,999 for the 88-key model, and $1,999 for the 61-key model—the Astrolabe 37 delivers the same sound repertoire in a smaller, more affordable package. It is a portable 37-inch device that costs only $9999.
What sets the Astrolab range apart from most of its competition is that it is essentially Artoria’s Analog Lab classic synth emulations in hardware form. Arturia’s synth plugins are incredibly popular, and with good reason—they’re the best. But until last year, they were confined to your computer. Astrolabs gives you access to most (though not all) of the standalone tool, albeit in a stripped-down form.
Arturia’s V collection gives you the deep editing tools and rich fun of synths like the Yamaha CS-80 and Fairlight CMI, which are basically unbeatable. (And, even if you do manage to track one down, they’ll cost you tens of thousands of dollars.) Analog Lab, and by extension AstroLab, are like preset browsers, a vast collection of sounds plucked from the much more expensive V Collection suite.
In the case of the Astrolab 37, it comes preloaded with over 1,800 presets, covering 44 instruments from acoustic pianos, to analog classics like the Minimog, to digital lo-fi machines from the 80s like the Ensonq SQ-80. Most recipes are excellent. Rhodes emulation is my go-to (and there are tons of options out there), and access to Arturia’s pigments (my favorite software synth) in hardware form is great. Only the organ and acoustic piano are a bit disappointing. They’re not bad by any means, but I think if those are your preference, you might be better served by something from Nord.
You can load it with additional sounds using Unilog Lab desktop software over USB or Astrolab Connect Mobile over Wi-Fi. The former is ideal, however, because the wireless connection is quite unstable. You should be able to connect to your wifi network, but I never got it to work. Connecting directly to Astrolabe using its own hotspot was more reliable, but even that had a tendency to disconnect after a while.
Browsing a library that can expand in depth. Arturia makes things easy by allowing you to filter based on sound type (bass, lead, etc.), instrument, favorites, or soundbank. There’s also Songs, which offers grouping together for quick, one-button access, and playlists, which allow you to group songs together for easy access to your set list. It’s definitely easier to perform live.
Presets have four macros that you can control with the knobs on the left, and what they control can change depending on the patch. On the right are four knobs for dialing in effects, such as chorus, reverb, and delay. This at least gives you some control over the sound, but there’s no way to build a patch from scratch and do serious sound design. Instead, you’ll need to shell out for the V collection, which starts at $199, and upload your own custom presets. It’s not unusual for a stage piano to have minimal hand controls, but the Astrolabe is particularly sparse considering the depth of its sound engines.
Clearly, you’re not losing anything by downgrading to Astrolabe 37 from the larger version. All the differences are in the hardware. The faceplate is plastic, but doesn’t feel cheap, and the 37 retains the beautiful wooden cheeks of the larger model. While the 88- and 61-key models have a large navigation wheel with a color screen, the 37 has a smaller separate encoder below the screen. It’s also missing a locking power cord, which can be a problem, especially if you’re an active performer.
The biggest trade-off, though, is in the keyboard. The Astrolabe 61 has a semi-weighted keyboard, and the 88 has a hammer-action fetar keybed. The latter, in particular, feels very similar to a real piano, if you’re used to the cheap, springy synth-action keybeds of most cheap synth and MIDI keyboards. The Astrolabe 37 features a synth-action keyboard with mini keys and aftertouch. It’s not bad, it’s probably the same keyboard found on Artoria’s recent KeyStip MK2 controller, but it definitely lacks the premium feel of its bigger siblings.
On a keyboard this small, some of the Astrolab’s features, like the ability to split the keyboard in two with bass on the lower keys and lead tone on the higher ones, don’t make a ton of sense. Most serious keyboard players, especially professional players, want something bigger. But musicians looking to cram the most sounds into the least amount of space, without having to worry about an OS update, ditching their laptop mid-set, may find a lot to like in the new Astrolabe 37.
