They Finally did it: FL Studio gets an integrated controller. Novation add two new controllers to the FLKey Range.
Want to make music but don’t know where to start? Want a fresh new MIDI controller/keyboard that has all the things for the studio? The Novation FLkey range has everything the modern musician needs (plus more) to make music and the family just grew with the FLkey 49 and FLkey 61.
Aimed at the FL Studio users for a hands-on, deeply integrated experience, the FLKey range finally offers those users something that’s not often paired with the popular DAW. FL Studio doesn’t always come front of mind when thinking of major DAWs but artists and producers such as Metro Boomin, Martin Garri, Kaytranada and Jalil Beats must be doing something right.
We fired up the Novation Flkey 61 in the studio and laid down some big synths (thanks to Arturia’s CS80 emulation) on a recording we’re working on — if you don’t have FL Studio, don’t worry the range comes with a 6-Month Trial of FL Studio Producer Edition, along with a few other tasty pieces of software.
First things first, the keys feel good. The semi-weighted keys perfectly suit the synth enthusiast, and piano player who doesn’t want that plastic feel — however, if you want that weighted feel you won’t get that here as Novation focus on functionality and music production and performance rather than those features aimed at the trained piano player!
But we’re happy they focus on features to make music creation and performance easier with 16 velocity-sensitive pads, 9 faders, 8 customisable pots, and essential transport controls — that all feel good to twist, slide, press and flick.
As mentioned before, these two new models — the FLkey 49 and FLkey 61 — are new additions to the range and the only ones with the nine 45mm faders. The FLkey mini and FLkey 37 both have the 8 pots and 16 RGB backlit velocity sensitive pads — anyone got a long haul flight coming up?
The FLKey range has workflow covered with controls for FL Studio’s Sequencer, Channel Rack, and Mixer right at your fingertips. The controllers include Scale and Chord modes for creative play, along with Sequencer Mode for programming beats fast. And, everything you would want easy access for is there: transport, score log, undo, redo, quantise, and metronome triggering.
As well as the 6-month trial of FL Studio Producer Edition the FLkey 49 and FLkey 61 comes with these great pieces of software:
XLN Audio Addictive Keys – Add great sounding piano to your tracks with the Studio Grand, based on the iconic Steinway® Model D. Plug in and play; you’ll be instantly transported to a professional recording studio set up to capture this beautiful piano.
AAS Session Bundle – Essential sounds for your tracks: Lounge Lizard’s authentic classic electric piano tones; Strum Session’s acoustic and electric guitar sounds; Ultra Analog Session’s easy-to-use, huge synth sounds.
Spitfire Audio LABS Expressive Strings – Get immediately expressive and realistic strings sounds. Control release, delay and reverb or fade in experimental warped layers to add colour to your tracks and scores.
Klevgrand R0Verb – A hybrid between a simple reverb and a very complex delay in an easy-to-use plugin. Design your own reverbs and put your sounds in their own unique space.
Klevgrand DAW Cassette – Bring your sound back to the golden age of cassette tapes, with an accurate recreation of saturation, distortion, noise and wobble.
As far as controllers go, this is easy to use, sturdy enough for live performance, and feels solid to play. The FLkey 61 comes in at $449 AUD and the FLkey 49 comes in at $369 AUD.
For more info head over to Novationmusic.com
