I was lucky enough to visit Arturia HQ in Grenoble, France and sit down with Sebastian from the product team. He demoed and discussed the brand-new Keystep MK2. In minutes we went from a simple chord to a full sequence with bassline, automation, and movement, no laptop menus, just flow.
Key Features
- Channel aftertouch keybed with Chord mode, Scale lock, and musical inversions
- Generative arpeggiator with visual patterns plus Mutate variations
- One-touch Arp → Sequence workflow, real-time overdub, and quick Undo
- Recordable performance lanes: pitch bend, mod wheel, gate length, and Spice humanisation
- OLED screen with visual metronome, step feedback, and 64 sequence slots
There’s a thrill in turning a spark into a living groove while the synths are still warming up. That’s where the new Keystep shines for me: it treats ideas like clay, not glass. I started by holding a chord — you can create your own up to eight notes — and the channel aftertouch makes simple gestures feel expressive rather than flat MIDI.
From there, Sebastian showed me Scale lock. Hold the chord button, pick a scale (I jumped to A minor), and the Keystep keeps your voicings inside that world. It also borrows smarter chord voicing from the Step family, so when you move around the keyboard the inversions glide like a pianist would actually play. It’s a small thing that makes a big musical difference.
“The chord mode also got some of the advanced features from Keystep 37, when you move the chord, it inverts and voices in a more musical way.”
Once a chord’s in, the arpeggiator becomes a playground. Little icons explain behaviours — up/down, random, order — then into generative shapes that introduce silences, longer notes, and even touches of polyphony. It’s not just notes on every step; it’s phrase-shaping. If you like where a pattern’s going but want fresh variation, hit Mutate. It keeps the structure (density of notes, rests, long notes, poly moments) while morphing the details.
“Mutate keeps the structure, do I want silences, long notes, polyphony, but brings something new.”
I loved how quickly this encouraged me to stop over-thinking and just listen. A few clicks, a new feel, and if I didn’t vibe with it, Reset snapped me back to the original pattern. From there, the Keystep pushes you to commit ideas: convert that arp straight into a sequence. Now it’s tangible — save it, edit it, overdub — and because it’s all real-time, you can do it mid-jam without breaking sync.
“I can turn that phrase into a sequence while it plays, it all stays in sync.”
The OLED display is the quiet hero. There’s a visual metronome when recording and a progress bar so you always know where you are in the pattern. That tiny bit of feedback is gold when you’re layering parts. I punched in a bass counterline, then recorded automation for pitch bend and mod wheel. You can also capture gate length and a Spice parameter that randomises velocity and note length for human feel — great for breaking the grid when a part feels too stiff.
“You can record pitch bend, mod wheel, gate length and Spice, not aftertouch.”
I did trip myself up once: I hit record, noodled, then exited and re-entered record, which meant I couldn’t undo back past that point. Fair enough, and honestly, it was faster to just generate another phrase and try again than to menu-dive.
“If you mess up, you can undo back to before recording, but once you exit and re-enter record, you’re in a new take.”
A few workflow bits stood out. You can extend sequence length by holding Length and tapping the 16-step button multiple times. It builds a musical structure that often feels like A–B–A phrasing, with natural variation baked in. Mutation on sequences behaves differently to mutation on arps: on an arp, it generates a new idea within rules; on a sequence, it elaborates on what you’ve already written.
Connectivity is proper studio-ready: MIDI in/out, USB-C, and CV/Gate with two assignable mod outs (where older models gave you pitch/velocity/gate, this one goes pitch/gate plus Mod 1/Mod 2). That’s handy if, like me, you’ve got semi-modulars and Eurorack waiting for extra modulation lanes. I was already imagining this in front of my ARP 2600 mini — a synth with no sequencer — sending complex, evolving phrases it could never create alone.
“We used to have pitch/velocity/gate on CV; now it’s pitch/gate and Mod 1/Mod 2, velocity, aftertouch, random per note, pulse per note.”
Philosophically, the aim was to keep the Keystep recipe intact: compact footprint, intuitive panel, broad connectivity, sensible price — then add the right quality-of-life upgrades like the screen, smarter arp modes, real-time recording, and quick undo. It feels influenced by instruments like the MiniFreak — especially the way patterns can be generative and musical rather than purely mechanical — but with the immediacy that made the original Keystep a go-to controller.
“We didn’t want to lose the simplicity, not a million buttons, just keys, sequencer and arpeggiator with better feedback and deeper ideas.”
The big takeaway for me is how fast it moves you from idea to ownership. Start with a chord, audition a few pattern shapes, mutate until it clicks, commit it to a sequence, overdub a bassline, add some modulation, and save — all in a couple of minutes. That makes it a powerful partner for hardware rigs and DAW-light setups, or as a sketchpad that can later drive software instruments. If you’ve been sitting on a Keystep 37, the new model feels like the same lightweight spirit with far more creative headroom.
As for what’s next in the Step range, Arturia kept that close. But if this is the direction — fewer menus, more music — I’m here for it.
“Keystep was successful, it was just time to refresh it with a cleaner design, improved features, and some unique ideas.”
