Introduction And Overview; A Fascinating Adventure; About Reading Manuals - Arturia KEYSTEP 37 User Manual

1. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

The KeyStep 37 is an advanced third-generation controller and sequencing station. It is both
compact and versatile, with unique features that will spark your imagination and creativity
in a new way. It enables you to connect to all your studio and performance gear and control
it in ways you never thought possible.
Controllers have come a long way. The first generation of controllers could transmit MIDI
pitch and velocity over the 16 MIDI channels, not much more. The second generation
added complex step- and real-time sequencing features and was capable of connecting to
your DAW in special ways, allowing you to control multiple parameters of VSTi's (virtual
instruments, including synths).
This third-generation controller adds control options for modular systems. The KeyStep 37
lets you play, record, edit and add to your sequences on the fly, with a clear and easy-to-
understand workflow that encourages your creativity. Each pattern can be up to 64 steps
long. Couple this with the advanced chord strumming options and scale quantisation and
you'll begin to understand why it will soon become your favourite controller.

1.1. A fascinating adventure

As soon as you start experimenting with the KeyStep 37, you'll be faced with many
questions: How do I make connections? What are the differences between Real-time and
Step recording?
The answers to these questions come slowly: you'll find many of the answers in this manual
and many others by reading online forums, sharing and comparing user experiences and,
most importantly, by diving in and experimenting. Whatever you do, take the time to get to
know the KeyStep 37 inside out.
To sustain the fascination you feel, learn the functions of the KeyStep 37 one by one and test
your knowledge continuously. The KeyStep 37 is an advanced controller with many levels of
understanding. It offers a unique way to experience the reward that comes with being able
to create the sounds as you imagine them.

1.2. About Reading Manuals

Reading manuals can mean much more than familiarizing yourself with an instrument.
Yes, it is excellent for learning, but it serves another purpose that is much less understood:
creating the basis for inspiration.
Inspiration can flourish when you have many little pieces of knowledge 'online' in your
mind, so that you can interconnect and crosslink them; it widens the scope of your creativity.
It also helps to look at the current state of your knowledge as something that needs to be
maintained and expanded. Reading a manual, again and again, causes a quantum shift in
what you absorb from it. You are building a living model of the controller in your brain.
Reading a manual the first time helps you to get acquainted with the parameters of an
instrument; what does a knob do and how does it affect the sound of external modules or
synths? Second and third readings will give you a better understanding of the structure of
the KeyStep 37. Beyond that, reading becomes a source of creative input that inspires you
to think of new ways to use this unique controller and sequencing station.
Arturia - User Manual KeyStep 37 - Introduction and Overview 4