Arturia MiniLab 37 MIDI controller review: playback and portability

I have tried many more portable MIDI controllers than I can, and I’ll tell you right now: 37 keys is the right size. While Arturia has 25 keys MiniLab MK3 it’s a solid controller that fits easily in a backpack, it feels claustrophobic. $149 new MiniLab 37 it adds another octave, giving you more room to play bass and lead at the same time, or just play bigger tracks.

Physically, the MiniLab 37 is not much different from its smaller brother. It has the same solid keybed (if it sticks out a bit), eight pads, eight permanent encoders, four faders, line connections, USB-C, and a full five-pin MIDI DIN on the back. It also has the same round plastic. It feels a little cheap, and it won’t win any design awards, but it does the job and feels sturdy enough to take a few bumps in the bag.

The biggest change is that it’s not as compact as a regular MiniLab, and it doesn’t have as many keys. With more space to work with, Arturia was able to rework some controls to make it work; the entire controller is shallow. You no longer have to go through the pads to get to the knobs, or the touchstrips to change the octave. Instead, everything is placed vertically, with the first encoder and the small LCD right in the middle. It’s a fun and predictable experience. With the MiniLab MK3, I always feel like I’m researching before I get there. At 37, things are exactly as I expected.

Merger with Arturia’s software synths it is part of the interest of its rulers. The MiniLab 37 comes preloaded with Arturia’s Analog Lab Intro and Ableton Live Lite so you can create music right out of the box. But be careful what you expect. That small barrier means you still need to reach for a mouse or keyboard to browse the well-established content. And it also makes using some of the controller’s more advanced features difficult. For example, the built-in arpeggiator is nice, with a lot of options considering it’s a simple, budget MIDI controller. But the level, shape, gate, etc., need to be wiped with one click at a time. It’s a slog.

MiniLab also gives you basic control over your digital audio recorder (DAW), allowing you to start or stop recording or connect to other parts of your session directly from the controller. If you’re patient, you can manually set it up to give you more control over your recording session, but it won’t be like anything else. Ableton’s Push or even Image of Seratowho have more controls and external graphics for their DAWs.

You can also control hardware synths using the MIDI port on the back. You can also create an entire setup without a DAW with multiple instruments on different MIDI systems. Even if your equipment does not have MIDI out or ports, you should add a MIDI splitter to your setup.

MiniLab 37 is not very little MIDI controller. It’s not much super. It’s also not cheap. What it is, is a good balance of ergonomics, portability, and price. Especially if you’re already using Arturia’s soft synths.