KeyStep Pro - Firmware Update v2.0

[Edouard_Arturia]

Hello everyone.
The new 2.0 firmware is now available to download !
You can now open the Midi Control Center, proceed with the MCC auto-update, and update your KeyStep Pro.
All the best !
Edouard

2.0 Update Manual: https://downloads.arturia.net/products/keystep-pro/manual/keystep-pro_Manual_2_0-changes_EN.pdf
2.0 Cheat Sheet: https://downloads.arturia.net/products/keystep-pro/manual/keystep-pro_Manual_2_0-cheatsheet_EN.pdf

Release notes:

KeyStep Pro 2.0

New features
Transpose Group: Tracks can now be grouped and transposed simultaneously (Trans+Track buttons to group tracks)
Global Offset: It is now possible to alter the properties of all steps within a pattern.
(Hold Shift and turn Pitch, Gate, Velocity, Time Shift or Randomness)
Arp can now be recorded in the sequencer in real time
Chord Mode: Chords can now be recorded in the sequencer using Real Time Rec, Step Rec, Step Edit, and Quick Edit.
Arp can now be played when the sequencer is stopped
Swing can now be applied to arpeggios
Mono mode: Workflow has been reworked for a smoother experience.
Step Listen: In Step Edit / Step Rec, pressing a step button plays the step
(Can be enabled / disabled via Utility > Misc or MCC)
MIDI Thru: MIDI Out 2 can now be set to Thru mode.
(from Utility > MIDI Settings > MIDI Out 2 or the MCC)
MIDI to CV: now supports Pitch bend, Mod wheel and Aftertouch messages
Looper Touch Strip can now be disabled
(Shift + Touch Strip)
Sustain pedal & Hold are now taken in account when recording in real time.
Steps and pages can now be copied and pasted across different patterns and tracks
Notes Copy/Paste: Copy and paste of notes within a step has been reworked for a smoother experience
Reload Project saved state: Hold Project + Shift to reload the project saved state from the Flash memory
Drum Mute: “Shift + Drum” now quits Drum Mute mode
Metronome time signature is now the reference for bar size and launch quantize
Nudge, Invert and Rand Order functions can now be applied to Control Track
Pedal MMC start / stops are now supported

Improvements
Various synchronisation improvements
Step Recording: Creating ties now moves the cursor to the next step on each press.
Chord mode: It is now possible to release Shift + Tie/Rest and keep editing the chord until all keys are released
Quick Edit: It is now possible to release the step and keep editing until all keys are released
Chains can now be created on the fly on several tracks without releasing the chain button
Switching between Pattern / Chain now occurs when releasing Pattern / Chain buttons.
Manually switching between patterns now exits Chain mode
Active steps now remain dim lit when holding shift for a better experience when using Nudge, Invert and Random Order functions.
Walk mode behavior improvement
Arp: velocity knob can now increase and decrease the arpeggio velocity
Arp Randomness range improvement
Arp: Keyboard now remains active when the track is muted
Arp: Added warning popup when reaching the maximum number of notes
Added a pop-up warning when trying to transpose Drum Track
Tap Tempo estimation improvement
Step Edit: Step values are preserved when going above 127 or below 0.
Control mode: Chords & Arps played when record is ON are now recorded on the selected background track

Bug Fixes
Real time recording: Held notes are no longer overwritten by notes played staccato when overdub is OFF.
First step gate time is now correct when slaved to Live through USB
First step is no longer missed on start when slaved to Ableton Live via USB
Velocity minimum value is now properly displayed on the LED ring
Chord mode: Notes above MIDI note 127 or under MIDI note 0 are now ignored
No more conflicts between the Looper and the Arpeggiator
No more conflicts between the tracks and scenes step colors when holding Scene
No more conflicts between the playback cursor and scenes step colors when holding Scene
No more conflicts between the keys LEDs when using user scales and Step Edit/Step Rec
Holding an empty step now shows the default note blinking
Enabling Step Rec now properly resets the cursor position to step 1
No more stuck notes when playing arpeggios and using user scales
Default note key LED no longer stays ON when entering another note
Arp no longer misses notes
Drum sequencer can no longer stop when switching between Mono and Poly mode
Key LEDs can no longer be stuck in the Drum Mute color after exiting it
Control Mode pattern 2 no longer creates conflicts with Drum pattern 1
Pattern maximum number of notes is now properly limited to 192 notes.
Drum sequencer no longer randomly misses some triggers upon playback
Velocity voltage is now properly updated when playing legato
No more stuck notes when transposing arpeggios
Creating a chord in the chord mode is now displayed on the correct octave.

[webhead311]

These are great updates but is there no way to chain scenes? Thanks for the update nonetheless.

[konjurer]

These are great updates but is there no way to chain scenes? Thanks for the update nonetheless.

Agreed.  I just posted in another thread about my disappoint in the length of chains not being increase from 16 in v2.  But chaining together scenes would accomplish the same ends.  This one little thing is really keeping me from using the KSP as I had hoped for in a DAW-less setup.

[webhead311]

Yea it would really pull everything together for me. I wonder if its just a hardware/firmware architecture issue that can't be done.

[ancaja123]

Arturia, I could not be more happier with this update.  Group Transpose is HUGE, the ability to record arps AND Chord Mode, shift + knobs to edit all steps...these are all incredibly useful features.  Thanks for listening to your customer base. Seriously.   Turn on some scale modes and you’ve got instant Vangelis style performance sequencing.


I have been having a blast and don’t wanna be negative on the day of this glorious update but I think I have encountered a bug where the scale changes on track one, and sometimes my patterns will clear randomly, but this is new so could be user error, I’ll see after using it more.  I have a couple questions though: how are you supposed to choose the root note?  It’s almost physically impossible to hold shift+root+a note in the lower keyboard half.   I use my chin...lol

And do you think we will ever see the ability to not have to hold down the Transpose key?  The og Keystep works that way and it’s nice to free up a hand for being able to play other keyboards for instance.   Anyway, thanks guys, I’m having a blast over here

[artao]

Some good stuff in the update. Thanks. 

However <sigh> .. Still no recording of pitch bend, mod wheel, and aftertouch? I mean .... 
I was straight up simply expecting that functionality when I bought it. Seems so obvious it doesn't even need to be mentioned. I was rather shocked when I learned it doesn't record those.
For me, this is THE ONE THING I was most hoping for and looking forward to. How was this not in there from day one?

[Adrien_Arturia]

  I have a couple questions though: how are you supposed to choose the root note?  It’s almost physically impossible to hold shift+root+a note in the lower keyboard half.   I use my chin...lol

And do you think we will ever see the ability to not have to hold down the Transpose key?  The og Keystep works that way and it’s nice to free up a hand for being able to play other keyboards for instance.   Anyway, thanks guys, I’m having a blast over here

Hi!
To answer both of your questions:
- To choose the root note you press 'Shift' + 'Root' . You can then release 'Shift' and choose the root note with your left hand. As long as 'Root' is being held it shouldn't be a problem.
- The posibility to 'latch' the Transpose button has been asked by a lot of users so I will set this feature request as a high priority and I can assure you that it will be discussed and possibly implemented in the future.

Thanks

Adrien

[Adrien_Arturia]

Some good stuff in the update. Thanks. 

However <sigh> .. Still no recording of pitch bend, mod wheel, and aftertouch? I mean .... 
I was straight up simply expecting that functionality when I bought it. Seems so obvious it doesn't even need to be mentioned. I was rather shocked when I learned it doesn't record those.
For me, this is THE ONE THING I was most hoping for and looking forward to. How was this not in there from day one?

Hello!

I agree that it would be a great feature!
However it requires a lot of work as there is no 'Track' for those parameters to be modify/erase/etc..
On 4 track there is Pitch, Gate, Velocity, Time Shift & Randomness
On Control Track there is 5 slot of MIDI CCs
But not Track for After Touch, Mod Wheel and Pitch Bend

If you have any suggestion!
I will notify everyone involved

Thanks

[ebrenegan]

Agreed.  I just posted in another thread about my disappoint in the length of chains not being increase from 16 in v2.  But chaining together scenes would accomplish the same ends.  This one little thing is really keeping me from using the KSP as I had hoped for in a DAW-less setup.
[/quote]

Agree! Chaining scenes would be everything I need from it. Or at least a "wait to load" feature that lets all patterns in the longest chain complete before beginning the next scene. I can see where this stuff gets tricky the more I use the machine. It's going to force me to simplify my songs, or stop writing them on guitar. Or go back to hand drum and tambourine. Wait, no, I need my synthies now...

[Asobe]

Working great here. Thank you so much Arturia!!!!

[ancaja123]

  I have a couple questions though: how are you supposed to choose the root note?  It’s almost physically impossible to hold shift+root+a note in the lower keyboard half.   I use my chin...lol

And do you think we will ever see the ability to not have to hold down the Transpose key?  The og Keystep works that way and it’s nice to free up a hand for being able to play other keyboards for instance.   Anyway, thanks guys, I’m having a blast over here

Hi!
To answer both of your questions:
- To choose the root note you press 'Shift' + 'Root' . You can then release 'Shift' and choose the root note with your left hand. As long as 'Root' is being held it shouldn't be a problem.
- The posibility to 'latch' the Transpose button has been asked by a lot of users so I will set this feature request as a high priority and I can assure you that it will be discussed and possibly implemented in the future.

Thanks

Adrien

Awesome, Transpose latch would be amazing.

[madb]

I've finally gotten the chance to start playing with this update, and I'm SO jazzed that we can finally record arps and chords into the sequencer! And the arp doesn't skip notes anymore! Thank you Arturia engineers!!!

[Aryn]

Has the "On/Off/Skip and Stop/Continue/Jump" step function been implemented in the new update ?

[Stephan_M]

Thanks a lot for the update. Recording chord arpeggios is HUGE!

However i often come across many bugs. My KSP sometimes gets stuck in chord (Note entering) mode. I find no way to exit chord mode. This can happen on any and several tracks. I can hit SHIFT-TIE/REST again to enter a new chord, but i have no way to get back ot of chord mode and back to the Arpeggiator. All i can do is to powercycle the KSP.

Also when i record a sequence from an arpeggiator and then try to copy that (blue and saved) pattern to another empty pattern, some notes at the start of the pattern get "garbage note data". Or some notes get lost.
And i had a total freeze in the middle of playing once too needing a power cycle. This has to have something to do with root note changes of the scale. Because i never used that before and this was the first time it froze.

I hope you guys can fix this huge and great update.

[LaJoX]

Hello everyone.
The new 2.0 firmware is now available to download !
You can now open the Midi Control Center, proceed with the MCC auto-update, and update your KeyStep Pro.
All the best !
Edouard

2.0 Update Manual: https://downloads.arturia.net/products/keystep-pro/manual/keystep-pro_Manual_2_0-changes_EN.pdf
2.0 Cheat Sheet: https://downloads.arturia.net/products/keystep-pro/manual/keystep-pro_Manual_2_0-cheatsheet_EN.pdf

Hi Edouard,
thanks for the update; it makes the KSP a lot more fun to play around with.

I want to share my thoughts on some long requested features:
Is it really that difficult to allow for longer chains, i.e. a chain length of 64 (or at least 32) steps instead of 16? In my naive understanding the additional memory footprint would be around 32k (32 packed bytes instead of 8 per track -> 128 bytes per scene -> 2048 per project -> 32k for all projects at max). Seems to me near to nothing nowadays... am I missing something? As an alternative input method one could maybe use the utility menu to edit a chain.

Another question that came up while playing around with the keyboard today: Why not make the output midi channel of a track local to a scene or pattern, so that one could easily use more than the four static instrument channels in a project? This would in a way overcome the missing program change functionality.

Best regards
Stephan