Just got my Keylab 88 about 3 weeks ago. Did the Firmware upgrade to the latest 1.1.0.4. Did my first gig with it last night (one keyboard gig) and in the middle of it the A5 - E6 keys went dead. If I hammered on the white keys I could occasionally get the note out with a velocity of about 14 which is way too soft. So today, I setup my rig at home and tried the keys. Sure enough they are still dead after sitting all night. So I did a factory reset twice and refreshed the firmware. Nothing worked.
Now here's where it gets weird. If I play an Ab13 chord with my left hand (F#2, A#2, C3, F3) the keys work every time with all velocities. I discovered this by accident. So I did a little more experimenting and found that even if I play the same Ab13 but hold the keys extremely lightly, the A5 - E6 keys are dead or sketchy. But if I apply pressure to the Ab13 keys, the dead keys start working again.
So this points to something mechanically wrong. I looked at the Fatar website at the TP100/LR which is the keybed the KL88 uses and I see by the pictures of the keybed that the ribbon cables coming out of the keybed seem to come out at F#2 and C#3. So that leads me to believe that either when the keyed was installed, they didn't provide enough clearance or shielding somewhere and that by pressing down on the keys of the Ab13 chord, it provides some clearance or fixes the contacts temporarily, or that there was a defect in the circuit board of the keyed and some solder joint came loose in it that is preventing the contact from completing fully and applying pressure fixes this temporarily.
Can anyone else confirm a similar behavior? If so, then it looks like a flaw with the Fatar circuit board at the middle of the keyed or a short in the ribbon cable when the keyed is installed when the KL88 is assembled at the factory. I'd entertain opening up the case and finding the issue if it weren't for the fact that my KL88 is less than a month old and I can return it under warranty.
Incidentally, I did some research on the internet and found that no other controller that uses this keybed seems to have any issues with dead keys but the Arturia does and the one big difference is the aluminum casing so maybe that's a clue to what's going on here.
Thanks
Jim
Thanks
Thank you very much codevyper " Jim " for your very good analysis of the problem some arturia keylab88 keyboards have.
You brought me to the solution for my keylab88. problem with keys F till C on at the right hand side, but probably also for other keyproblems.
English is not my native language, but I'll try to explain what I did, and what I think is the major problem.
In my case, opening the housing and a simple push at the ribbon cables ( described by Jim ) solved the problem.
One of the ribbon cables seem to find their way close to or against a support. Probably due to heavy transport conditions and (this close reach to the support ) situation, the ribbon flat cable is not at his ideal position anymore. ( bad contact )
If you can move the housing ( case ) like Gb59 (post september 28, 2015 ) is describing, you restore the right connection by coincidence..
It is not a hard problem to solve, you only have to be a litle bit handy and not trying to loosen all screws at the bottom.
Unscrew the 2 screws at the front side and the 2 screws at the back.
Then you unscrew all the screws on the bottom who are maximum 1 inch or 2 cm from the 4 sides, and then on the bottom you stil have to unscrew the 4 screws who are aproximately 10 cm or 4 inch from the back.
DO NEVER UNSCREW THE SCREWS UNTHER THE KEYPATH ITSELF. This is not necessary.
It is a bit a pitty that Arturia hasn't found a solution on time ( my keybord dates mid 2016 ) or good communication to solve this not complicated problem.
The keylab88 is, and stays a very good keybord for this price, if you don't have a problem with the mechanical noise it makes, due to the hammermechanics in a small box. This problem is only for real piano players.
Kind regards,
And I hope this comment will help those with the problems, in or out of warranty. ( mine still in warranty )
And help to persuade people who want to buy this keybord, who think it is a mess.