Yep, While I am not a native English speaker; I think I can get a grasp on some statements, especially since their reply was longer than just that sentence.
Let's make an example, so this is probably clearer.
- if you press the analog lab mode, and you have analog lab as VST in your DAW, the knobs and buttons works fine; that's what it was designed for, after all.
- if you press the DAW mode button, your DAW will work fine, as long as you set up the Keylab as mackie controller. The DAW features are bound to the transport controls, the 10 buttons to control the DAW and the rotary knob, which scrub your timeline. Faders control volume, knobs control pan, and the buttons control the channels.
- If you press the User mode; you can assign controls (knobs, faders, buttons, times 3 since you have 3 banks), and the 10 DAW buttons, to CC controls; this can be done in your DAW for whatever functionality you want, or for your VST to assign parameters to it.
Now, switching between those modes allow you to do everything, BUT the Analog lab mode, is in fact the same as the User mode; it works with CC signals.
I sniffed the data going through USB and found that in Analog mode, the keyboard send CC messages; it is fundamentally a "profile" that Arturia created, to control Analog Lab; instead of being a stand-alone and detached mode. As counterproof, I was able to use a micro-controller via USB, that is sending midi signals as CC, to fake it as keyboard, and I could change controls in Analog lab, by using certain CC messages.
So in fact, when you buy the Keylab, you shoild be aware that you do not have 3 modes, but 1 plus a mackie controller mode for the DAW controls. In fact, the keyboard show up as midi keyboard and as keylab, which is fine.
Arturia advertise 3 modes, while in reality, you have user mode with 10 profiles, an extra user mode profile for Analog lab, which has its own button, and the DAW mode button that send Mackie signals.
Hence, if you want to assign a mode in USER mode, for DAW or VST controls; and you want to keep the mapping for the Analog lab mode; you need to spoof the CC signals going through USB; find out which CC commands are sent by each of the controls while in analog lab mode, and then in User mode, be sure that you do not assign those controls.
I would have no issues if Arturia would put in the manual this "little" detail, with a full list of what CC is used by each control, so when you write your mappings in the midi editor, you can avoid these CC and be able to use all your controls, the DAW controls and Analog lap pre-mapped controls. But doing so, they would fundamentally say "we added a button for Analog lab, saying that we did special work for a close integration with the software, while in reality we are simply using midi CC with a special profile, so we could just make an Analog lab preset in the User mode, and have 3 buttons instead of 2".
That feels like a good reason to not really trust a company that sell you hardware or software; at least in my book.