Studiologic SL88 Studio

Product Information

First a big round of applause for anyone who can ship this amount of functional gear at this price point. I love it<3 The feeling of the keys the sensitivity you get from this keyboard is just awesome. Long time since I felt so inspired to just keep playing and enjoying myself.

I own a piano, and the SL doesn't play like a piano at all, but other keyboards that I tried felt the same or worse. I didn't try the most expensive ones though, such as a Doepfer or Kawai. The StudioLogic SL88 is a pleasure to work with, as all of the right features are in all of the right places to make controlling your keyboard rig a breeze, assuming four zones per program is enough to meet your requirements. In terms of getting good dynamics and therefore emotion out of your sample libraries, I easily had great success with this keyboard. It was one of those moments when you wanted to keep playing, as you were getting so much more life out of the sounds than previously. Built like an absolute tank - the entire body (except the two side panels) is metal, and the whole thing is built in a very professional manner. It feels like it can really take a beating. The SL88 Studio looks more like a stage piano than a typical MIDI controller, and that’s no coincidence. It has a sleek yet incredibly robust body, making it an ideal keyboard controller for gigging. Korg D1 4.5Again there are factory settings, but you can create a library of user settings, where you can adjust each and every key to fit your playing/distinct instruments. The middle points, or what the trade offs were that allowed SL to get this very nice piece of gear to you at this price.

If that’s still not enough, there is a key balance setting, where you can adjust the responsiveness of EACH KEY up or down 30%. (I think this is just on the software editor, more on that in a bit). Velocity Curves: 3 default velocity curves + fixed curve with programmable value, 6 editable user velocity curves It may sport a fully weighted 88-note keyboard, but the Studiologic SL88 Grand is quite portable, weighing in under 46 pounds - which is very much appreciated by gigging Sweetwater keyboardists. The SL88 Grand is also thoroughly professional caliber and built like a tank with a rugged all-metal casing and impact-resistant synthetic endcaps that protect the keybed and provide a sure grip when transporting. TFT color display for total access Within the Organize tab, it was easy for us to organize sounds into collections. For some players, this is useful to organize set lists for live work. In the studio, you can create groups that arrange sounds based on the session work you do, such as organizing your orchestral collection of sounds separate from your jazz set from your pop set and so on. I bought this mainly as a weighted keyboard for piano/Rhodes etc. with my DAW. I prefer an un-weighted controller for most other sounds. I particularly like it for playing Rhodes/Wurli sounds. I think it is the way the keys bottom out. It just feels great. The velocity curves are useful as I found it difficult to get the harder velocities on the default setting. I'm not a great player though so YMMV.I was really impressed with this element of the keyboard. You can have different responsiveness settings for each zone you set up, so if you’re using a zone for triggering samples for example, and you want very limited responsiveness so the samples trigger at the same velocity, except for one quieter sample note – you can set that ONE NOTE to trigger higher velocity. Brilliant!! There are two main reasons to go for an 88-key controller. One is that your playing focuses on piano; specifically, a premium software piano such as Synthogy Ivory, Modartt Pianoteq, or the Spitfire Hans Zimmer Piano (reviewed in our May 2016 issue). The other reason is, if you’re a composer and/or arranger, 88 keys give you more than enough spread to set up lots of zones for splits and layers, so you can lay out all the sounds you need to craft your counterpoint right in front of you. Scott Kahn, Editor in Chief, was the co-founder and associate editor of Korg Connection, the first official user group publication for users of Korg musical instruments. During a decade of work in Silicon Valley, CA, Scott wrote professionally for computer industry publications including PC Week Magazine and NewMedia Magazine. Outside of work, Scott is an accomplished musician and producer with many independent CD credits writing, playing, and producing. Another huge selling point for this controller is the more than ample connectivity. It offers CV in/out, which is rare for most MIDI controllers. If you want to create a hybrid setup with MIDI and analog gear, the KeyLab 88 Mk2 is perfect. But at least you don't have to tune this one, and my old piano, well, sadly it's too old to tune, and my piano tuner gave up on it.

Because all of these settings mirror the keyboard, once you’ve used the editor to set up your sounds, you can then leave the computer at home and have direct control over all of your programs and groups directly from the front panel of the SL88. Happily, though, the hardware is so well conceived that we could build sounds pretty easily from the controller itself. It's a quality construction and the action is more than adequate for any use. I'm using it now exclusively and haven't felt the need to switch to my stage piano to improve piano part performances. The action really does feel great, and I felt it was non-fatiguing even after function gigs involving three or four hour-long sets. Another value proposition is the slim size and light weight, making this a good choice if you’ve wanted a “full 88” in your rig but were holding off for space reasons. One of the biggest attractions of the PK-88 is that it is literally its own flight case. Fasten the matching cover over the keys, and this thing is rugged enough not just to withstand getting tossed around by the ground crew, but also seemingly to be usable even after you crash on a tropical island whose residents include a smoke monster. The LMK series is likewise built, though we think the PK’s absolute simplicity makes it more resilient still. If you don’t need military-grade toughness, the Roland A-88 is a lighter schlep in a similar size profile. The SL Editor is a Mac/Windows software application that provides remote control over the SL88 keyboard and its configuration (though you can perform many of the software’s tasks via the hardware interface on the controller). Within the editor, you can create programs and save splits and combinations/layers, and organize them in groups, much like creating set lists in a workstation (think Korg Kronos) or plug-in host application (like Apple MainStage). You can make global changes, update firmware, customize key balance and velocity curves, etc. Usability

Each key lifts a hammer (the weight you feel), which passes through an optical sensor. A long skinny triangle cut into the hammer is what disrupts the light path, the state of which is read over 200,000 times per second. Both channel andpolyphonic Aftertouch are supported, the VAXMIDI being the only piece in this roundup that senses the latter. High-resolution MIDI velocity can be output as well.

It's such a pity I can't control my DAW with my 120 year old piano. The SL keys are much slower than my standing piano's, they feel plastic, you really need to hammer to get more then just a low volume, and they make much more noise when playing softly then the old piano, that has much and much more dynamic.

Tech Specs

The S88 is built around a premium Fatar keyboard with aftertouch. Fatar keyboards have an outstanding reputation, especially at this high end, with weighted hammer-action keys.