Explaining the MIDI options when setting up an Arturia Keylab Essential 61 as a control surface in Logic Pro

Hi Paul. I recently bought the Arturia Keylab Essential MK3 MIDI keyboard. Upon setting up I noticed a few confusing errors. When opening Logic Pro’s Control Surface Setup (as instructed by the Arturia setup article) to select “KL Essential 61 MK3 DAW” I am not given that option. I only see

• KL Essential 61 mk3 MIDI
• KL Essential 61 mk3 DIN/THRU
• KL Essential 61 mk3 MCU/HUI
• KL Essential 61 mk3 ALV

Can you help me work out what is going on please? – Iz

Paul from Audio Support explains the problem:

Hi Iz. The issue here is that the text shown in Logic Pro doesn’t match the text from the setup article provided by Arturia. Here’s what each of those options means:

KL Essential 61 mk3 MIDI

This option selects the MIDI port that Logic uses to recognise notes played on the keys, pads and controller wheels of the MIDI keyboard. Logic should recognise this port as soon as you connect your keyboard via USB and automatically assign it to play the selected instrument track.

This is the port used for the basic functionality of the keyboard. It is not the one to use when connecting the Keylab as a control surface in Logic.

KL Essential 61 mk3 DIN/THRU

Looking at the back of the keyboard, you will see sockets with MIDI In and MIDI Out printed above them. These sockets allow you to use a 5-pin DIN cable to connect your keyboard to other MIDI devices.

If you have another MIDI device (maybe another keyboard or a fader bank) that you want to use to play instruments and control sounds in Logic Pro, then MIDI-IN is the port that Logic Pro will use to receive those messages.

If you want to send MIDI notes and controller messages (perhaps to an older hardware synth) then you can connect your 5 Pin DIN cable from the MIDI Out of the Keylab to the MIDI in of your synth.

If you don’t have any external devices connected to Logic Pro, then you can ignore this option. This is not the option to use when setting up the Keylab as a control surface in Logic.

KL Essential 61 mk3 ALV

When you buy the Keylab Essential 61 mk3, the product comes bundled with Arturia software, including Analog Lab V.

If you want to run Analog Lab V as a standalone app and send or receive MIDI to/from other music apps on your Mac, then this MIDI port allows that to work.

In Iz’s case, she wouldn’t need to use Analog Lab as a standalone app, since it works fine as a plug-in within Logic Pro. This is not the option to use to set up the Keylab as a control surface in Logic.

KL Essential 61 mk3 MCU/HUI

This is the port to select to use the Keylab as a control surface in Logic. “MCU” stands for Mackie Control Universal and is a generic protocol for control surfaces to control DAWs such as Logic, Cubase, Ableton etc. “HUI” stands for Human User Interface and is another generic protocol standard.

This is the port to select to use the Keylab as a control surface in Logic.

Hope that helps Iz. Good luck! – Paul