Arturia Keylab mk3 maps to Waveform extremely well- BUT* & FYIs

[GuitarPlayerinNYC]

I got the keylab mk3 yesterday, and, almost out of the box, it was practically plug n play.

Going through the setup, I was on Arturia's setup instructions, and was going through everything step, by step.

I was told to go to the MCC to check for firmware updates. MCC said I had the latest, v. 1.1.1, so no update needed, right? (they also wanted you to go straight to Analog Lab, and AL would prompt you for a firmware update, if needed). I made sure to change the DAW protocol to "MCU" as that's what hung me up on my Essential, 5 years ago. So I went to standalone AL, and everything mapped perfectly, and I wasn't prompted for a firmware update.

I go into WF, to see if the mk3 was recognized- it appeared as Akai Pro- it was already mapped into the Control Surfaces, and Midi Devices as mk3 DAW (output) and mk3 (input). So I opened up a random edit, to see if anything worked. Yes, on the keyboard, and, I think the pitch, and modwheel. Nothing on the control surface- pads, faders, encoders, and transport controls.

Luckily, lightning struck me (because I was thinking the surface controls absolutely needed drivers, and I couldn't find individual drivers for the Keylab mk3). But, I was more concerned about the lack of surface controls, and wondered about the drivers. Lightning struck again.

The "but" is, even if you already have the Midi Control Center installed (I did, having owned the Essential mk1(?) and my MCC was up to date, I'd suggest reinstalling the MCC, as that's the only way I know in how to get the drivers for the control surface. As the MCC installed, I could see the box ticked for drivers.

I go back to WF, open up an edit, and "Arturia Keylab" was mapped into Control Surface and Midi Devices. Back to WF, to check my transport controls, and the other stuff. NOPE.

I'm thinking, "here we go again," but I decided to see if there was a downloadable firmware file, and there was- same version 1.1.1. Using the MCC I installed the firmware.

This is important: for the Arturia to recognize the MCU protocol, you HAVE to do it from the keyboard: Setting>Global>Daw Protocol>MCU - unless, it's the MCC on my system, but I was able to update the firmware from there; I otherwise don't get any feedback.

Back to WF, and over 90% of every button and modes (scale split, arps, scale lock and transport controls). The master fader didn't work. I had the same problem with my Essential KB, so I mapped in Control Surfaces everything to Mackie Control Universal. The master fader works, along with EVERYTHING, as far as I can tell. You lose a few functions in Mackie, e.g. the loop button engages the click, and tap tempo engages autoscroll. Personally don't care about those functions.

It took less than an hour to get to what I outlined above. I've run into some problems that I'm not sure is appropriate for the Tracktion sub, but I'll lay it out here, as it may have to do with Midi Learn. There's nothing to map within WF's midi learn that has to do with the modwheel, faders, and sliders, correct?

If that's the case, something's up within Arturia's MCC. My modwheel controls the master fader, as well as pans tracks 1, 8, while my pan control on the keyboard is now non-functional. With the modwheel, the master level goes up and down, while the pans on 1 & 8 go left and right.

At some point, only the master fader was effected, and I didn't really care, as I never use the modwheel, and it was kinda cool to just adjust the master level from the modwheel.

I suspect user error on my part, as I was messing around in the MCC, but there's a message I get, that makes no sense, after moving something- I'm prompted to hit the "Store" button before exiting, but there is no Store button, and the Save button is grayed out.

I've also lost Analog Lab (read only) and Default (read only) in the MCC. I'm wondering if there's a way to get them back; I haven't reinstalled MCC yet.

I'll attach some pics. If nothing, this may be helpful to someone trying to setup their own mk3.

Now that I think of it, the problems described isn't the end of the world. I did like the modwheel controlling the master volume, and I rarely use the master pan control, except to isolate L/R on a mix, but in the scheme of things, I think I let my OCD get in the way.

FWIW, there's some pics attached. I've reached out to Arturia, and may post in the Arturia forum. TIA if anyone has any insights. I think I'll reinstall MCC later. But I hope there was some help with someone new to the MK3. It's absolutely solid all the way around, the buttons are very intuitive, and I can see this speeding up the workflow. The Essential mk3 can do everything the same, but you also have to go through extra steps, to get to where you want. I opted for the Keylab mk3 for the extra pads, and the led window really simplifies seeing what going on.

Sorry for the wall of text.