KMR Audio Ltd is a credit broker and is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For many, this will seem like overkill, but it's indicative of the overall attention to detail that Arturia have applied, from the excellent build quality to the exemplary layout. It's by no means an essential purchase, but if you want an exciting and inspirational new way to play, program and perform music, we wholeheartedly recommend you take it for a spin. To prevent the iPad complaining of inadequate power, you must switch on the BSP holding down shift and stop. Earning its ‘Pro’ title, the new Beatstep will happily sync to just about anything, plus it serves up twice the number of simultaneous sequences and throws in a drum track for good measure.

Arturia’s original Beatstep offered a simplified introduction to the looping, hands–on world of the step sequencer. APR will be applied from the start of the agreement(during the 12 months free payment period) if you do not pay off the finance within the first 12 months. I especially like the random function, which can breathe new life into a set of sequenced notes by altering direction, volume, and duration.

I recently bought an old synth which has CV/Gate inputs (no midi) and I wanted something that converts midi to CV/Gate to be able to sequence it. I'm planning to use the Beatstep Pro as follows: The PC will be the master clock and they would be linked via USB. I have a hard time believing it won’t be added, being a fairly essential function, not to mention one that they apparently already had working. There are two step sequencers for musical riffs, each of which can be configured for different outputs, so you can have one control analog gear via the voltage outputs while the other sends its data to your MIDI hardware.

This time round, the controller offers an arsenal of two fully independent melodic sequencers and one drum sequencer complimented by an intelligent user interface that allows you to navigate the different functions with ease. I've tested the MIDI out to the Prophet 08 (output from Beatstep Pro sequencer is mono only) and no issues. Even if you only use pattern 1 in each of the two melodic sequencers and drum sequencer, with transposing, muting steps, and randomization, you can go really far.Switching clock divisions changes both the playback resolution and the granularity of recorded notes, with the available options printed adjacent to the pads. If you put aside the sync adapter (and tweak the MCC settings again), you can sync to an external clock or modular LFO, etc. Next, I took the BeatStep Pro to my Stinson Beach studio, Panoramic House, and patched it to our rack of mostly Synthesis Technology MOTM modules. Unfortunately I got mine used and it did not come with the splitter that handles USB noise (and mine has a lot). Mixing amounts can get messy, but there’s no denying it’s helpful for breaking free of the otherwise perfect step–time.