Review: Key Suite Digital by UVI

The perfect digital keyboards selection for instant Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars vibe! The library is a comprehensive selection of the most iconic digital keyboards that shaped the sound of the 80s/90s, delivering a very genuine sound at a very affordable price.

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Review: Key Suite Digital by UVI

Key Suite Digital is the latest collection of digital keyboards by UVI. The library is a comprehensive selection of the most iconic digital keyboard that shaped the sound of the 80s/90s, delivering a very genuine sound at a very affordable price.

Key Suite Digital sells for €79.00 from UVI

Thoughts

Key Suite Digital by the developer UVI is a collection of 10 digital keyboards straight from the 80s and 90s. The instrument aims – and succeeds – to deliver the gritty, lo-fi sound of the first digital samplers and synths that became popular with Pop music more than three decades ago.

The 14 GB library can be downloaded from the UVI website along with the UVI Engine that is needed to use it. In fact this is not the usual Kontakt library and it will run only on UVI Workstation (free) or UVI Falcon.
The library also needs the free iLok software on your computer for authentication but, fortunately, it does not require the USB dongle.

Once you have completed the installation and authentication you can simply open the Key Suite Digital library from the UVI Workstation (in my case) GUI. I have to say, having never used UVI engines before, it took me only a few minutes to get familiar with it. As you can see from the list, you have at your disposal the reproduction of 10 old school digital keyboards, inspired by the products of brands that were pioneers in the “digitalisation” of music like Korg, Roland, Akai and many more. Once you have selected your keyboard of choice, you can select the relative preset. Almost all of them have different flavours of Clavinet, Electric Pianos, Grand Pianos, Harpischord and Vibraphone presets to start with.

Speaking of the GUI – which will appear once the preset has been selected – you have one main tab that represents the digital keyboard along with important info like CPU usage and Voices. On this tab you can also select how the keys will respond to velocity by simply adjusting the VEL curve in the box at the bottom-right corner.

…But the real core of this library is the second tab! By selecting it from the middle circle at the bottom of the interface you will have access to – possibly – the most user friendly set of knobs you have ever seen. With the right amount of colours, minimalist and pretty self explanatory, you have Filter, Amplitude Envelope, Filter Envelope, Modwheel, Pitch and Tone settings.

Both Envelopes obviously have ADSR and Velocity response – that can be turned on/off with a simple button – just like the Filter (where you can intuitively select the type of filter) and the Modwheel (where you can select tremolo, vibrato or filter amount). It is worth saying that the resonance will most likely produce musically pleasant result in any situation, even if maxed out! At the bottom corners you have additional controls like Balance, Key Pan or Polyphony (which is luckily not very heavy on CPU).

The last tab is the FX one. Just like the rest of the GUI it is very appealing in visually reproducing the most iconic music hardware like the Bricas… ehm UVI U7 reverb, the Digital Delay or the “Sparkverb”.

(Not) surprisingly enough, besides looking great, these effects sounds amazing too, allowing you to avoid excessive processing outside the UVI engine while achieving a great sound using 100% of the library capabilities.

At the very top of the interface the engine also offers a good list of additional effects… and I have to say a VERY good list of FX. You pretty much have all the FX you can imagine if the previous ones didn’t bring your sound to the desired level and this certainly is the tab for you in case you need some more “synthy” and “sound-designed” sounds.

It is very easy to escape from the digital pianos realm and achieve a real synthesizer with the FX that are at your disposal!

The last tab at the top of the UVI engine is the ARP. I will not dive into the description of this page since it is very well lined out, super user friendly and, most importantly, we have one last thing to cover: the MULTI section of UVI Engine.

Even if it is not part of the Digital Keys library, but rather part of the UVI Engine, you can select the MULTI mode at the top right corner of the interface. Just like in Kontakt this will let you load multiple MAIN instruments to create a MULTI but, in my opinion, in a much clearer way. As you can see you have the possibility of adjusting volumes of each MAIN instrument (I have three empty in this instance) PAN, Aux 1 and 2, Polyphony and tweaking the pitch.

At the bottom half you can add even more FX (also as Aux 1 or 2) to your ultimate creation. This gives A LOT of flexibility if you would like to have several digital keys at your fingertip to create the definitive keyboard sound, have crazy MIDI routing or swiftly switch between presets!

Overall UVI Key Suite Digital is an amazing library for a very little price. I highly suggest it to every Michael Jackson aficionado or anyone in need of authentic sound for Pop Music productions without having to over-tweak the sounds of the library. The only downside is that the UVI Workstation does not run smoothly at all times and sometimes suffers from small visual glitches (tested on OSX Mojave and Logic Pro 10.4.4).

Facts

UVI Key Suite Digital installs at less than 15 GB, runs on UVI Workstation (free) and activates through with iLok free software – no dongle required. Key Suite Digital is a comprehensive collection of digital keyboards with the authentic sound and feel of 80s and 90s digital keys.

The GUI is very appealing and makes the instrument super user friendly and easy to tweak, leaving enough room for complex tonal shaping if needed. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a set of quality digital keyboards at a very reasonable price. Load any patch of this library and you’ll instantly have a great, genuine sound to fit any Pop Music production!

Key Suite Digital sells for €79.00 from UVI

Demos of Key Suite Digital by UVI

Videos of Key Suite Digital by UVI

Contributor Andrea Federici reviews Key Suite Digital by UVI
“The perfect digital keyboards selection for instant Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars vibe!”