Review: Key Suite Electric by UVI

Key Suite Electric is the latest collection of electric keyboards by UVI. The library is a comprehensive selection of the most acclaimed electric keyboards, from bass to clavs, electric pianos and reeds, delivering an incredibly warm sound at a reasonable price. The authentic, FUNKY and WARM sound of good ol’ electric keys in one library!

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Review: Key Suite Electric by UVI

Key Suite Electric is the latest collection of electric keyboards by UVI. The library is a comprehensive selection of the most acclaimed electric keyboards, from bass to clavs, electric pianos and reeds, delivering an incredibly warm sound at a reasonable price.

Key Suite Electric sells for €199,00 from UVI

Thoughts

Key Suite Electric by the developer UVI is a collection of 63 different, deeply sampled, electric keyboards grouped in 7 different categories. The instruments are meant to satisfy all of your electric keyboard needs, from bass to clavs, electric piano, reeds and analog keys.

DISCLAIMER: If you have already read my review of UVI’s Key Suite Digital I suggest you head over to the demos and hear what this fantastic library sounds like since I will be covering a lot of common ground.

The 14,5 GB of library can be downloaded from 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 Electric library from the UVI Workstation 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 63 different electric keyboards, grouped in 7 main categories. Whether you select the tines, analog, electric, bass, reeds, clavs or electro-acoustic you will experience a really warm, authentic and FUNKY sound.

Speaking of the GUI, you have one main tab that represents the electric key 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.

By selecting it from the middle circle at the bottom of the interface you will have access to one of the most user friendly sets 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.

The Envelopes have ADSR and Velocity response just like the Filter and the Modwheel (where you can select tremolo, vibrato or filter amount). At the bottom corners you have additional controls like Balance, Key Pan or Polyphony (not very heavy on CPU).

Besides the insane amount of control that you have with this library I am pretty sure you will find the sound you need in one of the many presets that perfectly adapt to various genres like Funk, Pop, RnB, Jazz and even some classic Rock and Prog.

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

While these effects look and sound amazing just like in the Digital Keys library, I have found that almost every preset already has the right amount of wet signal and you probably won’t need to tweak anything on this page.

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 and super user friendly.

Overall UVI Key Suite Electric is an amazing library for a small price. I highly suggest it to everyone in need of authentic sound for Jazz, Pop & Funk 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 Electric installs at less than 15 GB, runs on UVI Workstation (free) and activates through with iLok free software – no dongle required.

Key Suite Electric is a comprehensive collection of Electric keyboards that covers clavinets, analog keys, reeds, tines and electric pianos.

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 electric keyboards at a very reasonable price. Load any patch of this library and you’ll instantly have a great, genuine sound to fit any Funk & Jazzy Music production!

Key Suite Electric sells for €199,00 from UVI

Demos of Key Suite Electric by UVI

Videos of Key Suite Electric by UVI

Contributor Andrea Federici reviews Key Suite Electric by UVI
“The authentic, FUNKY and WARM sound of good ol’ electric keys in one library!”