Members Nikolai Posted August 10, 2006 Members Share Posted August 10, 2006 http://www.novationmusic.com/product.asp?id=32&view=overview&Type=1&bArchive=FalseBasically, it's a scaled down version of the X-Station. It still has some of the MIDI templates for soft synths like the X-Station did, and the Audio-In feature, but you can't run effects for the Audio-In, nor does it have any sliders - just buttons and knobs. Other than that, it runs off the same synth engine as the X-Station and the gimmick for this board is that it comes with 60 patches that were made by multiple artists. Also has a gator feature.So, what's the verdict? Okay board for the money ($329 USD for the 25-key, $399 USD for the 49-key), or piece of crap that should be overlooked? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members XorAxAx Posted August 10, 2006 Members Share Posted August 10, 2006 I think it looks very toy-like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nikolai Posted August 10, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 10, 2006 Unfortunately a lot of synths these days look like toys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members donaldcrunk Posted August 10, 2006 Members Share Posted August 10, 2006 i shan't know until i get to play with the step sequencer. that might be exciting. or it might not. i don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Henway_piano Posted August 11, 2006 Members Share Posted August 11, 2006 I'll try to play one this weekend at the local Sam Ash. I would think that in this price range there's little that competes with the Novation, feature for feature. Of course you could buy a used Roland JP-8000 for about the same price and have ten times the synth.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nikolai Posted August 11, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 11, 2006 The only Novation synth my Sam Ash has is an X-Station, and my friend who works in Pro-Audio didn't even know it doubled as a hardware synth. I asked about the XioSynth and he said I'd have to special order it just to try it out - which means a 50% down payment. I guess that'll work in my favor if I like it...The X-Gator is an awesome feature. I've always wanted a feature like that. I've recently been looking at a MicroX but I might go with this synth instead because of the price. I need to try it out before I make my final decision, though.The Roland JP-8000 sounds like a good idea (and I'm not crapping on it, Henway), but I'm going to start using soft synths soon and I could definitely use synth with built in MIDI templates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasp Posted August 11, 2006 Members Share Posted August 11, 2006 XioSynth - nay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nikolai Posted August 13, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 13, 2006 What other boards out there under $400 are better than the XioSynth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jordy Posted August 13, 2006 Members Share Posted August 13, 2006 i have an x-station. i completely recommend novation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nikolai Posted August 15, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 15, 2006 Is Novation good for industrial, or is it better for trance/ techno/ D'n'B? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sheepshears Posted August 15, 2006 Members Share Posted August 15, 2006 Originally posted by Nikolai Is Novation good for industrial, or is it better for trance/ techno/ D'n'B? hahah, what does this mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Diametro Posted August 15, 2006 Members Share Posted August 15, 2006 I have an X-Station. I guess I liked it 'cause I got an A-Station to go with it to double the polyphony. That's probably the only snag with the synth: monotimbral. My Micron is 8-voice too but multimbral up the wazoo. But then again, you could also run a softsynth at the same time. I think it would help give that sound more dimension. What other controller can do that, make your softsynths sound better without taxing your CPU? It's almost worth it just as a sound module as long as they didn't cut any of the synthesis down. HOW TWEAKABLE ARE THE PARAMETERS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JSRockit Posted August 17, 2006 Members Share Posted August 17, 2006 Ok, it runs on batteries...which is a plus. It has a sequencer...which is a plus. It has a joystick...plus. It can control your software relatively easily...plus. If you are just buying it to have a hardware synth...there are better options (MicroKorg, Micron, X-Station)...but if you need a midi keyboard for your computer, want a hardware synth that runs on batteries, etc... it is nice. Also, eventually the price will fall into the $250 range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hobbes Posted August 17, 2006 Members Share Posted August 17, 2006 Got my X-Station 49 some days ago. Recommended! Thought about buying XiO, but why when you can get a cheap X-Station on ebay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nikolai Posted August 18, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 18, 2006 There's something about me that is reserved about buying things over the internet, despite the great deals online there is also great risk involved sometimes. I'd rather risk the chance of getting in a car wreck going to the store than risk $5,000 disappearing from my account that I didn't have or use myself.With that aside, I am buying it for a second hardware synth. I already have a microkorg and I'm looking for another keyboard capable of making some harsh industrial synth sounds. The XioSynth is similar to an X-Station as far as I know, the only real differences are the lack of audio-in effects processing and all the buttons/ sliders. Other than that it still has the same synth engine as the X-Station and KS-rack.Is the X-Station monotimbral or multitimbral? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Khazul Posted August 18, 2006 Members Share Posted August 18, 2006 Originally posted by Nikolai http://www.novationmusic.com/product.asp?id=32&view=overview&Type=1&bArchive=FalseBasically, it's a scaled down version of the X-Station..... WTF is with them - By the Super Nova 2 they had a really good synth out - everything since then has be a scaled down version of what has come before - is this focusrite hating synths? How can you scale an X-Station down? - there allready nothing much left of the original synth engine? X-Station - should have been the Ex-synth - ie *used* to be a synth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nikolai Posted August 21, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 21, 2006 It seems to be the trend these days with keyboards - introduce the same thing in a different package with a few extra features to make more money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members realtrance Posted August 21, 2006 Members Share Posted August 21, 2006 I can only assume Novation is struggling to survive financially, and feels it will only do so as a purveyor of cheap hardware; the Supernova/Supernova 2 must have been a massive loss for them, as they've given up on anything like a full-scale hardware VA for years now. Too bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pagan Posted August 21, 2006 Members Share Posted August 21, 2006 Originally posted by Nikolai It seems to be the trend these days with keyboards - introduce the same thing in a different package with a few extra features to make more money. What do you expect, a new synthesis engine every year? This is logical that if you are manufacturer and you have already made 2-3 synthesizer engines, so you find out that 1 of these engines is more popular and makes success. So next model you would build with this successful engine with more patches than previous model had, with better interface and more attractive design. This is normal behaviour by manufacturers. If you need to have something different, buy something from other manufacturer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stikygum Posted August 21, 2006 Members Share Posted August 21, 2006 Originally posted by realtrance I can only assume Novation is struggling to survive financially, and feels it will only do so as a purveyor of cheap hardware; the Supernova/Supernova 2 must have been a massive loss for them, as they've given up on anything like a full-scale hardware VA for years now. Too bad. Yeah, you must be right. Too bad indeed, because Novation is a step away from all the other similar VAs, which I do enjoy! Nothin sounds like my KS-5! I'm sure the Xio would be cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Khazul Posted August 21, 2006 Members Share Posted August 21, 2006 Originally posted by Nikolai It seems to be the trend these days with keyboards - introduce the same thing in a different package with a few extra features to make more money. Well - that would at least be an improvement over doing *LESS* each time... Got to the end of stripping the synth engine down - now they're stripping the knobs off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nikolai Posted August 21, 2006 Author Members Share Posted August 21, 2006 Novation has only stripped down the synth engine from the Nova/ Supernova, like you said. Since the KS series they've pretty much used the same engine for their other products, adding or subtracting other unrelated features like MIDI templates and XRL inputs along the way. I don't seen any changes in the synth engine itself since then (they replaced the double waves with several noise generators, I think). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 One major problem with the XioSynth is the "midi in" jack is missing How can it be used with a hardware sequencer? Can you say limited market Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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