Members ExplodingBoy Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 I played a K Station, a Virus KB and a Modular G2 last night. The G2 is way out of my league right now, but god I would give anything for that synth!! Anyway, between the K Station and the Virus, I have to say that I loved the sound of the Novation. If that is really just supposed to be a midi controller that just happens to have a VA engine slapped on, they sure as hell didn't slack on the VA engine! It sounds awesome. The Virus sounded good too, but I really love the trancy stabs and pads on the Novation. What I might do is end up getting a Roland A70 as my controller and then get the rack version of the Novation since it seems to have a lot of knobs. That way, I can get the expansion for the A70 to cover my pianos and basic sounds and then have a FS1r and Novation in the rack midi'd up. It's awesome that the A70 has 4 seperate midi outs too. That leaves me a TON of flexibility. I think I've finally found my ideal setup. Does anyone know if the K Station has a vocoder though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike51 Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 ""played a K Station, a Virus KB and a Modular G2 last night. The G2 is way out of my league right now, but god I would give anything for that synth!! Anyway, between the K Station and the Virus, I have to say that I loved the sound of the Novation. If that is really just supposed to be a midi controller that just happens to have a VA engine slapped on, they sure as hell didn't slack on the VA engine! It sounds awesome. The Virus sounded good too, but I really love the trancy stabs and pads on the Novation. What I might do is end up getting a Roland A70 as my controller and then get the rack version of the Novation since it seems to have a lot of knobs. That way, I can get the expansion for the A70 to cover my pianos and basic sounds and then have a FS1r and Novation in the rack midi'd up. It's awesome that the A70 has 4 seperate midi outs too. That leaves me a TON of flexibility. I think I've finally found my ideal setup. Does anyone know if the K Station has a vocoder though?"" yeah it does have a vocoder. I have the mini k-station with the two octaves. That thing packs a can of whoop ass. Are you talking about the Novation KS4 and KS5? the mini K only has one filter but I dont care. It's such a nice filter, and I have a ton of great filter effects in Reaktor if need be. __________________ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike51 Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 hey Explody - I think I may have just juggled up your decisions, lol: http://www.novamusik.com/search.aspx?type=Manufacturer&keyword=136 The x-station 61 novation just came out. Kstation synth engine built inside. Tons of control options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members protues9 Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 The K station is a great, easy to use and flexible tool. But it needs good filetering and processing to sound good.. i think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike51 Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 and an x/y pad like the Z1...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike51 Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 ""The K station is a great, easy to use and flexible tool. But it needs good filetering and processing to sound good.. i think."" I have to disagree. For straight up VA stuff it is really good. I was looking for something to do huge bass sounds and Floyd leads - and it does them very very well. Before I bought the K I had it running next to an Andy 6 using the same monitors at the local G-center. The K fared very very well which is why I bought it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike51 Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 oh and hey explody - if you are after analog sounds and can swing a grand or so, check out some clips from my new ms-20: http://www.soundclick.com/util/DownloadSong.cfm?ID=1953646 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Umbra Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 K station is a fairly limited VA, and yes there is a vocoder, at least on the rack version (A-station). My favorite trick there is turning up the unison detune while talking in the vocoder sounds really cool. But as far as a VA goes it's quite limited. You'll definately struggle to get more than 20 or 30 unique sounds out of it unless your a decent programmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members protues9 Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 well let me say, I used the Vstation and i thought it was pretty flat most of the time. There was something off about it, i can't quite put my finger on what it was .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ExplodingBoy Posted January 6, 2005 Author Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 The x-station 61 novation just came out. Kstation synth engine built inside. Tons of control options. It's funny because I just discovered the X STation as well and that looks PERFECT for what I need! I may skip getting the A70 now and just get an X Station because that X/Y pad would be PERFECT for the FS1R. Any opinions on the X Station as opposed to the other Novations? I also kind of screwed up.. the one I played last night was NOT the K Station... it was the KS5. Is that the same thing? Anyway, the X Station looks like an AWESOME controller... and it looks like you can get them brand new for like $800. Is the X Station better than the KS5 or K Station?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike51 Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 "K station is a fairly limited VA, and yes there is a vocoder, at least on the rack version (A-station). My favorite trick there is turning up the unison detune while talking in the vocoder sounds really cool. But as far as a VA goes it's quite limited. You'll definately struggle to get more than 20 or 30 unique sounds out of it unless your a decent programmer." yes the K-station is limited in terms of it's filter. The KS which explody was talking about is not. However, you can add some different tones to the sounds in amny different ways. A simple listen to the novation demos of the synth tells you that. What it does, it does very well IMHO. I dont worry about not having enough different sounds. I own Reaktor and a z1 So getting a portable VA that could excell in thick pads, basses and leads was all I wanted. Plus the K's many knobs on sliders work well with Reaktors midi learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike51 Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 ""It's funny because I just discovered the X STation as well and that looks PERFECT for what I need!"" yeah that's what I thought when I saw it. ""I also kind of screwed up.. the one I played last night was NOT the K Station... it was the KS5. Is that the same thing?"" no the KS5 is better. More sounds. ""Anyway, the X Station looks like an AWESOME controller... and it looks like you can get them brand new for like $800."" yep. Thats the price of an A70 and a KS5 rack. ""Is the X Station better than the KS5 or K Station??"" yes. It does alot more in terms of controlling, etc. oh and Expody I think pighood just bought the 25 key version of the x-station. Ask him about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ExplodingBoy Posted January 6, 2005 Author Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 It looks like the X Station is only 8 note poly though, which isn't a huge deal, but the KS5 is 16 note. Any opinions on the sound of the X Station compared to the KS5? The X Station does look like an AWESOME controller. I wonder if all of those knobs and sliders will work to control a bunch of parameters on the FS1R? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeebus Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 The KStation is limited in more ways than just the filter. There's no mod matrix, only 2 lfos, and weak envelopes. Doesn't make for a very flexible synth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike51 Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 "The KStation is limited in more ways than just the filter. There's no mod matrix, only 2 lfos, and weak envelopes. Doesn't make for a very flexible synth." how are the envelopes weak? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ExplodingBoy Posted January 6, 2005 Author Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 All that matters to me is what it sounds like. I found the KS5 to sound better than the Virus KB. Whether it has less features is pretty irrelevant to me. I go by what a synth sounds like. The Novation seemed to have a fuller, warmer sound and great effects. Is it true that the 61 key version of the X Station won't be out until May? That kind of sucks. I definately can't wait that long for a controller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike51 Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 ""All that matters to me is what it sounds like. I found the KS5 to sound better than the Virus KB. Whether it has less features is pretty irrelevant to me. I go by what a synth sounds like. The Novation seemed to have a fuller, warmer sound and great effects."" Chris was talking about the K-station, not the KS4 or KS5 , which is what the X-station 61 has built inside (but 8 voice). I agree the Novation stuff sounds great. Some people don't like it - they like the Nords or Virus. As a fan of big analog type sounds, I think the Novations are great. I have a couple demo sequences being copyrighted that use it to full effect. ""Is it true that the 61 key version of the X Station won't be out until May? That kind of sucks. I definately can't wait that long for a controller."" novamusik.com says March. Ask pighood about his X-station 25. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jeebus Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 Originally posted by Mike51 Chris was talking about the K-station, not the KS4 or KS5 Actually, I was talking about all three. They're weak, unflexible, plastic sounding synths. I wasn't at all inspired by them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Umbra Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 It's interesting that the supernova II which basically has the same sound is going for over $1K used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike51 Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 "" Actually, I was talking about all three. They're weak, unflexible, plastic sounding synths. I wasn't at all inspired by them"" as opposed to what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ExplodingBoy Posted January 6, 2005 Author Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 It's all subjective anyway. I found the KS5 to sound MUCH better than the Virus KB and I was playing them out of the same speakers side by side. The Novation had a much more full sound and better sounding effects. Just my thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pighood Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 Yep I got the 25-key X-Station to replace an Oxygen-8. More than a little impressed. GREAT controller with a GREAT sound engine. Nowhere near as deep as my Q or Andromeda, but sweet and touchable with a luverly X/Y pad & smooooth filter. Love looking at it, too. Quite striking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike51 Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 Looks like you found your controller Explody. That thing does look bad ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kirumamoru Posted January 6, 2005 Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 Ah, but does it have polyphonic aftertouch? I thought that was the reason you wanted the Roland A-series controller.... Kiru Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ExplodingBoy Posted January 6, 2005 Author Members Share Posted January 6, 2005 I wasn't going to buy the A50 based ONLY on the fact that it had poly aftertouch. That was just a very cool feature that I just learned that it had. It would have been very cool and I still MIGHT get the A50 and a VA rack, but... The fact that the X Station is probably a better controller AND has a nice VA engine crammed in it seems to make it an even better choice. That X/Y pad is very tempting considering I've got the FS1r. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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