novation x-station - is it good?

M

marcosjr

New member
I´m a progressive trance producer and was looking for some synthesizer and midi controller to buy. I´ve found this novation x-station, wich is all-in-one , synthesizer and midi controller...

LINK: http://www.novationmusic.com/product.asp?id=1&Type=1

but I Dunno if it´s really good.... anyone here knows it? is it really good to make some good musics and live performances?

One more information: i´ll use it with Reason 3 and Cubase SX
 
Last edited:
It's a good piece of gear if you want an all-in-one solution... however the microphone preamp on it pretty much sucks. For a midi controller it is excellent, with plenty of sliders and knobs to assign... the built-in synthesis is actually not bad... but then again it isn't amazing either. It's a good piece of gear but in my opinion the build quality is 50/50. The keys and the overall casing itself feel really sturdy and nice, however the sliders and knobs feel like a toy, easily breakable.
 
novation is great for trance and electronica! x-station and k-station...
 
as an onboard synth you can't go wrong. for controlling programs like ableton, it works so well.....

in terms of durability i have had mine for almost two years and i have giged with it numeros times in various beat showcases and a couple of dj gigs....all my knobs and sliders are all good. so overall its a durable controller. the mic preamp is not that wack, sometimes i get bored and go to my school library to sample records in the music library with my xstation and laptop.........you have to turn the input volum up a bit, but overall the record i am trying to sample still sounmds good on it.
 
It is an excellent piece of kit, one of the best controllers ever made and a good audio interface to boot! I did not care too much for the on-board synth, but I got a copy of V-station/Bass-station VST with mine for free and they both rock and breath entirely new life into the controller, since it works with them flawlessly. It is a great audio interface too in my experience, but I only used it to output from Reason/Vsts for live use. It also has some interesting effects and can be used as a "stomp-box" or stand-alone effects unit, which adds even more value.

In terms of as a controller, it has been somewhat surpassed by the Novation SL series. I have long considered getting another X-station 49 and RemoteSL Zer0 for an all-inone vst studio, since the only thing that comes close is a Virus TI for thousands more.... and the X-station is more reliable as an interface imho.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
i owned the xiosynth and they have the same engine as the x-station i didnt like the sound of the engine it lacked warmth and its 1 osc wasnt feelin that either it sounded vst'ish imo but if u want a good all in one solution go for it they're droppin the prices on them
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ALIASTrP said:
i owned the xiosynth and they have the same engine as the x-station i didnt like the sound of the engine it lacked warmth and its 1 osc wasnt feelin that either it sounded vst'ish imo but if u want a good all in one solution go for it they're droppin the prices on them
Click to expand...


its kind of wierd but i tried out the "all star" preset on the xstation that i have and used the xiosynth and maybe someone messed with it, but the wave sounds on the xiosynth sound so much more agressive. but more than likely someone at the novation booth saved their version of the all star preset.


oh good news for xstation users, you can go to the novation website and download the presets onto the xstation so you can hear presets from cats like roots manuva.
 
Its a great all in one solution. But I suggest getting it only if you really need all the extra bells n whistles it comes with. As a midi controller its great: semi-weighted keys, dedicated transport controls, tons of knobs; sliders; and buttons, nice but small LCD screen so you know what you're controlling etc. etc. Build quality-wise: its plastic but sturdier than something that M-Audio would put out. A full velocity button or option on the board would be nice tho as I find that I have to really bang hard on the board if I want a hard hit (maybe some folks can help me out with this one). Has midi in and two midi outs which is great if you want to use it to control multiple midi modules or use it as a midi interface as well.

The audio interface ain't too bad. Decent transparent sound quality. Good ASIO drivers (I got a tad bit above 3ms of latency). Has onboard effects so you can use it as an effects unit. Though you're obviously better off just tracking/sampling your audio dry and then using plug-ins (so for most this will be a somewhat unecessary extra).

I'm no synth expert but the digital synth doesn't sound too bad either. But again it seems like more of an extra bonus than a salient feature. Maybe not a bad idea for live use or if you wanna sample the sounds you make on it. But for studio use, and people wanting a synth for sequencing its basically useless because in synth mode you can't use the midi ports. You can record the audio output of the synth through the USB tho, so it can be useful for recording the audio live onto your comp.

So if you find you really NEED all these extra features and will make use of them and can deal with a synth that won't sync to midi then go for it. Otherwise I'd actually say yer better off just buying a synth with midi ports. I recently upgraded to a better audio interface so I might be selling my X-Station 49 (everything is fully functioning, no damages or anything). I plan on downgrading to the Novation Remote because I don't need the extra bells and whistles on the X-Station anymore. Once I find a Remote 49 for sale I will be putting my X-Station up. PM if you are interested.
 
Aftertouch

An important note: the X-station also has after-touch, which the Xiosynth does not!!!! This was a deciding factor for me, personally.
 
So I just purchased a used Remote 25 Audio with the latest Novation drivers (OS updates) installed. Does this update mean that I have the built in synth just like the XStation? I thought it did but have been getting conflicting information from reading online. Please advise :)
 
hi sorry if im hijacking the thrad but its a question about the xiosynth.does anyone know if im able to sync the synth through ableton live 7,is it even possible?

thanks
 
Oooontza!!!! said:
hi sorry if im hijacking the thrad but its a question about the xiosynth.does anyone know if im able to sync the synth through ableton live 7,is it even possible?

thanks
Click to expand...

So I posted a question earlier and turns out I just have the UK version of the XStation. I am not familiar with the xiosynth but my XStation fully integrates with Ableton Live 7 and it has a built in synth which is really nice because I do not have to use vst plugins anymore. You should buy one, I got mine used on ebay and it was totally worth the $$, imo.
 
panda_number_1 said:
So I posted a question earlier and turns out I just have the UK version of the XStation. I am not familiar with the xiosynth but my XStation fully integrates with Ableton Live 7 and it has a built in synth which is really nice because I do not have to use vst plugins anymore. You should buy one, I got mine used on ebay and it was totally worth the $$, imo.
Click to expand...

im pretty sure it does and its just me who cant get it working i am new to this as ive never had a proper hardware synth b4 always been vst's ive used.do you know anywhere online where i might find a tutorial or guide on how to set it up through ableton.ive had a mess about with it and when i press the keys on the synth i know ableton is detecting it as the eq in the midi chanel ive created is moving but nothing is showing up

thanks
 
i own the 2 octave xstation and im pretty happy with it.....sound wise its got great sub bass.....and since ur into trance u'll definitly like the lead synth sounds....as a hip hop guy some of them are just to clubby for my liking but making custom patches is pretty easy so it all evens out.....also since i got only the 25 key it makes for agreat portable midi controller
 
Oooontza!!!! said:
im pretty sure it does and its just me who cant get it working i am new to this as ive never had a proper hardware synth b4 always been vst's ive used.do you know anywhere online where i might find a tutorial or guide on how to set it up through ableton.ive had a mess about with it and when i press the keys on the synth i know ableton is detecting it as the eq in the midi chanel ive created is moving but nothing is showing up

thanks
Click to expand...

Did it not come with a user's manual? In the user's manual it shows you how to assign knobs and/or buttons to your control panel. If you still cant figure it out, I will make a video of me going through the process and send it to you.
 
panda_number_1 said:
Did it not come with a user's manual? In the user's manual it shows you how to assign knobs and/or buttons to your control panel. If you still cant figure it out, I will make a video of me going through the process and send it to you.
Click to expand...

the midi control side of it im totally fine with,its when im trytin to use the synth through ableton its just not finding it properly,its confusing lol
 
Oooontza!!!! said:
the midi control side of it im totally fine with,its when im trytin to use the synth through ableton its just not finding it properly,its confusing lol
Click to expand...

thats weird....i use my with ableton and it works great....pm and ill check how i have it set up in live when i get home
 
plz clearify midi functions

So i've read conflicting things in this thread and perhaps someone would be kind enough to clear it up for me:
It is possible to use ableton, or an MPC, to send midi INTO the x-station and have sequenced audio come out of the main out?

I'm interested in using my MPC / ableton to sequence riffs on the x station. I heard that midi doesn't work with the synth engaged...WTF? Is that only when using USB?

Thank you so much!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top