Music Thing: Novation's ultra-cheap synth/soundcard/interface
By Tom Whitwell 
posted Jul 7th 2006 10:52PM
posted Jul 7th 2006 10:52PM
Each week Tom Whitwell of Music Thing highlights the best of the new music gear that's coming out, as well as noteworthy vintage equipment:
Wait! Come back! Stop scrolling! Why should you read about a boring-looking grey synthesizer? I'll tell you why. This week, music geeks have been talking about two things. The first is the Bleep Labs Thingamagoop, the tiny, cute, handmade-in-America noise box with a strobing LED tentacle and surprisingly reasonable $100 price tag. The Thingamagoop represents one end of what's interesting in music gear at the moment -- fun, handmade, not necessarily very practical analog gear put together in garages by Make magazine readers.
Then there's this grey plastic synth. It's Novation's new Xio, which represents the other big thing happening in music gear: astonishing value for money. This thing is a USB audio interface, with phantom power and a pre-amp, so you can record using real professional microphones. It's a MIDI controller for racks and soft-synths, with a cool touchpad and joystick and lots of knobs. It's a nice-feeling (if short) semi-weighted keyboard (there's also a 49-key version). And, it's a real stand-alone analog-modelling synth, which you can tweak in your deckchair while it runs off 6 AA batteries. The Xio costs £229 (Maybe $350-$399 retail), significantly cheaper than it's nearest rival, the 3 year-old MicroKorg, which has mini keys and no controller or USB audio features. It's amazing.
Chinese manufacturing and cheap DSP chips have revolutionised the music gear business. Sure, this stuff doesn't have much soul, and it probably won't be collectable in 20 years, but it's making the average dorm-room studio a far more exciting place to be. Anyway, you can always invest the change in a small family of Thingamagoops.
Then there's this grey plastic synth. It's Novation's new Xio, which represents the other big thing happening in music gear: astonishing value for money. This thing is a USB audio interface, with phantom power and a pre-amp, so you can record using real professional microphones. It's a MIDI controller for racks and soft-synths, with a cool touchpad and joystick and lots of knobs. It's a nice-feeling (if short) semi-weighted keyboard (there's also a 49-key version). And, it's a real stand-alone analog-modelling synth, which you can tweak in your deckchair while it runs off 6 AA batteries. The Xio costs £229 (Maybe $350-$399 retail), significantly cheaper than it's nearest rival, the 3 year-old MicroKorg, which has mini keys and no controller or USB audio features. It's amazing.
Chinese manufacturing and cheap DSP chips have revolutionised the music gear business. Sure, this stuff doesn't have much soul, and it probably won't be collectable in 20 years, but it's making the average dorm-room studio a far more exciting place to be. Anyway, you can always invest the change in a small family of Thingamagoops.
I'm interested. It takes a while to set up my laptop plus controller plus soundcard plus synths on the road and I'd be glad to eliminate a couple steps!
I think the Korg Kontrol 49 is a better value
Sounds like an advertisement, and I wouldn't call $350-400 for a 25 key entry level piece of equipment cheap. Just go with seperate equipment that has supports firewire. M-audio has some cheap pre-amps for around $100-150, and 25 key midi keyboards for $100, and you can find a midi pad for $100 at guitar center. Better or the same price, but later if you want to upgrade a component it is possible instead of having to rebuy everything all over again.
I think you're missing the point. It's a MicroKORG competitor that happens to have a built-in basic audio interface with mic preamps. It will also function as a very capable MIDI controller and has a basic sequencer built-in.
In other words, it's an X-Station with less knobs, more features, and a lower price. I doubt Novation's going to change the synth much from the X-Station; reports say that it's going to have 8-voice polyphony with new filters modelled after vintage synths.
As far as sub-$400 synths go, there's little better. Having owned an X-Station in the past, I wish the X-Station had the features that Novation's adding to the Xio, one being the ability to split the keys to have one zone utilize the built-in synth and another zone control something else. That should've been common sense, though; I suppose it's not necessary with a 25-key model, but it becomes a factor with 49+ keys (and Novation plans to release a 49-key Xio).
A $100 key with a preamp? You must be kidding me...plug it into your crappy M-Audio interface.
also missing the point slightly... the all-in-oneness makes it more portable.
quite annoyed that they're releasing this two months after I bought an alesis photon x25 =/
I'm going over to Guitar Center to try this out.
This is a VERY late-to-the-market competitor for M-Audio's OZone controller (which has been around for 3 years or so now.) The Ozone has low-latency audio in/out (2 channels both ways) so it makes a great hi-fi soundcard of sorts (very very clean), reassignable knobs, phantom power, mixing, headphone output.
So what exactly is so new and great about this novation keyboard? A few more keys and a touchpad control, maybe? Am I missing something here?
Ah, nevermind -- it has oscillators, so it's more than a controller. I should read the press release first... This would put it more up against the micro korg (which I think is a better value and more fleibility for programming new sounds -- and the korg comes with a compressor microphone and a vocoder!), but whereas the microkorg has tiny keys and this nova has full-size semi-weighted keys -- making the feel more natural. And a touchpad control surface, which might make things a little more fun.
But my MicroKorg was $269, not $350 or $399.
If they bring it to the $299 level here, I'd probably pick one up too.
All these Novation synths are the work of legendary English synth designer Chris Huggett. His previous synths all sounded great and lots have ended up being heavily collected down the road, eg the Wasp and the OSCar.
I own a Korg Kontrol 49, but I plan on selling that if this little bugger holds up to all the hype.
I am totally getting one of these as soon as they come out. I recently bought a CME UF5 with the thought of expanding it w/ the optional audio interface, but this has everything that i want for the price. (I have to return the UF5 due to the fact that the crappy board's keys stick).
This is worst article ever. Whoever thinks that this is a competitive price to the MicroKorg obviously doesn't know how to do any research beyond the propaganda written on the box. The microKorg can do a lot better than 400 bucks.
The author of this article needs to stay away from writing articles about higher end music hardware and stay put in the toys r us Casio keyboard aisle.
"higher end music hardware" like a MicroKorg?
Of course you can get a MicroKorg for less than 400 bucks. The point is the List Price. It lists for $499. The Xio lists for $350 - 399. You don't pay list price for gear, so the Xio will be cheaper than a MicroKorg.
And I'd put a lot more stock in the opinion of the guy who writes Music Thing (a great site) than random internet whines.
Getting one of these today :)
Can't wait for a full on tweakable hardware synth finally! I just wish you could use the DSP effects on the input channels. Silly thing to only allow them on synth sounds.