Gunfist

Novation’s XioSynth is a bit of an odd beast, a combination of a synth, midi controller and audio interface, all for around £230 (or a bit less if you look around). I got mine just after christmas from the fine chaps at Absolute Music, as an all-in-one solution to go with a cheapy laptop, but I only recently got round to really giving it a work out.

Audio Interface

Probably the least impressive part of the XioSynth triumverate is the audio interface. A simple 2 in 2 out setup, the ports on the back of the keyboard offer a pair of line out jacks, a headphone socket, MIDI Out and an XLR and jack line in, each feeding a different channel.

The XLR can supply phantom power, switchable from the Global menu on the synth between 12, 24, and 48 volts, in case you’re running off a laptop battery and want to save a bit of power - though the unit comes with a power adaptor, and can take batteries itself if need be. The menu is accessed through a 2 line LCD, and between that and an option on the front panel various audio options can be accessed, such as levels, monitor mixing and so on. I was glad to find the headphone and line levels had dedicated knobs.

The headphone port allows for direct monitoring (so little latency) of both inputs and the synth output itself, though the synth is pumped over the same 2 channels as the two inputs, so you can’t, say, record a mic, guitar and the synth all on seperate channels. However, the audio interface seems clean and pleasant, and the mic pre unobtrusive.

Midi Controller

The XioSynth (I have the 25 key model, though it’s also available as a 49) is also a fairly well equipped MIDI controller. The keys are full size and semi-weighted, with a nice responsive action, though the first unit I received had a sticky key, and I do have concerns about how springy the keys will be after a few months of use. To the left of the keyboard the XioSynth has an XY touch (or fairly-firmly-press) pad, which default to controlling the filters in a fairly entertaining way, and a joystick that controls pitch bend and modulation, though it is somewhat difficult to change one without the other if both are enabled.

Above that are 11 buttons and knobs, all of which can be used to send MIDI data, as well as a few controls that just affect the unit. The synth comes pre-loaded with presets for some common soft synths and software, with more available to upload. I mostly used them with Reason, for which the mappings seemed adequate, though they can be changed as required using the template editor, which also doubles as a simple patch librarian for the synth (though not as a patch editor). One thing worth pointing out is that the unit lacks MIDI in and Thru ports, which might be of concern, depending on your setup.

Synth

The synth is a three oscillator (with 17 waveforms), two LFO, one filter synth, which has been put to (mostly) good use by the 200 preset patches, with various notables contributing some sounds, including a couple of really nice bass sounds from roots manuva. The synth is 8 note polyphonic, though many of the patches are monophonic, and can be fed through a series of on board effects, with basic reverb, delays and distortion and so on all present and correct. The built in patches demonstrate a good sample of the possibilities of the synth, with big bass sounds, trance-y pads and plenty of fluid lead lines that respond in a nicely musical way to the various controls.

When the XioSynth is switched into synth mode, the eleven knobs and buttons control the parameters of the various parts of the engine. Due to the limited number of controls (as compared to the range of editable parameters), there are quite a few mode switches available. A button at the start of the control panel flips the controls between two different modes (as well as flipping them into input mode which allows adjustment of the gain and pan on the audio inputs at the back), for example flipping a knob between key tracking and frequency on an LFO.

On the oscilator and LFO sections, another button allows you to flip through which oscillator the knobs affect, which can make editing a patch a little less spontanous than one may want. However, given that parameters can be assigned to the XY pad and joystick, it doesn’t take long to come up with something interesting.

Also usefully, the synth can be used stand alone, when powered off batteries or the power adaptor.

Other Features

One of the funkiest features is the hybrid mode, where some controls can be mapped to midi, and others mapped to the synth. This allows, for example, having the touch pad and keyboard control the synth, while the pots and joystick only send midi, which should make for some interesting possibilities when, say, jamming with Ableton - though I must admit that so far I haven’t actually needed it. The synth can transmit midi even when purely in synth mode, which can be quite handy for recording the midi for tweaking, before playing the improved version back to the XioSynth to record the audio output.

Tweaking synth sounds is fairly fluid, which is of course much of the point of having a hardware synth, despite the multiple modes utilised on each button. Each knob only reacts to changes once you’ve passed through it’s current value, so if a filter is set half way, and the knob is at 0, moving it wont immediately result in the filter snapping closed. Speaking of creating sounds, saving your creations does involve overwriting an existing one, and while the patch librarian lets you save and restore them, so that you needn’t lose them forever, it would be nice to have a space to store them while still keeping the presets around for inspiration.

The synth also features an arpeggiator with a solid range of options, and a step-sequencer style slicing tool they call the X-Gator. You can edit the level of each step (16 or 32) on the LCD, and get some good rhythmic effects going pretty quickly. The tempos of the effects, X-Gator and arpeggiator are all editable, and can sync to the midi clock.

Summing Up

Considering the price point of the XioSynth, it really is great value for money. You get a reasonable audio interface, a good midi controller and a big brash synth all thrown in, and there really is little to compare it to, other than Novation’s older X-Station.

In synth terms, there isn’t much you get for this kind of money. The microKorg and Alesis Micron spring to mind, both of which cost at least £20 more and have their own limitations, though the Alesis at least has more powerful synthesis, though even less controls if I recall correctly.

As for the combined audio interface/midi controller aspect there is some competition, M-Audio’s Ozonic is in slightly more expensive than the Xiosynth, but is 4 in 4 out, and has a few more control options. It is firewire though, while the XioSynth is USB2, and firewire does seem to be overlooked in the cheapy brands of laptops your author favours. The Alesis Photon is in a similar bracket MIDI and audio feature wise and seems to be a few quid over the £100 mark.

All in all, the XioSynth is a sort of half way house between a computer based system and a workstation synth, which is pretty much exactly what I was looking for. However, despite the fact is is undeniably cracking value for money, I think it’s worth considering whether you actually need what the XioSynth is giving you.

If you’re likely to want to record more than one source on a regular basis, on need a number of outs, you would probably be served by a beefier audio interface. For those looking to play their synth live, the XioSynth would work for the occasional bleepy bit, but it might be worth investing in a slightly tougher stand alone unit for regular gigging - perhaps an SH-201, Juno or similar. Similarly, many of the features really come out when the unit is used with a computer, which might not be the most reliable live set-up. For those working in the studio and looking for some new sounds, you might be better suited to a decent controller and a soft synth.

Overall though, the XioSynth is an incredibly versatile package, and the fact that you can chuck it in a rucksack with a laptop/DAW and a mic and have a pretty complete portable studio is very attractive.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 at 9:04 pm and is filed under Gunfist, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. This post is tagged You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.