In this episode of Bad Gear, the show about the world's most hated audio tools, we are going to talk about the Novation XioSynth. Is it the almighty desert island plastic synth and music production studio?
AudioPilz I do too. But I know I have spent money on something that I thought would have been great and ended up selling it. What you are doing I really appreciate because we get to see a different angle. I bought the rhythm Wolf knowing many people hated it, but I love it.
Is it really a waste if you keep the stuff but never use it? I mean, yes, probably, but how else are you going to pretend you're musician when you're having friends over. Friend: "hey bro, nice guitar!" Me: " -sweating in Wonderwall-"
Cubase SX3? I remember _upgrading_ to that. Simpler times indeed. Btw - love the self deprecating humour. If an episode didn't include such pronunciations as "wirtual analogue" then it wouldn't be legit Bad Gear. :)
I am amazed at your ability to crank these videos weekly. They have amazing production quality and your jams are making me want to buy a synth and start twiddling knobs on my own...
Still killing it. I have some other ideas for Bad Gear (cough cough Mirage), but the idea I had the other day I thought might be really fun- an old TASCAM cassette Portastudio. You'd blow some kids minds and I am sure can still find some tricks oldheads aren't aware of (I just recently saw how people record clicks on a channel to master clock sync their synths and drum machines to their compositions on tape and my jaw dropped).
Love this thing. I used a KS4 and K-Station on a lot of my records and use the Xio in the live show to play those parts. Can read KS patches and nails the sound. Love how compact it is.
Got one second hand for EUR 50, sounded ok if a bit flat compared to other Novation VAs, but then it started to randomly spit out pitch bend and mod wheel data. Apparently it's a common fault, and makes it almost unusable.
@@barryjenkins1179 I took apart and liberally applied rubbing alcohol to mod/pitch stick on mine and it resolved the issue. Same thing worked with a couple of the knobs which were throwing out random data.
I just found this channel and have been binging all episodes! im so glad you don't have a section of your videos "thanking this videos sponsor" and then going into a minute long ad read about some stupid product I don't want. thank you for that
WOW...its uncanny how much of your reviewed/stared stuff ive actually owned as if i only done my homework b4 parting wiv me dosh or knew then wot i know now only 2 see it 10 years later on here having the piss ripped outer it...lol...love it .thanks 4 some great vids...
Video editing is getting better every time. Also you are getting better with those bad synths as well. Not enough bad synth moments and frustrations anymore hehe. The show is almost like myth busters of synths at this point :D
I got a hold of one of these on loan today, along with an Alesis DM5 drum module. I don't have enough cables to hook them all up together, so a $150 patch/midi cable order is on the way haha. I'm planning to hook the drum module via the cv gates on my Beatstep, using direct midi for the Minibrute mk1 I just picked up from the beatstep and then live playing lead lines with the novation. Should be fun! Wish me luck! Edit I don't know yet if I'm going to be able to send midi to the Xeo from the laptop, but I can always go audio in and use a live looper I guess. Either way, I'm really enjoying my first dip into outboard hardware since the 1990s!
I owned a second hand Xio for several years - it was a bit of a hassle to program with the tiny screen. The knobs on mine would come off with little effort if I pulled on them. I beat the hell out of mine from touring but it was nice to a have a portable synth that could run on batteries if needed. I ran mine through guitar pedals and multi-fx units and got some killer sounds. 6.5/10 - I would recommend it if you find one under $200.
I just got my first analog synths this summer and I still have so much to learn. I enjoy these videos greatly - informative & entertaining, and always with the lesson that expertise can transcend the limitations of so called "bad gear." My only problem is, Florian, I'm trying to find out more about you and your music - beyond this channel!
@@AudioPilz Yes, but I feel certain there's much more to learn beyond (not so) bad gear. And your journey might inform my own. I mean, the gear is one thing... but your video production techniques merit a separate tutorial page (as if you're not busy enough)! I've mostly been a straight ahead jazz pianist, but I've grown exceedingly frustrated with what passes for "hip" nowadays (it's math equations set in rhythm). I always liked analog synths, but the learning curve plus price turned me off - until I realized they've become more affordable. I'm enthused about music for the first time in years, and honestly man, everything about what you're doing is an inspiration. You have a perfect balance between important info and lighthearted fun, and I don't underestimate the skill required to pull that off. I've done a fair amount of digging, and I just can't wrap my head around the notion that you just appeared online in February 2020, fully formed into this absolute boss. Unless you're an alien. Please don't eat my brain. P.S. - I spent a couple weeks in Innsbruck doing a jazz clinic way back in 1998. It was one of the most wonderful times of my life.
Xio 49 was my first synth. And my first audio interface. And my first MIDI controller, back in 2009. I was always so annoyed that it had no MIDI in, but then I got an iConnect box (6 years later) and that wasn't an issue any more! Amazing series, you've made me laugh a lot and kept me sane these last few months, keep it up plz!
The Xio is great. Backwards compatible with K- series patches, too. Fits on my desk and stows away when I'm not using it, I also use it to drive older analog midi gear, and use the built-in sound card to pipe the audio back into my PC. Works great!
I had the Xio 49 and sold it 'cos I thought it was flimsy and the sounds on the thin side. And then, a few years later, I listened back to the demo I'd made to sell it and liked it so much I bought another one. It's not up there with the rest of Novation's gear (which I love), but it has some unique timbres which means it still a keeper for me. And I love the XY pad. Great video, by the way :-)
Amazing as always!! Since we are on a novation kick, maybe the circuit deserves an episodes? I love mine, but I know they get looked down on, and seen as a "toy synth". I think it has one of the best sequencers ever and is a great polyphonic controller. You can easily load your own samples, and it's battery powered! The components software really expands the possibilities as well. Maybe it's synth engines leave something to be desired. All in all, it's one of my favourites!
I used my XIO for years until it final died. I loved this synth. It traveled around the world with me and was packed full of my own patches. I ran it through an EHX LP2tube preamp and it sounded amazing. If I ever find another for cheap I will grab it.
If you get one of these, get the CTRLR software and a Xio template, it opens the thing up for programming. There are useful things buried deep inside inscrutable menus, such as an extra AD envelope and one-shot modes for the LFOs.
Haha weird coincidence that you made a video on some 2000's-era Novation gear, I was actually looking at them a few months ago: I settled on wanting to get the KS Rack, the Xio having an identity crisis as far as what it wanted to be in the studio and onstage made the KS units seem a bit more focused. That being said, there's so few videos of these units out here and you really made it sing! Maybe I'll get both someday :P
I used to have one of these LOL, you have to admit that it was very versatile having a built in sound-card. You don't see that on synth's these days. Some of the patches were actually designed by ...James Zabiela, Ferry Corsten, Rennie Pilgrem, Roots Manuva, Shimon, and Skeewiff...some huge Reese Basses in there. One more fun fact, looking on ebay US, there are zero for sale. So, somebody's using them. LOL Anyway, I have the X-Station which is it's big brother. . Your music video had me rolling. Keep 'em coming! Cheers
The Xio was my first "real" synth. I remember being pretty disappointed with it, but that was probably mostly due to me being clueless. You definitely got some nice sounds out of it!
I have one of these I bought back in the day, the review is pretty spot on. Synth engine is nice, build quality is meh, and he is not lying about keys, worst keys I've ever played. The keys were so bad I sent my first one back thinking it was a defect. He mentioned it in text on the video, the labels for the knobs are impossible to read unless you're at just the right angle. I gigged with it once or twice back in the day and it was fine, but since I've only ever used it as a travelling keyboard for a couple of years, now it basically collects dust, I'd love to delve into it someday again, I think I found unofficial editor software for it once. I also have an UltraNova, which is much more of a joy, night and day.
"I think I found unofficial editor software for it once" Do see if you could find it. I got one recently to play around with. Not much expectations other than the basslines :)
Hey, I really loved the progressive house bits! :) great skills. Thank you for covering this amazing synth, I too desired it when it came out and although I'm an analog synth guy, I do contemplate getting the Xio.
@@AudioPilz and I laughed out loud when you remarked that the "keyboard is an insult to humanity" 😄 it really seems like it! BTW, I would love to hear your opinion on the Volca Modular. I just bought it and quite amazed at the harmonically rich sounds it is capable of. 😊
When i saw The Piano used in the intro, i literally howled with laughter. Great fun 🤠 I think the best Novation VA's of that era, were the SuperNova & Nova. They were packed with programmability, great presets, and incredibly for the time, you could run different multi effects on each part in a multi timbral set up. I had them, and used them for years on a lot of stuff. They also never crashed, even when things got hectic over MIDI. This was from the next generation of their VA range, and is like robocop 3; no one remembers it. I knew something was amiss when i saw the LHS (left hand side) of the case; what on earth is going on there? Like most things from the noughties, it's dated faster than a boyband haircut & is best off retired. The sound engine is extra lite mayonnaise, which i suppose can be used to invigorate crispbread. Speaking of which, it looks like a long dried cracker, which you'll eat once, but only if it's smothered in soft cheese and at least one other topping. If someone threw me one for £50 (or less) and added a duty free pack of tic tac (large container, various flavours), I'd close one eye whilst using it & pretend it was the supernova keyboard, only with a lobotomy (and a er, vasectomy).
Another ‘cracking’ video, Florian, nice one! My mate had one of these which we used in a electronica duo in around 2010/2011. Hated trying to program it so we ended up only ever using the ‘tape strings’ patch 😂 I remember it feeling cheap. You can hear it if you search ‘the fishing club - 12 angry men’
"I wanted to try out some novation gear that doesn't seem to fall apart on touch" Made me spit out my tea in laughter :) (although luckily didn't land on any synths like the puke of a Koh Phangan hippy!), I thought it was gonna explode when you tried to break it. Both my Mininova and Bass Station 2 have decayed in the humidity of Hong Kong-the rubber on the mod wheels has distintegrated and the rubber on the knobs is a sticky rubbery gloop. Still love them though.That bass sound is massive.
Thanks for taking a look at this keyboard. When I bought the x-station, i felt like they only did minimal effort to tick off boxes in an effort to try and sell a lot of these to beginners. It's almost like toy shelf version of a real synth, even though it 'appears' to do all the correct things. Needless to say, I sold it for 50$ to my friend who was just starting out. I think this was back in '06 or '07.
I have an X-Station 25, which seems to be a follow-up synth to the Xio. Novation clearly addressed most of the original Xio issues regarding build quality, feeling a lot more rigid and less-plasticky. The knobs have significantly less wobble too. The audio interface was reasonable enough (the legacy drivers worked all the way up until a recent Win10 update finally killed it off) and the preamps had some interesting inbuilt multi fx but this one definitely has MIDI in so I can still use it with my DAW.
The problem I've always had with the Novation VA stuff is that it sounds fairly nice when you're just noodling around, but they tend to not mix well - they're one of those synths that has its natural place in the spectrum that it likes to sit in regardless of the sort of sound you're trying to program, and the dull top end means it tends to get buried by other synths in a mix.
I bought an X-station 25 back when it was new. The build quality was about the same, with super cheap plastic knobs and faders that don't exactly inspire confidence. But I liked its sound quite a bit, and it was SO convenient: just plug it in, and you've got a 2-channel audio interface (with combination XLR jacks) and a darn good MIDI controller. It had one of the better early 2000's VA synth engine, in my opinion. I think the Xiosynth was based around the X-Station engine. I really wish I hadn't sold mine, since other than the flimsy build quality, it was a very handy thing to have around in the event you wanted to just do something quick and dirty.
Same synth in the Xio and X Station, they can even share patches. There are a few small differences though, like the X Station has a less advanced Arp and no X Gator.
Nice video as always. I’ve got 2 x-stations. The xio was like the bridge between x-station and ultra nova. If only they’d kept all those Nova/x-station encoders in their new lineup, but with the xio they scaled down their hardware costs. It’s the filter that’s terrible in that gen of novation (yes, lcd, Potentiometers and keybed bad too, but filter most importantly), so much better now. But I still recommend X-station to newbies. I’ll keep mine though I’d let a xio go.
"Take through a tropical country" and discover the pots jam up. I used to work in the analogue sound desk industry at the back end of the last century. We sold desks to the far east and discovered the plastic shafts of the pots were hydroscopic , in other works they absorbed water, swell and jam up.
@@AudioPilz Depended on the season, rainy or dry. When we got the modules back to the UK, they were fine, we just had to build with brass pot shafts for tropical climate customers.
At that time in Novations history, they basically kept putting a stripped down version of the SuperNova into every controller keyboard they made. The synth was great! Novation UltraNova is still one of my favorite synthesizers, and it shares a lot with the XioSynth
Nice one! A good alternative is the (less flimsy) X-Station which also features aftertouch. These keyboards are brilliant for traveling, since they are USB-powered, and have a built-in audio interface with acceptably low latency. Nothing like this exists on the market anymore. (Edit: For me the old audio drivers still work on Win10.)
Hello from Tijuana, México, I have this keyboard XioSynth, all the things you said is correct, The keybed is noise and unstable, but the sound engine is nice, i use this keyboard as main midi interface for my volcas and microkorg, using the MIDI Solutions MIDI Quadra Thru and everything works fine. Thank you.
I know I'm 3 years late. But if you're interested, I have an archive of every firmware/software release for this synth, for both Mac & Windows. As a traveling companion it's great!! Let's not forget it works as an audio interface and has a mic preamp!!
I had this keyboard back when I started and it was a way to sort of dip my feet in the hardware world without going balls deep. I only used it as a controller..
So when this came out, it was the same time as microkorg and alesis micron. I saw the three as competitors. After owning all 3, the xiosynth was the clear winner for me. There is even a xio specific vst which sings in Japanese. So good!
I had an XI Oback in the day, and I sold it pretty quickly. I bought it because it was an "all in one" synth/controller, and cheap but actually I had no idea what I was doing and didnt know how to incorporate the thing into my setup -
