Novation X-Station 61 
by Travis from Atlanta, GA, May 2008
Music Background:  Pro Musician, Recording Engineer

If you are looking for a midi controller to use on stage then by all means, check out the X-Station. Its own sounds are not great and will remind you of some older generation key sounds without a lot of dimensions. The arp is not as flexible as they make it sound. If you want serious arp control go with the new Yamaha controllers. I use it to control Reason 4 and it works nicely. The buttons and sliders are not well constructed and will stick while you are playing and screw you up; practicing can resolve most of this. The midi/audio interface is not bad but does not play nicely with every DAW out there. It's better with PC than Mac from my experience. For example, if your running reason 4 from a laptop and you want to switch onstage to an onboard Novation sound you can forget it. You can't go back to Reason 4 without the board getting really confused. There is also a lot of line noise and its from the board; not my recording chain I promise. However, if you are just using it as a midi controller its really solid. Where this board really shines is for people who want freedom and control with assignable parameters while playing live, or in the studio making some tracks. But BEWARE, the control surface is not for quickly changing sounds left and right; you will have to practice and learn to reset all your sliders and knobs WHILE you are playing and before you switch to a new sound or it will give you undesirable results. Overall, for $600 or so bucks you really get a lot in there, but I really wish they would have done a few things less and done them better. Have fun.

  One versitile keyboard/controller 
by Rocky Guarriello from Rutherfordton, NC USA, September 2006
Music Background:  Recording, live sound engineer, and former touring musician.

I was using a Yamaha ES-6 as my second keyboard. After speaking with my Sweatwater rep Mac Hutton he suggested trying the X-Station 61 for two reasons. Keyboard feel, and versitility. THe first time I played it I instantly fell in love with the keyboard. It not only feels solid, but also has touch sensitivity. The second thing I did was plug a microphone into it, and try the effects, and the mic preamp. Again it was great. Then I put the synth through its paces. Big sound, easy to control with the sliders, and buttons. All in all one of the best keyboards I have ever owned. Stick a midi module on this and you have a killer setup.

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