E-Mu Xboard 25 Review Manual

Brand: E-Mu

Model: Xboard 25

Type: Review Manual

E-Mu Xboard 25 is a versatile MIDI controller that offers a wide range of features to enhance your music production workflow. It is equipped with 25 full-sized, velocity- and aftertouch-sensitive keys, providing a comfortable and expressive playing experience. The Xboard 25 also boasts 16 assignable knobs, a master volume/data entry slider, and pitch and modulation wheels, giving you extensive control over your virtual instruments and effects.

RECORDING JANUARY 2006

The USB MIDI controller market

has exploded in recent months. The

Xboards from E-MU occupy an inter-

esting niche: on the surface they

seem like ordinary no-frills keyboards

(and their prices would seem to bear

this out), but hidden surprises

abound.

In the box

The Xboards come in two models,

identical except for price and number

of keys: the two-octave Xboard 25

(under review here) and four-octave

Xboard 49. The keyboard is made of

dense plastic, heavier than some

other models out there, with a reas-

suring solidity and heft. The keyboard

offers full-sized keys with velocity

and aftertouch sensitivity, and front-

panel controls include sixteen assign-

able knobs plus a master volume/data

entry slider, pitch and modulation

wheels, and a set of

12 buttons for program-

ming the keyboard’s functions.

The rear panel has a socket for an

optional DC power supply. The

Xboard can also use three AA batter-

ies but ran quite handily off USB

power on both of our test computers,

a dual 2 GHz G5 Power Mac from

Apple and an Ozma-m 3.4 GHz

Pentium 4 laptop from Alienware.

The rear panel also has a power

switch, USB connector, MIDI Out, and

/4" jack for a footswitch or pedal.

There’s no MIDI In jack; the Xboard

doesn’t double as a MIDI interface to

accept data from external modules

and send it to your computer.

The Xboard comes with an installa-

tion CD-ROM that features several

important products: Windows and

Mac OS X drivers, a crossplatform

application called Xboard Control for

setting up the keyboard’s functions, a

Windows-only installer for the

Proteus X LE softsynth, and a

Windows-only ‘lite’ version of Ableton

Live 4. There’s also a printed Owner’s

Manual that covers the basics of all

the Xboard’s functions, and a PDF

manual on the CD-ROM.

On the desktop

Installing the software

from the CD-ROM proved to be triv-

ially simple on our test Mac: it’s a

straight Apple OS X installer that

doesn’t require a passphrase. It

worked perfectly on the first try. Our

Windows install was a bit problemat-

ic—even when we followed direc-

tions, the installed software couldn’t

see the Xboard. We used Add/Remove

Programs to clear out the install,

tried again, and had it work perfectly

the second time. (That’s Windows for

you.)

On Windows, the quick-start litera-

ture warns that the Xboard hasn’t

been “signed” by Microsoft as a

peripheral, so you need to be sure to

install it on one USB port and not try

to use it on any other port (a common

glitch for many USB devices). E-MU

also warns that the computer will

expect the Xboard to require full USB

power even if plugged into a DC sup-

ply, so you can’t use it on a conve-

nience port like those found on some

computer keyboards.

Using the Xboard is quick and intu-

itive. The 3-digit LED display provides

basic information, like which preset

you’re set to and what MIDI message

a controller sends when you move it. If

this were the only user interface you

had, it would get tedious pretty quick-

ly, but the Xboard Control software

Affordability meets high quality in this USB controller

BY MIKE METLAY

REC mag 01-06 Final 11/23/05 8:15 AM Page 58

visualized place. All control knobs,

plus the wheels and pedal, have their

own edit sections, where they can be

named and assigned an initial value

(stored with the patch if you wish),

MIDI channel, and CC number.

You can choose up to 16 Program

Change messages to be broadcast when

a preset is called up, including Bank

Select MSB and LSB; this is handy

when working with softsynths that have

large numbers of programs and banks.

You can choose a velocity curve by sim-

ply clicking on the appropriate graphic.

You can also set parameters in

advance that aren’t active—for exam-

ple, you can have 16 Channel Mode

turned off but have its default con-

troller preset to the one you might want

to use, so one push of a button has you

set up and ready to go. Latch Mode and

its associated key range can be set here

too. When you have a set of parameters

ready, you can save it to hard disk as

one preset in a Bank, and/or transmit it

to the Xboard for immediate use.

We won’t speak in detail about the

two other programs (for Windows

only) included with the keyboard.

They are a ‘lite’ version of Ableton

Live, a program that needs no intro-

duction to our readers, and ProteusX

LE, a very solid and good-sounding

sample playback synth with a fair bit

of power, eminently suitable as a

beginner’s first virtual instrument.

They add a nice bit of value to an

already substantial package.

Minor gripes, major props

What are we missing? A MIDI In

port, so you wouldn’t need a separate

MIDI interface—but to be fair, most

beginning computer musicians won’t

have an immediate need to incorpo-

rate data from external MIDI devices,

so this is a good place to economize

and simplify. Another appropriate

corner-cut is not having faders on the

Xboard 49; good slider pots are

expensive and cheap slider pots can

be worse than useless, broadcasting

false data when they get dirty or

worn. The one thing we genuinely

miss was the ability to tweak the

aftertouch sensitivity beyond On or

Off... but having aftertouch at all on a

keyboard this affordable easily out-

weighs that gripe.

All in all, the Xboard offers a lot

more features than meets the eye—

and the software tools to use those

features easily and effectively. At this

price, you should treat yourself to a

product that’s several steps above its

bargain-basement competition in

build quality, feature set, and playing

satisfaction. Way to go, E-MU!

Prices: Xboard 25, $199.99; Xboard

49, $229.99

E-Mu Xboard 25 Review Manual

Brand: E-Mu

Model: Xboard 25

Type: Review Manual

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E-Mu Xboard 25 Review Manual

E-Mu Xboard 25 Review Manual

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