I just received my 37 note X-Key Air and tried it out on a gig last night. Here are my impressions: 1. Note: I have yet to tweak any parameters. I purchased Widi Bud and the Keytar guitar strap holder but have not used them. I purchased the branded case and used it. I am a Jazz musician. 2. Keytar parts must be removed from the keyboard, or it will not fit in the case. There are 4 small parts and a coat-hanger type rod, which will only fit in the case on an angle, exposing it to possible bending. The 4 small parts are easily lost. For fifty bucks, CME could have thrown in a 10 cent plastic holder box. For forty bucks, CME could have added a zippered pocket for these parts or, better yet, made the case a half an inch longer so that said disassembly and reassembly is not required. PITA! A. Location of guitar pegs is at front of unit. They should be more centered so that the angle of the keyboard is proper for playing. I'm not sure if a modification will work; but it certainly won't be elegant in any event. PITA#2! 3. Since I play saxophone, I played the X-Key, then sax, then X-Key. I was surprised that the X-Key disconnected itself from Blue Tooth, necessitating rebooting of the downloaded app on my iPad PLUS reconnection of the keyboard as a "source" for the actual piano app. This was after only one song (i.e., 5 minutes) of non-use. PITA#3! I assume this is to conserve battery (oh - it took 15 hours to charge....) Perhaps this disconnection time can be lengthened by tweaking? 4. I could only walk about 8 feet from my iPad without latency. At 20 feet, it was absurd. PITA#4!! 5. I had a "name" Jazz keyboardist try out the keyboard. He said: "there's no aftertouch." "It only weighs a little less than (the competitor)." I also just bought the competitor. I concur as to weight. 6. As to playability, it felt more like an "on-off" proposition with little or no "interface" between the player (me) and the keyboard. Kind of like typing, rather than playing a musical instrument. Again, I've not tweaked it (it too so long to charge...). PITA#5! A. The keys are closer together than standard. I reach 12ths on a piano. I can reach a 13th on this thing. Meh... 7. Great on schlepping. 8. Cool on no cord (for 8 feet). 9. WHERE THE F--- IS THE VOLUME ADJUSTMENT? Can a button be reassigned? How in the world is one supposed to set the relative volume level for live performance - resort to the app? The button on the iPad? Neither are acceptable solutions. PITA #6! 10. So far, I'm thinking this is either a return or relegated to data entry, where portability is less of a factor. At circa $450+ for the keyboard, case, WIDI bud, keytar-gizmo and tax, that's a LOT for data entry... 11. I emailed CME with questions, both before and after the purchase. No response at all to either. CME, YOUR RESPONSE, PLEASE?
Smashing the keyboard and hearing the results does not in any way show that there is low latency. Bluetooth technology has latency that the device has no control over. It's not as if every device does it differently. Bluetooth latency is Bluetooth latency and from my experiences and research is typically around 200 ms. Try testing Bluetooth latency by talking and monitoring and listen to the echo effect. You will then hear it. Just hitting a keyboard and only hearing what comes out of the speakers proves nothing. Yes, it's more that good enough for performing only that one source but if you had a wired keyboard playing with a Bluetooth one together, you would have problems if it was quiet mellow harmonies. A decent ear would be bothered by the Bluetooth delay.
This comment doesn’t make much sense. There are actually quite a few different Bluetooth protocols so different devices will do it differently. But also, a Bluetooth protocol might have a fixed data transfer rate, but the resulting latency will entirely depend on the type of data being transferred. Comparing an audio stream with midi data is useless. There is far less information being transferred in a midi connection than in a digital audio stream and so far less latency.
I just received my 37 note X-Key Air and tried it out on a gig last night. Here are my impressions:
1. Note: I have yet to tweak any parameters. I purchased Widi Bud and the Keytar guitar strap holder but have not used them. I purchased the branded case and used it. I am a Jazz musician.
2. Keytar parts must be removed from the keyboard, or it will not fit in the case. There are 4 small parts and a coat-hanger type rod, which will only fit in the case on an angle, exposing it to possible bending. The 4 small parts are easily lost. For fifty bucks, CME could have thrown in a 10 cent plastic holder box. For forty bucks, CME could have added a zippered pocket for these parts or, better yet, made the case a half an inch longer so that said disassembly and reassembly is not required. PITA!
A. Location of guitar pegs is at front of unit. They should be more centered so that the angle of the keyboard is proper for playing. I'm not sure if a modification will work; but it certainly won't be elegant in any event. PITA#2!
3. Since I play saxophone, I played the X-Key, then sax, then X-Key. I was surprised that the X-Key disconnected itself from Blue Tooth, necessitating rebooting of the downloaded app on my iPad PLUS reconnection of the keyboard as a "source" for the actual piano app. This was after only one song (i.e., 5 minutes) of non-use. PITA#3! I assume this is to conserve battery (oh - it took 15 hours to charge....) Perhaps this disconnection time can be lengthened by tweaking?
4. I could only walk about 8 feet from my iPad without latency. At 20 feet, it was absurd. PITA#4!!
5. I had a "name" Jazz keyboardist try out the keyboard. He said: "there's no aftertouch." "It only weighs a little less than (the competitor)." I also just bought the competitor. I concur as to weight.
6. As to playability, it felt more like an "on-off" proposition with little or no "interface" between the player (me) and the keyboard. Kind of like typing, rather than playing a musical instrument. Again, I've not tweaked it (it too so long to charge...). PITA#5!
A. The keys are closer together than standard. I reach 12ths on a piano. I can reach a 13th on this thing. Meh...
7. Great on schlepping.
8. Cool on no cord (for 8 feet).
9. WHERE THE F--- IS THE VOLUME ADJUSTMENT? Can a button be reassigned? How in the world is one supposed to set the relative volume level for live performance - resort to the app? The button on the iPad? Neither are acceptable solutions. PITA #6!
10. So far, I'm thinking this is either a return or relegated to data entry, where portability is less of a factor. At circa $450+ for the keyboard, case, WIDI bud, keytar-gizmo and tax, that's a LOT for data entry...
11. I emailed CME with questions, both before and after the purchase. No response at all to either.
CME, YOUR RESPONSE, PLEASE?
Hi! What's the competitor to the CME Xkey air? Are you referring to Korg's microkey?
Does it come with the cords to use a cord if you want?
will this midi controler keyboard will works with FL studio or ableton live??? Please let me know..I need to buy one soon...
Molly! =D
Smashing the keyboard and hearing the results does not in any way show that there is low latency. Bluetooth technology has latency that the device has no control over. It's not as if every device does it differently. Bluetooth latency is Bluetooth latency and from my experiences and research is typically around 200 ms. Try testing Bluetooth latency by talking and monitoring and listen to the echo effect. You will then hear it. Just hitting a keyboard and only hearing what comes out of the speakers proves nothing. Yes, it's more that good enough for performing only that one source but if you had a wired keyboard playing with a Bluetooth one together, you would have problems if it was quiet mellow harmonies. A decent ear would be bothered by the Bluetooth delay.
Sounds like your equipment was bad. I've personally measured bluetooth midi latency at 10ms before. 200ms is unusable.
This comment doesn’t make much sense. There are actually quite a few different Bluetooth protocols so different devices will do it differently. But also, a Bluetooth protocol might have a fixed data transfer rate, but the resulting latency will entirely depend on the type of data being transferred. Comparing an audio stream with midi data is useless. There is far less information being transferred in a midi connection than in a digital audio stream and so far less latency.