novation x station

paul campbell · Post by **paul campbell** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 11:36 pm

hey folks, just a quick wee question for ye's. i had a question on here a little while ago about what soundcard to get for my laptop, a question you have probably heard a million times no doubt. i have been informed by someone that i may be just as well off going for the novation x station which triples as a midi interface, a synthesizer and something else apparently. it's only 350 odd quid, which is what i was going to spend on a soundcard, midi controller and a set of good headphones anyway, should i just go for it and get the novation to run reason with? (sorry ableton), any advice would be appreciated, cheers. it's either that or soundcard, oxygen 8 and headphones.

zebastian21 · Post by **zebastian21** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 12:06 am

x-station looks amazing...but the only problem is that uses usb 1 for audio and everyhting else.
I'd rather go with the new m-audio ozonic instead. you wont get the synth that x-station offers, but it offers a keyboard, programable controllers and firewire audio. it also includes some bundle softwares.

btw...oxygen 8 cant save templates for softwares.

karate · Post by **karate** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 8:09 am

Does it need more then usb1 for two inputs and outputs?

mike_c · Post by **mike_c** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 5:56 pm

people get all in a fuss about usb and firewire... here are the speeds (in case some people don't know):

usb 1.1 = 12Mbps
usb 2.0 = 480Mbps
Firewire400 = 400Mbps
Firewire800 = 800Mbps

now for a single application, like outputing sound, usb 1.1 will usually suffice, as the bandwidth will never exceed 12Mbps.. but when you get into the realm of midi controllers and sound cards utilising inputed and outputted sound all at once, you're going to run into problems..

don't forget that the bandwidth is total for all devices going through a controller. For example, a laptop may have 4 usb ports, but only one controller - i.e. all usb devices attached to that laptop (mouse, sound card, midi controller) will share the same 12Mbps bandwidth..

for optimum perforamce, you're better off using firewire for sound, and if you're going a cheaper option for a controller then use usb.. they are on seperate controllers hence won't interfere with each other's badwidth..

the other thing is that firewire does all its processing on the controller chip (very little CPU usage), usb uses the CPU for processing (higher CPU usage) - not really noticable on high end machines, but worth considering all the same..

karate · Post by **karate** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 9:31 pm

Damn I was looking forward to the X-station. When I think it about it though I doubt I will be using the input, output and keyboard at the same time.

jbratteson · Post by **jbratteson** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 5:46 pm

I've only had it for week but it's awesome. Really well built. Nice effects that you can record with our without or just monitor. The built in synth sounds really nice and covers a lot of ground. The mic inputs with phantom power sound great. I have yet to get it to hicupp with audio and midi. I use it both with my G5 and my 17" powerbook. With my powerbook it's really all you need to get things done in a portable environment. It can run on C-cell rechargable batteries, usb or power adapter. With Reason 3 just around the corner it will be even better as a controller. On a last note that little x/y trackpad is killer. SICK!

The M-Audio Ozone is from what I can see an overpriced, under performer and hyped firewire interface (it only uses 4 outs, usb 1.1 can handle that). Plus it's too big to be portable and too small to be a full sized controller. I'm not bashing the Ozone because I own the X-station. I looked at both and just thought that M-Audio made a mistake with the Ozone.

For another take on this go here: http://www.createdigitalmusic.com/index ... &Itemid=44

novation x station

novation x station

Re: novation x station

I use a Novation X-station