Recording - June 2015 - 50

CME Xkey37 USB MIDI Keyboard and One Red Dog XK-1 App

In our April 2014 issue, I waxed poetical about the Xkey ($99.99), the latest keyboard controller from Zhao Yitian and his ever-imaginative engineering team at CME
Pro. This remarkable little controller, which has taken the world by storm over the past
year or two, combines effortless playability and a performer-friendly feature set in a
package that's simultaneously light and sturdy.
At the time, I commented on the many ways in which CME had thrown away the rule
book to develop a controller that was truly unique, and I had very few reservations about
the keyboard or its support software. One of my few objections was that while it could
fit into a large laptop bag or backpack with ease, at 25 keys (two octaves) the Xkey just
wasn't as playable as I would have liked. It's true that you can easily play one under
each hand, but it's been a long time since I've played the Hammond organ on a regular basis, and I must confess I like my keys all in one manual. Setting two of them next
to each other always seemed kind of awkward; who needs an extra set
of pitch and modulation controls and two Middle C keys?
When CME announced that a 37-note (3-octave) version of the Xkey
was coming out, I was interested but not riveted; an extra octave was
nice enough, but would that be enough of a differentiator for this new
model? Then I got to see the Xkey37 ($199.99) in person at the Winter
NAMM Show, and I was both surprised and impressed. It turns out that
the Xkey's new sibling adds more than just 12 more keys!
First off, here's a refresher on what makes the Xkey so special. Unlike
the "row of little buttons" USB keyboards out there, the Xkey's designed
to have full-sized piano keys in a layout that a keyboardist's fingers will
instantly find familiar. Each white key is properly positioned and shaped, and the black keys have a lower
profile than real piano keys but are otherwise identical.
In order to get this full-sized action into a very small
space, CME mounts each key as an individual sensor
inside key-shaped cutouts in a sheet of solid aluminum,
about 4 mm thick. As a result, it's rigid and sturdy yet lightweight.
Because the keys are individual sensors and there's no unified
"keybed" per se, the response of each key to velocity and aftertouch
(pressure) can be individually adjusted. There's an app called Xkey
Plus (for iOS, Mac, and Windows) that lets you go in and tweak the
response of each key if you're into that, but more importantly, the individual sensors allow the Xkey to transmit polyphonic aftertouch (key
pressure) data. It's now one of the only keyboards on the market, at
any price, to offer this expressive way of playing, with the ability to
bring out each note in a chord by varying the pressure of each finger.
The left-hand controls include octave up/down buttons, pitch buttons, a modulation button, and a sustain button; the pitch and mod
buttons are actually pressure-sensitive, so you can do proper bends
and vibrato rather than simply switching them on and off. With no
LEDs or backlighting save a small rear-panel LED to indicate that
there's USB power, the Xkey takes practically no current and can run
from an iPhone with no trouble.
So how does the Xkey37 improve on this? Simple. In addition to the
low-profile USB connection under the right edge of the keybed, there's
now a low-profile socket under the left edge that supports the new
Xcable, a breakout cable that adds a 5-pin DIN MIDI Output, a 1/4" TS
sustain pedal input, and a 1/4" TRS expression pedal input. Now the
Xkey can be a proper performance instrument, with sustain, volume or
wah swells, and even the ability to control external MIDI hardware with
no computer needed. To run the Xkey37 without a computer, you have
to use the USB connection to power the Xkey from any iPad or other
USB-based power supply.
50

RECORDING June 2015

At barely 2 pounds weight, the
Xkey37 became an instant favorite in my
portable studio rig, letting me play computer plug-ins, iOS apps, and external
sound modules with ease. If I have any
gripe at all, it's that not only has CME
not changed the ultra-thin-profile MicroUSB cable that connects it to computers

(the connection is so slender that virtually no other cable will fit), but the proprietary connector that hooks the Xcable to
the Xkey37 feels flimsy and unplugs very
easily. I guess that's what gaff tape's for,
huh?
That's a pretty small whinge, though;
the Xkey37 works seamlessly, plays well
with everything, and gives back proper
keyboard technique to the computer musician on the go.
To complement the Xkey and Xkey37,
One Red Dog Media, maker of Arctic
Keys and Arctic Pro, now offers a free
synthesizer app called XK-1. This cute little preset synth has multitouch control of
vibrato, cutoff, and resonance, and
graphically illustrates pitchbend and
pressure on each key, from blue for a
light touch up to red for hard pressure. It
comes with eight free presets and you
can purchase over 150 more with a
$1.99 in-app purchase. It sounds great,
is easy to use, and can be played from
the iOS device multitouch screen... but it
really shines when connected to the
Xkey37.

Recording - June 2015

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