Xkey 37 Air

The unit was as far as I could tell was new. No lag time using ble and the apple x-37 app. If this app is not used, lag is unacceptable. I start hearing lag at 5 micro seconds. Virgin Musical Instruments, US warranty center, CME, Jordon R voided my Two year warranty. Two high level techs promised send a factory new CME x-37. They both lied. Diagnosed it as a bad connector caused by user. I received my x-37 back two weeks and four days later. Same serial number. They never sent a new factory unit out. The second big lie. VMI dropped an entire keyboard bed in my unit and left the "bad" connector in. Amazon took the unit back. Neither CME or Virgin Musical Instuments told the truth instead, lying in collusion. They banned my email address to all companies including Jordon Rudess after only one email. Horrible business practice all the way around.

Good quality but functionality is awful. Their apps could’nt be more basic and useless. It doesn’t connect to Bluetooth in settings only through an app. If you’re lucky enough to get it to connect, good luck keeping it connected. Always losing connection and won’t reconnect no matter what app I try. Worse Bluetooth keyboard I have ever tried.

Note that keyboard is not my primary instrument. I wanted a medium-sized midi keyboard to keep on my desk for composition and messing around with harmony. I compared the XKey 37 Air against the Korg MKEYAIR37 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018ATKI7C. As you can see in the photos, there's a basic geometry tradeoff. The keys on the Korg are far narrower than the Xkey, but they have more traditional height/action. The Xkey has fairly full-sized keys, but almost no travel -- it's designed to mimic an apple text keyboard, I guess. Neither keyboard has anything like the action of a piano -- the Xkey has idiosyncratic action by design, while the Korg just feels like the mushy action you expect from a cheap keyboard. The Korg uses the extra horizontal space to provide traditional controls for pitch bend and modulation; the Xkey saves space by offering only little up/down pushbuttons for each. I don't care about those features, so I much prefer the Xkey's choice of keeping the actual keys full width. I like that the Xkey has a built-in rechargable-via-USB battery. The Korg uses 2 AAs; if you use rechargable AAs the Korg will not charge them over USB. I have quite small hands (as i mentioned, not a keyboard player), and still found the Korg keys to be frustratingly crowded. For me, the Xkey is clearly the better choice. The action is good enough for music entry and messing about. The key spacing on the Korg is just too crowded, and the action is lousy anyhow. The Korg is a bit cheaper, and you can find used deals more readily. Note that the XKey is advertised on Amazon as being made by Artesia; on other sites it's advertised as made by CME. The one I got from Amazon was also made by CME, so I assume a used CME XKey is the same as the one on Amazon.

Frustrating and misleading product info! I bought this keyboard controller because I need to control a bunch of rack synths in my studio. Controlling hardware is different than using this for software synths in Ableton etc. you only really need the keys as the controls often are on the synths. One of the most important aspects for me was to be able to use it via MIDI so the USB to MIDI dongle was of extreme importance for me. Now the pics on Amazon for the wired model shows the dongle so one would assume it's included. It's not. I then purchased the Bluetooth model because I read the dongle was included. Again, not so. What's worse, it is almost impossible to purchase the dongle separetely anywhere! I guess I was not meant to purchase this keyboard controller.

I absolutely love this thing! Fair warning: it does not feel like a piano at all (nor was it meant to); it feels like a laptop keyboard. I actually like this however, because once you get used to it it allows for much faster and more precise playing. It's the most portable GOOD keyboard I've seen at 553 x 134 x 20 mm or 21¾ x 5¼ x ¾ in, the wireless connection is reliable and latency is unnoticeable, I love the poly aftertouch and native ability to edit that curve, as well as the clever space-saving pressure sensitive buttons for pitch and modulation - all around wonderful keyboard. I use it at home, on trips, at friends houses, and on stage at my church on top of our main keyboard. Only criticism is 1) It doesn't automatically connect to the last connected Bluetooth device when powered on (because it's wireless MIDI it's a little different) and 2) the black keys tend to pop off when transported without a protective case of some sort (I usually just use a bath towel if it has to endure lots of transportation, though they do make a professional case for it) but they can be popped back on with little trouble and no damage. Holds a charge for days on end of frequent use even after nearly a year of regular use, and is beautifully designed in an Apple-esque style. Price is a bit steep, but it's well worth it if you're looking for a reliable, good-looking, well-designed, portable wireless keyboard with lots of options in the MIDI world. Can't recommend this enough!!

I use it in my keyboard drawer of my desk to save the space of my keyboard stand on the floor. With a rolling desk, it works well to roll to and from my piano for composing. One significant complaint - keys very sensitive and are easily double struck -- generating two notes for some software (MuseScore), but Sibelius seems to ignore the second strike. Sensitivity also prevents you from resting the fingers on the keyboard, which prevents the ability to play without looking at the keyboard. I was hoping to get the neck strap option to use as an on-stage controller, but I've decided that likely won't work. However, it suits my needs for note input, giving me maximal octave count with minimal space, and thus saves me significant square footage of my sometimes too-small studio.

Zugegeben, die Verarbeitung, das Design und das Empfinden des Xkey wirken angenehm. Dennoch, der Pries für diese Klaviatur ist viel zu hoch gegriffen und auch vor dem Hintergrund, dass der Xcable USB Adapter nicht enthalten ist vollkommen unangemessen. Ich bin mir noch nicht sicher, ob ich den Artikel behalten oder ihn wieder zurücksenden werde. Trotz des schönen Erscheinungsbildes und meiner Vorfreude - nach dem Auspacken war ich eher frustriert, derart viel Geld ausgegeben zu haben, obwohl ich noch nicht einmal ein Sustain-Pedal anschließen kann.

Le produit est d'un prix élévé, mais il est en parfait harmonie avec mon salon (je chercher à enlever tous les câbles). La finition est bien, le branchement simple et la qualité de tape assez atypique par rapport à un clavier classique, mais proche d'un clavier de type mac. Du coup, ce produit répond parfaitement à tout ce que je souhaitais, je recommande d'autant plus que je m'interroge pour en prendre un autre pour faire 6 octaves... pour noël peut être.

Commençons positivement: ça fonctionne presque facilement sur un iPad. Il suffit d'installer Xkey depuis l'appstore,d'allumer son bluetooth et c'est bon. Pour Windows et Android, il semble que sans accessoire supplémentaire, ça ne fonctionne pas sans fil! Il faut un accessoire supplémentaire! Le sans fil ne se fera pas sans prise, et surtout pas sans Widibud (65€ de supplément!). Je cherche d'autres solutions... mais là, en janvier 2018, il n'y a toujours rien de disponible. CME accuse Microsoft de ne pas avoir de pilote midi Bluetooth... Passons. Je suis persuadé qu'une solution logicielle pourrait arranger les choses: la connexion Bluetooth s'établit, mais pas moyen de coupler les appareils, faute de pilote. Absurde! Sur Android, le XKEY reste invisible... La solution serait la même que pour Windows (Widibud), mais avec un câble "Host" en plus! Enfin, si le modèle XKEY normal admet une pédale (sustain), c'est impossible sur le modèle AIR. Et pour une connexion MIDI, c'est impossible également: pas de prise... Finalement, le XKEY air est extrêmement cher pour ce qu'on peut en faire. Et puisque CME est au courant que les compatibilités Windows et Android sont impossible sans Widibud, le Widibud devrait faire partie du packaging!

Les touches plastiques font peu professionnelles et un peu bruyantes comme un vieux clavier pour pc, sinon, la connection est facile sur ios après le téléchargement de midimittr qui reconnait aussitôt le clavier. On ne retrouve pas la sensation d’un bon clavier, c’est pour produire du son. Conclusion: cher malgré tout.