Kawai XD-5

Ease of use mostly depends on whether you have the manual or not. Without, your best bet is experience and a lot of patience for experimentation in order to make the best of it. Even if you do have the manual, though (thanks again, Markku), some things are still rather cryptic, especially the "output patch" section, which is unnecessarily complicated.

Being reasonably well endowed in the button department, the editing of the XD-5 from the front panel is not too much of a pain. Still, I didn't find it particularly intuitive: you access some advanced functions through very unusual (and poorly documented) button combinations. The data slider is nice, it beats holding + or - any day, though an alpha dial would be even nicer.

There were a few things, however, that REALLY bothered me. One, you couldn't edit drum patches directly from the kit you were making; you had to exit the kid edit mode and enter the voice edit mode. Certainly, this makes you a bit less likely to go too mad with a sound, forgetting that it may used in other kits, as well. Two, when you're editing a voice, you can only test it by pressing "Play". What's the matter with that, you'll ask: well, I like to edit my drums with the sequencer running. That's not possible with the XD-5 though. If you're editing the snare drum (MIDI note #038), for instance, and playing the sequence, all of the notes will play the same voice, as if it were pitched. I was unable to cicrumvent this and it really made me want to get rid of the XD-5 (which I did, eventually).

Considering that XD-5 is a drum synth, the maximum polyphony of 16 voices (Kawai claims 32, but these are, shall we say, "oscillators") should be enough for most applications. By layering samples, polyphony is reduced, all the way down to 8 voices if all voices consist of four samples. Even so, I didn't find this too limiting - my songs rarely included more than eight drum sounds.

The XD-5 follows the old logic of "we'll give you separate outs, but you can't have effects" that a lot of manufacturers like to follow. That's all right for a big studio, but the effect processor from Kawai K-4 wouldn't hurt the XD-5 at all. Again, how much you'll use the separate outputs depends on how successful you'll be configurating those output patches - for some reason, they're not part of the kit, even though there 16 of them, just as there are 16 drum kits.

In order to get further 16 drum kits, you need the data card, which crops up on eBay every once in a while, but tends to sell for a lot of money, even $50. Be careful, though - in these kits, you can only use single patches that are also on the data card - a rather poor OS solution.

The XD-5 sounds nice, but I didn't find it nearly as spectacular as some other rewievers. It definitely scores well in the "weird" department, though I think you'll like it better if you approach it without a definite sound in mind. The varied samples, low-pass filter, LFO, and especially the ring modulator are all great sound-shaping tools and the XD-5 definitely deserves its "drum synthesizer" tag. I never felt that the drums I made were particularly agressive and full, though; the XD-5 excels at "fragile" and "delicate" percussion sounds. They may be weird, but they won't blow your hat off without suitable external processing.

Most people say that the XD-5 is no good for any kind of realistic drum sounds. I think this is only true if you listen to the sounds in isolation; in the mix, few people would notice it if you programme them properly.

The cyclic waveforms and the non-percussive samples (the brass stabs, for instance) are a nice addition which can make your XD-5 a proper musical synthesizer in the event of an emergency. It's too bad, however, that Kawai had to sacrifice half of the ROM in order to provide reversed waveforms - I feel that this task could be left to the processor and the rest of the ROM filled with extra samples.

I'm happy to report that I encountered no problems with the XD-5, even though its somewhat flimsy construction never inspired real confidence. I don't like gear that makes you want to be "extra careful" in order to still be able to use it a few years down the road, which is exactly how the XD-5 felt to me, from the data slider all the way to the external power supply.

Kawai do provide a few SYSEX banks on their site (make sure that your XD-5 is set to MIDI channel 10, or they won't work), and they're quite nice, but what's missing is the manual. I can't understand how certain companies still like to make a little extra money this way.

From the things I wrote, you could think that I'm one of those people who are never satisfied with anything and just like to profusely criticise anything and everything. This is not quite true, however - while I didn't particularly like the XD-5, I found another drum synth that improves on every single thing I wrote about, except the data-entry and effects departments: the Yamaha RM50. When I got it, it was love at first sight and the XD-5 was soon all but forgotten. I'm not saying that the RM50 is necessarily a better instrument - I know some people that prefer the XD-5 and in their hands, it (almost) shines. If you feel that your songs need "designer drums", make sure you check it out, especially when you consider that you can nowadays buy it for as little as $100. I still have a few soungs from the pre-RM50 era and if you'd like to hear the XD-5 in action, drop me a line at sartre@siol.net

As far as I know there was only one software version. The presets are nothing to write home about. Some are pretty nice out of the box, but this machine begs to be programed. It is dead easy to program if you have been around synths much. I'm using SoundDiver with it. This was not an easy thing to accomplish believe it or not. The XD-5 is a bit odd in that the transmit and receive channels must be the same and that channel must be 10. I had to get in touch with Kawai to get that info, so I'm passing it on. Don't forget to set your SoundDiver to transmit on 10 as well or it still won't work. Of course, receive sysex has to be enabled. The manual is pretty basic, but tells you the basics of what you need to know. With Sounddiver this is a 10 for ease of use. Without it probably a 7 or 8 just for button pushing nuisance. I think they were made in 1990 or so when buttons were "cool."

Poly is 8-16, 4 or 2 oscillator patches in any combination. No built in effects except that each oscillator can be delayed. Up to 4 oscillators per patch, so there is a little flexibility here. There is also an autobend feature which can add a lot of variation to some otherwise boring sounds... Very useful for imitating ethnic percussion type "boing" sounds. Think Tabla... OUtboard processing is a very good idea with this unit. The multiple outs can be configured in several standard ways and can also be programed more specifically if you want. It has a gate mode parameter which can allow the XD-5 to play the full patch without being cut off, or can be set so multiple hits will cut the previous hit off. I think it is global, though... My drum machine only sends blips, so this is a very nice feature. Until I found that little switch I was getting pretty dull sounding stuff. I gave it an 8 because it isn't a machine for everything. This is ideally suited to people who want unusual percussion and man oh man does it deliver! I've created patches on this in minutes that are just amazing. But, if you are after super realistic REAL sounding drums - this isn't probably your best bet. The sounds are actually pretty clean being 16 bit, however the envelopes can pop if the attack or release is too fast and the resonance is too high... You have to play with some patches to eliminate this... But, it's still well worth the effort.

I can't imagine a more expressive drum module, though I am hardly an expert in drums. You have 256 sample waves to play with and mangle. They can be stacked and each of up to 4 given separate vca envelopes and there is ring modulation (which is confusing a bit because oscillator 2 actually drives oscillator 1 and 4 drives 3. There are two VCF's one for each possible pair of oscillators. If you are after weird percussion - this is a great machine. I'm very suspicious that Bjork uses one of these, though I'm in no position to actually know... But, it gives you an idea of the kind of stuff that is possible... Several of the waves in memory are reverse waves... Still, I would only recommend this to somebody who is after really unusual sounds. Putting this module to work for typical drum applications is really a waste of technology... You can get some really horrid sounds out of this especially if the resonance is real high. I wish the resonance was not stepped in levels (7 - it would be even more of a monster if you could set this a little more precisely). The XD-5 has 16 kits of 88 "notes." Problem is that it only holds 64 user patches unless you have the RAM card which Kawai still sells. Still, 64 of the kind of sounds you can create on this machine is probably enough to make people quit listening to the rest of your song... It can be overpowering... I'm sure there are plenty of people who could easily go over that limit, but I'm not one of them. However, that said, I don't play live, so if you are going to gig with it you may well want to invest in the RAM card. I gave it a 10 for sheer flexibility, though there are modules that have cleaner sounds if that is what you are after. The cymbals are a bit weak... Use a chorus on them for sure... or get them from another module...

Appears to be built like a tank. It's been around a while and works fine...

I have to say that I emailed Kawai and then called (I was impatient - OK) about the sounddiver issue. Couldn't get it to work right for several days (It arrived on a Friday afternoon). The people at Kawai just amazed me totally. Nicest tech support I think I have EVER had the pleasure of dealing with. Hats off to you guys! The tech I talked to is named Troy and he even sent me a tips and tricks guide to the unit. No charge. Some very useful stuff there. There are free banks at the Kawaius.com site but they must be transmitted on channel 10 to work. These patches are pretty old, so don't expect cutting edge stuff here, but they aren't all bad and can teach you a lot about possibilities if you take the time to see what is happening. So, customer support gets a big 10!

I would buy this again in a heartbeat. If you want unusual percussion this is a steal any way you look at it. I will definitely be keeping this one. Oh, there is a copy of the manual somewhere on the web... Can't remember where, but it is out there as I write this... I think Kawai will still sell you one if you need it, though. I have to say, however, that I have not had this very long, but I've been programing synths of various stripes for about 9 years, so I'm not completely talking from a place of total ignorance. But it is so amazingly easy to get a great sound out of this machine that if you are into programing - big "if" for some people I know - it is a pleasure to use. I'm not a drum nut, so I bought this without really thinking I'd enjoy it that much, got it mainly to get some diversity in my tracks, but it is actually fun to work with and it can definitely shake your house. Watch out for your speakers... No I'm NOT kidding. And if you want extra punch use the sub woofer oscillator and run it through some reverb and delay. If you really want deep, stack 4 subwoofers ;) Remember it is 8 poly if all of your patches are 4oscillator, so you can have your machine hit that quadra sub and something else for more subtle flavorings... It isn't nearly as easy to program without a computer editor, however... Lots of buttons and menus... Something to keep in mind. If you already have SoundDiver - it's as easy as it gets... Techno/Industrial/ambient/film scoring - VERY versatile... Of course if you can't program well... and you don't want to learn how... I'd look elsewhere... The presets are pretty dull. On the positive side - this is the easiest synth I have ever worked with, and make no mistake this is a synth - not a simple drum sample playback device. If you are looking for unusual and you see one for sale - BUY it and consider yourself very lucky to have found it. No way to go wrong on this... and the street price is a joke... If you want clean studio drums, don't go anywhere near this machine - let the people with imagination buy it... You'll hate it anyway...

When compared to other drum machine, the XD-5 may seem a bit hard to use. However this box is more like a synth dedicated to drum sounds. When compared to other synths, the XD-5 has pretty good interface. Unusual yes, but you soon learn to like it and wouldn't want it any other way. The manual is actually quite good and is mandatory. Do not buy this unit without the manual.

For those of you familiar with the K4, the XD-5 is a K4 geared towards percussive sounds. Therefore, it has a very synth-like architecture. It comes as a very cool looking 2U module. No internal effect but 8 individual outs in addition to a pair of stereo out. Architecture: Each single (XD-5 patch) is made up of 2 or 4 voices. Each voice is one of the >200 internal samples. Each voice gets its own standard ADSR envelop, pitch and level assignment. Then, each set of two voices (1/2, 3/4) each have a low-pass resonant filter with its own ADSR envelop. Then that's where things get pretty wild: Each first voice of the set (1,3) can modulate the second one (3,4). Among its internal samples, the XD-5 provides about 30 DC samples which are boring when used alone but are the best to modulate other samples. The above is the single (patch) architecture. You then have the multi mode where you take each key (over 7 octaves!) and assign it a single with level, pitch, and output. For output, you have the choice of 9 position for the stereo out (from hard-left to hard-right and 7 positions in between) or 1 of the 8 individual outs. Technically, the polyphony is 32 but in a Roland JV1080 sense of the term. Since each single take 2 or 4 voices, you actually end-up with 8 to 16 polyphony. All of that is very impressive for a drum synth. Now the bad news: You only get 64 spaces for your singles. Not enough for my liking but still a decent number considering the fact that it responds to only one midi channel. The real bad news is that it doesn't have group assignation where you assign singles to a group and they cut each other when played (hi-hat stuff you know...). There's a work around, using the sample menu in mono mode but you don't get to use all the internal samples and I won't get into the details right now.

Because of its architecture and the roughness of its internal samples, the XD-5 is pretty bad for real-drum type of applications. However, it really shines when used for industrial (me) or hard-techno and whatever bing-bang-paf-paf style of music. This thing doesn't make any classic (read boring) analog type of sounds nor does it make any realistic ones. It may just be what the doctor ordered to get unique percussive sounds. The kicks I've created with it are pretty good, from the deep low stuff unusable in a busy mix up to the sharp ones that can cut trough a concrete wall. The snares I've created are just my favorites. Great aggressive toms are also at my finger tips. However, I haven't created anything memorable in the crash-and-hat department.

Built like a tank. It hasn't shown any aging sign so far.

Can't say and I'm quite happy about it.

One of a kind. It has defined my industrial drum sounds. I may part with it one day but before I do so, I will go through an intensive sampling session. Like the Force, its sounds will always be with me.

Can't say anthing about the presets...I bought it used & it was already programmed. Editing patches is easy as cake with the manual. Without, it would be a royal pain. The manual is concise and simple. The only thing I don't like is relying on numbers for internal sample names.

No keyboard, 6 note poly. No effects, but some samples have reverb. Can accept a memory card to store more patch data. responds to velocity. midi mono/omni. no sequencer.

The sounds are great, but the kick drums are limited. I would have liked a 909 kick. It has everything from an an 808 kick to breaking glass to hiphop hi-hats. the sounds are great for techno & industrial, and probably for rap too.

Yes, it's very reliable.

It's cool. I would have liked a bigger polyphony, and possibly multitimbrality, but oh well.