Novation K-Station

I have one very big problem with this unit. I am a bass player andI love the bass synth sounds. The problem is that on live gigs, it reboots right in the middle of the sets. It seems to happen less at particular catering halls or clubs but I go to each gig just praying that I make it through an entire song before it defaults to the start-up setting. I have returned it to the company and they have said that it was fixed but it still happens. In a nutshell, it seems to be sensitive to the slightest change in voltage. At home, in my studio, it's fine. Someone has recommended that I try much higher amp adapters(exact voltage) so that maybe the keyboard will function better. I don't want to use any other than the one recommended for the unit but if I have to try it, I will. If anyone has had this same problem or was able to fix it please help me. I'm just about ready to scrap this thing.

Well this were the first Synthesizer I'd ever bought and within a few weeks I had it mastered. I find the manual is also very helpful for those parts you don't understand or know how to use as it explains everything.

Considering how much the Novation K Station costs and the size of it, then yeah, it has many great features. I'll save writting a list as you can find a list of the specs almost anywhere.

I've managed to create many great sounds using the K Station alone. Some of the presets are pretty cool too... A few presets are useless though, but don't hesitate to tweak 'em!

I've had no problems with the K Station to date... It's been great since the day I bought it. I'd say it's quite reliable and I'd consider using it for a gig sometime, although it's very lightweight and may not take too much knocking.

Never needed to contact the Customer Support (yet?).

Yeah, I'd buy it again if anything were to happen to mine. Its certainly worth checking out if you ain't already had a shot on one... And price wise you can't complain! The Novation K Station gets two thumbs up from me.

Just an addition to an earlier review...

Something to think about: After getting some more pro gear I've found that this keyboard is simply the noisiest piece of equipment in my studio. If you are doing pro-quality stuff where your noise floor needs to be about nothing...you won't be happy with this. If you compress any of the sounds recorded at the highest output, any silence is instantly filled with noise heard by even amateurs. Oh well.

Very easy to use. Using OS version 2.0.0.2
Presets sound good although they don't stick around for too long as i usually use them as a base and edit them 'till i get what i want, since it's so easy. Otherwise there's a wide range from light keyboard things (a bit too quiet sometimes) to really strong saw sounds to cool basses, to wierd effects, and the vocoders sound good aswell.
It's sooooo easy to edit patches, or make your own sounds from scratch. everything's right there in front of you set out really easily, except a few things, such as wheel assignments, global settings, type of arpeggiator etc. but these can be found by entering the menus at a touch of a button.
The manual deserves a special mention, very helpful about the synth, very helpful midi tutorial, using my controller keyboard (edirol PCRM-50) i can control it (for when i want a larger keyboard) and really easy to set up a sequencer to use it.

I've been using lots of software synths and i wanted some hardware so i could tweak everything right in front of me, and this is so great for that (and learning about synths too - the signal flow is so clear, and everything DOES something, so if you don't know much about synths this is really helpful to learn about them on).
Polyphony seems good, it hasn't so far been a problem (had it a couple of months) i play fat monosynth stuff, wierd effect stuff and some pads too and it all seems too handle it fine. keyboard's ok, a bit small at two octaves, but then again i wanted a small synth and i hate those mini keys you get sometimes, anyway it's easily connected too a better controller keyboard with extra features such as aftertouch.
Has 400 editable patches which seems to be enough, although if you run out they can be easily backed up into a sequencer.
It can only play one sound at a time but i don't see this as much of a problem, you couldn't use ONLY this in a set up, but if treated as a standalone instrument, like a guitar or something, it's fine.
Only problem is not being able to name patches, i often forget which ones are empty and engd up overwriting something i'd made earlier

Sounds are generally good from the presets, but after editing you should be able to get what you want, although i found that most sounds were very strong, it's less easy to get a lighter sound, but then again i usually get carried away, maybe not using all three oscillators for example, would be lighter.
It's very expressive i love just jamming away with it, and i often end up with sounds completely different to what i started with.
Slight problems reacting to velocity, you really have to smash it to get it too go to high velocities, although there may be something to change the velocity curve, i haven't looked.
Main problem is the arpeggiator, or rather how it reacts too an external clock, it doesn't sync very well (although it's vastly improved with the new OS), this may be something to do with the clock though rather than the synth which is transmitted from a sequencer.

I've only had it a couple of months, but nothing's gone wrong it feels very sturdy, i bought it second hand and the previous person said he'd had it for a few years, it's all in perfect working order so i'd say it's pretty reliable.

Updated to the new OS, which was a very helpful update, due to the improved midi clock sync.

It's certainly worth what i paid i think i got a bargain, but then i think that's the sort of price you pay second hand on ebay at the moment.
I've been playing with software synths for about a year (reason, and what came with my two sequencers traktion and cubase), this is my first hardware synth, but i thing it sounds much better than any of those software things i've been using, and it can be used practially the same way too, you can make it do anything you want from the midi input.
I wish the clock sync was a bit better for the arpeggiator, and that you could change the rate in multiples of the clock input, but otherwise everything's great, LOVE IT!

Easiest analog synth to use on the market. I've used a NORD and it was hard as hell to understand what was going on, but the KS is so SO easy. Presets are awesome and editing is easier than I thought possible. Manual is in depth and easily understood

Has a lot of features, a lot more than you'd expect for the price. Sure I'd like some additions (more polyphony, etc) but you can't complain. The on-board effects are STUPENDOUS! It's hard to find a REAL delay that has tempo input; this keyboard has it! (Thank God, I love that!) All other effects are great sounding. No expansions, I wish it did though, for polyphony or maybe just more presets. MIDI implementation is great, you can use it as a tactile MIDI controller to your computer, which is great but sometimes a hassle since the knobs obviously aren't motorized. No sequencer, but you don't need it!

SOUNDS...what can I say? Seriously AMAZING presets, and it's SO SO SO easy to make new, awesome sounds I can't believe it, really. Usefull for any genre, seriously. Has great response on everything.

I don't gig; this is used in a studio. I have to say though, after about 6 months of heavy use (since I loved it so much!) the power supply started going on the fritz. Sometimes I would turn it on and the screen would blink on and off, over and over. I think it was overheating (the power). But after a couple of days it was fine. After reading of similar problems, I am probably going to buy a new power supply at the 'ol Radioshack and see if it does it anymore. Other than that, the unit was fine.

I tried to call, both the European number and the American number on the manual. No luck, I NEVER heard from them. Didn't try to email them. As other reviewers have said, they seem to not really have any costumer support. It's a shame, because everything on this keyboard is amazing, I wish it was a Yamaha or Korg, etc product so I could get help with it. Also, I've not seen one in a Guitar Center or anything in forever, I think they don't produce them anymore, which is AWFUL and makes me very sad :(

If lost/stolen, I would be running to the insurance agent RIGHT THEN and getting a check to find one used or new, because (especially for the price point) this synth is simply amazing. This was an impulse buy from me and I couldn't have been happier. It's simply the best analog synth I've ever had the pleasure to work with, and a LOT cheaper. I've played it for over 2 years now, I think, and it's stimulated my creativity so often. Great unit, great price, but crappy support. I hope to God it never breaks, cuz I'll be using it till the day I die! Minus ONE point for the costumer support, but in my eyes this is truly a 10!

This is very easy to use .....i mean really easy if you think of roland synths and so on

the first thing about this thing is that you might aswell buy the v-station if your planning on using it in a studio and not for giging,
because the persets are the same ????? that sucks man !! i mean sure it does sound better because of the analog outputs...and the filter sounds alot better in the high end, but if you have a good comp with a good soundcard that can run 96Hz 24bit then you would almost get the same sound out of it

Reverb - sucks !!
Delay - standard
Chorus - not really that good
Distortion - sounds good / but you could get alot better than this
EQ - well ( you know )
panning - same as above
Vocoder - sounds ok i guess ....never use it tho!! i get a much better sound out of plug-ins

Good sound !!! no doudt but not even close to being analog sounding..
if your looking for something that sounds analog buy a nord lead 2x (KICKS ASS)

MORE PRESETS YOU BASTARDS

note you can do sysex dumps but still this shouldn`t be my job..it should come with like 800 presets and not 200 ???

this thing has almost no Reliability....the power sup sucks soooo much
if you use this thing on stage ( heheh ) you wont get though 30min before the power sup overheats ! i mean i have problems at home ????
so until novation fix this prob ! i will only give it ( 1 ) because of this NOOB like misstake from novation

They dont have any ?????????????????????? what the F&#%?"!!#!"#!"# Bitc"#!!"!#!"#!"#

i paid 350 for it so i dont really care that much about the again NOOB like misstakes from novation, but if i should give a overall rating

well i would give it a ( 7 ) because of the power sup
but other than that i kinda like it tho ....you can play around with this thing a hell of a lot more than other synths...i love tweeking the hell out of this thing thats for sure....

it could be nice if they put alot more presets into it ...

but in the end if you are thinking of using this in a studio for making techno/other then i would just go with the v-station if your comp can handle 96Hz 24bit..

bought this unit new about a year ago so i guess the newest.easy to edit sounds, pretty straight foward analog like controls. Manual is straight foward and easy to get the overall idea.

First off the keyboard action is crappy but the same for most synths under $1000. It has good effects, all are BPM syncable, along with the LFO's. The vocoder is pretty crappy for being 12-band, the vocoder on the Micro-Korg is only 8-band aand is about 100 times more better if you want a good robot-like voice effect. No expansions, the arppegiator is decent, but not as extensive as its competitors (ROLAND, KORG and NORD, etc)

Overall good virtual analog like sounds, Id definately would say that this is made for those who want to do trance/dance/techno type crowd.
If you are looking for say like synth-pop, kraftwerk, early eighties sound I'd look to KORG or ROLAND. the pads and leads are its strengths, the basses to my ear are definately lacking. But its pretty much been par for the course for novation, as the Bass-station suffered the same problem.

RELIABILITY IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH THIS UNIT!!!!!
The first unit I bought lastest for exactly 10 days before the OS completely crashed and I went to get a new one from guitar center.
The second unit which I got I had for almost a month when the mother board died. SO I figured 3rd times a charm and got the unit I have now
and with 3 months i had to replace the power supply myself as the one that came with my unit fried itself, (the same thing happened with my Drum-station) IF YOU HAVE ANY NOVATION PRODUCT I RECCOMEND THAT YOU GO AND REPLACE YOU POWER SUPPLY WITH ONE FROM RADIO SHACK OR ELSEWHERE THE UNITS I'VE OWNED HAVE (DRUM-STATION, K-STATION) HAVE WORKED SO MUCH BETTER WITH A THE NEW POWER SUPPLY)
I will no longer gig this unit after having it freeze up on me about three times during live shows

NOVATION DOES NOT HAVE CUSTOMER SUPPORT

IT TOOK THEM OVER TEN E-MAILS and 6 PHONE CALLS TO ENGLAND TO GET BACK TO ME FOR THE MOTHER BOARD PROBLEM I HAD

THEY WOULD NOT REPLACE MY FRIED POWER SUPPLY

THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY THE WORST MUSIC COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH

I'm actually probably going to sell this unit because I now have the V-station software. If you like the sound of this unit I'd tell you to but the software and skip the hardware keyboard version because its not reliable. If you do Trance/electronica type of genre this unit is great for that. But after recently buying a Roland SH-32 and a Micro-KORG togther for the same price as one of these. I 'd never pay $600 again

This bad-boy is a snap to use. Plug it in, turn some knobs, get fat... and i mean PHAT sounds. Nice back-lit LCD screen, so you can always see what you're doing.

My one beef is that the only software patch editor for this i'm aware of is the Novation V-Station, which is too pricey for my liking. But the menus are easy enough to navigate through, so its not a huge issue.

For the price, I amazed by all this little gem can do. There's all the standard VA options along with a couple of unique little filter settings and lfo options. The vocoder is nice, although don't be expecting huge results as it's only 10-band. You can vocode any synth sound it produces though. This enables you do run your voice through the appegiator which can create some wacked sounds.

The appegiator is a little limited, but it's not a big issue as i seldom use it anyway.

The two octave keyboard was a big factor in chosing this over the MicroKorg. The keys on the Korg were too small for my stubby fingers, and felt far too plasticy. This keyboard is more natural. Shame about the lack of aftertouch, but i drive it through a controller so its no biggy.

This synth is P.H.A.T...... I went out and bought this almost immediatly after listening to the demo's on the Novation site.

The rhodes sounds are so smooth, the basses are tight, and those distorted 303-style sounds are so crisp. I can't stop playing with the distorted popcorn-style sound. So dirty, i love it. I was amazed that a synth this price could sound so good.

The effects aren't anything special. They compliment the sounds nicely, but i wouldn't say they were mind-blowing. The reverb can sometimes sound a little over-bearing, so be gentle.

PHAT PHAT PHAT.....................

Seems pretty sturdy. Nice metal casing, and robust knobs/mod wheels/ etc...

Im taking it on the road with me next week, so we'll see how it stands up.

Clicks when changing sounds, which can be a bit annoying.... but the sounds make up for it.

N/A

This is a tight synth. Great sounds, easy access to menus/features... a highly reccomended buy. Spend a little extra and get this instead of the MicroKorg, its well worth it. Not only does it sound better, its more of a synth instead of a toy.

PHAT PHAT PHAT

Simple to use. Knobs are set out nicely. I want to purhase one.

Anyone know where I can get the best deal on one? The bloke before me says he paid only USD $599 for one new.

The effects seem a bit weak, but it's wonderful to be able to punch-up seven simultaneous effects! Nice to have the effects when playing stand-alone. Better quality effects could be added later in the studio / when recording.

Sounds fabulous. It's the best VA for the price I've ever heard. Used to own an Access Virus "A" but the sounds never "wowed" me. It all comes down to what sounds best to your ears and there's no substitute for demo'ing various machines you're interested in.

N/A

N/A

Seems to be great value. I may take the plunge. Anyone know what I should pay for one new or used? $750 new is too much; surely one can bargain one's way down to a better price with a good dealer.

The software version on my K-Station is unknown. However it was purchased brand new in May of 2003 if that's any indication. The presets give you a decent place to start creating new sounds from. I personally feel that the effects are overused on most presets, but turning them off is simple enough. The K-Station is a piece of cake to edit, with all controls / menu options labled with industry-standard terms. (no proprietary jargon to figure out!) I don't believe i've even consulted the manual yet, except to find out the controller channel numbers. I did this because there were a few features I couldn't access on the front panel, namely the FM Amount.
No patch naming. Oh, well!

For the size & price, the features are outstanding. Three oscillators is great, beats most other VA synths. The keyboard is a typical synth keyboard, with no weighted keys, which is what I prefer. The filter has two cutoff slopes available (12 & 24db), and sounds great. Unlike the KS-5, the K-station has the filter tracking knob right on the front panel, where it belongs! (not buried in menus!) The Effects are good quality if used tastefully. The only complaint I have with the effects is that delay time cannot be adjusted in real time. But I have an external delay, so it's not that big of a deal. No expansion options are available to my knowlege. Novation makes a 4 & 5 key version of this synth, but I owned a KS-5 and it was a horrible pile of junk. I returned three of them before I gave up and bought the K-station. There are seperate MIDI in/out/thru sockets. (yay!) No sequencer.

The sounds are killer. I bought it because not only did it have 3 oscillators, but also FM.. The FM is easy to use, and can produce much more unconventional sounds. Programming isn't as flexible, say, as a Yamaha DX-7, but this keyboard is much more fun to use. Also, ring modulation, oscillator sync, etc.. You can only imagine the variety of different timbres easily patched! You could buy one of these to imitate moogs, and 303's, but it would be a waste of the K-Station's potential. Vocoder sounds much better than the MS-2000 / Microkorg vocoder, which is another reason I bought the K-Station. Again, very easy to use. Love it!

It hasn't been any trouble yet, but I use several other synths on stage. A backup is always available, it's just stupid not to have a backup! I trust that if anything happens to my K-Station, it will be fixed and life will go on.

When I had a KS-5, novation didn't return my e-mails. I'm guessing their customer service lacks due to a small staff.. So i'll wait a while for a response before I say anything bad about novation. I know a good factory-authorized Novation service facility. So I'm not terribly worried about problems with the unit.

I would replace the K-Station if some ill fate befell it. But I'm very protective of my synths, so I expect nothing of the sort to happen. I would find & slay the theif foolish enough to covet my beloved synths. I also use a Roland JP-8000, RedSound Darkstar, and Yamaha DX-200. It's a great setup, and lots of fun! I've played in a rock band for 3 years, now and this is by far the best setup I've had. (and I've had many!!) My wish list for the K-Station: Internal power supply, FM Amount Knob, FM Envelope Knob, Smoother Pitch Bending, Osc 1/2 Sync switch on panel instead of in menu, and XLR input for microphone. But i can easily live without these things. Only other comparable synth would be a Virus Indigo, at triple the price! The Alesis ION may be a contender when it comes out next month.

Just wanted to add to the complaint list for clicking- the volume pot appears to control level through cc messages... adjusting the volume while playing results in some clicks and distortion and other nastiness.

I bought my K-Station last month,and i absolutly love the damm thing.
I mean when im in school,Im F#$@ing dreaming about it.
The presets are nice but I like makeing my own sounds most of the time.
Oh yea a QUESTION for all the other K-Station users out there....HOW DO YOU APPLY PATCHES? please E-Mail me Cradleofdeath86@aol.com
The manual is easy to understand,at least for me,but i doesnt tell you how to apply patches ...or if it does can somebody plaese tell me what page. Thank You! :-D

Great Polyphony,havent had a problem with it,Yet
Great Effect really easy to use.
Not shure if it has expansion capabilities. If it does can somebody imform me of which ones? Ill Greatly Appreachiate it...or however you spell it. :-D
There is MIDI IN,MIDI OUT,& MIDI THRU. therefore you can hook it up to your master keyboard/workstation. Really Kool!
The feature downfall is that there is no onboard sequencer,buy hey you can always go buy one!

well im useing the sounds for my industrial band,but these sounds arent just for industrial music. It also work well with Techno,Electronica,Dance,maybe rock if you can make it work,very slim though.
Onboard effects are again GREAT love em!
Includes an Arpeggiator really kool
the sounds are totaly customable depends on what you want.

Ive only giged with it once and it was great except for this annoying popping sound when you cycle through the voices,I heard there was a patch to fix this IS THIS TRUE? Please help is greatly needed.
I would definitly use iit on a gig without a backup

Never needed to.
Wish i knew how to upgrade the damm thing

If it were lost or stolen I would be on a killing RAMPAGE to hunt down the MOTHERF#$%@ER who stole it!then if i couldent find it id gop out and buy another one :-D. i think it was worth the price i paid for it.
ive been playing for 8 months.
I LOVE it totaly.I HATE the popping DAMM POPPING!
I Picked the K-Station because of its price and portability.
I Wish it had a 48 TRACK SEQUENCER :-D
Its a really big help makeing music...if you have a sequencer.

PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO UPGRADE & APPLY PATCHES TO THE K-STATION!!!!
E-Mail ME PLEASE Cradleofdeath86@aol.com

1.0.09

What can I say, I bougth that damn thing and there was a reason behind it. I owned a couple of VA synthesizers and this one especially stroke me because of size and sound. Once I got it unpacked it reveiled alot of other nice features I was not aware of when I tested the unit. However, it is easy to use. What is see is what you get. And it goes even further, what you don't see is what you get. Many features are either hidden (double waveforms) and need a look into the manual or they are tacked in the manua (FM, Sync, etc.) Especially I was impressed with the Oscillator section and all the additional features. More straight forward is the filter section with a low pass filter only. However, you got two nice additional parameters: Drive and Norm for altering the filter characteristics. The rest of the machine is straight forward, 2 LFOs, 2Envs, etc. It might surprise you that it has 7 onboard effects and all are working at once!! It contribute to the sound alot. The ARP is not my kind of toy but you can do alot of crazy stuff with it. It definetely goes behind every "normal" Arp seen. Everything is well layed out and easy to access. Stuff in the menu is rather a pain to change but gets better over the time. On the downsize is the monotimbral. I wish it had split/double function ala JP8 but I can buy another one when I need more K sounds. They are not that pricy. Velocity works fine, aftertouch is missing (but not a bid deal with a 2 octave keyboard). To make a long story short, for a 2 octave keyboard you get alot for your money, great sound with 8 voice polyphony, effects galore, sophisticated arp, very good midi specs (including syncing everything) and a nice blue display!

The K station excels when it comes to sound. 3 Oscillators are just nice to have (and better than just 2). FM and Sync is doing exactly what they promise and sound great. The filter is very analog sounding too and the additional drive parameter distort the sound in a pleasant way. The norm parameter makes a good SSM2044 emulation as well. You can expect every sound you would get out of a decent analog synth and much more. The effects are sounding good. Maybe not lexicon quality but this is a portable synth and what you get on the run is great. Good thing is that you can blend in many efx via wheel. Using all the wheels and velocity you can create a wide spectrum of sounds without even touching the knobs. Overall, the sound and expressivness is great and you will be surprised what you can get out of this little board.

So far so good. The newer os seem to fix some bugs. Lets see...

n/a

I guess for the money and the size it is the best out there. The uQk I was looking at was sounding less warm and more pricy. You might miss the multitimbral features but I guess it was not intend to replace your studio setup anyway. After all, you can double the sounds with unisono mode 2.

I bought it for a special reason, to have fun on the road or in the hotel and later on integrate the sounds in my songs when I am back in my studio. I tried this with some other monophonic gear but the lack of polyphony is not acceptable for me. This way I do have a little box that is easy to program (and more difficult when you want to really dig in) and sounds terrific. It is probably not the most flexible board out there but it definetely beats some of the older classic polyphonic boards out there. The effects are a great addition to the sound!! Overall, it gets a thumbs up.

Ver. 1.0.09
The presets on this board are usable. Plenty of bottom end and they demonstrate what the synth is capable of, though you can get a lot more creative than this. Edting patches is childs play, the menus are quick to access for paramaters that aren't laid out in front of you with all the nobs and buttons.
It loses points here for the lack of patch naming which is a curse onstage. Apparently Novation did this to keep it compatible with their A-Station module, and because it would use up most of the K-stations memory, but now they are trying to find a way round this.

I find the 2 octave keyboard seriously limiting. 3 or 4 would be much more practical. You can hit the octave transpose button but this is a drag when your in the middle of something. I play it from a larger controller keyboard but if you don't have another set of keys, it would be better to go for the new KS4 or 5.
Otherwise it's diminuitive nature makes it great for the studio. The arpeggiator, LFOs and effects are all syncable to MIDI clock at various subdivisions. It is however mono-timbral so don't get too carried away.

Above all else this synth sounds fantastic. I checked out Korg MS2000, Waldorf Micro-Q, Access Virus b and others but chose this one for features and quality for money, 'cause I didn't need 16 parts and surround sound capability. The sound is comparable to some of the high end gear at less than half the price.
Onboard effects are good value. It has a very flexible delay and you can mix in distortion with the level nob. All 7 effects incl. the vocoder can be run simultaneously which is a luxury. The reverb don't sound so nice, use it sparingly.

Hmmm. Pretty sturdy build for so small a thing. Although a lot them, including mine, appear to have imperfections. Pitch bend wheel rubs against the case, nobs slightly off center. Everything works fine though so I'll get over it.
Amp makes a huge pop when you power it up. This could be embarassing if the whimpy little power plug should fall out.

Great for novice and pro alike. You can justify most of it's short-comings for the price you pay so overall I like it. Do make sure it meets your needs before you buy this just 'cause it looks so cute on the shelf. I shall call it 'mini me'.

Using version 1.00.09. The presets are very good- anyone who does not believe me needs to check out the first demo file on the Novation website. It is very very easy to edit patches- just go left to right and you'll have a great sound in no time.

The max polyphony is 8 notes, but that is enough with a 24-note keyboard (try playing an 8 note chord :)) Built in effects are very easy to use, just like the rest of the keyboard, just select with a button and then edit with the knob. The action is similar to that of any other keyboard in this price range. They are pressure sensitive however they do not transmit aftertouch. The pressure sensitivity adds some neat depth to some of the patches- depending on how hard you hit the keys, it morphs the patch to have a harsher attack, or a softer attack, etc. etc. No on board sequencer, but in a board this size and cost, there doesn't need to be one!

This is a beautiful sounding board, with the classic Novation sound. It works great in techno/trance music, although it would be comfortable in almost any other genre (the basses are superb). On board effects are good sounding, and include a vocoder (score!). It reacts to your playing- hitting the keys harder or softer makes the patches bend and morph. However it does not transmit aftertouch, but it can receive it over MIDI.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd cry and then go buy a new one. This is an awesome synth that is worth every penny of its purchase price. It is a real breakthrough when you consider how much it gives you for how little you pay. I love its sounds, its vocoder, and its ease of use. I don't really hate anything about it! I compared it to many other VA synths (this is my first VA synth), including the JP8080, MS2000, NordLead 3, etc. etc. I chose this one because I love the Novation sound and it was such a great deal! I wish it had an internal power supply and an on-board sequencer. It is very very helpful to my music making- it is the first thing that I reach for when I get inspired. I think that this is a great synth and anyone with the money should have one.

The preset sounds are not good, but i realy never use any preset sounds anyway. But it is very easy to make som very good sounds by your self. It is easy to edit patches and so. The manual is not so good. It does not expalin how to change OS for example.

Thi synth is a real performance synth. Great 2 octav keyboard. Enought for a good baseline or a short "clatchy" lead sling. 8 voices are good. The effects are good, and i know what good effects are coz i got a Korg Karma.

This is a true Techno/Trance machine. So if you like fat bases and nice strings or good "synth" leads this is a synth for you.

The OS (i got 1.0 in my K-Station) is very instable. I dont like it. I will upgrade it to morrow coz there is a new one on the Novation page. So i hopw this will fix the buggs.

I have not tryed it yet.

When i have fixed the OS and the synth become stable it will be a 10 until that i will give it an 8. Coz i sounds the way i want it to sound. And i have own al ot of VA synths for example, Nordlead, Ms2000, Nova II and a Jp8000. I think K-Station is a great synth coz it is not so hard to work with as the Nova and Ms2000 with matrixes and special patches. I like the simple way of editing like the Nordlead. So i like the K-Station very much, it is a great complement to my Korg Karma.

I have had a K-Station for two weeks now and I like it a lot. The OS is version 1.0 and there are bugs but these can be worked around. I tend to go for equipment with knobs on and this fits the bill very well. The manual is terse but fairly complete. You do need to read the manual to get the best out of this synth but you can do a lot without it.

The K-Station is 8 note polyphonic but this reduces if you select Unison mode where you can stack voices to get up to 24 oscillators!
Unfortunately the stacked voices must all use the one patch but you can detune them for very fat basses and string pads. The filter is limited to one LPF mode but it is a very good filter and it is especially good at creating 303 basses. Surprisingly, the effects are all available simultaneously and they work well. The distortion effect is particularly good because it can be applied in moderation to thicken a sound without noticeably distorting. The EQ effect is also useful since you can create a modulated HPF with it but it is not resonant. The FM mode is useful and uses a seperate A-D envelope generator so it is possible to create decent FM sounds. The Rhodes piano sound is a good example.

I use the K-Station for techno and progressive music and it fits the bill very well. Acid basses, rich string pads and Hard House synth stabs are all easy to find. The three oscillators and the extensive modulation options mean that it is generally possible to emulate any other synth with the obvious limitation that it only has a LPF.

The build quality is a little disappointing. I took my first K-Station back to the shop because it had two knobs pointing 20 degrees from the vertical. I thought that it might have taken a knock but since the replacement also has knobs pointing in odd directions I guess it's just built that way. The pitch bend wheel scrapes on the case but its more a matter of aesthetics than a problem. These build problems are a shame because the physical design of the unit is especially good.
My K-Station has two bugs that I have noticed. To turn local mode on/off you sometimes have to spin the data knob several times rather than the one click which works for other on/off settings. Initially I thought that local on/off didn't work at all. More seriously, the LFO 2 to Oscillator PWM modulation control actually adjusts the Mod. Envelope to PWM parameter. This is a shame since the LFO setting is generally more useful. The only way around this is to use an external MIDI controller to adjust it. The knob transmits the wrong controller data as well so I guess it will be easy to fix in a later OS update.

I sent an email to Novation regarding the local on/off issue and they didn't reply. Not a very good start but I will reserve judgement until the next time I have need to contact them.

The K-Station is a very capable synthesizer and I am generally very pleased with it. Its only because its so good that the minor problems stand out so much. I am not a keyboard player so the 2-Octave keyboard is more than enough for bashing in basslines without dominating the desktop. As for missing features, I think that the addition of a multimode filter would be a good idea but thats all.

Presets are kinda crappy, but who uses VA's for presets? (I know a lot of people). It is however an amazingly easy kit to use. Very user friendly, lots of knobs, easy menus etc.. etc...

I read that it has tweakable "filters". However it has only a Lowpass, which isn't bad at all, I just thought you got "filters". All effects are extremely easy to use and sound great (Like other Novation effects sections) are easy to edit and if you need to dive into a menu it's simple and straight forward. However the arpeggiator is BROKEN, more on this later.

Heard a SuperNova lately? It just sounds completely amazing. The presets kinda suck, but dig around and play with it and you can get incredible noises out of it. 9.5 out of 10.

OK, this is where it turns into a big terd. I bought this for it's size and sound to use as a live board.

First of all the thing clicks as you go through patches, even when they aren't oscillating at all. It's LOUD, like really loud. It's stinky, but I heard they were working on it. However on the Micro-Q they had the same problem and the only solution they could find was to mute it as it flipped channels for about .5 seconds. I hope they don't do the same on the K....

The arpeggiator is broken. On about 50% of the non-pad patches if you turn the Arp on and turn the octaves to between +2 to +5 (depends on patch) the whole unit crashes and comes to a halt. At which point you have to restart it, which live would result in a HUGE POP when you flipped it back on if you aren't careful and/or near your mixer. Then you ave to flip all the way back to the patch (more pops) and try again without going up as high in Octaves.

I tried 3 K's and all had the same problem. If you go try one go to preset patch 208 and turn the octaves to +5 and touch the keyboard. Wasn't that fun? As I said this happens on loads of patches, yes even ones you make yourself, 208 is just the one I found this on first and it stuck in my head.

Also, i remember 2 times where I would be tweaking and playing and all of a sudden it would make some huge random other noise. Like "hey what is that acid line doing in my pad????" It was weird and never ever happened in my SuperNova.

Well, it's only been 3 days, but they never mailed me...

I only used it for about 10 hours and it crashed at least 40 times. I bought it as a live kit and it will not function as such. I guess if you are just gonna tweak in your bedroom and never use the Arp it'd be good, but that's not what I think everyone that's buying it want's. For the same price you can get a Nova on EBAY and a cheap controller.

If they come out with an OS upgrade to fix all it's problems I would probably buy it again, but for now i'm not gonna hold on to it and see.

However, it does look great and it's easy to use. Plus it sounds GREAT! So if you aren't planning on going live it'd be OK.

I just picked up the K-Station last week and am already impressed with the available tweakable parameters, conveniently located. programming is fun and oh so easy. although the factory patches are somewhat limited, I have several favorites already and the rest are imminently changeable. the manual is clear although, like most, not terribly thorough.

this may sound weird, but you can tell alot about gear by the feel of its knobs and these are so luxurious. the way they feel and move make twisting them a real pleasure. I figure if a company provides quality knobs and pots, they must be serious about the rest of the parts, too. although only an 8-voice machine, the 3 oscillators make the K-Station phat enough for my needs. I love the number of on-demand quality effects, assignable to individual oscillators during programming or performance. obviously, to get it to do things the original programmers didnt touch on, you have to work a bit harder but, at the end of the day, it's a cool little synth, well worth the investment.

this thing is made for the dance market. it's limited, but I was amazed at how close many of the voices are to my Nordlead, which I love. I bought it as a complement to my Yamaha for layering, pads and basslines, while I'm using the Yamaha for pianos, drums, guitars, etc. it will also do all the wild sounds the Nord usually provides, in a tiny package with nice effects and easier arping than the Nord. Time will tell whether I can squeeze more variety out of it. the building blocks and editing tools are there. there's a lot to work with considering cost and space.

I havent gigged with it yet so we'll see. I'd say it will never be a primary instrument on stage, it's more of an auxillary sound device. I dont think it was meant to be more than that. I'll echo the concern over the clicking sounds, possibly vocoder related. that surprised me and almost made me want to return it the next day. then I started playing with it and decided it was worth that relatively small aggravation.

havent tried to reach them for anything...yet. I was completely unimpressed with the website. at first, I didnt have a manual and was hoping to find one on-line, but no. not a good sign.

If I Did take this puppy out as a singular keyboard, I'd still pair it with my KAOSS pad and Repeater (multi-effects and looper). except for the total lack of traditional drum sounds, I'd be able to create some incredible looping textures using a full range of sonic possibilities. I think you have to take the cost into account to say the K-Station is a great instrument because, if it were twice the price, I might not give it a 2nd look. If you want a small (second) keyboard that makes scary analogue Nordlike sounds and put on a whole new face with a couple of quick tweaks, with tons of effects and live controls, that works very well as a midi-controled layering device, the K-Station is definitely worth a test drive.

presets are fine, editing is nice and easy, there is a manual but you don't need it. You can make 200 of you're own presets and store them

8 voices polyf is enough, multitimbrality is history with this machine, you don't need it. Built in effects are good too especially delay, you can easy lay down effects under you modwheel.

K-station is usable for all kinds of Dance/techno/industrial/gothic/electro/ambient
I am using this machine just for bass and arpeggios.

The chassis is very stable and the knobs too, you can tweak without breaking the knobs, The klicks you hear by switching the presets could be anoying on a gig but the next os update will solve that

If it were lost or stolen i guesh i would scream like a donky.
I've been playing voor many years now on mainly digital keyboards and i've never seen a VA that is so userfriendly as this one. I did compare it with ms2000 with good sounds too but not thick enough to me when i heard the Kstation pumping those fatt round bass

Version 1.0.
The presets show the potential of what the instrument can do. They tend to lean towards the 80's polysynth, which is not a bad thing at all. I was eyeing the K-Station as a live substitute for my Moog Rogue and Mini, and it didn't take very long to get in the ballpark. The layout of the knobs is very good, and I also applaud the decision to include sliders for envelope control. They also give you some interesting tools to work with within the editing menus, such as a controllable amount of "oscillator drift", modulation routings, fx, etc. The LCD screen is handy, and very easy to read onstage. That said, I find it slightly mind-boggling that you CAN'T NAME PROGRAMS. There's plenty of space on the screen, but all you get is "Prog Number xxx" etc. The space taken up by those words could be EASILY and much more effectively used by user-defined program names. This may sound nit-picky, but it's already come to haunt me in live performance, when I wanted to change sounds on the fly. "hmm, this would sound better if I used 419!.....um, which one was 419 again?"
The manual looks good, but I must admit I've barely cracked it open. That is a good thing.

With 8-note polyphony, the K-Station definitely gets extra points in the bang-for-the-buck category. If they could make it multitimbral in a future software update, that would be excellent. Not a major gripe, just something for the wish list.
The keyboard action is adequate. I found myself wishing for just ONE more key on the bottom. Had the keyboard been equipped with aftertouch, I would have cried tears of geek joy. Sadly, it is not the case. The synth engine will respond to incoming MIDI aftertouch messages though, which is nice.

The sound is very good and very clean, but you can dirty it up if you want to. ONE MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT: Zipper noise("stepping") while adjusting filter cutoff frequency. This might have been an acceptable compromise in the early days of digital filter control, but I don't think any manufacturer should let a synth leave the design table without a smooth sweeping filter. I believe that the problem is in the resolution of the knob itself rather than the filter. When the filter cutoff is controlled by the envelope, it appears to be a smooth sweep. Can this be fixed in a software update? I've got my fingers crossed. Another curious quirk occured when I adjusted filter frequnecy on a sound that uses tempo delay. Moving of the filter knob cause the delay to disappear, as if the knob I was turning reduced the delay time to zero. There could be a routing that I'm not aware of, but it seemed odd. Speaking of the delays, they, along with the other compliment of effects, are decent, workmanlike, and a nice bonus.

Within one hour of taking the K-Station out of the box, I heard some fragments sliding around inside the chassis. While the instrument worked fine, I exchanged it for another unit. The replacement unit began exhibiting the same problem in two days. I was gigging without a backup, and the unit performed perfectly, but I was concerned about it's reliability.

I have yet to get in touch with Novation, as it appears they have no US distributor. Guitar Center received the K-Stations direct from the UK, and I was lucky that they had a replacement unit in stock. I'll reserve rating the customer service until I actually reach them.

I think Novation is very close to having a serious hit on their hands with the K-Station. At first glance, one may think it could even be cheaper. Then consider the current crop of virtual-analog synths and it becomes apparent that it's a solid value. My open letter to Novation: Make it solid, address the filter-knob issue, incorporate program names (easy) and aftertouch (not so easy), and give us Yanks someone to talk to when we need product support. Only a few steps away from a new British Invasion.

Paid $650 tax free for this baby at guitar center in Austin, TX!

Presets are pretty damn tasty, nice bass, leads, arps and pads plus several squeeks and electronic haywire patches....
Editing patches couldn't be any easier, just twist the knobs, hit the "write" button three times and wa-la, you've got yourself and new patch! Very user friendly manual and explained everything you need to know about being up and running with creating new patches and going through all the menu's. A+ on the manual, even though it's b & w and printed and bound pretty cheaply, it packs the information needed in solid english!

8 voice polyphony, good enough for me, hasn't cut out when I'm recording anything yet. Keys are a bit plastic feeling, but you can adjust that with some ingenuity, a heavy bar of zinc cut into strips to fit insid the underside of the keys and epoxy...hehe. Responds really well to pressure sensitivity, I could get random sounds with other keyboards by using the same pressure, but using the K station, the level of pressure is put in a good zone to where you can replicate the same results every time using close to the same pressure (ok i just used the word 'pressure' enough for this week, sorry)...

Built in effects are sweet, delay, reverb, chorus, phaser, eq, distortion, vocoder (nice preset vocoder on patch 259, 269 and 279 to check out and hit a key while you're running something in through the external input jack after you've set it up to run through)... easy to run through the menu's and save on your patches with a simple three pushes of the "write" button.
Midi In, Out, and Thru, sends everything to midi, every knob, every wheel. OH OH OH,,, almost forgot, on the effects, the menu lets you place each amount of effect into the modulation wheel, nice and easy to have delay on the top half of the mod wheel, and distortion on the bottom half,,, or any combination,,, very nice indeed!

Very easy to pick up everything on this board. The three oscilators kick ass and you can be hackin' out new patches pretty effortlessly by twiddling around with the knobs and then saving to one of the 200 extra spaces or over writing the 200 preset patches. (make sure to leave patch 299 or at least a couple as a pass through for your external input jack, read the manual about this, it'll help you understand)

Presets are pretty useful, easily tweaked into something else if you'd like to use them. Works well for any type of music looking for deep bass, pads, tweaky quirky sounds, rough organs, just nothing real or acoustic.... Onboard effects are VERY good. The delay is able to be timed, but not as easily to bpm as it could be (micro Q had the best submenu'd delay I've worked with, used bpm and quantized) it just has quantize (unless I'm missing something) but it still works like a champ. Placing the modulation with the effects and making it so easy to program and use that way makes this definately a good live gig machine (although the clicks could be a problem as previously mentioned, but unless you're playing one song and switching between patches all through out the song, this wouldn't be an issue.).... Not static at all, very responsive with every slight turn of each knob. Has velocity sensitivity, but I'm not sure about aftertouch.

Not much under the hood. I had to take it apart as soon as I got it to remove a peice of the internal cover plastic that seprated the knobs from the actual motherboard, but everything you need is right there in front of you inside this horse. I was scared that once I took off the knobs and slider covers that my keyboard would be pretty much screwed and loose, but not so, it's still as tight as it was, and everything that I took apart fit right back, tightly into place, so I'm really damn confident in it's build quality. The soft buttons are alot nicer than the micro q's plastic clicking ones and the knobs on this are very tight and pretty precise (at times, it'll take an extra second to turn the effects just one point higher (from say, 66, to 67 in the value, it'll go to 68 and you'll have to be gentle to get that value to 67) but it's not that bad as it may sound....).

I would definatly gig with out a back up, although I don't like the power supply, it's a 9v plug with a straight insert into the rear of the kb, pretty easily pulled out. But hey, can't complain, I paid 350 less than I did for my micro Q kb and I'm not missing my micro Q at all in my studio. Actually easier by a long shot to create your own patches with the k station's 3 oscilators than using the micro's modulation process. More knobs as well makes this easier to gig with than the micro q. (don't give me wrong, the micro q kb's great! I just think this is a less costly version that gives you about 4/5ths of the options that the micro does)

7 for a weak power supply and no way to make sure it's hooked in place (like roland's have) but a 10 for the quality build of this machine!

Never dealth with customer support, but their site seems to have a bit of work to be totally customer friendly.

LOST!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! I WOULD be so ticked if anything happened to this. I would buy it again easily before I even started to wipe my tears from it's theft or damages. I've been playing for about 4 years now making various electronic and this will cover it all, no problems. I've owned jx 305, nord lead 2, kawaii k5000s, Waldorf Micro Q kb and now this, I've enjoyed and learned this little sucker the fastest out of all the above. I think the single part complaint that people have is bull, cuz you have 3 oscilators to work with, so once you get the hang of that, you have 3 parts to work with, use your imagination! I love all the knobs, sliders, smooth layout is a 10+! and makes it easy to work and get into the menu's quickly. I don't like the weak power supply, and the keys are 7/10, but hell if that will cut down on your creativity with this machine! Don't like the clicking, but it's bad enough to be noticable when you're in the studio after you're used to it. The clicking won't hurt your ears, don't worry, it's pretty faint after you've used it for a bit. I wish it had some type of gain effect for this, it can be quiet at times(at least some of the patches are)...

25 keys don't hinder me at all. Covers the entire range from the deeeeeeep to the high pitched dog squeel, so dont worry about the 2 octaves, just innovate...

It helps me be more creative, and I've never been one for patch creation, more of a tweaker, but this has me wanting to get home from work and make patches! knobs + sliders + easy layout and menus = one classic synth soon to be proclaimed a winner!

650 for this BRAND NEW!!!???? IT'S THE BEST VALUE I'VE EVER SEEN FOR A SYNTH. I made a quick 6 minute demo running through the first 60 patches or so at http://www.ampcast.com/nurf Look at the bottom for "K station demo" it's sweet sound can be heard even with the 128kb/sec bitrate

never used novation products before, but hell if I won't in the future!

I bought the K-station as soon as it came out...the sounds are amazing... I have a several amazing digital and analog synths but I bought this one because it's a small little package which would make gigging easier and still deliver some of those awesome sounds. HOWEVER, when you page up or down to go through the patchs there's a LOUD clicking sound which pops your amp. Also the volume makes annoying crackling sounds when you turn it. After checking all of my cables, amps, etc. I decided to go to Sam Ash and try out there demo to see if mine was defective. Their demo did the EXACT same thing!!! I would NEVER gig with this professionally and am returning mine.

I called and emailed novation to no avail. Sad really.