Product: CME UF6
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
10/19/2009
at
01:30pm
by
KOinUK
General Features
:
7
Used in a Home/Bedroom Studio, to control softsynths and software rack/minihost such as Cantabile, and VST hosts such as REaper and Cubase and Samplitude
61 Semi weighted keys, channel aftertouch, velocity senstitive with 4 settings., very nice space age red led type - powered by wall wart. black and red painted metal (not sure what type of metal). Sturdy looking.
Additional Controls
:
8
, 8 knobs, 6 buttons for remo0te control (start stop record etc), 9 sliders. and control section for the keyboard to change program on your synth, toggle after touch, and 4 settings for velocity sensitivity, transpose, octave, split and layering.
Separate Pitch bend and modulation wheels, with friction grooves. nice to the touch.
Midi in and Out, and USB - Also has connections for a breath controller.
Sustain and volume(contnuous controller) pedal connectors.
Everything does seem to work ok.
Connectivity
:
No Opinion
US 2.0 midi in and midi out.
Additional features
:
10
No bundles software, there is a beta version software for setting it up but I have not tried it yet.
No manufacturer supported drivers for USB in VIsta, but I downloaded one public domain one that seems to work quite well from http://cme.wilfing.se.
Supports expansion to become a Waldorf digitally emulated analog synth (like virus) or a firewwire audio/midi interface device
Overall Rating
:
9
Once I found the drivers it works ok. Once caused Blue screen of death in Vista and I had to reboot.
For someone moving from a Studiologic SL161 keyboard, the action was and is a bit of an effort to reach the maximum velocities on some of the velocity sensitivity programs. Fingers ached for a few days, guess they are trying to emulate a weighted feel. but without hammers not sure how effective the feel is. It would take a lot of practice to become really aast on this keyboard.
Leftmost/ lowest key on the board is very near to a metalk edge and I usually transpose it to avoid my left hand pinky littloe finger from ghitting the edge on the lowest C note.
For the price I goyt it - 122 british puunds, I can't complain. DOes the job.
On the other hand the sturdiness looks like it will last a very long time.
Keys are a bit noisy. Never really played much on a real piano so aI cannot compare. Definitely much noisier than on my SL 161 midi controller. and certainly at least a few kilos heavier.But that other product was not as reliably built as this one.
Only flaw is that some of the paint for the borders of rte sections near where your fingers hit the key are showing some wear, from possibly rubbing from fingers.
These keys are long and full and a bit square. Depending on the soft syhtn I am using at the time, I sometimes need to cycle throuh the velocity settings to find one that is most suitable for the instrument that I am playing. this is not really a faulto of the keyboard, but rather the variation in programming of syhths and sampled sounds by various suppliers, not working to a n identical standard.
You eventually get used to the keyboard, but my hands and fingers ached for a while , and still do, after extended use, for a few hours in the studio.
It has done the job. For the price, I really cannot think of a more suitable product.
The selling point especially for me was I think everyone needs 3 things
1. A controller that has a good set of knobs for working with midi'd hard or soft synths.
It has been a revelation for me to control volume from this controller without having to use a mouse. This alone is absolutely fantastic.
2. A semiweighted 61 key board for fast synth work and triggering drum sounds.
3. For those with a more pianistic need, a full 88 note weighted piano keyboard contoller.
This board has met the first 2 of these needs in one device, which is cool.
The only thing it does not have is pads for hitting drums. Not sure how these would work though because, one would have to assign thee manually, as most drum samples are already mapped to keys, by default. Also not sure how really velocity sensitive thes pads would be. Also this addition would obviulsy lead to a much more expensive product.
I think CME ahas focussed on a decent balance between bells and whistles and a decent keyboard feel. Many other manufactureers advertise lots of controls with dinky soft keys which are difficult to use for any sensitive playing.
If it were stolen and I could get it at the same price, I would definitely consider buying. It certainly looks like it woul last for at least 5 years.
I am able to work a whole day without any issues, for the last 2 or 3 days. Only had it for almost a week. Still learning about all the functions.
UNfortunately it is not available new any more, the new model is a UF60, with similar features but upgraded hardware that is class compliant with Vista's USB and requires less work with drivers, etc.
Product: CME UF6
Price Paid: USD 300
Submitted
10/10/2008
at
06:36pm
by
Momo
General Features
:
8
- 61 Keys
- Semi-weighted
- Heavy Aluminum case
- Powered by adapter or USB
Additional Controls
:
9
- Velocity sensitivity with Velocity curve switch
- Picthbend wheel
- Modulation wheel
- 8 knobs and 8 faders (programmable and assignable)
- After Touch control
- DrawBar Control
- Channel, Split, Dual
You got everything you will need in the midi controller basically
Connectivity
:
No Opinion
1 midi In (works fine)
2 input jack for Sustain and Controller pedals
1 USB (the driver sucks!)
Additional features
:
No Opinion
- Transpose, Program, Octave
The driver really sucks. But it works fine with midi cable.
Overall Rating
:
9
UF6 works fine. Bought it in 2006. No bad key so far. However, the driver never works. It can still perform well with regular midi connection.
It is one of the best semi-weighted keyboard I have tried from local stores. Much better than M-Audio and Alesis.
