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Winter NAMM 2012 videos
Synth Site: Kawai: XD5: User reviews Add review


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Average rating: 4.1 out of 5
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Tony Oresteen a hobbyist user from USA writes:
I just got my Kawai XD-5 and have not spent a lot of time with it yet. Here's some info that I have gathered that may be of use to XD-5 users.

The last version of the OS is 1.0. Other versions of the OS were available for dealers who needed continus deomo programs to attract sales.

The card slot is NOT a PCMCIA slot. It is a Kawai/Ensonic type slot. It can use the Kawai DC-16 or the Ensonic MC-16 RAM cards. If you use a 32mb card it will only address it as a 16 MB card.

To reset unit, hold the SYSTEM + PREV buttons while you turn ON the power, this will reload original factory defaults.

The check the OS version, hold the SYSTEM button while turning ON the power, system version should be version 1.0

Rating: 0 out of 5 posted Friday-Jan-14-1111 at 11:05
Bob a part-time user from USA writes:
I got my XD-5 several years ago and am very glad I did. I would have to disagree with most of the previous reviews. The XD-5 is great at imitating acoustic drums in certain settings. I've used mine for primary drums on several ballad paced jazz/blues compositions with resounding results. If your looking to build a drum kit that resembles a home type recording setting with the drums stuffed with pillows and the toms with kotex on them the XD-5 can do a remarkable job. the c aviate is as others stated the weakness in the cymbals. the ride and bell-rides are fine but the crashes again sound as if they to were padded down.

The other thing the XD-5 has going for it is that the factory will still support this unit to the fullest. I had requested the re-set info which they supplied but, also the complete OS and sound reset files with a MIDI loader. Try that with other mfgs which is a hit or miss scenario. Kawai is outstanding!

Lastly, there are a myriad of PDF support documents for this synth. If you are patient and want a different and useful device I would definitely give this synth a hard look given todays prices, you probably would NOT be disappointed.

Rating: 5 out of 5 posted Saturday-Jan-05-088 at 18:55
Matt from Uk writes:
In response to all those who had trouble programming this ? did you never try Soundiver on pc or mac? . . . . i'm amazed people try and program all these old rack units with it !Its a piece of piss as they say to program if you living in the 21st century ! you use pc and cubase and progam off the frontpanel !

Rating: 5 out of 5 posted Monday-Oct-10-055 at 12:30
kenneth a professional user from behind my pc writes:
The XD-5 is a 2U high rack percusion synthesizer. It was origanily build for those "poef toeff" 80s drums. but little does kawai know that there is a select group of users who use this thing to create almost plasticMetalAlien like percusion sounds today.

The synthesis system is pretty cool. cooler than most EL-cheapo drummachines. there are 4 DCO's which play PCM wave forms or drum samples. they are fully edditable in tuning and sofort. there is a DCA with an envelope and a realy and i mean REALY dirty LowPass DCF also with his ENV. you can Amplitude Modulate DCO 1>2 and 3>4 wich is verry cool for those techno and industrial sounds.

on the back you wil find Midi in,out,thru and 8 outputs wich can be verry usefull. on the front there is a big slot for some ram card. pretty useless sinds there is enough room internaly to store your sounds. the user interface is as usable as any synth from the 80's....but it will do.

i find the xd5 an verry obscure synth if you go further than preset play back(wich i hope every body does). the sounds are cool. gritty, bitty, matalic and plastic-jackhammer are some of the languages i can make it speak with little effort. come on dude gotta love that filter.

Rating: 4 out of 5 posted Tuesday-Oct-05-044 at 13:18
juan a part-time user from usa writes:
Saﾚo Podobnik is rigth the XD-5 lacks some features, but in my opinion the sounds from the xd5 are just great. you can really get some wacky sounds out of the xd5. I also own a rm50 and that is also a great module but it can't match the sound editing from the xd5. they are both a pain to program if you don't have the manual, but once you get used to it programing becomes really easy. the xd5 is really cheap so buying one should not be a problem. They usually run anywhere from $90.00-$150.00. This module is great for people making minimal techno.

Rating: 5 out of 5 posted Wednesday-Apr-07-044 at 14:15
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