CME has announced the launch of the ASX Advanced Synthesis Expansion for UF and VX series keyboards. It’s a synth on a board that goes into the expansion slot of UF and VX series control keyboards, turning the CME MIDI controller keyboard into a stand-alone synthesizer.

The ASX does not rely on playback of sampled sounds but brings sufficient DSP power to run dedicated synth modelling plug-ins. Four plug-ins are included with the ASX, which can be dynamically loaded one at a time:

• the Minimax—a polyphonic replica of the analog synth legend;
• the LightWave—a wavetable based virtual analog synth with plenty of modulation possibilities;
• the B4000 organ—a precise model of the famous tonewheel organ; and
• the Vocodizer—a complex vocoder which is controlled via a dedicated microphone input.

Next to the microphone input, the ASX provides stereo line out, stereo headphone out and a USB port to connect to the ASX Editor Software. The Editor provides graphic interfaces to each plug-in and allows access to all settings of the plug-in. Sounds can be managed, exchanged via an online server and uploaded to the ASX hardware.

Listed at 369 USD, the ASX is shipping within November 2007.