CME & One Red Dog Intro XK-1 iOS Synthesizer

CME_XK-1_appCME, in cooperation with One Red Dog, has announced XK-1 synthesizer, a new software synth that they say is “the perfect companion to your CME Xkey keyboard”

CME’s Xkey is an inexpensive MIDI controller that offers polyphonic aftertouch, a feature that’s rare for controllers at any price range.

XK-1 is customized to work well with XKey and uses the synthesizer engine from Arctic ProSynth. XK-1 also supports the polyphonic aftertouch messages sent from the Xkey keyboard for delicate expressive playing.

The free version of XK-1 includes 16 sounds. When you connect your Xkey to your iPad with the Lightning to USB Camera Adapter (available from Apple), it unlocks the full sound library of 168 presets. If you don’t own an Xkey the library is available through an in-app purchase at US $2.99.

Features:

  • Similar intuitive UI design to match Xkey concept
  • Support for polyphonic aftertouch
  • Presets from the acclaimed Arctic ProSynth
  • Fast operation, plug and play with Xkey
  • Inter-app Audio support
  • CoreMIDI support with Virtual MIDI Ports
  • Audiobus support

XK-1 is a free download from the App Store.

2 thoughts on “CME & One Red Dog Intro XK-1 iOS Synthesizer

  1. Nice – another iOS instrument with poly pressure to add to the excellent (and actually programmable!) Animoog, SynthX, etc.!

    The Xkey is a very useful keyboard – we just need a bigger version!

    One of the great things about the Prophet ’08 (and ’12) modules is that they accept poly pressure! Even the Tetra will accept channel pressure on all four voices, so with a bit of MIDI wizardry you can get poly pressure on it as well (I’ve used the QuNexus with it since it supports channel rotation out of the box.)

  2. I’m liking my XKey quite a bit, so I was jazzed to hear that a 37-note version is due. I miss those extra keys at times. Their squishy pitch-bend & mod buttons don’t send me, but the rest is very usable. I wasn’t expecting to adapt to it so easily, but the flat keys are perfectly playable. Its a solid little tool I’d especially recommend to regular iPadders. It may look a bit flimsy, but in real life, it has good heft for the job.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *