CME UF5 Controller Keyboard - First impressions

[thecontrolcentre]

The UF5 has been my favourite on my wish list until today when I discovered this:
http://line6.com/toneport/kb37.html

yeah ... me too. I'll wait until i've seen some reviews, but it certainly looks very nice ... don't know if my credit card can stand the strain at the moment

[Baas]

Noticed some news yesterday for the UF keybords:

Waldorf is making two plug-in synths for the UF-series

Nano synth and a piano module.

Has anyone tried them yet? I think they are just released. And one UF keyboard can have both modules at the same time.

from waldorf? links! NOW!

http://www.musik-schmidt.de/osc-schmidt ... anguage=en

KennethA

[Kingston]

http://www.musik-schmidt.de/osc-schmidt ... anguage=en

KennethA

agh! what a disappointment. a boring rompler.

[gunnare]

The UF5 has been my favourite on my wish list until today when I discovered this:
http://line6.com/toneport/kb37.html

yeah ... me too. I'll wait until i've seen some reviews, but it certainly looks very nice ... don't know if my credit card can stand the strain at the moment

Yes it is a big step forward in design. I looks so good. It is hard to believe that all companies has copied the Oxygen8 look for so long. Where is the imagination in the research departments? When my synths have fantastic GUI I dont want to use a boring grey keyboard to control them. The kb37 has the "rock" look I was looking for.

But it has some shortcomings: There is no easy way to select presets, and a joystick or the Roland paddle would complement the "rock" image better than a pitchwheel and mod-wheel.

I hope M-audio can make something like this with a knob-board like the minimoog. With maybe 20 assignable knobs and buttons that you can fold up like the minimoog.

And maybe wood ends? In fact they could just use the Ozonic engine, and change the look, and I would be satisfied. The Ozonic is perfect, it is just the design that I dont like.

And, ehm, the keys, without the weight, from UF5?



gunnare

[bobsled]

I'm still not sure why it behaves as it does sometimes. Might be those long-running driver issues. But all in all it's a HUGE step up for me.

What sort of behavior are you writing about? Have you had a chance to visit/register at http://www.cme-pro.com/forum/ ?
btw It seems that UF5, UF6, etc. each have their own quirk...for the UF6 make sure that you are using the "optional" power source and that you are using the current driver (if USB). I could go on...

[Meffy]

Thanks for the advice. The keyboard just stops sending sometimes. Power off, then back on, seems to fix it usually.

Got the AC power block connected and installed the latest Windows driver first thing. I'm probably missing something obvious and will feel really dumb when I realize what it is.

The CME forums are... interesting. Somtimes I can't tell what people mean to say, but I'm sure my Chinese/Japanese/Swedish/Portuguese/whatever their native languages are would be worse than their English so I can't complain too much. :-}

[bobsled]

Meffy, are you using the supplied USB cable?

[bullshark]

Well, here's my rundown of the "built quality" of the CME UF8 and CME line in general (some of my finding are only relevant to the UF8, some for the whole line).

First, the bottom of the UF8 is made of MDF panel. Not necessarly a bad thing in itself, except that the quality of the MDF is incredibly poor and would never pass North American rating. Wanna check for yourself? Remove one side panel, press your fingernail on the side of the board, then go to your local hardware store and do the same thing to the cheapest MDF board you can find. What does that mean? Well, if you live in an area that gets very humid, expect the board to warp in no time.

Then, the screw that hold the top panels to the board are too close to the side of the MDF board, CME doesn't follow the spec for MDF attachement here, so if you move your UF8 a lot expect those to ripp.

The top covers are made of aluminium, yes, but they are multi panels. What hold those together is way too flimsy, only a few strip of sheet metal with #4 screws and not enough of those. What make it worst is that, to save money, CME used a railing method instead of spigot as screw backing which mean only the front and back of the thread of the screws actually touch anything instead of the whole surface of the thread. Again, if you don't move it around too much you shouldn't have problems, but gigging with that? At your own risk.

They could have reenforced the whole assembly by making use of the side panels. But they didn't, they made those flimsy, hollow side panel that attach to the rest by long and thin arms that help nothing in the structural integrity of the assembly. THAT one I can't understand one bit from a design perspective, doesn't even save money on manufacturing. A big zero to CME there.

To the key action. Here, the desing is generally good. All the keys are divided into module, make for a faster assembly while being simple and robust. Pivot point is a good size although being of the same material as the keys, probably prone to "stickiness". The problem here is in the attachement method for those modules. They are attached to a piece of sheet metal via two little plastic tab; thos tabs are way too small in my opinion and the problem is compounded by the fact that they didn't debur the sheet metal receiving holes, and my opinion is reenforced byt the fact that two UF8 I received had some of those tabs broken. Again, a good idea marred by a basic design flaw. What makes it worst is that it is possible for only one of those tabs to be broken, and that wouldn't be obvious to the average key player; all he would feel is that some keys feel "strange a bit".

Electronic. I'm not an electrical engineer, so I can only talk from a mechanical perspective, but why did they use non-flashable ROM? Also, they mounted the faders directly to the PCB, not a bad thing when you take time to support the PCB properly; unfortunately CME didn't take that time, so don't play roughly on the faders because the result will be a cracked PC board. And sticky tape wire support? On MDF? Come on, we're in 2006 now, no?

I'm gonna pass on the smaller details I've found during my saga with UF ownership for the sake of post lenght.

Bottom line, it's a cheap board for a cheap price, don't expect miracle. And gigging with it? At your own risk.

[bobsled]

Meffy, more from the CME forum...
Also make sure you have gone into device manager and on ALL the USB devices uncheck the box that says " alllow the computer to turn off this device when not in use (save power on laptops)" in the power managment tab of "USB root Hub properties"
http://www.cme-pro.com/forum/viewthread ... 3D7&page=1

[bobsled]

bullshark,
not what I wanted to read but thanks for what I needed to read

[Alien Leg]

Kingston and others using the UF7: On the official forum several guys mention a severe problem: The velocity response of the black keys differs dramatically from the white keys! The UF6 is fine they say (it gets build in a different place!?). Can you confirm this black keys behaviour? It would make this keyboard kind of useless for me.

[Kingston]

Kingston and others using the UF7: On the official forum several guys mention a severe problem: The velocity response of the black keys differs dramatically from the white keys! The UF6 is fine they say (it gets build in a different place!?). Can you confirm this black keys behaviour? It would make this keyboard kind of useless for me.

I've read about the problem, but no it doesn't happen on my UF7. I do have the USB problem wth connection cutting occasionally. The only solution apparently is to use a *very* short cable. It's not possible in this studio since the computer is in another room. Hence I have to use MIDI only.

[Meffy]

@bobsled: Thanks for all the good info. I'm using the short USB cable that came in the box when I received it (used) from xuanvu. I don't know whether that's the original or he replaced it with another, but it's the same length as the firewire cable for the add-in card. When I used a long Ritz Camera USB extension cable I got REALLY weird results: turning the keyboard on rebooted the computer! =o.O= Maybe I need a USB hub. Or I can use the MIDI cable that usually goes to my vintage (heh) Roland Pad-5 drum controller. I'll check the USB settings to be sure they're not set to power down. I wouldn't think so, as it's a desktop machine, but as Fats Waller liked to say, "One never knows, do one?"

[edit: They're not. Five ports, all with power management unchecked.]

@alien leg: I've not noticed any weirdness with velocity response. My paws aren't terribly sensitive or skilled though and I might be fooling myself. I'll try the different curves and listen carefully, maybe make a mechanical test rig with controlled force and speed.

Mechanically I see no problem with the UF6. It arrived in Virginia from Colorado with no noticeable damage or wear other than scratched panel markings which I expected and don't mind a bit (who looks at the markings once you know what everything does, anyway? not I).

Needless to say, for this price I didn't expect a miracle. I feel the UF6 gives a lot more than I paid for, more than expected. I think it'll do what I need. If and when I can get rid of (or work around) the few annoyances it'll be close to perfect for my mostly hobby needs.

[Alien Leg]

Meffy, it seems only the UF7 and not the UF6 exhibit this problem, at least according to the CME forum. Maybe they have fixed the UF7 sometime ago? Well, it looks like I will have to take the risk and order one. I need more than the standard 61 keys and all the other alternatives from M-Audio and Studiologic seem to be very poor quality.

[Meffy]

@Alien: That's what I've read online. Had I more feeling in my paws I could give you an informed opinion but as it is... well, might as well flip a coin as take my word.