CME UF7 for K2600R

[jumpstart]

hello,
i'm thinking about buying a CME UF7 for my K2600R...
do you think it's good? i need to know if i can assign something to send patch increment to the kurz...do you think it's a problem that i can't save patches on the master?
do you know other 76keys master at this price?
thanks...

[ktriton]

I have the UF8 and while it's a great controller--probably my second favorite to my old, but trusty SY-77--it's got quite a few downsides.

1. When I tried installing any of their drivers for XP, I get a an error for one of the drivers (hxdll.dll, anyone?). I have no idea what it does, but the fact is that I still don't have a full installation because of it.

2. Huuuge latency problem. I'm hoping this has to do with the aforementioned driver or some minor problem I overlooked in Cubase, but my lagtime is something like 5.302 seconds. Normally I'd just be like "whatever" and use the MIDI in/out through an Uno or something, but this controller only has the in/out facility through either USB or Firewire. True, it has a MIDI out port (which I'm currently using in conjuction with my Triton), but you can't get the in port that way.

3. I've followed their directions and after a few days of trying, I still can't get the sequencer controls synced up with Cubase. The weird part is that all the properties match the device setup in Cubase, but there are no signals being transmitted. This was definitely one of the features I was looking forward to :(

4. I don't know what you're going to hook it up to, but not having a number pad is an annoying inconvenience for me. I mean, granted my Triton rack, DOES have one--and the knob on the upper right side can scroll through patches pretty quickly, but a keypad would've been clutch.

5. Customer support. Or lack thereof. Actually, I'm not sure--I've only tried calling the company on the weekend so I can understand if they don't work weekends. They're a small company. That's fine. But their tech support forum seems kind of slow--especially because it's their main means of tech support. I'm still waiting for answers to my problems :(

6. The wheels are not...what I was expecting. The pitch wheel is heavily weighted for center, so it's kind of hard to control for leadsynth stuff (LOVED the SY-77's wheels, btw. That was perfection for me). The modwheel is fine by it sticks ever so slightly at the top position. Also, I feel like these wheels could've (and should've) been bigger.

7. The demo sucks :P

Okay, so in spite of all these problems--and they are big problems--should you get it? I don't know. It depends on how you plan to use it. I'm using this as a master controller for my mobile setup here at college and it's totally worthless right now because of the 5-second delay. The feel is excellent (slightly heavier that most pianos I've tried, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing) and the drawbars work wonders on not just my organ patches, but all the combi patches as well. Bottom line is that if I can fix that delay this is undoubtedly a keeper. It's solid, fun to play, and has intuitive features. But if I can't fix that problem...well then it's obviously a bad controller. Needless to say, but the second generation of these boards will be AMAZING.

Oh, also. Mine came with a piano-style sustain pedal which is pretty cool.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

ktriton, that's a nice review - it's good to know those sort of things. Personally, with 9 sliders, I thought a UF-7 would be perfect as a 2nd controller to play organ and synth parts from. However, finding out that it had no patch memory just killed that idea, as what I had in mind was a live board. I also discovered that you can't really directly set it up to have another board function for drawbars, though there are ways around it to compromise. It was quite disappointing that it didn't work out, as the black, red, blue and grey color scheme would have looked fantastic with my envisioned PC-88/MoES rack/Ion/Electro setup.

[dladio]

I have a UF6... excellent controller.. the best! my old evolution mk461c was a toy..

[jumpstart]

thanks for the review :)
but i need to know if the lack of patches could be a problem for me using the k2600r.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

thanks for the review :)
but i need to know if the lack of patches could be a problem for me using the k2600r.

Depends on whether you're going to use that combo as a studio or live rig. Your needs may be different, but there's no way it'd work for me live without patch memory.

[jumpstart]

i will use uf7 + k2600r for live and uf7 + pc only for studio...i think that if i can send program change easily to the k2600r it's ok for my live use...

[Georges]

I always mention it: I use a K SP-76 to control my K26r. It's got 3 ribbon controllers + a fader; robust Kurz quality together with acceptable on-board sounds and powerful masterkeyboard functions given its price. More than sufficient to me. No bothering with wheels, excellent key touch, if I ever I want to get more real-time control, I'll get an external controller box.

[lighthouse]

hmmmm....so Georges is it posible then to have two separate controllers on the same board?, let´s say I have a like you a K2600r controlled by a SP 88 and I want to buy one of those only knobs and faders controllers, can I use both?....I´m still very green on midi controllers :S


Juan Pablo

[Georges]

Yep that would work, in case of doubt and when afraid of MIDI timing problems, a MIDI patchbay will do the necessary in all cases.