Ok here we go, I have had the Lionstracs Mediastation for several weeks. I got the X-88 Pro Version; as I needed 88 keys, hammer action, the works. I had intended to wait a little longer till I was able to fully understand this keyboards vast potential and to have time to try and post some mp3’s. However since a rather active discussion has developed, I thought perhaps I should join in.

While I don’t have time to give a thorough review right now, I will try to give some preliminary observations that I have made so far.

Let me start by saying that the looks of this keyboard are very impressive, puts you in mind of a 747 cockpit panel. Lol. But while a little daunting at first , a quick look around reveals a well thought out and rather intuitive layout.

Located in the center of the keyboard directly above the keys are the transport controls for the two players. These players are currently able to play midi files, audio wave files, and mp3’s in 24 bit quality. Also you can crossfade between these players manually or automatically with one touch. But the most amazing feature of the Mediastation’s players are their ability to engage a powerful time stretching / pitch shifting engine and to, at the turn of a dial, speed up or slow down audio files without changing pitch and without degrading the sound quality. The opposite is also possible to change pitch without changing speed.

Next let me get to what I think is the Mediastation’s weak point. That is it’s style library. Now while I am very happy with my mediastation I also want to be forthright and objective in the info I give. I feel that the style library still has room for improvement and if that is your only consideration for the value of a keyboard, then the mediastation is probably not the keyboard that you should consider. But fortunately this is one area that has an easy solution in that Lionstracs has several people working now to create more styles. I have already downloaded 270 new styles in the few weeks I have had this keyboard. And when you also consider the fact that Mediastation styles can read standard midi files and incorporate audio wave files and giga samples then you began to see the possibilities that first attracted me to this keyboard. Oh did I mention that there is no limit on the length or file size of these style elements and wave files.

Now briefly on to the sounds as I’m running out of time tonight. The GM sound bank consists of the usual fare of some very good and some not so good GM sounds that I have found to be on most keyboards. It has some really nice strings, very lush; some very good brass patches. I especially like the “Night Sax Lions” and the “ Sax Duett Lions” patches.
The Giga sounds however are far from ordinary. For a piano solo the Bosendorfer 290 is a very popular sound that I also like, but I prefer the Steinway B1 with the arranger as it has less resonance and fits in well in the mix to my ears.

Ok I am definitely out of time now but I will try to post more tomorrow. I hope that my lack of writing skills doesn’t stand in the way of people receiving the information they need to decide for themselves if the mediastation is suited for their particular needs.