E-MU LONGBOARD 61 REVIEW
Posted on Fri 03 June 2011 in entries
Yo, dudes and dudettes!!! We at Absolute Music are, like, totally ‘stoked’ to have the new E-MU LONGboards in! No, they’re not the longboards that you may have heard of before, i.e. the ones with wheels that allow you to skate around town! These LONGboards are keyboard-type instruments with ‘gnarly’ sounds! Boss!
…and for those of you that haven’t just looked at the online ‘Surfin’ Slang Dictionary’, that basically just means that they are pretty awesome!
E-MU LONGBOARD 61 – A COMPLETELY NEW INSTRUMENT…
… Or so E-MU claim. To be honest I think that this title is a little misleading. Yes, it’s a ‘new’ product, but a completely new product? Unless I am missing something then I’ve seen things like this before! Let’s not get side-tracked though as I am by no means writing this product off!
So, what exactly is this ‘completely new’ product? The E-MU LONGboard 61 is essentially a MIDI controller, a 128-voice professional sample-based instrument, and a 32-bit effects processor all in one! And it all comes at an exceptional price!
These ‘board’ products come in two forms… the LONGboard, featuring 61 keys, and the SHORTboard, with a reduced 49 keys.
E-MU LONGBOARD 61 – THE LOOK
Ok, so I’m going to start with my least favourite aspect of the E-MU LONGboard… it’s appearance. In all honesty, I think it looks a little bland and boring. If I were to design a new synthesiser, I personally wouldn’t base it around a cream colour. It makes it look dated and cheap in my opinion… kind of like a really old Casio or Yamaha keyboard that you might find in a pensioner’s loft!
However, having said, I’m not shallow enough to base everything on appearance alone, and there are likely to be people out there that really like how the LONGboard looks. This is just my personal opinion!
E-MU LONGBOARD 61 – THE CONTROLS
The E-MU LONGboard 61 has a very simplistic interface, but for a beginner performer it would be ideal as it contains all the standard keyboard controls, plus a little more. As well as a master volume dial, pitch and modulation wheels, and octave up and down controls, the E-MU LONGboard 61 also contains a handy Data slider. This control can be assigned in a number of ways using the buttons to the right of the slider itself. You can set it to control the Program (the preset), making it quick and easy to audition and select sounds, the MIDI channel that the LONGboard transmits on (1-16), the velocity curve (to customise the feel of the keyboard to suit your style), or the ‘System’. The System option allows you to assign MIDI Continuous Controller (CC) numbers to the data slider, allowing it to be used as a performance control. In this mode, the Data slider will also send MIDI CC messages to an external synth or computer application. So, for example, you could use the Data slider to alter the stereo pan position of the internal synthesiser or an external synth, etc…
As well as the Data slider, the E-MU LONGboard 61 also features a few dials to help shape the presets into something more appropriate for your project. The LONGboard equips you with dials for low-pass filter cutoff and resonance, envelope attack and envelope decay/release, as well as Reverb and Chorus effect dials. It’s by no means an extensive list of controls, but should be exciting for beginner keyboard players. So for example, you can make a preset brighter by opening the filter, give it more of a fade-in by lengthening the attack, and make the sound ‘bigger’ by adding some chorus! This means that the E-MU LONGboard is also an excellent introduction to the world of synth programming, although I would consider this as more of a bonus, and would recommend other products if you are specifically interested in learning about synthesis.
The E-MU LONGboard also feature a handy ‘Split’ control, meaning you can play one sound on the lower part of the keyboard, and another sound on the upper section of the keyboard. The Split control of the E-MU LONGboard 61 even allows you to specify the exact split point, so you can customise it to suit your needs. Plus, the LONGboard 61 also features a Layer mode, allowing you to stack two patches on top of each other for even more complex sounds.
Finally, the E-MU LONGboard 61 features an extremely easy-to-use Preset Matrix, which sounds a lot more complex than it is! This basically has the name of every preset printed on the front of LONGboard, in a grid style layout, and it features a button relating to each column and row. All you then need to do is decide which preset you want to select, press the two buttons relating to its column and row, and Bob’s your uncle! Bob’s your uncle? I’m a little bit embarrassed that I just came up with that… I’ve obviously been watching too much Mary Poppins!
Anyway, the Preset Matrix is an excellent way for the beginner to interact with the E-MU LONGboard as it doesn’t involve having to scroll through any menus, and the selected column and row buttons illuminate for easy reference purposes. On top of this, even if you use the data slider to change the parameters, the column and row buttons’ lights still change to indicate your selection! Whilst being a handy visual aid, watching all those lights change as you move the slider will also be right up your street if you are easily amused, just like me!
E-MU LONGBOARD 61 – THE SOUNDS
Don’t be confused because the Preset Matrix only contains the names of 32 patches… the E-MU LONGboard 61 actually contains a lot more presets… 192 to be precise, including Grand Pianos, Electric Pianos, B3s, Clavinets and a host of lead and bass sounds from famous synths, including Moogs, the Prophet and the Juno. Plus of course, it also includes a General MIDI (GM) sound set.
The program names on the front panel of the E-MU LONGboard actually only refer to Bank 7, Group 1, and as you have probably already guessed, the E-MU LONGboard 61 contains multiple Banks, each of which are split into multiple groups. With the LONGboard 61, you can select different groups within a bank by pressing and holding one of the row ‘Select’ buttons for a couple of seconds, until the LED display above the Data slider flashes to indicate your group selection. This is a very simple mechanism, with the topmost row button relating to Group 4, then moving down to Group 1 at the bottom.
Selecting a different bank is just as simplistic. However, to do this you need to hold either the left (bank 0 – GM) or right (bank 7) column button for a couple of seconds. In total, the E-MU LONGboard contains 64 presets in Bank 7 (split across 2 groups) and 128 presets in the GM bank (split across 4 groups).
The question you will probably now be asking is, ‘are the sounds any good?’ Well, the answer to that one is, ‘yes, they are!’ I was suitably impressed with the sounds that this inexpensive piece of equipment had to offer. Whilst the sounds were limited, I thought the patches included had some really nice characteristics and nuances, again making it perfect for the beginner or practicing performer. Of course for more advanced users, this is not the piece of equipment I would recommend as it likely that you will want a much more powerful synth engine, with lots more flexibility… but if you are just starting out, then I think you will be pleasantly surprised with this product.
To top this off, the E-MU LONGboard 61 features velocity-sensitive keys and sounds, and even aftertouch, which is a really welcome feature.
And how does the E-MU LONGboard produce such quality sounds? The E-MU LONGboard 61 is based on the new E-MU 8030 platform. This performs ultra-high quality pitch interpolation for 128 voices, as well as offering 256 envelope generators, 128 LFOs, 128 low-pass filters (12dB per octave) with resonance, 128 DCAs and 32-bit effects processing. Sorted!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5iNcCHMs78
E-MU LONGBOARD 61 – CONNECTIONS
As well as featuring 2 ¼” jack headphone sockets on the front (making it ideal for educational purposes), the EMU LONGboard 61 also features a number of connections on the rear-panel. The LONGboard 61 comes complete with a USB socket (for connecting to a computer to carry MIDI data and power the LONGboard), standard 5-pin MIDI Out and In sockets, and four ¼” jack connections for a Sustain switch, a Volume pedal, and 2 unbalanced mono outputs for connecting a pair of powered speakers or an amplifier directly to the LONGboard itself.
The LONGboard 61 also features a connection for a power supply, which is included in the box when you purchase the keyboard. It’s also worth noting that you can use batteries to power this thing is you need extra portability! Just remember to select the correct option using the power switch when you turn it on – choose between DC 5V/battery power, or USB power.
E-MU LONGBOARD 61 – GOING WIRELESS
This is definitely a very cool feature of the E-MU LONGboard. If it’s unpractical for you to get tangled up in all the fuss of cables, or you just simply like the idea of being free, then the LONGboard features PIPEline wireless audio transmission! If you combine this with the battery powered capabilities of the E-MU LONGboard 61, then this means that you can have a completely free keyboard, meaning if the moment takes you, you can just get up and go wandering around the stage with your keyboard in hand, whilst you are still playing... although you would need to be pretty skilled to pull this off! As long as you stay within 49 feet of the receiver then you should have no problems transmitting an ultra low latency (5.5ms) 16 bit, 48kHz signal for your performance.
To operate in wireless mode, you will however need one thing.... an EMU PIPEline wireless transceiver. These items are sold separately from the LONGboard 61, but the whole process of setting up a wireless rig is extremely simples! Just power up both the keyboard and the transceiver, connect the phono Line Out sockets of the transceiver to the inputs of an appropriate device (e.g. a pair of powered speakers, an amp, a mixer, etc), then find the Channel Select dial on the back of the LONGboard 61 and set it to the channel that you want to transmit on (1-3). Next, flick the ‘CH’ switch on the transceiver to match with the channel you are transmitting on (1-3), set the B/P switch to Paired mode (+), the R/T switch to Receive (-) and the D/A switch to Analogue (+). Finally, press the Connect button on the rear panel of the keyboard, press the Link/Connect button on the PIPEline, the white LED should then remain solid and when you play the E-MU LONGboards' keyboard, you should hear some sweet, sweet music!
E-MU LONGBOARD 61 – SUMMARY
If you’ve read all the way through my review, then you should have already picked up on exactly what I like and dislike about this product, but in case you only skimmed through, then I will give you a quick recap:
E-MU LONGboard 61 Pros:
• Excellent price.
• Easy to use.
• Wireless mode.
E-MU LONGboard 61 Cons:
• Looks rather boring!
• Limited number of sounds and controls.
So, as I’ve already mentioned, I would certainly recommend this product to the beginner keyboard player who does not have the budget to splash on something more flash! I also think that the LONGboard 61 is an excellent keyboard for the purpose of practice, due to it’s portable features (such as being battery powered). However, for serious performances I would certainly recommend something more powerful and with a lot more flexibility. Whilst the sounds contained within the LONGboard are very pleasing, not enough patches have that real ‘wow-factor’ that you will find on real top-end products. But I still think that sound-quality wise, you get a good deal considering what you are paying for the product.
In terms of the build of the E-MU LONGboard, I found it fine. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary, but it didn’t feel like it was going to fall apart and the keys were perfectly playable and better than many other keyboards in this price range.
So, if you have liked what you have heard, then the E-MU LONGboard 61 is probably for you… after all, it’s an excellent price for a 61 note synth/controller. Plus, if you don’t require this many keys, then the E-MU SHORTboard is also available, featuring 49 keys and the E-MU SHORTboard 49 is exactly the same as the LONGboard in every other way! Kowabunga duddddeeeeeeesssssss!
Purchase the E-MU LONGboard 61