NAMM 2025: ESI Xsynth is a new portable digital Synthesizer with polyphonic aftertouch keyboard and built-in audio interface.
At Superbooth 24, ESI showed a prototype of their first-ever Synthesizer XSynth, a digital synth embedded in an Xkey polyphonic aftertouch keyboard.
There are new details about the Xsynth at NAMM 2025. According to ESI, they use the same keyboard technology as the Xkey keyboard but with shortened keys in length but not width.
The new ESI Synth will feature a newly developed digital engine with up to 10 voices but never below 8. It hosts three multi-wave oscillators, three LFOs, a modulation matrix, an arpeggiator, a glide, and more.
As the Superbooth 24 news mentioned, the oscillators will feature a wide range of timbres, from classic waveforms to field recordings like sea waves. Xsynth will ship with 128 factory patches and 512 patch memory slots. Plus, an engine editor.
As an additional bonus, the four knobs on the article also work as a regular MIDI controller with MIDI CC. Plus, it has a built-in audio interface. ESI will also ship the synth with a Synthesizer editor software.
ESI Synth will be available in April/May for $379/349€.
Article From May 20, 2024
The Superbooth 24 is officially finished. The follow-up reporting is in full swing. Overlooked in the flood of new products was that the German company ESI, known for audio and MIDI interfaces, also makes synthesizers.
At Superbooth 24, ESI showcased the prototype of the Xsynth Synthesizer.
ESI Xsynth
In the last minutes of SB 2024,I could talk to Lukas, the developer of the Xsynth. According to him, the Xsynth will have three oscillators based on sample-based content stored in the ROM. There will be classic waveforms but extraordinary oscillator samples from field recordings, such as nature.
Then, you will have a filter, three multi-wave LFOs, and three envelopes. In case you say from where you know Lukas. He was once part of the Waldorf development team. So, no unknown developer face. Also familiar are the case and keys of the Xsynth.
ESI uses the same super slim chassis and keybed of the Xkeys keyboards, which have polyphonic aftertouch. This is possible because ESI took over the Xkeys keyboard range from the Chinese company CME.
The synth will have six encoders and many buttons to navigate the menu and operate functions.
You can find a USB-C port for MIDI, TRS mini jacks for MIDI in and out, a phone socket, a Line out, and auxiliary input on the backside. According to Lukas of ESI, the Xsynth will be both an audio and MIDI interface.
First Impression
There is no sound demo yet, as the synth is fully developed. But I find the form factor and idea intriguing. Let’s see how it will sound.
All details are not yet public. ESI plans to release the Xsynth in October/November 2024 (estimated).
More information will follow here: ESI
The screen is ridiculously small and for many, unreadable.
Which is, inexplicably, the new norm. I think they’re even getting smaller. I’ve held off on the Sonicware stuff because it’s like reading an algebra book through a keyhole with their screens. Yeah, there has to be a paradigm shift. This isn’t the music business, 16 year olds are not the target audience for synths. Or…are they?!
Right?
2 octave keyboards are basically useless to me already
I am so excited for this. No idea why. I have an old wired CME Xkey 25 and if I hook it up to my iphone I have all the synths I want. But all in this package is so tempting if it even sounds good at all.
I have the original CME Xkey 25. At normal listening volume, the key clicks are louder than the VSTi’s sound from the speakers. The keyboard is so loud, that it effectively masks the instrument sound (unless you play in headphones). Nice on papaer, barely usable in practice.