AlenK

Do you mean for the PX-560, given you have posted in the PX-560 forum? AFAIK there is only one Appendix document and it is shipped with the unit. You can access all manuals for all current Casio keyboard models on the support.casio.com website.

So many assumptions here about what I want and what I expected. Did I expect full DAW capability in the PX-560? No. Am I disappointed in the 560 because it is missing a few things I think should be there? No. All I have done here is note a very basic missing feature. Even the simple phrase recorders of the PX-5S and the XW synthesizers offer overdub recording. It's as useful in a minimilist on-board multi-track sequencer as it is in a phrase recorder. Funny that the Montage's simplified performance-oriented sequencer is used here as an example. As simple as it is it offers overdub recording. Case closed.

Korakios, I don't think what you are experiencing is a bug per se. It's likely a logical consequence of the XW-G1's effects structure. You can read more about that, strangely enough, in the document The XW-P1 Companion, which is downloadable from the XW-P1 forum. While there are many differences between the P1 and the G1 the effects are the same.

The XW-P1 has 100 preset sequences, each with 8 patterns that you can select from the eight buttons centered above the keyboard when you are in Sequence (SEQ) mode. Each pattern has up to nine tracks of notes (and four control tracks). That much you know, I'm sure. What may be confusing is that when you are making your own sequences (up to 100 user sequences) you can record into any one of those nine note tracks in real time. That is probably what you saw in the YouTube video (a link would be helpful). Each track is limited to just 16 steps but each track can select a different note timing (eighth notes, sixteenth notes, etc.), which means, for instance, that you can record into a track two bars with eighth notes or one bar with sixteenth notes. When you are recording in real time your playing will be quantized to the track's note timing. There is a way you can make a backing track in the more traditional sense using the phrase recorder. This will record whatever you are playing on the keyboard, with whatever tones you have arranged in the four zones when you record the phrase in Performance (PERF) mode. You can even simulate multitrack phrases following the method I describe on page 78 of The XW-P1 Companion, which you can download in a thread in this same forum.

Well, that is a BIG and kind of inexplicable missing (the PX-560 is part of the Privia PRO line, after all.) I hope Mike has time to scan these forums occasionally. That is one feature I would like to see in the next PX-560 firmware update.

I see "New" and "Re-record" and two types of punch-in, regardless of track type (system or 1 to 16). I can't detect any difference between how "new" and "re-record" operate. I would have expected an "overdub" option but "re-record" doesn't seem to be it. Am I missing something or can't the PX-560 sequencer do overdubbing on the same track? (Obviously not with a different tone, just to be clear, but with the same tone, adding new notes and controller events on overdub passes.)

yes, you have done a wonderful job (or had a wonderful job done if you didn't design it yourself). Visually appealing, easy to navigate...inviting. But, Kevin, I gotta ask...Why are you calling yourself Katie here? Is there something else you'd like to tell us? We're an accepting bunch here.

Yeah, "class compliant" USB MIDI means you don't need to install a proprietary driver. http://www.sweetwater.com/insync/class-compliant/

I couldn't access it for days. Maybe it was just a problem on my end.

The keyboards of the WK models, the CTK models, the XW models and I presume because of comments I have read the MZ-X models, are not actually semi-weighted. See http://www.sweetwater.com/insync/semi-weighted-action/

Brunner, dude, what did you see? What did you hear?

Lotsa knobbage. I like it.

Some people at the forum in question just can't stop raggin' on the MZ-X series. They are apparently disappointed with the styles and with the quality of some of the sounds.

Let us know what you experienced.

A little birdy told me that Casio will be showing another new arranger called the MZ-ZZZZ. I hear it'll be a real sleeper.

As this thread has included already a comment implying that typical arranger users tend to be older folk, at least in the USA, I will post another such comment. The age trend does seem to be true and it appears to be one reason that some posters in a certain arranger forum have been so critical, even openly hostile, to the new MZ models. A video of an entertainer at some sort of function (looks like it was in a basement!) was just posted there and one of the responses was "Now that's entertainment!!!" The entertainer is playing trombone, dancing and singing. The dance moves, which include tap, are straight out of the 1920's. The performance of that hoofer was the bee's knees (some 20's lingo there) but I prefer to see that sort of thing in old movies.

Now, c'mon Brad. This is seriously good. Still waiting for that comprehensive review.

I didn't mean it as a rebuke, really. I just don't want to give anyone any unwarranted reasons to dismiss Casio products or users of same (like us). Some people have big enough pre-conceived negative opinions as it is. However, they do open themselves to criticism when they say things that aren't true, such as claiming that posts on Facebook and even here were deleted because they stated negative opinions about Casio (here and again here). And some of the posters at the site in question seem to post before they have had their morning coffee, if you know what I mean. Just observe some of the responses when I posted the same video there.

I don't think we should be disrespectful. Musical tastes vary. A lot of people evidently enjoy playing popular songs from many different eras on a keyboard by themselves. Arrangers allow that to happen. It's a potentially lucrative market for any manufacturer. These new keyboards address that market better than anything Casio has had since the MZ-2000 stopped being produced. They include all the traditional musical styles. They also include features such as the touchpads that should make the EDM crowd sit up and take notice. These are not your father's arrangers.

People in a certain forum (not this one) have been bitchin' and complainin' about the lack of demos showing off the styles and non-synth PCM sounds in the new MZ models. This recent video should go some way toward placating them:

One other thing I wanted to mention. The XW-P1 Companion uses what is known as Scientific Pitch Notation (SPN) in which middle C is designated as C4 (or more properly C4). That system has been around a long time and predates MIDI. However, many MIDI references you will find online identify middle C as C5 (C5) while many MIDI software apps (e.g., DAWs) and Yamaha keyboards identify middle C as C3 (C3). Those are arbitrary assignments. The MIDI standard itself only specifies that note 60 is middle C (making A440 note 69). The XW-P1 Companion uses SPN because I prefer it and, more importantly, it's what the XW-P1 itself and Casio's supporting literature ALSO use (e.g., the range from MIDI note 0 to 127 is specified as C- or C-1 to G9, not C0 to G10 or C-2 to G8).

Just a note to let those interested know that I made a correction to the document. Because the change is fairly small I gave the new version a 2a number and simply updated the document for download in the first post of this thread, Specifically, in section 6.3.3.1 I forgot to update the description of what to do with oscillators in the solo synth when you want to "steal" the solo synth's filter to process "paraphonically" one or more PCM melody tones in a Performance. For correct operation you need to keep at least one oscillator enabled and turn its volume down to zero.

Follow-up review: http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/421565/MZX_500_Follow_Up_Review#Post421565

Yes. I am working on a Volume 2 that will contain examples/tutorials about how to achieve specific sounds from vintage synths in selected songs as well as emulating acoustic instruments. As you can imagine it's going to take a while to finish. Hopefully not as long as it took me to finish Volume 1! 😄

I thought by the title this thread was going to be about how the MZ-X500 could help make chords funky. So disappointed.