Rudolph R-N R

So was it a matter of Casio not having the time before they launched the S500? It seems like a huge missed opportunity, that each Tone could have had a factory customized setting of the 3 knobs, a starting point and good example of the use of the mod Knobs. That’s something that could be implemented with the next firmware update? It would be a major upgrade in playability, and of course shows off those fabulous mod knobs. The other missed opportunity- the Registrations aren’t chock full of examples of good edited single Tones with Knobs 1-3 assignments, or good layers and splits. It’s not like there’s a lot to draw from the community- Brad’s 4 organ Registrations are the only Registrations I’ve seen for these boards. This wouldn’t require a Firmware Update, it could be an optional SAVE ALL file or Registration Bank SAVE (more flexible).

It’s mostly Greek to me- I’ve seen LSB and MSB before and know they’re addresses to tell the external synth/program what to do, I suppose for program changes and for the mod knobs. But reading thru the manual a few times I still don’t get the ins/outs of how to use the MIDI Control mode. It’d be super helpful to have a tutorial of typical ways to use this mode, I would bet that most users on this forum would benefit from that, that they also are scratching their bald heads and wondering, huh? Instead of MIDI CONTROL, so far I’ve resorted to turning LOCAL ON to off, and Neo-Soul Keys Studio 2 responds to the knobs with MIDI LEARN. I’m not going to a DAW, my primary use is to get instrument sounds from my IPad. As AS noticed, I see that MIDI CONTROL mode doesn’t save to Registrations, so how are you supposed to save your settings? It’s usefulness is considerably lessened if it’s only a real-time operation, given all the things you have to setup. And I agree with AS, about building in flexibility, that you can’t play internal sounds at the same time seems a shame. Perhaps with the knobs assigned to internal and external sounds that’d be a graceful way of independently controlling the volume of the S500 and the external source.

Brad, Good news! I was able to load your organ registrations into my 500S. It sounds like you left the first and 4th registrations close to the same, I heard big differences in the 2d and 3d, for the better. What are some of the key parameters you changed? Those were useful K1-3 assignments, for my tastes I set the speed, K2, between about 105-118. Was surprised that each of the registrations called for a different fast speed to sound good to me. Looks like I need to dive into this DSP, the slow speed could have been a bit faster for my taste.

I was hoping I could turn off LOCAL ON and save that to MY SETUP, but no go. I would venture a guess Casio didn’t want to have a MY SETUP that produced no sound! But it’s honestly the first thing I wanted to do, it was going to be MY SETUP #4, appropriately named as LOCAL OFF.

Being that Casio is offering this price, as well as Amazon, this is just spreading the word. I wish someone had told me! The 15% off the regular price of the 1000V means it’s only $30 more than the S500. I definitely would have bought it instead had I known. I’d dismissed the 1000V vocal synthesis out of hand as not worth the time, but after watching this video from this well-known Japanese reviewer, I realized it wasn’t a gimmick and could be used flexibly and musically to some degree. Japanese reviewer of CT-S1000V

With a newly formatted thumb drive I was dismayed to find you can only save one Registration bank at a time, is that right? With 16 banks, that seems like a tedious process, why wouldn’t they have an option to save all 16 banks at a time? Looks like it’s the same with the four My Setups, you can only save them one at a time.

Thanks Brad. I would think that anything related to the synthvox features of the 1000V would have its own file name, those 3 letters for different kinds of files.

Hey, wanted to download these organ registrations. It’s unclear how to do it. IPad: am not able to copy Brad’s organ to my flash drive (error: the flash drive requires too much power) USB cable (micro) to iPad CCK: nothing happens or registers. In the manual it sounds like this USB-to-host connection is designed for use with music apps, not for loading new User Tones directly from the iPad I am however able to use USB MIDI thru this cable, so the connection is there-

With a newly formatted thumb drive I was dismayed to find you can only save one Registration bank at a time, is that right? With 16 banks, that seems like a tedious process, why wouldn’t they have an option to save all 16 banks at a time? Looks like it’s the same with the four My Setups, you can only save them one at a time.

5 days in I wanted to share my initial reactions to this Mini-Mighty-Mite. In getting a new board I always dread that no-mans land of figuring out my way around. For me that mostly means basic Tone editing and setting up Multis/Registrations. I’ve got to be able to know how to customize the individual sounds, and then go thru the considerable work of throwing sounds together in layers and splits. For me this is a very circular process, organic in nature if you will, and it takes me a ton of time- so I appreciate when the UI is intuitive and immediately understandable. Have been so pleasantly surprised at how well this minimalist approach works. I’ve always thought you needed a tablet as an interface in order to make things user friendly, or 4-5 times more top panel control knobs/buttons/etc. Turns out Casio has figured out a way to do it with a smallish screen, a jog wheel, 5 soft buttons, 10 assigned buttons, a PB wheel and 3 mod knobs. That’s practically nothing! And yet it works well. Like any board, esp lower priced, there are a ton of compromises that naturally go into that kind of purchase- it comes with the territory. But happy to say, as a 20+ years consumer of a half dozen cheapie boards, things have finally started to really turn around. Casio came out with the AIX chip, and the difference in quality is super noticeable. I suffered thru a Casio WK7600 and more than my fair share of mediocre sounds on so many boards. > So as someone who highly values bang-for-buck brands, this is sweet indeed. And to see a substantially better keybed (WK7600 and the CT-X5000 both grew to be terrible over time and were subpar from the beginning) at this price level blows my mind. AND for the UI to be a total happy surprise- For getting up to speed on the basics it helps that I printed out PJD’s cheat sheet of 2 columns: Menu and Setting items. > AND that the 3 knobs act as specified control knobs OR as Menu functions setting knobs. > AND that most pages show 3 choices, so you advance quickly < AND that with the dedicated TONE, RHYTHM and REGISTRATION buttons you always know how to get where you want to go. > AND that thru the MENU button you have access to the innards thru 2 pathways. > AND that a second press of most of these function buttons brings you back to the last screen you were on. Things I like so far: - for a sub $500 keyboard with 5 watt speakers, this board really does OK. It’s an over-achiever with a large bass-reflex speaker, all while maintaining its svelte form. That said, it’s a 6/10 on an absolute scale, the PA1000 speakers are a 10/10. But judged on its own Mérits: price, portability, good keybed and sounds, it’s a 10/10. I didn’t know this quality of sound system could be done at this price point / weight / size. - I love that its so portable- that it’s not a huge aircraft hanger sized top panel is such a relief! I can put it on my lap when sitting in the recliner, or I can put it out in front of the couch on a small table and it’s perfect while I’m watching movies and playing along with the sound track. Have never been able to do this with such ease before- - the keybed is really decent- I don’t find myself complaining like I did with the CT-X5000- the keys are very well mannered, quiet, and while it’s slightly harder to play towards the fall board, its a better keybed than I had on the $2k Korg PA1000 (an otherwise mind-blowing keyboard). I find myself playing energetic block chords, so far my hands have been pretty enthusiastic and at home on this keybed. > I’ve felt the most expressive setting when I’ve set the touch to LIGHT. Like with some of the EPs that have some of that satisfying growl in the low end- with those I get frustrated cause it feels like I have to reach a velocity of 115 in order to trigger that growl, whereas I’d much rather it was triggered around 100. > So it’s only on LIGHT that I can reliably trigger that. It’s way more effort than I want to make- I don’t want to have to bust my hands whacking the keys in order to trigger that growl sample , a medium whack would be much better. - mostly like the sounds, haven’t auditioned much beyond the pianos and EPs. I enjoy the APs, still getting comfortable there, but I’m finding the EPs a let down. I’m spoiled by Neo Soul Keys Studio 2, an iPad app that helps you get funky with those sounds from the 70s. > Happily, with BT MIDI to my iPad, which works well, and an 1/8” cable to the Aux In, I’m golden. Looking forward to mapping the 3 knobs to iPad instruments. I’m due to be getting the Yamaha PSR EW425 in a week or so. It’ll be great fun to compare and contrast. From what I understand it has also gone thru a similar substantial upgrade in sound and keybed and functionality. Ain’t competition grand! I’m tempted even with my limited budget to keep both: - EW425: 76 keys /// a substantial sound system, 24 watts /// new piano and organ sounds /// new keybed, I tried it, very similar to the S500 /// audio interface /// microphone in!!! /// - CT-S500: 10 pounds and 10” deep! /// Decent sound system /// controller capabilities /// decent keybed and sounds /// User Friendly, intuitive /// recliner/couch/bed friendly /// Rudolph R-N R

Thanks Brad, I’ll check them out. I was hoping there’d be new EPiano sounds, I found them to be lacking with the CT-X5000 as well. I suppose though that there are User Registrations of EPs that improve upon the factory sounds? I noticed the new Electric Grand Piano sounds, and while it’s normally not my cup of tea, I thought they sounded very good. From the manual, page 270: “Advanced Tones: when 64 is received, the reverb, delay and chorus types change to match the tone.” ? 64 refers to the velocity level? What are they talking about? Advanced Layer Tones: neat trick! So I take it that there’s no Music Presets like the CT-X5000 has, the 310 chord presets. Anything similar on the S500, like being able to create the backing chords to songs so you can solo on top without having to play the chords? Thanks!

Hey everyone- just received my CT-S500! I heard there were new sounds as well as old sounds that have been upgraded compared to the CT-X5000. Does anyone know what sounds have been added compared to the X5000? Which sounds have been upgraded or changed? I did a cursory sweep of the topics and didn’t find anything. This would be very useful as I’m somewhat familiar with the X5000 sounds, esp the bread and butter sounds, but I don’t have a photographic memory. I’d love to go directly to these new-to-me sounds on the S500 and audition, otherwise it’s a big confusing jumble of sounds to evaluate, esp since 90 to 95% of the sounds are the same as the X5000. Thanks! Randy the Rudolph R-N-R

Yes indeed, I didn’t know this was possible! Awesome- I just confirmed it works! Thanks AS, and for pointing out that MIDI router wouldn’t work, was thinking it would be fed by the USB MIDI. Only recently discovered BT MIDI is my friend, works well. Not sure why the simplicity of what was on offer was unknown to me. To give myself credit though, It does take a willingness to study a bit to figure out all this stuff. Was just talking to my non-musician sister about enjoying making vast and lush sounds for theatrical-style playing, and her immediate comment was, “That’s really technical, isn’t it. Just for that reason I wouldn’t do it”. I’ve encountered this often, otherwise very intelligent (often moreso than myself) women who have a great memory, but have an undeniable reluctance when it comes to the complications and challenges of dealing with tech. Which is good I suppose. There’s the field of doing, which is usually a vastly different approach and perspective than the field of being, which typically involves emotions. Most men and women fit, roughly, into these 2 fields, sometimes the stereotype has a lot of truth. When I lived 5 years in Europe, I was really surprised that every country I went to they lived up to their stereotype. After experiencing how close these countries are to one another, I began to understand this need for differentiation. Anyhoo, super glad this was a slam dunk solution that I shoulda/coulda/woulda known with just a bit more study. Motivating!

So you’re saying all I need is a USB A to B cable and my CCK and that’s it, I can play my keyboard and the iPad instrument app registers my playing? That would be awesome!

Yes, that makes sense about the cutoff filter, but as Brad said, there are at least 3 cutoffs: low/high/band pass. I would think the engineers programming this would choose the one that is the most dramatic/noticeable/sounding-like-a-freaking-cutoff filter! Hmmmm…. For $500 I imagine most of us would try to buy the MZ-X500! I got mine for $900, they usually sold for $1,100? I’d probably still have it if it wasn’t stolen! Really enjoyed that board, definite step up in many ways. Hex layers are a brilliant idea, but the implementation for editing was not sufficiently developed, took way longer to edit them than was necessary if they’d optimized it.