Monaro

Hey there everyone. I know this is an old thread but others may end up here while searching out info on the MZ2000. I've spent years busking with the mz and I am now on mz number 3, so I've had a bit of experience in some of what it can do. I don't know the ins and outs like Brad does does though I've done a lot of work creating custom sounds and registrations. I see people here asking for high quality direct recordings. If there is one area that the mz falls flat, its here. The line outs sound kind of flat and 2 dimensional. Gentle saturation can add a bit of mojo back in but it's line outs are not great, not bad, but not great. The magic is in its super sweet speakers and boombox body design. What I'm trying to say is that unless you hear a good recording with properly set up stereo mics, no video will give you a very good idea of what it actually sounds like. The best way is to try and hear one for your self in person if possible OR just take a chance on buying one. If your in to casio keyboards you won't be let down on its sound if you spend some time with it. My view of the mz is based on how I use it and so others may view this key board differently to me. I think it is great. It doesn't really emulate anything authentically but it can give an excellent over all impression of what your trying to do if you use it for its strengths. If you have played a wk3500,3700,3800 or 8000, you will have already heard many of the mz sounds as many of them were carry overs from the mz. I was underwhelmed when I first got it.and I thought it sounded flat and rather boring. It took me a while to work out how to get what I wanted from it. So it's the sort of keyboard your reward for digging in to and getting to know, but that's the same for most any good casio. I've often wished I could help design casio presets but listening to customers is not how casio roll. From the on-board demo's, it seems to be a very capable workstation too. Pros -Monsterous sound when set up correctly. -sweet speaker and body resonance. -very good layout. -easy synth edit using sliders for use on the fly. -comprehensive deep synth editing features. -can layer 4 voices per sound. -very usable even to this day. -very rugged and sturdy design, can handle sun, rain and a heavy beating all day long haha. -Monstrous sound when set up correctly. Cons -stereo line out and headphones out sounds flat -bland and underwhelming first impression. -It has excellent dsp but only gives 2 parameters to edit them with. -Key bed is very loud. -Sometimes it glitches when switching between upper 1 and 2 when playing on the fly. -Doesn't store master dsp and some user dsp settings properly even after saving. -Upper and lower cannot be played via midi. Here's a few videos of what I do with mine. Don't worry about the quality, we are talkjng about a 20 year old casio and no one buys a casio like this based on sound quality Just focus on the vibe. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-kpGDbaRaM4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fWmuhmVX7DI https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dd-bCLPs3X0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u4FazhoAXp8

Hey there and thanks so much for your help guys. I got it working which is great. I had to update the g1 os and change midi out to KEY plus a few other weird things that might cause a problem in a different set up, like the p1 sends all midi note data across, channel for channel so I had to set tx andrx channels to 16 as I don't use them and also had to mute every channel on the g1 mixer other than what I need or they would be triggered by the p1. But program +&- on the p1 now change on the g1 number for number which is exactly what I wanted. The g1 can be on any patch number and soon as the p1 sends a patch change across, the g1 picks up the right number so it's not just a next or back kind of set up. The p1 is sending the actual patch number across and the g1 reads it. Its really good and means that in one button press on the master p1, 3 instruments all instantly change to the next song.

Hey there My band runs and xwg1 and Xwp1 which stand back to back, one for the keyboard player and one for me for solos. The p1 is the main synth that the keyboard player uses and the g1 is used as a drum sound module and solo synth, so often no one is at the g1. Is it possible for the p1 patch + & - buttons to send the same change messages to the g1? So the g1 mirrors any changes made on the p1. Like when our keyboard player changes from performance 1-1 to 1-2 on the Xwp1, the xwg1 changes from 1-1 to 1-2. This would be great if there is a way to do this. Thanks

Thanks so much Brad I can use which ever lets me do this the easiest. The xwpd1 has some great drum sounds so I could probably get by quite well just with those but if I can use my own samples, well that would be great as well.

Hey there Sometime ago I posted about this and the very awesome Mike Martin helped out but I cannot find the post now. I want use the Xw-pd1 with our electronic drum kit. It works great as a drum sound module with the exception of being monophonic. So if a loud snare hit is followed by a quiet snare hit, the loud snare is cut off in favour of the quiet one. I think Mike said that using groups was a way of working around this but I'm not sure. Has anyone else worked out how to have polyphonic pads?

Its a very strange system for sure. As Brad said, any tone edits need to be saved in the tone itself first. The mz2000 was great how you could do most anything you want and it could all be saved as a registration in two button presses. For the xw, I have just found that what ever it is that I need to change, it needs to be changed from the correct "perspective" if it is to be saved. So in my case even though I was using performance mode, I had to go in to step sequencer mode and then make my changes in the mixer because the step sequencer was controlling the drums, then go back to performance mode to save for the mixer settings to be saved as part of the performance. So all areas need to be addressed individually for saving to work properly. Not very intuitive at all but I got there hahaha.

I'm not fully certain yet but I think it was to do with the step sequencer pattern that was holding on to the settings. I selected the step sequencer and then turned of the dsp for each drum track and now all my presets are working fine. I'm hoping that's all it was

I can make a video or share my "all data" file if that helps at all to show what I'm doing. It would be interesting to see if it does the same thing on anyone else's xws. Both my p1 and g1 do this so I don't think it's a manufacturing fault.

Hi there, checked performance filters and everything is set to off. I tried turning it all on just to see what would happen and there was no sound. Is there anything else I can check for? Sometimes if I change patches the dsp doesn't seem to change and dsp delay will switch off. And if I keep changes patches it will start again. My xws are on the final os update. Has anyone else had this happen?

Hey there Mike, thanks for the suggestion. I can't check untill I'm back home but they would explain what's happening here. I believe this needs to be done using tgr data editor on a pc right?

Hey there Can anyone help out with a performance / mixer question on the xwp1? I am creating performances and what happens is that I get all the levels right both in the zones and the mixer, save it, go to a different performance and then back again and all the settings have changed. This is in both the mixer and zones. I have tried everything I can think of. No matter what I change in the mixer, levels, dsp on/off, etc, it doesn't save and dsp keeps applying in drum tracks and this can't be altered either. The only thing I can come up with now is that the dsp has something to do with it all. It doesn't seem to change if dsp isn't being used. Any help would be great as I have an upcoming show.

Hey there, so after being 3 years late, I now have a mzx500 to replace my mz2000s for live use. All great except that it freezes while editing a sound. I will be playing while editing and the sound stays on. If I press more keys,they stay on too. I have to go to the mixer and turn the part off and on again. Anyone else had this happen?

As an update, Aside from the external mixer settings, I think I can confirm that what ever it is, it is to do with the master reverb and chorus not storing correctly.I can edit a registration, save it, go to a different registration and then go straight back again to find that all the master dsp levels have changed.I have DSP hold set to on, and all of the mixer options set to on. Anyone else found this with their MZ?

Hey there Hey i was wondering if i get some assistance with trouble shooting saving registrations on my MZ 2000 I cannot get mine to retain external mixer settings and some of the dsp settings. With the dsp, if i save a registration to say 1-1, and then change to a different registration say 1-2 and then go back to 1-1, some of the dsp will not be as was saved as. Levels and settings will be different. The only way around it is to reset all parameters and then go to the registration i want but that is not good when playing live. With the external mixer settings, when i back up the mz to disk, none of the external parts are saved. The external parts also do not save as part of a registration. I have enabled every "ON" i can find in dsp and the mixer and menus. The dsp is the real deal breaker for me right now as i cant tell what is going to happen when i change registrations live. If you can help that would be awesome

Hey thanks so much Brad! I had to use the data editor to find the filters but once i did its all good Cheers man !

Hi everyone I am having problems getting my P1 to save perf settings involving octave and arps. When i set the octave to -2 and set a user arp of say 0-1. That setting is applied to all perfomances. So any performances that have an arp in it all have the same arp. My performances all use different user arps. If i try and set a different arp for each user performance, in the sequencers heading, the last arp i saved is the one applied to all ther performances when i change perf patches. So essentially, i can only save one arp for all performances. What ever arp settings i apply to one user perf is applied to all other performances too like arp on/off, tempo etc. I have just updated to 1.11 to see if it would help but its still the same. Im sure it is most likey a user error so if anyone can help out that would be great.

Hmmmm, Ill keep looking in to it. Thank you for your help though guys

Cheers David

Cheers The XW synths are great. I think they have a very "Casio" sound to them yet are able to emulate many classic synths easily.

Hi there, I am wanting to sync all my midi gear to the XW-P1 so by changing the patch number on the XW they all changes at the same time. So I can change patches on all gear simultaneously from the XW. If this can be done, how would I do this? Any assistance would be great

Hello As many of you would know, the XW-P1 hex layer feature is a great thing. Hear is an improv track I made using a super dirty hex layer+DSP setting. Love that Casio.

Long time Casio user and first time poster In my band named IZERA, we use the Casio XW-P1, XW-G1 and the MZ-2000. We are a synthrock band from Australia. This is our newest song called Strange Games. It was made nearly entirely using the XW-P1. The MZ-2000 and real guitars were used minimally to keep up band input but the whole song could very easily been done using only the XW-P1. I cant talk the XW-P1 up enough. Its fantastic onstage and in the studio. Here is the link to the song........Enjoy

Hi fellow Casio XW users My first post here I have sliced loops and one shot samples and I would like to map them across the keyboard of my G1. How would that best be done? I will use an SD card to store and load samples. Any help, linkks or videos would be great. Thanks heaps