MAXWP1Guy

Heeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Correctamundo! But you're never really old if you're learning new things while rediscovering old ones, and music is ageless: nobody should care about the chronological age of the musician or the instrument, as long as interesting sounds and music are being made. There were several models of Seeburg jukeboxes (and props that looked like no real model of jukebox, at least to me) used in the production of Happy Days over the years. The "Arthur Fonzarelli Method of Repair and Fine Adjustment" wasn't just limited to them, though. His technique worked on everything from hood ornaments to stuck windows, soda machines and everything else in between, apparently. And it's not really *that* far-fetched, because sometimes a marginal ground or cable connection *will* work again if you just tap on it a little/move it around.

It's funny - I'm a complete novice with this synthesizer and I thought the same thing when I first heard the "factory Harmonica" - it's OK, but it it could be better. On the other hand it has to be pretty tough to get a really good harmonica sound - it's such a strange instrument, dimensionally, the way it voices, the way it's played, nobody's mouth is really the same exact size, etc., etc. It has such a unique and almost bizarre sound and no two harmonicas I've ever had sounded the same. They can be squeaky-reedy-horny to lushy-stringy-trumpety-warmy and back again. They can squeal and they can also do some really hard-to-replicate resonances. Well, you basically put it in your mouth to play it, it figures no two sound exactly the same.

BACK! I have received my replacement XW-P1 (actually I got it two days ago) and here's the news: All the sins of the previous unit are forgiven - this one is PERFECT. It looks perfect, it sounds right, and - most importantly - the BOX it came in was sealed properly when it arrived. It didn't look slipshod and retaped, like the first one did, as though it had been somehow repackaged. The first thing I did was to check the firmware version. 1.11. It goes to 11. My previous one was 1.10. I don't think that had anything to do with the problems I saw, but I was glad to see this replacement arrive with the latest firmware. I am on a cloud right now. After I verified the basic functionality (bouncing in my chair!) the next thing I did with it was to download the set of patches from http://www.muzykuj.com/brzmienia/autorskie-brzmienia.html It's not a huge collection, but they're pretty amazing. His pianos are bright and warm, and the pads he has are really unique. I really like them. Try them if you haven't. The pads by themselves sound like incredible background sound atmosphere. Really cool. More later as I get back into the groove -- I just wanted to let everyone know how much I appreciate their (sane) advice here not to try to open the thing up and go be-bopping around inside it. I would have done a better than average job, probably, I've got some skills in that department, but I'm glad I didn't nevertheless. Send it back and get a replacement, don't void your warranty. So I'm excited all over again, very pleased to have this keyboard back, and now I rejoin the adventure in the foyer of the castle. There are lots of rooms yet to be explored. [Addendum: I can gather that what some people are not going to like about the link above is that it's a .ZAL file, which replaces everything. I loaded this set of stuff first.]

Update: UPS Tracking is showing that my replacement XW-P1 should arrive next Tuesday, but possibly Monday. I'm missing it and I'm really eager to have it back.

>>> Even it if it doesn't burp I would exchange it for a new one. And DO NOT OPEN IT UP! Just walk away and send it in. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL Yeah I had to laugh too when "The Fonz Move" got results, but I kept thinking of all the times (at least a half dozen) where I've gotten a PC that wouldn't even get through power on self-test to work again by re-seating the memory or even just jostling a cable that had worked its way loose enough to cause problems. I figured: it really can't get much worse, maybe it will get better. I didn't drop it or anything. I didn't shake it any harder than it would be by Lady Gaga's guys, that's for sure. Even though it appears to be working correctly now, I'm going to take everyone's advice, wrap it all back up (I saved all the packing materials) and get another one. I can be patient but I'll definitely miss it in the interim - I was just really starting have fun with it.

I think I'm going to start with the retailer and see what they will do. They claim to have a 30 day no questions asked policy and I'm well inside that right now. Here's another data point: I decided not to give up easily, I tried a "Fonzie" on the machine. First I did the full reset. Then I turned the machine off and disconnected it, removed the batteries and all the connections. Then I lifted it off the stand and SHOOK IT a couple of times, fairly aggressively but not American Tourister Gorilla (whew, I'm dating myself), right side up, upside down and side to side. I put it back on the stand but instead of connecting headphones (I've been playing it through headphones) I went and got one of my old Pioneer amplifiers out of the vast storage area that is my attic and ran new 1/4" cables from the line out jacks into the amp. I hooked up a pair of old speakers, turned the Casio back on and BLAMMO. Amazing sound. Complete, fat, full bass where it is supposed to be, when it is supposed to be. And the instruments are sounding like they sound in the video(s). I think I have something loose on the back panel connections, perhaps in the headphone jack itself. I've never taken one of these apart but maybe it's a bad cable connection or something like that internally. I'm going to run it for a few more days and see if the Fonz has ever done me any favors. I've never seen anything like this. I REALLY like this synthesizer and when it's working right, the sounds are just unbelievable. I hope this has done the trick. Maybe I'll take it to the workbench and go inside. I'd really rather not do that though. If it burps again, I'll send it back.

When I first started playing it I had the feeling something wasn't exactly right with this keyboard and even though I learned a lot about the solo syntheizer, I really didn't trust the sounds I was getting. Nothing sounds as good as *any* of the videos I've watched. And today the machine has started malfunctioning to the point that altering the choice of instrument through the (+/-) and rotary voice selector knob doesn't change anything. You go from Classic Piano to Rock Piano and they sound exactly the same, and both sound wrong. Yes, I have tried resetting the keyboard. It works correctly for about 30 seconds and then the sound just starts to fall apart. I'm very disappointed. Who do I send this thing back to, Casio? I registered the product the day I unboxed it. In fact, thinking back on the boxing process it looked like the packing tape had been re-applied. I think I got a "refurb" that nobody really tested properly. Does Casio take care of supplying me with a new one or do I go back to the store I bought it from? Thanks for your help. I'm really steamed.

I'm beginning to see the light. Thanks for the links I am going to try them and the programs, and I'm getting there. Now I know the synthesizer really works and I'm not sitting here with a defective or damaged piece of equipment. It took a little work but I just successfully took the basic XW synth sound, (0-0) modified it pretty extensively through the edit/menu/write system, including the effects and oscillator, saved it to a user preset and then applied it to a phrase, which I also modified. I created a totally new, very impressive and unique sound and it works perfectly. Now I have a slightly more Beatnik version of the opening from the Beach Boys' "California Girls." It's bitchin! Now that I see there are a *lot* more rooms in the castle than I thought, it's fairly well amazing. And I modified several of the PCM sounds as well and saved them off. Thanks to everyone for the help! You're all extraordinary. I've learned more in 5 hours than I thought I would in several days. The relieving thing is that I am now sure the entire unit is functioning the way it should. For a while there I thought it was more than the loose nut in front of the keyboard.

Thanks everone. I'm sure I've just got a bit of "new thing paranoia" going on. I spent some more time with it and it's beginning to come together. I have an engineering background so I have some understanding of the basic meanings of the terms, but as I said I haven't touched a piano (which is what I played, for the most part) or keyboard in almost 30 years -- so this is quite a trip. It's "Back to the Future" and "Beyond Tomorrow" meet "Dr. Who" all in one jam session, as it were, with "You Can Call Me Al..." playing in the background... I'll parse all the help everyone has given and post again tomorrow. Thank you mightily for your help and good will. This was a christmas present to myself - I was once a pretty good amateur player but it's a perishable skill and I've neglected it for a long time. I'm having a lot of fun with this Casio, though.

Thanks at least that partially clears it up. I feel like a dolt asking these questions, but because I've not had the opportunity to try a reference sample of this synthesizer before I purchased mine (online) I'm doing a little of that "freaking myself out" thing. I appreciate the answers and I'll do my best to help others once I learn more about this instrument. What I don't get, I guess, is that if I turn a parameter to an arbitrary value and then back to the originally displayed value, it's perplexing that the instrument doesn't sound the same. It's like: "Ok, well it was 64 then you turned it to 90 but when you turn it back to 64, that's no longer 64, it's 80."

I realize I'm very new to this so please bear with me and I apologize in advance for sounding so dim, but is there any way to determine if my solo synth is working properly? There are several things about the way the adjustment knobs work that just really don't make sense. For example if I turn the synth. on and just select "tone" mode and Solo Synth, why do I have the numbers 1,9,15 and 13 lights lit up on the Step Sequencer buttons? Let's ignore that for a minute and go straight to playing a sound. Here is exactly what is on the display: "TONE SOL: P-0-0 XW SoloSynth K1: CUTOF K2: RESO K3: A.ATK. K4: A.REL The "TAP" light is flashing. I guess is never stops flashing (it never has in the entire time I've had the board). All my knobs are on the middle detent position, the modulation wheel is all the way DOWN and the bender wheel is centered. I'll call this the DEFAULT. OK I hit middle C: I get a nice sharp tone with some echo (I can hear it echo 4 times as it fades out). Now I turn the K1 ("CUTOF") knob so the diplay shows "CUTOFF: 90". However I do not play a note, I just turn the knob back to center so that it reads: "CUTOFF 64". Hit Middle C again. VERY DIFFERENT sound, much softer, like it's being played through a fog. All I did was turn the Cutoff to 90 and then back again, but the sound is not the same at all. To get the original sound back, I have to hit the + and - button (or turn the rotary knob) to the next synth voice and back again. Is this normal? Also, on many of the Solo Synth sounds, turning the various adjustment knobs causes the sound to disappear entirely or diminish to a tiny note that sounds like it's being played 1000 miles away - even if you turn the knobs back to center, you have to manually reset the voice to get the original sound back. And I'm not sure my "original sounds" are correct as a result of this, either. Help! All assistance is appreciated. None of this is covered in the manual and it's very confusing to turn a knob, see a number, turn it back to where it originally was, and not be able to get the same tone back. Also, this guy does a demo of his XW-P1 and his solo synth sounds a lot better than mine, or at least it seems to. I can't get sounds like the ones he seems to have at all. His "native" solo synth sounds just seem to be much better than mine. Any ideas?

I'm sure it does, it's a got a lot under the skin. I have another question for later on using the Solo Synth mode but I want to make sure this time that it's not something obvious (like the Modulation wheel) that is just the way it is supposed to be. There's a lot here, I'm learning . One of the things I'm learning is that one could spend a long time having fun with this keyboard not doing anything in particular, just kind of grooving out with it. Which is good, it'll keep me out of the pool halls and the gin joints .

Thank you very much. I'm not new to playing music (although it's been a long time) on a keyboard/piano, but I am new to synthesizers with all the electronics the XW-P1 has, so I was a little worried I was missing something (or my keyboard was). Thanks again!

Hello everyone, I just received the XW-P1 that I purchased for myself for Christmas and it arrived today. Everything looks good so far except that I notice that the Modulation wheel doesn't seem to be spring loaded and self-centering as the "Bender" wheel is. Is this normal? Is the Modulation Wheel supposed to self-center? I really appreciate everyone's answer on this the manual has no information about whether it's supposed to self-center or not. Thanks very much!