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bahman

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Everything posted by bahman

  1. Several large online retailers in the EU started discounting this model last month (from ca. 1100 to 750-800 EUR) and it is not available for immediate order as before. So, even if Casio is not officially discontinuing the 560 — and obviously they have no commercial reason to do it — this model does seem to have reached the end of its life, too short, IMO, for a “pro” stage piano. I just wonder if Casio will have a range of stage pianos in the near future at all.
  2. Hi! Can you please check and confirm that your new PX 560 comes with firmware version 1.15? The latest available version is 1.14 and was released in April 2017.
  3. Hi! This topic comes up frequently. Note that speakers designed for use at home or studio meet very different requirements than those designed for stage. So, there will be some level of compromise if you want to share the same speaker setup. I suggest you have a look at some of the answers posted on this forum - just search for "speakers". You will also find many answers on other forums elsewhere (pianoworld, pianostreet, reddit r/piano/, etc.)
  4. Yes, this is a problem not only with the 560 but with most DPs in this segment that have built in speakers. I have my 560 against a wall and that improves the sound significantly - but it still sounds bad. Try also adjusting the master equalizer. But it will sound much better through quality headphones. If you plan using the 560 frequently without headphones I would suggest to connect it through a pair of external monitors/speakers.
  5. Hi AlenK. I mixed up capacitive with resistive. Sorry for that and thanks for the correction. But my point was not about the technology behind the touch screen but about the interaction with the interface. The fact is that the 560 has low responsiveness when compared to many mainstream electronic devices that use touch screens, especially smartphones and tablets. And yes, the screen is pressure based (resistive) as the air gap between the layers is visible and it can be operated with a non-conductive object. This is all about expectations. There are user segments that may not expect to find nowadays the same kind of user interface experience they got from a 15 year old sat-nav/GPS device. Unless you for some reason assume that all user segments should have very low expectations regarding the interface of digital keyboards. Nevertheless, I do find the 560's interface to be adequate and I also do not have problems with it. It is just a pity that the 560 does not exploit the potential capabilities of such an interface as those could have been a major differentiating feature.
  6. According to the manual the tuning frequency and the temperament is only saved if the "Auto Resume" option (B) is on. But they will not be stored as part of a registration - that would be indicated by option (C). Not being able to store the temperament and tuning settings to a registration makes absolutely no sense. The same applies to the acoustic model config which is also not saved with a registration. As Joe Muscara as said, the touchscreen is not what you find on a mainstream smartphone. These use resistive touchscreens whereas the 560 uses a capacitive touchscreen which is much less responsive. Try to use just the tip of one finger to "click" on the screen or on the menu buttons - and yes, the menu buttons on the side are too small. But not drag your finger, use multiple fingers or try doing gestures.
  7. Hi! I am trying to edit the dynamics of a piano tone, i.e. change how the volume level relates to the key velocity. I tried editing the low velocity range of the tone and also make the volume low when the key velocity is also low. Can this be edited? I have gone through all the envelopes and other parameters but I have been unable to do so. Note this is a standard tone from the piano bank and not an hex layer sound. If I edit an hex layer sound the dynamics can be somewhat adjusted through the envelopes and "velocity range". But I cannot achieve the same results when I edit a normal/non hex layer sound. The main reason I am trying to edit a sound from the piano bank is to try preserving the "acoustic simulator" effects, especially the string and damper resonance, since these effects only apply to some piano bank tones and not to any of the hex layer tones. Thanks!
  8. Thanks! I think that the 560 now works properly with PianoTeq. I have the default MIDI settings on the PX-560 and have reset PianoTeq's and the ASIO driver's settings. With the "high resolution velocity" turned on, the keyboard seems to send the note-off velocity. I will test it properly over the weekend. I have to dedicate some time to try to configure PianoTeq properly because the piano sounds I get are significantly worse than the demos. It is mainly about the spatiality of the sound. It almost sounds like a monophonic output where the soundstage is concentrated in the centre. With the "binaural" pianos and sound output there are some improvements, but even so it is very far from the demos. The only "out of the box" sound I find to be very similar to the Pianoteq demos is from the Ruckers and other Kivir harpsichords. But with the harpsichords there are no complex velocity curves to be adjusted. Note that I have PianoTeq Standard but have been testing the different instruments in the trial version... I am also currently using PianoTeq on a laptop and this may be contributing to poor sound quality as it may even lack the power output to properly drive the headphones. I have a desktop connected via an optical link to an amplifier but at the moment the 560 and the desktop are not in the same room... so I still have to test the output from PianoTeq with a proper setup. But I do find the piano tone of the 560 to be really good through headphones! And if it was possible to improve and add more resonance to itm the sound would be amazing. I find the current "acoustic simulator" to be too conservative and far from the levels of resonance and noise found even on a modest upright.
  9. Thanks for the replies so far! 1. This unfortunately happens with any tone. I think I was using Synth 04 (Mellow Saw Lead). 2. It also happens over MIDI without local control, i.e. while using the 560 just as a MIDI controller. 3. This happens with any key I have tried in any octave. The black notes are a real issue in normal playing since fast grace notes or appogiaturas that can be played by sliding down from a black into a white key will often create this situation. With the white keys, playing a fast sliding glissando will sometimes leave a couple of keys playing. This will not be that noticeable with piano or fast decaying tones, as it will sound like normal sustain or reverberation. But it makes the keyboard completely unusable with any slow or non-decaying tone like organs, synths or some EPs. A friend who is a jazz keyboard player discovered this problem less than one minute after switching from a piano tone to an organ tone. Half of the time he played some fast jazz ornamentation some note would keep sounding after being released... 4. This is independent of the MIDI note-off velocity message. However, I actually started testing the keyboard with PianoTeq after discovering this issue to check whether this was a problem related to the internal sound engine or if it could also be reproduced over MIDI. That was when I found that the 560 was not sending the note-off velocity over MIDI. However, I have now the default MIDI settings in the PX-560 and have reset PianoTeq's and the ASIO driver's settings and the MIDI note-off velocity now seems to work fine in PianoTeq. I will test it properly over the weekend. However, the problem with the keys still remains. The video was shot after resetting the MIDI settings...
  10. So, here is a short video demonstrating the problem. This can be replicated with any key of the keyboard. The sensors are not registering the key release, at least according to the MIDI messages. Whenever this problem happens there is one note-on message for that key but no note-off message. Therefore the sounds keeps playing until the key is pressed and released again and the note-off is correctly generated. Some extra info: the keyboard has the latest firmware version (v. 1.14, April 2017) . I have the keyboard connected to the SP-33 pedal unit but tested it also with the pedal unit disconnected. The problem happens with or without a MIDI USB connection. I have not yet tested any other Casio keyboard with the same keyboard technology. As far as I know, this keyboard is used in most or even all current Privia PX and Celviano AP models. So, I am not sure this is a problem of my particular PX-560 or if it is just a "feature" of this keyboard technology. Px560.m4v
  11. I will try to record it today. It is quite easy to replicate once you know what to do. It is all about rapid attack and release. The sensors will register the initial key press but will *not* register the key release. So, the sound will continue to play until you press the key again. At least this what a MIDI monitor tells me. First thing to do is to select sound that does not decay, such as an organ or a synth. Then the ideia is to "pluck" a white key with just the tip of a finger. So, raise your hand above the keyboard. Close your hand and extend just one finger. Then let the hand fall down with gravity and slap/pluck just the tip of any white key with the very tip of the extended finger. The finger will not rest on the key at all. It will just slap/pluck it. This is exactly the same movement as plucking a string with the tip of an extended finger. Just imagine that the tip of the white key is the string to be plucked. And this is not about pounding the key at all! A light "pluck" is more than enough because the only goal is to maximize velocity. For me this procedure unfortunately worked with any key I have tried after a couple of tries at most. Of course, one could say that the exercise above is irrelevant because no-one plays a keyboard like that. I agree. The big problem is that you can also replicate such behaviour with normal playing. For me it happens with grace notes and fast appogiaturas or accaciaturas. An example is when a finger rapidly presses and then "slides" from a black key into a white key as in a chromatic appogiatura. And this is exactly like "plucking" the black key. So, the problem described above will occur. The only good news is that with a piano tone at least the sound will decay fast :-) Anyway, I will try to make a short recording of this today.
  12. What is your opinion of the of PianoTeq vs the PX-560 piano tones? My first reaction to PianoTeq was that the sound was somehow muffled and lacked spatial distribution even after tweaking the microphone placement and sound settings. But there are dozens and dozens of configuration options in PianoTeq. And I have listened to PianoTeq recordings and demos that sounded very different. So, I wonder what is your experience as PianoTeq and a PX-560 user. BTW, I mostly play the 560 with a pair of good quality headphones.
  13. This is good news as it is then a matter of finding the correct configuration in the 560. I believe the problem is not with the ASIO driver or PianoTeq configuration because I get note-off velocity when using a different MIDI keyboard. I will then read the 560 manual and try to set the default options. Thanks!
  14. I have that tone (and several others from this forum) installed on my 560. Try pressing the Grand Piano button first. This will select the standard grand piano into the upper 1 section. Then go to media, load the new Steinway D tone and save into an empty user slot in the piano section. This should only fail if you are trying to load an hex-layer tone into a slot outside the hex-layer section or vice-versa. So, make sure you have a tone from the piano category as your upper 1 tone.Then, load the corresponding registration, go to Tone, select the new Steinway D as upper 1, and save the registration.
  15. When I play a key with very rapid attack and release (e.g. a fast appogiatura starting on a black key and falling on a white key) I noticed that sometimes the short note keeps sounding as if the corresponding key is still pressed. The sound will not stop until that key is pressed again. I became aware of this problem when a friend used my keyboard to play a piece with many fast ornamentations. After a couple of minutes there were 3 or 4 notes continuously sounding in the background as if the keys were still pressed! Unfortunately, I tried to repeat this behaviour and I am able to reproduce it with any key of the keyboard after a couple of attempts. So, I believe this is not a problem with a specific sensor. And this has nothing to do with force. The key just needs to be pressed using a very fast attack. I can record and post the audio recording of this if anyone is interested. Since there are many professional players in this forum, has any of you experienced this behaviour? And would such a behaviour be covered by the warranty (within the EU)? I have the keyboard for just one year now and the warranty goes for two years. I was thinking of trying to activate the warranty anyway because some keys in the middle octaves started to sound "clunky" (like plastic hitting plastic without any damping/muffling) and the problem is gradually affecting other frequently used keys.
  16. When I try to calibrate my PX-560 keyboard inside PianoTeq I get a warning saying that there the keyboard does not support key/note off velocity over MIDI. The PX5S specification states that it supports key off velocity. But I found no reference to key off velocity in the PX-560 specification and manuals. When I monitor the MIDI messages it actually seems that the keyboard sends the same data regardless of the actual key off velocity, but I may be looking at the wrong place. I have the keyboard connected to the computer using USB MIDI and tried using standard and high velocity MIDI. Is this a limitation of the keyboard or do I need to enable these velocity messages somehow? I have a cheap MIDI controller that does send these velocity messages, so I guess this is just a matter of configuration. Thanks.
  17. There should be nothing wrong with the downloadable package itself as its integrity is fully verified before the actual upgrade starts. If the download package was corrupt and if the upgrade process used it anyhow, then we would most likely end up with a dead keyboard :-) What is very wrong is that the contents of the 1.14 package still have bugs. If the current production models that come out of the factory with 1.14 do not display these issues that would mean that some problems we now have are hardware related. But I really doubt that will happen. The knobs worked in 1.10 and now they do not. So this is a software error introduced in 1.14. Even the timing issue of the metronome and of the repeats/loops in the MIDI player should be fully software related. @tnicoson I guess the better would be for you to wait at least until July for the next Summer NAMM or even for the Winter NAMM or next year's MusikMesse and see what happens. Maybe Casio will announce a proper sucessor to the 5S or 560 or will just discontinue this line. I visited Casio's booth at the MusikMesse early this month and the Casio representatives there were definitely not standing for the Privia Pro line. From a marketing perspective there were just two main focus areas: the digital pianos (the GP hybrids and the Celviano range) and the workstations/synths (MZ, etc). The overall message was: if you want a digital piano get a GP. Cannot afford a GP? Get a Celviano. Need a lightweight keyboard? Then go for the PX360. Need sequencing, tone editing, sliders and controllers and workstation features? Go to the MZ range. So, I found Casio's concept of "pro" stage piano rather confusing because the 560 and the 5S were completely out of place. This was perhaps the biggest contrast between Casio's booth and the competition, as the other major brands put a lot of emphasis on the pro/prosumer 88 key "stage" pianos.
  18. Hi! I fully agree with Simone. The problems I have found so far are in the 1.14 upgrade : Metronome bug is still there. Seems to be different than the bug in 1.10 but it still does not work. Auto power off does not as in 1.10. I left the keyboard on overnight and it was still on the next day. In 1.10 it powered off after a long 3-4h. MIDI player repeat does not work as expected. The same as in 1.10. This is not necessarily a bug but poor implementation. I have never seen any MIDI player (software or keyboard based) introducing a delay when repeating. The same happens with the MIDI player repeat A-B where one needs to tweak the "ticks" in order to get seamless playback. But as soon as you change the tempo you need to re-tweak the ticks. So, loops and repeats are not working properly. The knobs are now jumpy. In 1.10 the knobs resulted in smooth inputs and smooth output transitions. Now there is a delay or a "jump" between the knob input and the effect on the sound. It seems I am now having some issues with the acoustic pianos (around 40% volume using headphones and not tested with other tones). Nothing has changed in my setup apart from the upgrade to 1.14. Some keys now seem to produce a random stacatto sound regardless of the velocity and the sustain/reverb seems to be non-existent. (seems the sound is bypassing reverb and other DSP effects). This was quite noticeable for me because I was practising the same piano piece before the upgrade and now, after the upgrade, I get this random but very audible sound artefacts where before there were none. Maybe this is a very big coincidence and some of the key sensors are not working properly anymore (my keyboard is 1 year old and some of the middle octave keys are now much more noisy and "clicky" than before and than the upper and lower octave keys, so there is probably some internal wear). Still no MIDI specification. At least an official statement about the feasibility of changing registrations using MIDI. 1.14 introduces no improvements or new features at all (especially from the MZ). This is very disappointing as the 560 is supposed to be Casio's top-range Privia Pro model. At this point I was expecting new tone libraries (especially hex-layers) and rhythms to have been published by Casio. This helps keeping a keyboard model alive for long. This would have been made simpler if it was possible to load user-created tones across models with similar sound engines (this is exactly what happens with most middle and top range models of other brands). If Casio had no plans to improve the 560 then it would have been much better to do like in the other Privias such as the 360 and remove the firmware upgrade feature altogether. This is not about blaming Casio but just a personal matter of having the wrong expectations.
  19. Hi! Yes it is ckf format :-) Some of the files I tried are here http://music.casio.com/e/data_ex3/rhythm.html Just tested #54 with firmware 1.14 on the 560 and it seems to work fine (the intro, variation and ending work). I recall some of the files I have around seem not to use GM instruments and some tone mapping was required. But I have tried this quite a while ago. Anyway, I never managed to load ac7 files (and I deleted them as they did not work at all. They are probably some newer ac7 files lying around in this forum that can be tested). I do not remember the exact spec, but the ac7 format can use more channels and have multiple variations and endings when compared to the ckf . So maybe the 560 only supports ckf - like formats (i.e. less channels and variations) and rejects proper ac7 files. I did some rhythm/style editing using software a long time ago for other keyboards brands and there were plenty of tools to create styles and convert between different formats. It is probably the same with Casio but I never looked into this. I guess there should be at least some ckf/ac7 software editor out there. Or not?
  20. Hi! The official word from Casio is to do the factory reset. My humble opinion is that requirement is there because it was copied and pasted from some other Casio firmware upgrade instruction manual, not because it is necessary. The factory reset will restore the system parameters to their default factory values and delete all user data as well. But from a technical perspective such data can be fully kept between compatible updates of the system. The keyboard stores the system parameters that are configurable by the user (mixer, EQ settings, main settings etc.) and the user created data (tones, registrations, SMFs etc.). Apart from this data, the keyboard has no need to store any other type of data when turned off. And all internal system variables (sound generator data, oscillator data, counters, etc.) must also be fully reset at least when the system is powered up. So the system after being upgraded can still use all system parameters and user data that were defined with the previous firmware version. A full reset does makes sense if the firmware changed parameters or formats that are incompatible with the ones found in previous firmware versions. A simple example: if a tuning temperament was removed in this version then a reset would be the simplest way to make sure that the existing registrations were not using a temperament that no longer exists. But all parameters and formats in 1.14 (and 1.10) seem to be exactly the same, which would make the reset unnecessary. If there were any changes of this kind then they were not documented! But only Casio could explain if - and why - the reset is really required. As a side note, I also fail to understand why the factory reset option is not just about restoring all system parameters to their original values while keeping the user created data intact. At least, there is no reason to delete the SMF files when restoring the system parameters. Anyway, what makes the factory reset an unnecessarily difficult task for the users who have been using the keyboard's internal memory instead of USB to save SMF files, is the inability to easily save/load (and delete) these files - these are good examples that show how not to design a graphical user interface ;-) The tones and registrations can be easily saved and loaded, and the system parameters that need to reconfigured after the reset are minimal, as most are saved with the registrations anyway. So, the reset should not a big deal if you have no internal SMF files. And maybe that is Casio is requesting the reset. Not because it is necessary but because it should be easy for (most of?) the users. And yes, the power off does does not seem to work anymore as in version 1.10. And unfortunately the metronome bug in version 1.10 was not corrected in version 1.14. It still sounds a beat out of tempo every couple of minutes. I agree that for most the metronome bug is probably insignificant in scope of the overall functionality of the keyboard. But it is rather unacceptable for a digital musical instrument to have a basic metronome that is not working properly! And I do wonder if this metronome timing issue (which seems to technically be an overflow or rounding error) is confined just to the metronome or if it is also affecting everything on the keyboard that depends on correctly timing the tempo and its beats, such as rhythms, the arp, the synchronization of some DSPs (e.g. delay), and playing the SMF files. Anyway, I guess this upgrade is just trying to fix the expression pedal. Better than nothing! It would be grateful if Casio would let its customers know what was actually changed with this upgrade and if there are plans to release any future firmware improvements for this keyboard. Thanks.
  21. Record a midi at 4/4 and play the drum on the first beat of the first measure and then play it back using repeat A-B, setting A to measure 1/beat 1 and B to measure 2/beat 2/tick 1. Other option with the arp: try the "filtering" pattern with the "hold" option on applied to one of the zones and set a drum set to that zone. That arp pattern will repeat once per beat. If you set a slow tempo maybe you will get what you want. As far as I know you cannot change the metronome sound - the most you can do is getting rid of the bell/accent sound if you set the metronome beat count to zero. BTW, the 560 manual says it accepts CASIO format rhythm files, including the ac7 format as well as the older z00 and ckf formats. A while ago I downloaded some old ctk rhythms into the 560 that worked but all the few ac7 files I found online failed to load. There are discussions on this forum and elsewhere on how to create such rhythm files but I never looked into this in detail. There are probably forum members that can explain exactly how to use external software tools to create (or convert) rhythms that can be loaded into the 560.
  22. I installed the 1.14 firmware yesterday on my 560 after spending a (long) time copying MIDI files to an USB external device. As BradMZ said, the upgrade itself does not delete the user data. But I performed a factory reset as stated in the upgrade instructions and all user data was deleted as a result. So you should "save all/l" the tones and registrations and save all the relevant SMF files one by one before upgrading. The 1.14 upgrade seems to be just about fixing bugs. It is not clear exactly which problems are corrected because the release note only makes reference to an "improvement" of the expression pedal and to "improvement" of "certain operations". As a side note, correcting bugs is not an "improvement" but simply making a system to behave as expected. I am disappointed because the PX-560 is marketed as being part of the "Privia Pro" series (whatever that means) and I believe it is still the most expensive keyboard being sold by CASIO apart from the Celviano GP series. So, I was (wrongly) expecting CASIO to improve the Privia Pro keyboards. From my perspective, CASIO seems to be focussed in improving the MZ keyboards and marketing the Celviano GP. The Privia Pro series is out of the map and just being ignored. Anyone who had the chance to visit the CASIO booth in the Musikmesse a couple weeks ago got that message.The 1.14 upgrade is just a reflection of that: it offers no new features, no improvements to any of the existing functionality and no improvements to the user interface. I would really like CASIO to prove me completely wrong and show their commitment to the Privia Pro. On the upside, this upgrade seems to have corrected the metronome bug (the metronome would not beat steadily as it would skip some ticks every couple hundred measures). I will test it properly during the next days. Hopefully, the MIDI player loop/repeat bug was also addressed. If any of you find any actual "improvement" in the 1.14 upgrade please let me know. Cheers!
  23. Maybe I am not understanding your question correctly, but you can definitely edit several parameters of each individual channel, including volume, pan, reverb, chorus, bend range etc. You can also change each of the tones that are part of a rhythm/arrangement (for example, change an acoustic bass to a synth, and the acoustic drum set to an electronic drum set). You can then save the edited rhythm as a user defined rhythm. Go to the mixer in the main screen to edit the tones and parameters per channel.. Or go to the rhythm screen and edit a rhythm from there. The limitation of the 560 is that you cannot create or edit the existing arrangement patterns. This means it is not possible for you to edit a drum or bass pattern, for example. You can change how it sounds, but you cannot change its content. But you can always use an external DAW for that, which is much more intuitive in my opinion.
  24. Good news! Link to the firmware here: http://support.casio.com/en/support/download.php?cid=008&pid=1263 Besides the problems with the expression pedal that are hopefully corrected, any idea which "certain operations" were actually "improved" by this update? Since the firmware upgrade will fully reset the keyboard and delete all user data, I do have a couple of questions: - I have all of my registrations and tones backed up using the "save all" option. What will actually happen when I perform a "load all" operation? Will all user tones be properly loaded into the instrument/tone categories? Will all registrations reference the correct tones? I am asking this because whenever I load a new registration (downloaded from this forum for example), I then have to manually edit it so that it references the correct tone. So, I am afraid that after using the "load all" option I will have to edit all of my registrations. - Is there any way to bulk copy the MIDI files to an external USB drive? The only process I am aware of is copying each file one at a time. This is not only a time consuming process but also a cumbersome one due to an interface design that requires a high number of "clicks" to perform each copy. So, is there any way to bulk copy MIDI files to an external USB drive? Or is there any alternative option to get the MIDI data from a computer connected to the keyboard via the USB/MIDI interface (likely not)?
  25. Hi! That is not a problem with your keyboard. You will find it in any digital keyboard/synthesizer regardless of the model/brand. What is happening is that you are trying to play a tone, a steel guitar tone in this case, outside the frequency range of the original instrument. The range of a standard 6 string guitar with 22 frets is ca. four octaves. As a result, a seven octave keyboard can produce three octaves worth of frequencies that are outside the frequency range of a guitar. Digital sound engines have to somehow address this issue when producing a synthetic sound. The basic options are either not to play any sound outside its natural range, or to digitally stretch/squeeze the frequencies and the envelope. The latter option often produces distorted/unnatural sounds when moving outside the natural range of the instrument. In the case of some guitars on the PX560, the sound engine stops stretching the sound on the higher range and replaces it with a string "pluck" effect (it can be used to add some texture to the guitar sound). You will also find similar limitations with other narrow range instruments. For example, check what happens when playing too low or too high frequencies with the picollo, recorder, bassoon, timpani or glockenspiel. To use the full seven octaves you can try to create hex layers and/or use different tones in the upper and lower zones and/or use an external DAW to create overlapping zones so that you replace the octaves that are outside the range of the steel guitar (likely C1-C2 and C6-C7) with appropriate low and high frequency sounds that suit your purpose.
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