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XW-P1 Tutorial Series: Beginners Start Here


AlenK

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An XW-P1 user named Martin Horn ("funnzie") has created an excellent series of tutorial videos (mixed with his personal opinions of the keyboard) and uploaded them to YouTube. At least one more video is likely to follow. He has clearly put a lot of effort into them. I recommend this series to all new XW-P1 owners as well as to any other users still getting to grips with this unique machine. Feel free to give Martin some likes on YouTube for his efforts! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm bumping this to ensure it stays near the top. We've already seen a new user discover this series of videos independently, not realizing this thread was here because it wasn't near the top. I wouldn't have to bump it if it was pinned. Sigh.

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A picture paints a thousand words, a video is even better. Just went through first video. Emphasizing the versatility of a performance-excellent! Thank you and thanks Alenk for keeping this a priority post. I'm glad I've kept mine. I have it midied to my old Ensoniq TS-12 and my PX350 for the piano action. still can't see parting with it for anything else.

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  • 7 months later...
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  • 11 months later...

I bought my XW-P1 seven years ago and barely use it. Now I am almost retired, with spare time, and looking to experiment with the XW-P1.

 

Quick XW-P1 question:

 

Is there a way to create a Performance with an octave "BendRngDwn" and "BendRngUp" that will work with any Tone?  Meaning, whenever I select a new tome, the Bend Wheel is already set to an octave.

 

Thank you. 

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As page E-64 of the User's Guide shows, you can set the range in semitones (up to 24) separately for each direction of the bend wheel, with unique settings for each of the four zones in a given Performance. 

 

If you can accept playing only one tone at a time you can go into Tone mode instead, which always plays the selected tone on Part 1. I am fairly certain that the bend-wheel settings will be carried over from whatever they were for Zone 1 in the last Performance you played before entering Tone mode. 

 

Speed of changing tones may be an issue in either mode. But again, if you only need to play one Tone at a time you can use the technique I describe on page 115 of The XW-P1 Companion - Volume 1, Rev 5, which allows switching between sixteen tones that you have preselected and stored, using a single button push. The bend range for each Part in the XW-P1, and thus each of the sixteen tones, can be programmed from the Mixer menu as described on page E-68 of the User's Guide. You can easily make the bend range the same one octave up or down for every Part from this menu. Note however, that any settings you make to Part 7 won't be stored in a Performance or survive a power down.  

 

Does that help? 

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Thanks AlenK for the elaborate and informative answer. I do have your Companion - Volume 1, Rev 5 PDF file, so I will look this up.

 

Mainly, I'm an old-school, 1970s synth player who just wants to play mono-synth solos.  My MOOG Prodigy isn't working anymore so using the XW-P1 is a compromise, of sorts.  The XW-P1 user interface is not laid out like a MOOG (i.e. VCO, VCF, VCA, etc.). The XW-P1 has lots other features which are superfluous to me.

 

Thanks again for your help.  I'll let you know how things turn out.

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I am an old-school analog synth fan myself, although I don't presently own any. (But a good friend has a Jupiter 6 and used to have a Pro One.) 

 

The XW-P1's interface, while certainly usable, is an impediment to creating analog-synth-like tones. The interface of the PC/MAC editor is actually a little easier in that regard, although of course both are miles away from good-old knob twisting. The XW-P1's filter emulation in solo-synth mode is also a bit of a let down, as is the solo-synth's implementation of pulse-width modulation (almost unusable, that). The solo-synth is also unnecessarily complicated, IMO. Nevertheless, with some effort you can coax smooth analog-synth-like tones out of it, such as I managed to do here.

 

PS. I forgot to mention the iPad interface that Mike Martin created. It's actually the easiest way to edit solo synth tones. While there are still no real knobs, of course, you do at least get a lot of virtual ones. 

 

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Yes, I own three more Casio Keyboards (WK-7500, PX-560M and GP-300.  I'm happy with all three - they each serve a specific purpose and they sound good.

 

My wife priced the XW-P1 attractively and it sold in a few hours. Now I have money for the next synth. Thanks again, AlenK.

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  • 11 months later...

Thank you for posting #11. Finally learned beauty of overdub. Think I've made it to #7 so far. I found him by accident last year when I discovered his videos on WK 7600. And his videos that I discovered on P1 led to seeking one out in January this year.

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  • 2 months later...

I just found these tutorials. I plan to start at #1 and work my way forward. I started playing keys in 1969. My xw-p1 is in addition to my Casio CZ-1000 ( I also use a 1966 Farfisa Compact Deluxe, a Roland S-50 and a M-Audio Hammer 88 connected to a Roland Integra 7). I am hoping that these instructional videos are better than what else is out there. I was not impressed with Casio's xw-p1 manual and videos.

I will post my experience.

APKJR

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  • 2 months later...

As what may be my final contribution to this thread, I note that Martin seems to have neglected to post a video about programming the solo synth. Since his last video in the series was posted more than two years ago now, I doubt he will correct that oversight. 

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