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Why WOULDN'T one buy MZ X500 ?


adimatis

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Hi friends,

 

Despite the title of this topic, do not get mad at me! :) I think there is a ton of reasons why one SHOULD get a X500. But these we all know, some better than others, for some more or less relevant reasons. But on the other hand, are there (realistic) expectations that might be missed by X500 once you lay hands on it? If you are an owner already, would you buy it again? If not, what would be your main reason not to?

 

I am trying to see are there issues that might be so serious that they'll turn my decission... Not that this isn't perfectly subjective matter... :)

 

Fell free to share with me. I am kean to know.

 

Thank you!

 

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For not buying X500 there are not only expectations missed by it. Sure there are such high demanding people. But there are also people with lower expectations/demands, maybe less creative with songs, tones and rhythms (like me), who don't nead hex layers and many illuminated multifunctional pads with chord progression. For them there is X300 here.

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For the money nothing better out there so I would buy it again.

Creativity is up to musician not instrument so for me MZ can do all I need and yes I would buy Kronos or Montage if I could to have it why not.

Would my music be better I doubt it.

Question is can MZ do what I need ?

 

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The only "issues" I see with the X500 are that it is not available in 76 keys 'yet' and the keybed might not stand up to heavy use (gigging). Neither of these are issues for me. 

 

On the software side of things, I would really like it if factory tones were re-writable. It's the one feature I miss from my Korg PA. ;-)

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Rick, weren't you (or maybe you're still) member of korgpa forums too? I realise now I might have seen your name in there maybe? I myself am a member there, but have not posted in years I think. I used to have a Pa50. And btw, somehow, X500 reminds me of the sound of Triton engine... Which I quite enjoyed!

 

On topic, I was actually thinking of that - should I wait for a possible 76 version? I know there is a strong demand for that, or at least strong suggestion to Casio, but it's obviously hard to anticipate what they might do or not...

 

Have you seen this? I quite like Casio sound... less polished in a sense, more discreet efx, but not bad. I think the general eq adjusting could help taking away a little bit of the muddiness and make it more open sounding. But I like how it holds on. And I like drums better than Roland - figure that out! ;)

 

 

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I've figured it out in the meanwhile - in fact you were a very supportive and friendly member there, just as here too! ;) Thanks again for that! :2thu:

 

If it was to compare X500 with pa600 (which I had the chance to play some months ago):

1. What does break button? Does it simply pause (Roland style) of introduce a short fill-in (Korg style)?

2. Would you call the keybed lighter or similar?

3. Touch screen as responsive or less?

4. Build quality similar? Worse? Better?

5. The bass from the built in speakers?

 

Leonh, that is exactly the point! I am ready to actually accept some little shortcomings, because for the money, there isn't anything close. Feature list is so long and good - sounds are good, style are good too. I wonder what's the catch? :):) 

 

I appreciate all your replies! Thanks!

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1. The break button can be programmed with a complete pattern tone/rhythm/drums that comports with the Style. 

 

2. Key bed is bit more organ like --- 'Hammondish'

 

3. Touch screens are comparable, both are resistive. The Korg is a 4-wire and like the X500 I find using the back of my fingernail most efficient.

 

4. I'd say the build qualities are comparable with a very slight edge to the PA600

 

5. Here I give the edge to the X500. Not a factor for me as I use studio monitors with plenty of bass near field.

 

p.s. I'm still lusting after the PA4X, wish I had purchased it vs the Korg Kronos 2 ;-)

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I wonder what's the catch? :):) 

 

You asked there is none but in name simple as that Casio has to offer more for less money due to "real musicians" sneering at name if you remember Casio FZ 1 sampler (I had one ) it was most advanced for its time 16 bit sampling when others had 12 bit only and cheaper with very good keybed multiple outputs etc and it wasn't successful not because of quality but as I said above name.

Now how many of people in this forum would buy Casio with 76 keys like Privia and 10 gig of samples all bells and whistles but for serious price like Kronos or Montage even though quality would be the same🤔.

So there is no catch just a lot of features for not much money.

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If money matters, then it's all about what compares for a similar price.  Myself I don't care much about the arranger features, and the only other board that made it to the top of my list is the Roland FA-06.

 

However, the FA-06 has one of the shizziest keybeds I've ever felt, and that was a buying decision, refused to be saddled with that action.  The action on their x500 may be an issue, time will tell.  I've seen that even the same models (variations on the WK series) had noticeably different actions, some better than others, so i don't know if i trust the consistency for their keybeds.  There have been some people here who have complained of very noisy keybeds on the X500.  I guess i lucked out, mine is relatively quiet, and i hope that doesn't change over time.  I have a WK 7600, and over the course of several years the keybed loosened up in a way that makes it less enjoyable and accurate to play (i play noticeably sloppier on it).  That said, I've been really pleased with the keybed on the X500, i get decent dynamics out of it and feel in control.

 

Overall I have to say I'm pretty blown away with the X500.  It's by far the most user friendly board I've ever owned (I have a Nord Stage, but that doesn't count, it doesn't have a sequencer, etc.), which makes learning it and discovering what it can do pretty natural and fun.    The onboard speakers are surprisingly powerful- at first i didn't think so, but then i discovered it has bass eq assigned to one of its knobs, and that brings the full sound forward. And the hex layers are a blast, with the six "organ" sliders you can adjust the volume of each of those layers and create your own Hex tones pretty easily.  And the pads feel great, once again, good dynamic sensitivity for playing expressively with your fingers.  And ther quality of sounds- hard to quantify, but overall they're big, full sounds, and the efx are really decent

 

Is money a major consideration for you, and if so what are the contender boards you're considering?  And what do you use your keyboards for?

 

Randy

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I'd say my main consideration, when it comes about costs, is not the price per se, but the value you het for the money. So, it is really the cost effectiveness that I am interested in. And X500 ticks that box!

 

I think Pa600 would be the only other option. But I think a newer model would need to be out soon, as this has been out for a while now... And Roland Ea7 is good but keybed is terrible I thought. I was turned down by the size and quality.

 

So, the main atraction is the value for the money! ;)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Quando eu ia comprar meu teclado se tivesse visto demonstrações reais entre o Roland EA-7 e o MZ-X500 ou participado de algum fórum  sobre um e outro eu não pensaria 2 vezes e optaria pelo EA-7 sem pestanejar. Comprei meu MZ-X500 pelo que a propaganda dizia sobre 256MB de ram mas me decepcionei com a falha de alguns instrumentos Samples quando adicionava outros. Alguns chegaram a ficar mudos. Hoje eu não compraria mais teclado arranjador da Casio.

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34 minutes ago, gvdreis said:

When I was going to buy my keyboard if I had seen real demos between the Roland EA-7 and the MZ-X500 or participated in some forum about one and the other I would not think twice and would opt for the EA-7 without blinking. I bought my MZ-X500 by what the advertisement said about 256MB of ram but I was disappointed with the failure of some Samples instruments when adding others. Some even became dumb. Today I would not buy more keyboard arranger from Casio.

 

A classic case of "The Grass is Always Greener" syndrome.  ;) (sometimes expressed as "Buyer's Remorse")

 

Example: "Many of you have heard the old saying that the grass is always greener on the other side.  I can picture a farmer leaning against a wooden fence with a straw hat on examining the condition of his grass.  As he looks down, he sees bare patches and other blemishes in his field.  Looking over the fence to his neighbor’s field he sees nothing but green healthy growth.  What this farmer doesn’t see are the many blemishes in the neighbor’s field because he’s not standing in it but looking at it from a distance."

 

The E-A7 is not without its own blemishes. ;)

 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

I have a mini collection studio with synths, arrangers and pianos, from vintage to new models.

I play for pleasure, have reasonable experience and demanding expectations.

 

The more I explore, the more I like the MZ's friendliness and specially its flexibility.

Its potential is better found from fun, investigation and intuition than from its relatively "dry" manuals.

 

I'd definitely buy it again.

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  • 1 year later...

I bough the MZ-X300 and for me it was like this:

Pros:

128 MB Sample memory + Sampling Software, 

4-Layers assignable to L/R (Yeyyy),

Decoding and converting from MIDI for Rhythm-Import. 

Sound-Editing menus are very intuitive. 

 

Cons:

No scale fine-tuning possible (falsely advertised) 

Current hard-coded scales shift when you transpose (->bug)

Quality of strings and some other sounds are poor on the higher pitch side. 

 

I waited and waited for a software update to fix the scale tuning and yet nothing. So unfortunately no recommendation from me. I'm soon gonna sell my MZ-X300 to buy a better mixer. 

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On 9/10/2017 at 7:19 PM, Rick Sterling said:

 

A classic case of "The Grass is Always Greener" syndrome.  ;) (sometimes expressed as "Buyer's Remorse")

 

Example: "Many of you have heard the old saying that the grass is always greener on the other side.  I can picture a farmer leaning against a wooden fence with a straw hat on examining the condition of his grass.  As he looks down, he sees bare patches and other blemishes in his field.  Looking over the fence to his neighbor’s field he sees nothing but green healthy growth.  What this farmer doesn’t see are the many blemishes in the neighbor’s field because he’s not standing in it but looking at it from a distance."

 

The E-A7 is not without its own blemishes. ;)

 

Dear Rick, the EA-7's sound quality sometimes even blows away my Tyros's sound quality (which I love).

Sure the EA-7 has it's own limits, and the MZ-X500 has many features that I don't need (Drawbar organs? Do I sound like I play in church? XD) 

but because of the missing important features (for me) I will never buy a MZ-X500 over an EA-7 (which I'm thinking of buying). 

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22 hours ago, MANY said:

In all honesty, if I had a lot of money, a budget of 5000 euros, I would have bought the Genos, 
for example.But I'm happy with this very good keyboard MZ X.

You should try.

You are playing piano for 4 years. If you would save $200 every month you would have by now $9000.

See what you actually would buy(it is very tricky) ;) 

 

How do you like the manual for MZ? Is it useful?

 

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Only reason I would not get the MZ-X 3 or 500 is because I already play a few Casios already-I have become a big fan despite much water under the bridge with alot of other stuff, new and old. Nothing is perfect, but I have the XW, a terrific piece of kit because i like the drawbars, have played Hammonds in a past life.  3 PX's all of which I can't bear to part with-560, 575 and 350 since I learned on piano-action-pianos!

 

The PX575 can load and play samples using IDES 4.0 that has a sample editor and holds up well compared to anything else-even acts as a programmable synth so...

 

 And other (Yamaha/Roland) arranger modules plus a strange ancient PSR-SQ16 which is turning out to be a ton of fun, but antique PSR sounds although the drums are amazing for an older board. So, can cover alot of bases with all this Casio hardware-and I can carry all of it without a handtruck! My pa system weighs more than 2 Casios. Seriously and I have a small PA sytem with 2 10s and a 8-channel powered board.

 

By the way-can you load ckf rhythm files in the MZs? If so, check my upload in the PX560 forum-I spent some time converting over a few demonstration files of rhythms from my older equipment and uploaded one. Basing these upon  a Roland or 2 and possibly the one and only Yamaha Q something or other-but only for personal or educational use-read my post if interested.

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 MZ does not have weighted keys this is the major factor why I did not buy any XW, MZ.

I had PSR for many years (20) did not like its action  (however sounds are great as well as arrangement features ).

When I started learning piano it served well for a month or two.

Then I felt that I am missing something important.

The first chose was CDP.  It was totally fine. My family disliked it very much due to its nosiness.

CDP was replaced within a year for PX360.  I had a hope that a higher model will provide better/quieter keys-bed.

Nope, it did not happen. 

The sound quality is better but the keys-bed was exactly the same.

I had to start looking for some other brands.

Roland , Kurzweil,  Korg, Yamaha, Kawai.

The truth is I have never had a good look at Kawai and Kurzweil they are pretty rare in the demo rooms.

The Roland FA (used one) had a perfect keyboard. Still, the most fun for me in terms of a feel.

I always kept in mind a sound engineering subject. This served as the reason for switching to Montage (now I have two subject to learn ;)

 

- MZ did not get in the list not because of the brand, but due to its class (I still like the concept of it as well as of XW and P5S).

 

 

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