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introduction and question about any new high end models expected soon


4tune8

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Hi, I'm new to the forum and have found it extremely entertaining. My congrats to admin and all members to maintain such an informative and interesting forum. I live in UK. My first instrument was a Casio VL tone bought around 1982, that made me interested in playing music. That little thing used to have a way to syntesize sound s as well (apart from being a calculator and a monophonic mini / nano keyboard). I have mainly been playing guitar as a hobby for past many years but also play recorder, harmonica etc plus an old yamaha PSR something basic keyboard bought ten years ago for my daughter.

I am now more and more interested in the keys and practicing on the basic keyboard has increased my confidence to a level where I would like to invest in a high quality instrument, but given my old love for brand it has to be none other than a Casio.

Given this background and some internet research I have narrowed my search on either WK7600 (I do want it to come with speakers) or a Privia model if there is one that can give me most of the functionality of a work station (syntesizer/ hybrid with organ and lots of presets) but has piano style hammer action keys (I have been enjoying playing piano style a lot on my yamaha with non touch sensitive keys).

Price is obviously better for WK7600 and the only thing that worries me is the non-hammer action keys and I wonder if there will be another better version with more features soon.

My questions:

  1. Is there another model expected soon?
  2. Could I get all the features of a workstation / homekeyboard on a casio electric piano?

I would highly appreciate any responses and would update in a few weeks about my potential purchase and my impressions of the instrument.

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Winter NAMM 2015 just ended and all Casio had to offer as new products were the Trackformer XW-PD1 and XW-DJ1.

 

Sales are still brisk on the XW-P1 and XW-G1 and Privia PX-5S and I doubt Casio plans to end production on those models anytime soon.

 

My guess would be to wait til next year's NAMM before you see Casio releasing any new professional keyboards.

 

This year all we saw from them was groove boxes.

 

Gary ;)

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BTW, any of the three keyboards I mentioned, the PX-5S, the XW-P1 or the XW-G1 can function as a workstation pretty much, lacking only the feature of a multitrack MIDI sequencer.  A feature which can easily be added simply by hooking up to a Computer.

 

The PX-5S is a stage piano but oh so much more, with 88 weighted hammer action piano style keys and Hex Layering.

 

The XW-P1 and XW-G1 are more like VA synths, but the P1 is more of a performance synth with all the bread and butter sounds like Drawbar Organs and Hex Layers while the G1 is more of a Groove Synth offering more synth control features and sampling.

 

I'd suggest checking out the posts and FAQs on these three machines as well as Youtube videos to get a better idea of their capabilities and limitations.

 

Gary

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Hey thanks guys for your valuable advice. Just a final question about the difference between an "electric piano" (PX850 /860) and "stage pianos". I have been trying to read various threads here butcould'nt make out clearly. I gather that a stage piano comes without speakers, where as a home electric one does. Both have hammer action keys. Irony is that I would like speakers to be built in, piano hammer action 88 keys but also the draw bar and organ sounds and recording capabilities so that I could play my harmonica along some sequenced tracks. If it has some cool funky beats and synth sounds then that will be the  only way that my teen age kids will play the same instrument, i.e, their Dub step like stuff. It is not at all for gigging just so that we could all play as a family. I know the reply would be buy two different instruments but just thought I would try my luck. Does Casio make anything that touces all these qualities or close? I am leaning towards a WK 7600 and sacrifice my desire for weighted keys. Only if they made one with these it could be the perfect thing for me. Guess I will buy a piano a bit later then. Any suggestions?

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Wait what ? As far I know the sequencer can send separate MIDI on all channels, or am I wrong ?

 

My mistake.  I'm no expert on the PX-5S.  Actually I believe it DOES have a MIDI sequencer built in but lacks the Step Sequencer of the other two.

 

My bad....

 

Gary

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PX-5s does not have a traditional multi track sequencer.  The existing song sequencer is a tool for assembling single track phrases into a full song. 

 

Max number of tracks in a song is 8.  

Max measures for a single phrase is 16.  

Max track length in a song is virtually unlimited. (like 999 or something) 

Max number of user phrases in memory is 1000.  

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Well here's a short story. On line cheapest price for WK7600 was £349. Fair deal music store in Birmingham ( hope it's ok to mention the name ) was higher than this on their website, but I went along anyways as I thought an extra few quid in price is worth it when you can actually play the instrument before buying it. So I played it in the store and tried a few others but loved the WK7600. Guess what the price was actually in the store..... £339.

Had I bought it on line, I would have had to wait, not test drive it and had to pay a higher price. All in all, a great purchase and both myself and my family loved the sound. Moral of the story: it's worth popping into an actual music shop when considering a purchase.

Regards

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