The NAMM Show 2013

[Grasspike]

For the exception of this year, Namm shows have been boring for a decade(generally, not Casio), but the pace at which Casio seems to be advancing in their synth battlefront might help to save the future Namm shows. I cannot wait to see, what magic Casio is demonstrating next year.

I am still keeping my fingers crossed for new CZ synths, please Mike, pretty please with sugar on top

[Mike Martin]

Hey guys,

Sorry for the long break away from the forum but I've been a bit busy.

Just read through some of the comments. To clarify some misconception, this product is NOT simply an XW added to a Privia. Hex Layers on the PX-5S are only similar in name to the XW series. It is a completely different beast.

As a quick example, here are a quick list of things that the PX-5S has that the XW does not in Hex Layer:

- Independent selectable filters for each layer, completely with 7 stage filter envelopes.

- Pitch Envelopes

- Choices of Insert of System Effects per Layer

- Key-Off Samples

- 7 Stage amplitude envelope

- REAL-TIME Filters!

Sonically it does not resemble the XW at all, it is completely different.

....and that's just talking about one of the things the PX-5S does and I'm probably not mentioning all of the differences. Even the acoustic piano side is not just like a PX-350. The amount you can adjust and customize the piano sound is quite remarkable.

The bottom line is after all my years at Kurzweil and Yamaha, this is hands down one of the most remarkable instruments I've ever had the pleasure of being involved with. Sonically, I don't think there is anything quite like it. I have no problem at all with your skepticism, that will just make us all work harder to prove you wrong.

[Mike Martin]

• Each of the hex layers gets its own effects. Finally.
  

To clarify a Hex Layer gets an insert effect. Each Zone has the flexibility to use the insert or any combination of the system effects. So Layer 1 in a Hex Layer can get a Distortion (insert), while Layer 2 gets a 30% reverb mix, while Layer 3 gets Delay and Layer 4 has chorus. Layer 5 has a combination of Reverb and Delay.... I think you can get the idea.

• Mike hints at the very end that there could be more to the USB than just USB and MIDI signals - looks like Casio are looking into bringing a full blown audio interface to the USB port? Assuming it will be 44.1 KHz sampling rate
  

I guess I'll have to watch the video to see what you're talking about. I may have stumbled on a answer. No, there won't be an audio interface added to the USB (MIDI) port. You can record AUDIO to the USB storage port.

4 arpeggiators? That is crazy! and if they are polyphonic? Then, that's nuts.

Yes, it is NUTS!

• What I'm most excited about is ......
  

...Mike mentions in the vid that they are working on a tone library.

If they are talking "Nord style" sound library, then this could be huge!!! Nord has thousands of sounds and you can pretty much download anything you want and set up your sound patches on your keyboard just the way you like them. It is a very clever marketing strategy because it helps to retain your customers who stick with the same brand, even if they get a new board - because of the sounds.

Yes, we will be doing this. We met with developers at NAMM and we will be moving forward with this. To clarify, the PX-5S does not allow you to add new samples. However we can dramatically change the sounds of this product. The engine and it's effects are DEEP.

[Casio Man]

I'm totally excited how Casio seems to really have rolled up their sleeves and started burning some midnight oil to meet their synth ambitions!

I was expecting PX-5S to be a XW-P1 with hammer action and breeze of air, but for me, this is even more exciting news. I have been wishing for Casio to improve XW-P1's rompler engine and effects, perhaps even up to MZ-2000 level, although, I really thought that it would be too much to ask so soon, but, well whad'ya know, they seem to have pushed them even further!!! \o/

Casio is starting to have their broadside fully loaded with synth technologies. They have nice and curiously distinctive sounding VA, perhaps polyphonic in the next iteration(?(as well as having more interesting signal path for the sample oscillators!)). Their effect system is now really...effective and even have amp modelling, and this HEX -layer business just got serious! Their Piano is beating even their much more expensive rivals, and they have also had organ model in stunningly affordable arrangers for ages. Do I see Casios competitors lookouts trembling their crow's nests while nervously scoping the horizon, praying, that they wouldn't see Casio flag ship rising in horizon, combining all Casios tech in one fearsome, and at the same time, frighteningly affordable battleship?

What about PX-5S's samples btw?Are they new, or are they the same as XW-P1?

[pjprevitejr]

Thanks for all the additional info. I was wondering about a few things..

1. Are the 4 zones split up as 2-lower and 2-upper (as in the PX-3) or can the zones be stretched out side-by-side across the keyboard?

2. Concerning the 2 pedal inputs, are they set up exactly like the PX-3 ("sustain" on one and "soft" on the other) or can either be reconfigurated to work with a C/V pedal?

3. Can I assume that the organ tones on this new keyboard be at least as good and have the same variety as those on the PX-3 or... might I be in for a pleasant surprise?? :-)

[Mike Martin]

1. No rules. Split, layer, overlap and velocity switching zones.

2. They are both foot switch inputs. They can be assigned to any controller you want. The even added envelopes to the pedals so you can use foot switch 2 for a filter sweep or swell.

3. Yes. There is a new rotary speaker effect too.

[Casio Man]

3. Yes. There is a new rotary speaker effect too.

Can't wait to hear this!

[pjprevitejr]

Thanks, Mike. One last question.. I couldn't tell if there is a provision for a music stand. Is that what the blue colored bar that runs across the top of the keyboard is for? In any case, I'm sold. I plan to order one from Sweetwater this spring and my PX-3 will remain at home as my backup.

[Mike Martin]

Thanks, Mike. One last question.. I couldn't tell if there is a provision for a music stand. Is that what the blue colored bar that runs across the top of the keyboard is for? In any case, I'm sold. I plan to order one from Sweetwater this spring and my PX-3 will remain at home as my backup.

Sorry there isn't a music stand. The blue bar is just a decoration. ;-)

[Mike Martin]

Tom Brislin

Starr Parodi with Jerry Kovarsky

Jerry Kovarsky and Brian Auger

Michael Lehmann Boddicker

Delmar Brown

Clarance McDonald, Delmar Brown, Dan Farrow and Larry Dunn

Larry Dunn came back again.

Joe Sample

[Guest Guest]

Thanks for keeping us posted, Mike, with the latest news concerning that PX-5S!

[Grasspike]

Mike I know you probably can't say but any chance of a 5 octave version anytime soon. The 88 key is just to long for me to gig with but I would buy a 5 octave version in a heart beat

[Mike Martin]

Here are some audio clips from NAMM

[pjprevitejr]

LOVE the new Wurly sound in the Joe Sample clip. It sounds much much better that the "60's E. Piano" tone in the PX-3! Thanks for the updates.

[SonnyDaye]

Just wondering - are there any Velocity Sensitive Organ patches on the PX-5S? Since I'm a pianist and not an organ player, my volume chops are in my fingers rather than in a foot pedal. I'm always looking for organ patches which are velocity sensitive. Sometimes my keyboards had them and sometimes they didn't.

[Mike Martin]

You can make them velocity sensitive. By default they are not.

[pjprevitejr]

@ Mike: I was just thinking... if I were to assign the same organ tone to all four overlapping layers but on one layer, have the tone an octave lower; one at the normal octave; one tuned to a 5th above that same octave; and the final layer, one octave about the 2nd layer... and then assign the volume of each layer to a certain slider... could I use the sliders as "drawbars" and maniputae each of the four organ layers in real time? Would this be possible with the PX-5S?

[Mike Martin]

The best way is in a Hex Layer program, you could do 6 layers this way and all share the same insert effect.

[pjprevitejr]

Sweet. I have to admit that I know next-to-nothing about Casio's Hex Synth features. I take it that there are some raw (organ-like) "flute" tones in the Hex Layer setup??

[Dattaa]

To Mike Martin

Congrats on a super successful WNAMM 2013 PX-5S launch! You hit all the right notes and masterfully orchestrated a perfect product roll-out. ALL the dp forums are a' buzz with the latest Cassie PX-5S product info...actual, imagined and everything in between. So well done Mike! You've earned yourself some serious R&R downtime to recover from NAMM's full-court press media blitz!

One query - can the registrations (Stage Setups?) have their own text title name? It would be nice to quickly identify each reg setup with its own unique text title. It's difficult to find a reg setup you've created and used before - for a specific song, groove or style - when all you see is the bank#/reg#, with no title text to hint at what it actually is. Basically, without a title identifying what the setup is, you have to go through all your banks and setups and audition each one to find the one you're looking for, etc.!

Extending on this: could Casio develop a Mac/PC/iOS app that visually displayed all the reg/setup system settings and dp info for each reg setup? You could call it something like 'Stage Setups'. It would display the bank#/reg setup# along with its text title and all its system settings so you could easily find the patch you're looking for. Of course, once you've found the stage setup you want you hit the app's play button on your Mac/PC/iOS app and it opens up the stage setup on your PX-5S.

One more thing. You could print a short-form title list with just bank#/setup# on each line and also print an extensive list (showing all the PX-5S settings) for each stage setup from your Stage Setups Mac/PC/iOS app formatted for standard letter size paper, so you can easily keep track of your stage setups with all your latest settings, etc.

Any and/or all of the above would be great and very useful for busy gigging players!

Deep thoughts!

Dattaa

[Mike Martin]

Dattaa,

Thanks for the feedback!!

Let me know if there are other forums talking about it where you don't see me participating. ;-)

Yes you can name Stage Settings. So you can type out the Song title or anything else in there that you'd like to help you remember. The display also shows the name of the sound on the currently selected zone.

We used an iPad app at NAMM called Set List Maker. It can send bank/program changes to any MIDI device. For the purposes of NAMM, I created sets on the app that were organized by sound type. So set 1 was all the Rhodes sounds, set 2 all the clavs....etc.

[Mike Martin]

Sweet. I have to admit that I know next-to-nothing about Casio's Hex Synth features. I take it that there are some raw (organ-like) "flute" tones in the Hex Layer setup??

Yes. ;-)

[Dattaa]

Dattaa,

Thanks for the feedback!!

Let me know if there are other forums talking about it where you don't see me participating. ;-)

Yes you can name Stage Settings. So you can ? out the Song title or anything else in there that you'd like to help you remember. The display also shows the name of the sound on the currently selected zone.

We used an iPad app at NAMM called Set List Maker. It can send bank/program changes to any MIDI device. For the purposes of NAMM, I created sets on the app that were organized by sound type. So set 1 was all the Rhodes sounds, set 2 all the clavs....etc.

Mike - You seem to have all the bases covered re: responding to all the many PX-5S posts on the main dp forums out there. Just hope you're getting enough downtime and shuteye - sleep deprivation can sneek up on ya somethin' fierce! Always remember to take it, but take it easy too!

Great news that you can name Stage Settings. Wasn't sure if you meant you can 'print' or do something else to the Stage Setting names? The verb seems to be missing in the 2nd sentence of that paragraph? I marked it with a ? in the quote above.

One query: will the PX-5S Mac/PC software include an Editor module, for direct deep-editing of 5S's many systems and parameters? If so, can these direct 5S edits be saved/named on Mac/PC and transferred to 5S as User and Stage Settings? Will the software also include a Library/Data Manager module to name, save, organize, backup, upload/download, transfer User tones and Stage Settings to/from internet, Mac/PC and 5S?

Could the 5S's Mac/PC software also be enhanced to provide the functionality of the Set List Maker iOS app you were using at NAMM? It would be like a software favorites list. The Library module would allow you to organize Preset, User and Stage Settings into custom lists that you could call-up on the 5S from the Mac/PC software?

One more thing: is Casio developing similar type of iOS/Android apps for 5S as above?

Oh, and one last request - I promise - would Casio PX design engineers consider - even at this late stage in the development cycle - putting some type of sticky pad material on top of the battery lid? Then we can put our notebooks, tablets, mini music stands and/or efx pedals, etc. there - same as the upper-right sticky mat on the XW series!!!

Thanks for all the great info Mike. PX-5S looks like a true winner and best-in-show, again! You, in particular, and Casio, in general, have been carefully listening to loyal, dedicated Casio users for the last many years and filtering all our design form and function requests into these amazing new products. Looks like I'm going to plunk down some serious cash to get a 5S!

Since I live in the North Indian Himalayas having battery backup is a must. Major kudos and big congrats to Casio for engineering the music industry's very first weighted/graded 88-key, portable digital kb to run on batts. That's no small feat and everyone involved in this engineering breakthrough should be very proud of this mega milestone achievement!

Take note Yamaha, Korg, Roland, Kawai and everyone else in the dp/synth/kb game! Casio has set the bar pretty darn high with this product launch! Take note, sharpen your pencils to take better notes and get back to your drawing boards to play catch-up, because the digital keyboard market just got a whole lot more competitive in the $1K range and the serious piano prosumer just got a whole lot more keyboard for their money!

Dattaa

[Mike Martin]

Mike - You seem to have all the bases covered re: responding to all the many PX-5S posts on the main dp forums out there. Just hope you're getting enough downtime and shuteye - sleep deprivation can sneek up on ya somethin' fierce! Always remember to take it, but take it easy too!

Thanks. I admit we're burning the candles a bit at both ends around here. The days leading up to the NAMM show were particularly rough.

Great news that you can name Stage Settings. Wasn't sure if you meant you can 'print' or do something else to the Stage Setting names? The verb seems to be missing in the 2nd sentence of that paragraph? I marked it with a ? in the quote above.

Sorry, typo. I was probably replying on my iPhone or something.

One query: will the PX-5S Mac/PC software include an Editor module, for direct deep-editing of 5S's many systems and parameters? If so, can these direct 5S edits be saved/named on Mac/PC and transferred to 5S as User and Stage Settings? Will the software also include a Library/Data Manager module to name, save, organize, backup, upload/download, transfer User tones and Stage Settings to/from internet, Mac/PC and 5S?

The software is based on what was done for the XW series. It is a full editor and librarian. So you have full access to all the parameters, plus you can use it to move things around and organize them. You'll easily be able to download and transfer settings from the web, with or without use of the editor.

Could the 5S's Mac/PC software also be enhanced to provide the functionality of the Set List Maker iOS app you were using at NAMM? It would be like a software favorites list. The Library module would allow you to organize Preset, User and Stage Settings into custom lists that you could call-up on the 5S from the Mac/PC software?

The software will allow you to backup and move Stage Settings around as necessary. So you can use it to pull all of your Stage Settings in Set List order before you head off to a gig.

One more thing: is Casio developing similar type of iOS/Android apps for 5S as above?

I'll be honest, there isn't anything on the immediate horizon. The Android platform isn't well suited for MIDI applications so if anything happens it will be on the iOS side.

The battery compartment lid does have a rubberized texture to it, but it is a little too small to handle tablets and computers. I've been shopping a lot for iPad mounts and other gadgets that will allow devices to be clamped on there.

Thanks for all the compliments. It means a lot. Of course I'm reading the forums but so is our staff at R&D in Japan.

PS: I started a new thread down in the PX-5S section with some audio clips.

[pjprevitejr]

This is all getting very exciting! I play left hand bass with my PX-3 and in order to adjust the volume level of that lower split (on the fly) I have had to run the LEFT output through an in-line volume pedal and then into the amp. All the other sounds on the upper split that I've assigned to come out of the RIGHT channel I've had to run thought another volume pedal (mono as this point) and then into another amp input. Looks like with the PX-5S, I'll be able to assign the volume level of my manual bass to either a slider or control knob and be able to control the bass mix that way. This is huge! AND.... because I can control the level of one (or more) of the other layers with a CV pedal plugged into one of the Privia's pedal inputs, I can now send out the instrument's overall sound in STEREO! This would be uber-huge! Now... If I could assign the sustain pedal's function to also toggle the rotary speaker's slow/fast speed..... OMG