Casiofun

Casio actions are very good and they do not deteriorate over time. That salesman was likely looking at selling you something more expensive.

The characteristics of this keyboard is typical of Casio. Lots of bang for the buck loaded with features. The quick decay of the initial piano sound is also typical of every Casio I've ever played. However I found the sustain in the upper octaves to be quite good. Many of the sounds come from the PX5S and there are a host of older sounds that have been held over from previous casios. I took a quick spin on the CTX3000 and thought Casio did a good job on the series. Quite a few new rhythms mixed in with reworks of older styles. These are direct decendants of the WK/CTK series in terms of the interface and menus. It looks like more effects are possible when editing sounds, and they sound better than the WK/CTK series.

Not sure the Casio would work quite the way you are envisioning. Don't think you would be able to control the Casio or Yahama the way you would control software from your midi controller. Midi controllers are mainly used with Ableton on a computer or Garageband on a Mac or ipad. Software sounds are way better than hardware now a days. The Casio and Yahama you mention are actually workstations that have midi recorders where you mainly would compose or sketch out your ideas, record them, and possibly refine them further on a computer.

The Casios you are looking have USB Midi and are meant to connect to a computer. There are USB Midi adapters that convert USB Midi to five pin standard midi which would enable you to control the Casio from another keyboard with standard midi jacks. The USB port is for attaching a USB thumb drive that allows you to record audio on a keyboard with an audio recorder or to load sounds and rhythms depending on the keyboard you have.

Ken glad you like your CT-X 3000.

Yes Mike played an important role in the developement of the PX5S and the XW line. He is proud of both products. Let's not forget the WK 7500 and CTK 7000 series which are brilliant for the price. Yes they have some shortcomings like quick decay piano samples, and some sounds that don't please everybody, but the pattern sequencer, despite having a learning curve, is brilliant. Casio was doing nothing exciting before Mike's arrival. He has been instrumental in getting pro musicians like Joe Sample, Larry Dunn, and even Stevie Wonder (playing the hybrid grand at a Namm) interested in Casio products. Mike has brought respect to the Casio name even though some still sneer at it.

Indeed, had not read this article carefully the first time around. .

Mike Martin and Rich Formidoni both come from other musical instrument companies. Rich was the face of Korg here in the US and Mike is the GM of Marketing. Mike has also worked at other companies. Think he worked for Yahama but not sure in what role probably sales. So Casio does have people with marketing experience. But they aren't calling the shots. Casio's upper management must have ordered a return to basics thus the developement of the AIX chip and a new product line-CTX. This is not necessarily a bad thing as Casio has needed to update it sounds and styles to better compete with Yahama which also refreshed its PSR line. This is the strength of Casio, cheap, low end keyboards that do a lot, and give bang for the buck. On the other hand, the PX5 should have been refreshed. But they came out with the 560 with the color touchscreen, half pedaling, expression pedal jack, and speakers--everything the PX5 was missing. Then the MZX line came out. Perhaps there's confusion on what to do with 5S which may still be selling for them.

The final determination for a company is sales and profit. If the MZX line isn't selling or making money then this is understandable. However there wasn't a serious marketing effort by Casio for this product so that is somewhat troubling. Seems like they knew something was wrong early on and didn't come up a marketing campaign. I have wondered how Casio would fare producing pro products at higher prices. They lack experience in this market segment. I hope they are pulling the plug on just the MZX line.

Hope this news does not mean the eventual exit of Casio out of the pro keyboard market.

Rather disturbing news regarding future direction of Casio in the pro market. Have a look at the MZX thread about MZX 300.

Sat down and played a 3000 recently. Here are some thoughts. I don't understand why they ditched the drawbars and drawbar organ. Also it sounds like many organ tones are the old Casio tones. Strings are noticeably much better as are drum samples. Quite a few new arrangements mixed in with updated older rhythms. On the whole better than the older Casio styles. Wonder if these styles will be available to download in newer WK boards. Pattern Sequencer from Wk series looks to be gone. Like the Galaxy electric piano. Stage piano voice has decent sustain in the high notes. The sound is noticeably better than the WK/CTK series and as good as or better than PSR E series. Did not get to play it for long. Need another sit down.

It does appear that Casio's marketing of the 560 and MZX got stuck in neutral while the PX5S got all the glory. Could also be that Mike and Rich are spread too thin. But there is no denying the live webinars have virtually disappeared. Their marketing is quick one shot videos that don't go very deep.

Did Casio overlook controlling layer/split volumes on CTX 700/800 or is it buried in a menu somewhere?

Brad are you saying the CTX 700 would need to be connected to a DAW to control volume of splits /layers? Looks like a big miss with a 6 track internal recorder with no way to control volume of splits and layers.

If it were me, I would sell the PX-350 figuring the PX-560 has what I would need. The color touchscreen upgraded sounds, better action and more polophony. Maybe the bigger question is how much you would play the 350 if you were to keep it and what would its role be in your music making.

I'm reasonably sure the action is the same as the PX-350. It was developed after the PXX30 series run and has not been updated as far as I know.

The BK-7M is pricey for what are essentially backing tracks. You might do better searching the internet for backing tracks to play along with.

Casio uses soft felt that compresses quickly especially under hard fast playing. You will likely need to replace felt in whichever Casio you own. I wish they would use felt made from wool that acoustic pianos use. It is more durable and holds up better. You can buy it from piano supply companies and the cost is reasonable. But you do have to to cut it to the width and length dimensions needed.

You can probably buy one from Casio. Probably won't be cheap.

They load into the keyboard's flash memory. There is a battery that must back that up, but it isn't a D cell. You won't need to worry about buying any batteries for the internal memory.

I believe you can have up to 16 measures in a given part using the pattern sequencer. It is a bit challenging to get the hang of the operation of the pattern sequencer but you can create your own rhythms.

Sounds great for the price and has plenty of features for the money. They will sell a ton of these along with the CT-X 3000 and 5000 with the expression pedal input and sound editing.

Most electronics are made in China, Taiwan Mylasia ect.

If you are going to replace the system board from a CDP 100 you will be getting the HL sound source and a different piano sample. The PX 110 uses the ZPI which has way better sound. The sound sound quality from the HL sound source is a downgrade. Unless you can swap out the sound chip you might want to rethink this.