pquenin

I have a CT-X3000 for a short time and love it. Last week I was in a store and played a few Yamaha and Korg keyboards (PSR-E373, PSR-E463 ans EK50), and how to put it, I figured the Casio was on a higher level anyway...

you are not just Alex, you are the king of AC7 !

Thank you for this sequencer trick, I will try it asap...

Hello vbdx66, I bought the PSR-S670 because it was a used one but in a perfect condition for 250€. Honestly, I had no particular complaints about it apart from its appearance maybe that I never liked. 

But it was a bit too much for me, as my initial goal was to have a simple, light and inexpensive keyboard that could help me compose and test personal "patterns" in real time thanks to the automatic accompaniment.

At that time, I had a preference for the Yamaha PSR-E363. I was amazed that you can have a great sounding, looking and well built keyboard for less than 200€.

But when I went to the store to buy it, there was the PSR-E453 for 240 € so hardly more expensive so I bought the PSR-E453.

As I ended up using the PSR-S670 very little for lack of time, I decided to sell it (420€) and go back to my first idea, so I bought a used but almost new PSR-E363 for 150€.

I then realized that it was not so convenient to exchange files with the computer because the E363 is not able to save songs as midi file, and it has no USB key input.

There was also some styles found on the PSR-E453 that I missed, so I decided to sell the E363 and buy a used E453 back (180€).

So the most expensive keyboard I bought was the Casio MZ-300 because I bought it new for 300 €. It was that price that decided me to buy it. But I had to return it back to the store because of a bad keybed.

My new CT-X3000 cost me 200€. It's a used one but it is like new, it has not been used more than 10 times by the previous owner. I like the lway it looks.

I love the sounds and the fact that you can edit them and create your own sounds. And I'm starting to understand how it works.

The styles sound more modern than the Yamaha (what I like) but the "fills" often sound strange and not very natural.

I'm going to try to create a personal style inspired by a style from the PSR-E453 using Cakewalk, to see if the process is straightforward.

What I miss is the possibility of recording directly in audio on the device, so I don't know if I will keep it. 

I also wait for the PSR-E473, I'm curious to see what new things he will bring...

In a few years I have owned several keyboards : Yamaha PSR-E453 -> Casio MZ-500 -> Yamaha PSR-S670 -> Yamaha PSR-E363 -> Yamaha PSR-E453 again -> Yamaha PSS-F30 -> and now this beautiful Casio CT-X3000 and yes, I have to get more familiarised with it before commenting. 

YEP YEP YEP, I have bought a CT-X3000 ! 

Hello, the WK-7600 seems to be a very capable keyboard, but how is the AHL engine compared to the AIX one  ? 

Casio keyboards are way too expensive here in France. The CT-S400 will be more than 300€ (ha ha ha) while the Yamaha PSR-E373 is less than 200€ and the PSR-E463 less than 300€.

CT-X700 is around 250€ ! The CT-X800 is almost 300€, the CT-X3000 is around 350€ and the CT-X5000 is almost 450€ !!!

The CT-X700/800 have a keybed of very low quality so it's juste a shame !

Dont know about the quality of the keybed on the CT-X3000/5000 but for the asking price, it must be perfect !

The Casiotone seem to have better keybed, so I want a CT-S3000 !

I have no idea why Casio have decided to be more expensive than Yamaha on the French market, while it is often the opposite in other countries.

I really love the CT-X3000 but I'm too worried about its build quality, I can't make up my mind to buy one...

Thank you for the reply and explanations, much appreciated.

It's just OK for me because I prefer simple intros and endings (I will not use a chord progression), and 4 fills are just sufficient.

I used to own a MZ-300 but I had not the time to create rhythms for it because of a bad keybed, I had to send it back to the vendor.

The CT-X3000 seems to be a good keyboard but I must admit that I am a little bit afraid, I hope that the keybed will be of a better quality than the MZ-300.

The CT-X700/800 have just an horrible keybed, that make bad noises and squeaks after some weeks of use.

Surprisingly, the only Casio keybed that made a good impression on me was the Casiotone CT-S200 one.

That's why I have bought Yamaha arrangers after the MZ : often the Yamaha's have less features for the same price, but the quality is just there,  even the less than 100€ PSR-F51 have a decent keybed, and you immediatly know that you will have no problem in the long term.

But I am a bit tired of the Yamaha sounds, they don't have good synths sounds. The only sounds that are better than the Casio's are the guitars.

I am after an almost new CT-X3000 and I hope I can buy it to join the Casio community again 🙂

There is something that I find strange. In the manual, it's written that you have to create 10 elements to build a 2 variations CKF rhythm.

In the manual of the CT-X3000 that use 4 variations rhythms you also have 10 elements to build a rhythm.

It seems that you have only 1 intro and 1 ending, and 1 fill per variation.

In CKF file you have one intro and one ending per variation. And as many fills as needed for all possible transitions between the variations (including a variation with itself).

I don't know if the CT-X700/800 or CT-X3000/5000 can take full advantage of these possibilities. Or maybe the CT-X700/800 can and not the CT-X3000/5000 ?

Hi Chandler, thanks for you reply, your solution 2 is great, I did not think about that...

Thanks Chandler for your work !

I'm planning to buy a CT-X3000, mainly because you can create your own styles, so your work is greatly appreciated.

So there is a sofware to convert a midi file into a Casio CKF file. 

But what about AC7 files ? How do you create rhythm with 4 variations ?

J'ai finallement renvoyé mon Casio et Music Store m'a remboursé sans problème.

Il me reste mon Yamaha PSR-E453 en attendant, mais ça n'est pas la même chose...

Je pense que je vais me laisser tenter par un Yamaha PSR-S670 qui est très proche du MZ-X300 coté fonctionnalités, avec des sons un peu meilleurs que le Casio.

I finally returned my Casio and Music Store refunded me without problem.

I still have my Yamaha PSR-E453 in the meantime, but it's not the same thing ...

I think I will be tempted by a Yamaha PSR-S670 which is very close to the MZ-X300 in terms of features, with sounds a little better than the Casio.

There is a expensive solution to convert Yamaha styles to AC7 : buy a Casio MZ-X300 or MZ-X500, load a Yamaha style in the MZ (very easy in just 2 steps), save it to AC7. Voila.

Thanks for your replies :-)

I wonder if the lack of a real modwheel is a problem or not.

If there is somebody here who have played with the CT-X 5000 can you tell me ? Is it easy to bend and then switch to modulation ?

Merci pour ta réponse :-)

On 15/04/2018 at 5:29 PM, MANY said:

pour les touches qui deviennent bruyantes, j' ai eu ce phénomène

avec mon CTK 6000 au bout de quelques années, un retour au service après vente et le problème a été réglé, j' ai gardé ce clavier en plus du MZ X.

A +

Bonjour Many,

peux-tu confirmer que le clavier de ton MZ est OK ?

Je me demande si je dois garder mon MZ-X300 car ce défaut des touches me perturbe, même si je trouve l'instrument très bien (sons et fonctionnalités).

J'ai fait un mail à MUSIC STORE pour savoir si je pouvais le renvoyer, je verrai bien ce qu'ils me répondent...

Pour ton CTK, tu l'avais renvoyé à Casio France ? ça avait coûté combien ?

Merci d'avance pour ta réponse...

Hello Many,

can you confirm that the keyboard of your MZ is OK?

I wonder if I have to keep my MZ-X300 because this defect of the keys disturbs me, even if I find the instrument very well (sounds and features).

I made a mail to MUSIC STORE to know if I could send it back, I'll see what they answer me ...

For your CTK, you sent him back to Casio France? How much had it cost?

Thank you in advance for your answer...

Bonjour,

j'ai acheté il y a peu un MZ-X300 vu son prix alléchant sur Music Store (299€). Effectivement, le MZ est invisible en France, et ici à Annecy il est impossible de trouver des Casio. 

Aucun magasin ne veut en vendre, ils semblent être en froid avec Casio France. 

A l'usage, je me dis que les 16 pads et les Hex layers du MZ-X500 doivent être un vrai plus, mais le prix du MZ-X500 est trop élévé pour moi et même dans l'absolu parce que je trouve que la qualité des touches n'est pas à la hauteur (certaines grincent selon la manière dont elle sont frappées), même si le toucher est agréable (plus doux que sur mon Yamaha).

Mais le fait de pouvoir créer ses propres sons à partir d'échantillons perso (avec le logiciel Sample Manager) et de pouvoir importer les styles Yamaha (même si ça n'est pas dit explicitement dans la doc) est vraiment cool, étant donné qu'il existe des logiciels gratuits permettant de créer des styles Yamaha avec ses propres compositions Midi.

C'est donc un appareil qu'on peut étendre à volonté, et utilisable de manière créative.

The PSR-E453 is to be compared with the CT-X800 that has pitch-bend wheel and a slot for a USB key.

Have created another tone in Sample Manager, with samples that have root key and loop informations inside : these informations are taken into account by the MZ-X, so that's great !!!

I think 30s of stereo CD quality is 5 Mo.

Maybe you can create a "drum"" tone with Sample Manager and use a phrase with only one note on a pad to play one of the instrument of the "drum" tone (and a single "drum" tone can have up to 128 samples assigned, so a single "drum" tone can be a bank of 128 samples)  ?

So if you load a stereo sample on a pad, it must be a stereo pad. And I suppose that if you record from the stereo Line In, the result sample woulb be in stereo.

My wishlist :

- dedicated buttons for the "menu", "main screen" and "exit", because I often hit them on the screen by mistake.

- better keys : the keys don't look and feel great compared to a more basic Yamaha PSR-E453 : some keys are not well aligned and some make a strange noise when you hit them. This is one of my main disappointment (even the case  feels more "cheap" than the Yamaha that is a far more cheaper keyboard).

- ability to use the "organ faders" to control tone settings (filter cutoff, resonance...), not only for Hex Layers (I have a MZ-X300), or other settings.

- 2 DSP per part ! (today it is 2 DSP for the whole 48 parts). Don't understand that because a cheap phone application such as Caustic on Android is able to do this, without problems.

- a shortcut to go straight to the mixer.

Apart these, I love my MZ-X300, I have not tried yet to make custom tones with wav files that has loop information embedded : don't know if Sample Manager and the instrument can take benefit of this information... If not : add this to the wishlist...