MTapani

And now Yamaha has released some new "Portasound" keyboards 😲

Cool but where’s the Casiotone with minikeys? I hope we see a new version of the SA-series re-branded as Casiotone.

Great demos 👍. Now that Casio has improved their sound-chip, they should really focus on making better keybeds. I guess the keys are just as flimsy, noisy and cheap as those in the MZ-X series?

No reason to be sad. You can just update the sound of your Privia with Pianoteq or some sample-software and get way better sound. That's what I did with my Roland-piano, which has a poor mono-sound. That got old really fast. Older Privias are good and the keybed works for even more challenging classical pieces, so no reason really to upgrade. I don't think there's much improvement in the key-touch of these new Privias. Probably just as loud. That has been a common Casio "feature" for years across their entire keyboard-library. And hammer-action is always going to be loud because of how the mechanism works.

Even the cheapest Privia PX-160 (about 460 euros around here it seems) has string- and damper-resonance, so it's not really necessary to invest over 1000 euros/dollars/whatever for greater sound. But for me, the most important thing is the feel of those keys.

Nice. I might need to sell my Roland-piano and get this if it really does have a good weighted keyboard like in the Privia-models. I like the very small and compact size. Saves lots of space. Too bad there's no damper- or string resonance but I can use Pianoteq on my PC when I want the best piano-sound, so it's not a big problem.

Is there really a need for 76-keys hammer-action keyboard? Hammer-action means piano and piano is 88-keys. You need the full set of keys if you're serious about piano-playing.

Apparently there will be a new arranger-keyboard with 88, fully-weighted piano keys:

Yup, that would be a great feature to have on Casio boards too. It takes up valuable space when I have to copy one of the preset-styles.

Yes I have and they sound much better. It's a bit strange that those were not available as factory presets. Seems like the arranger-side of this instrument was rushed and Casio didn't have time to upgrade all the sounds.

One thing that bothers my about the factory-rhythms on my MZ-X500 is the use of GM-instruments. Why make a good sound-engine and then for the most part, only use basic GM-sounds? Why Casio didn't update all the rhythms to include better instruments? Of course it's easy to edit them and that's what I usually do for my most-used rhythms but it doesn't give a good first impression of the instruments capabilities and sound-quality. Is the CT-X series any different or does those still use inferior GM-sounds in many of the rhythms?

Happy New Year everyone.

My relaxed version of an old traditional Finnish Christmas-song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB8mzjrgbQo

I don’t know what Casio was thinking when they put such a cheap keyboard on pro-level, expensive instrument. My Microarranger and Reface YC were cheaper but both are built better and there’s no annoying clicketyclack-sound. Now that Casio has improved their sound across all their products, they should focus on fixing the keyboard and ditch that old, obviously flawed design.

I don't use my Casio with DAW or other midi controllers, so don't know. But it is something to do with the drawbar organ-tones. Haven't had any issues after I stopped using drawbars with rhythms and chose regular organ-tones instead.

I want Casio to fix the problem with notes getting stuck in a rhythm. Sometimes when using drawbar-organs with a rhythm, there’s a note that gets stuck and plays even when you stop playing. Because of this, I can’t use drawbars with rhythms.

Just got a new keyboard-stand (K&M Omega, great and very sturdy), so I can now play my MZ-X500 and Microarranger together and do fast solos without being afraid of them dropping to the ground: These two I use the most at the moment but I also have many more keyboards: Yamaha Reface YC Roland RP-301 digital piano (I use this with Pianoteq-software) Casiotone MT-68, MT-70 and MT-55 Casiotone PT-1 and PT-20 Yamaha Portasound PS-2 and PS 400 Yamaha Handysound HS-200 Plus Korg Monotrons and a couple of ukuleles.

It won't turn off when you press the power button?

Wow. The prices have dropped very fast. 334 euros for a CT-X5000 is insanely good deal. No reason to consider any of the other models or a similar PSR-E-series keyboard.