Bellyman

Hi guys, Have been loving my 560M for gigging this season. It's lightweight and sounds good. It's easy to set up and take down and I basically have five pieces of stuff; Keyboard (in its own case), keyboard stand (z stand, folds and comes apart to nearly nothin' if I need it to), a pair of powered monitors (Alesis, ok, but maybe would like to improve), and a small Beringer mixer (to match the keyboard to the monitors better), and an office chair (which I find way more comfortable than a throne or typical seat). The onboard speakers of the 560M are fine when I'm just playing at home by myself. But when joining in with other people, they're not enough. The guy that plays drums is often about 6 feet from me and they're real drums, not electronic. Yeah, they're loud. So I really have to pump up the volume if I wanna hear myself. The speakers I have are probably 15 or so years old, and they sound OK, but they're really heavy on the bass so I have to cut that way back on my monitor mixer. But they pump out some serious sound and have worked OK for stage monitors. I kinda think I might like to pick up something a little better for that, though, and that's part of the purpose of this post. The other thing is that I've just been sitting the monitors on the floor facing me. That's probably not the ideal place for them as a lot of the sound blasts more towards my feet than my ears. It might be that a better positioned set of monitor speakers wouldn't need to be so big or heavy. But I do not have any kind of stands or brackets that would hold them up where the sound would seem to be most desirable. These monitors aren't for the band mix. They're for me. I demanded having monitors that the sound guy cannot cut off or screw with while I'm playing. (Experience taught me that. Some sound guys are really great. Some are incompetent. Some are jerks. But that's just the "why".) So I was curious as to whether any of you guys have a setup that works well for you on stage? At home, it's not a problem. On stage, I have to hear myself or I just can't play. I also am sometimes in some pretty tight spaces so I can't just sprawl out. I've wondered if there were attachments for small monitor speakers that connect directly to the z-stand that wouldn't easily be knocked over. I haven't found them yet if they're already out there. Anyway, I figured maybe some of you guys are gigging with your 590M and might have thoughts you'd share. None of it is a huge deal. And it all works. But I'm thinking I might be able to do a little better, maybe even smaller and lighter. (Those Alesis speakers are pretty heavy... and what can I say, I'm old. I put the pair into a rolling suitcase, along with some cords and misc. stuff, but even at that, it's probably as heavy as the keyboard in its case, or a little more, and doesn't roll the best on rough surfaces.) Thanks for any thoughts you'd care to share.

Thanks, guys! So far, the gigs have past and I haven't had any use for the B3 sounds as we ran out of time before we got to those songs. The farther I go with this, the more inclined I am to think I'd be better off to expand to a second or third(?) keyboard and / or another sound module or two rather than trying to make the 560 do it all. It's handy, yeah, but there are limits to what's practical. Then again, maybe the band will come up with some more players. Never know...

I have been using my 560M for some local gigs and there are a lot of things I like about it. It's lightweight, and the piano sound I have loaded onto it is really great. The string sounds are kinda mediocre but they pair nicely with the piano. One or two of the songs we are doing would go really well with a Hammond B3 type sound. Not happening. There is one organ sound that I think I may be able to get to work. So I had been messing with the Hex Layer menus thinking I might be able to create something. So as I was diving into the Hex Layer menu, looking at available voices, I do not find any of the voices I've added, such as that particular piano that I added. There are lots of voices, but I didn't see the ones that were "user added". Am I missing something? Or are the two menus totally isolated? Or did I not add the user voices correctly? I know there are limits to what the 590 can do. But it's something I wondered about. It's such an easy keyboard to carry, set up and take down, especially for us ol' folks who don't like the heavy lifting of the old keyboards like the Roland Fantom X8... love that one, but my back hates moving it. Thanks for any insights!

I'm curious if this ever got resolved??? It does sound like a tone wheel issue but the "Mr. Fix It" inside of me has a hard time with no resolution. To use it that way for basic playing, one could use the transpose feature to move the pitch to what it should be. But that wouldn't actually fix it.

Probably not the issue but leaving the innermost wheel on the left cheek block (the one right next to the bender wheel) in a forward position can do some really strange things to the sound. It's easy to move and it doesn't move itself back to a neutral position like the bender wheel does. Just throwin' that out there. Hopefully the original issue is long since solved.

Happened to me one time after setting the keyboard up. But fortunately, I had seen this thread and knew instantly what to do. Glad for this thread! Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestions!

I have a table type stand for my old Roland keyboard (weighs around 70 pounds, I think) and it works well for that. Decided to try a Z type stand with the new Casio, though, and am pretty pleased with that. Z stands also sometimes come with the hardware to have a second tier keyboard. I didn't get it but now wish I had. I think I saw the add-on hardware online for like $25, might have to order it. I've tried out a couple of X stands that belonged to other people. Maybe I play way more aggressively than some but I've had a couple of times when playing on an X stand when the keyboard would start bouncing way, way too much. But if you don't play that way, maybe it won't matter much.

Did something different when I turned on the Casio evening before last. I took it to a practice gig and set it up. Plugged in the power cable. Plugged in the sustain pedal. Sat down in front of it and turned it on. Wasn't paying attention when I turned it on but my foot was on the sustain pedal. Surprise! The pedal was inverted. (Sustained when up, did not sustain when pressed down.) Turned it back off, made sure my foot was off the foot pedal, and turned it back on. All was well. Didn't know it would do that. Not sure if that happens on other keyboards or not. Anyway, just sharing.

Thanks, Bramley Studio, Can't argue with the price, for sure! Appreciate the input.

Kinda begs the question, where is a good place to put the music rest? When I packed the new keyboard into my old flight case, which is big enough for two PX-560s, I put it back in the bubble wrap sleeve that Casio sent it to me in and placed it underneath the Casio. It seemed to do well there. I could continue to use my old case but the thing is a monster. I'd really rather have something smaller. I suppose there might be the potential to get everything packed in there, including a stand, a seat, and maybe a small set of studio monitors. But then it would probably be as heavy or heavier than my old Roland, and that would defeat a lot of the purpose of getting the PX-560 in the first place. Thanks for your comments!

Love the new PX-560! But I need a travel case for it. Not a flight case, it won't be flying anywhere, just a case to take from gig to gig in the back of a car, something to offer some protection from the little bumps that are inevitable. Anybody have one that they like? Seems like I was talking to PianoMan Chuck about it and can't find the emails where we were talking about what he has and likes. (I hate it when that happens.) I had originally thought maybe a case that would hold the whole thing, keyboard, stand and seat, but I'm kinda rethinking that. The stand is a little too big unless I break it down more than I'd really like to for a quick in and out kind of thing. Got a Z type stand and really like it, but it's pretty heavy. Thinking it would be best either just separately or in it's own case, or maybe along with a cheap seat. (I have a drummers throne but that's also quite heavy and isn't as compact as I might like for quick stuff.) So basically, it would be a case for the keyboard, the power supply, the pedal, and very likely, the music rack, too, which I happen to like. (Don't know how durable that will be but enjoying it while it lasts.) Thanks for the input! Brian

It's not quite the topic, and I'm glad you figured out what was going on, but one other little tidbit you may already know... Playing your keyboard in the vicinity of a ceiling fan can also do stupid stuff to the sound. It'll do the same thing with a real piano.