Jokeyman123

Did Casio stop production of the PX-560? I didn't think so, but you could be right. With inflation so high everywhere for everything, I'd be very surprised if Casio released anything near the top of their PX-5s and 560 models.

Just my opinion- It might be helpful in the areas that can, to try to go forward with whatever they can. Might boost some people's "morale". On the surface, it may seem possibly heartless and selfish to proceed with this. But...with people coming from all over the world to NAMM-they will see what has happened there, and it might bring more people forward to help restore the destroyed homes, lives, and natural habitats if they see it first-hand. Anything that can help restore the devastated local economies, homes and natural areas. large and small-let it go forward. Sometimes positive change can happen in unexpected ways. Maybe that will be what happens as a result of this very large NAMM gathering-maybe some of the major music companies will be willing to donate to restorations there once they see it-since so much of the music and film industry function as a result of what many people in those industries have to do for a living, right there-whether it is a small business owner and their workers, workers that have lost their homes or even many of the larger industry people who I'm sure are feeling the effects of the surrounding devastation, as well as many of the the musicians, actors, stage crews and hundreds of support people. This is the "capital" of one of the largest industries in our country, and there is a big history there as well. I would guess thousands have lost not only their homes, but their livelihoods. I was surprised that NAMM was even going to be possible-so more power to them if it can benefit anybody in that area. Просто мое мнение- Возможно, будет полезно в областях, которые могут, попытаться двигаться вперед со всем, что они могут. Это может поднять «моральный дух» некоторых людей. На первый взгляд, это может показаться бессердечным и эгоистичным продолжать это. Но... с людьми, приезжающими со всего мира на NAMM, они увидят, что там произошло, и это может побудить больше людей помочь восстановить разрушенные дома, жизни и естественные среды обитания, если они увидят это своими глазами. Все, что может помочь восстановить разрушенную местную экономику, дома и природные зоны. большие и малые, — пусть это идет вперед. Иногда позитивные изменения могут происходить неожиданным образом. Может быть, это и произойдет в результате этого очень большого собрания NAMM — может быть, некоторые из крупных музыкальных компаний захотят пожертвовать на реставрацию там, как только увидят это — поскольку большая часть музыкальной и киноиндустрии функционирует в результате того, чем многим людям в этих отраслях приходится заниматься, чтобы заработать себе на жизнь, прямо там — будь то владелец малого бизнеса и его работники, работники, которые потеряли свои дома, или даже многие из людей из более крупной индустрии, которые, я уверен, ощущают последствия окружающих разрушений, а также многие из музыкантов, актеров, сценических бригад и сотни людей поддержки. Это «столица» одной из крупнейших отраслей в нашей стране, и там тоже есть большая история. Я предполагаю, что тысячи людей потеряли не только свои дома, но и средства к существованию. Я был удивлен, что NAMM вообще станет возможным — так что больше им власти, если это может принести пользу кому-то в этой области.

Looks like NAMM 2025 is going forward, despite the devastating California fires throughout the area. Looking through some preliminary news, all I can find so far is a report detailing 2 new Casio console digital pianos. This article, towards the bottom if you scroll down, describes 2 new AP digital budget Casio console pianos. Maybe we'll see a few more surprises. https://mmrmagazine.com/clone/2025-namm-show-buyers-guide/

I would have provided feedback, but I don't have the MZ. The difficulty (I think) for some of these Casios (and others) is...sometimes it is hard to improve on what is already there. I thought I was being pretty original with one of my PX560 programmed hex layers until I found a factory hex layer that sounded way too similar to what i thought was..pretty good anyway. I've been trying to come up with "combination" sounds-sounds that change over time, either quickly or slowly. I am going by memory from my CZ synths years back which were capable of some very interesting sounds because these had 8 envelopes-so I could create an entire series of sounds-gimmicky but still cool. I remember one in particular-had a car or motorcycle sound, a screech of tires, a crash-and then at the end of the...one keypress...the police siren faded in! And these were not samples, were created with the CZ PD synthesis and....the 8 envelopes. I cannot duplicate that type of sound with the PX560-although with hex layers and careful timing of the attack, sustain and decay or release envelopes, I've managed a few that sounded like my old CZ's-silly stuff, nothing very musical, but i enjoy programming, seeing what I can come up with. Things have been a little slow here at our user group, but then I'm getting the vibe that this isn't the only place without much action, the Korg website disappeared for a month, I guess people are still recovering from the holidays, the pandemic, fear of wars (again) among other things. Like Dwayne Allman said in an interview when asked about "the revolution" what ever that was supposed to mean-in the 60s i guess-"I'm a player. And players don't give a damn for nothing but playing...." RIP Dwayne

The Casio pedals have worked on my CTK-6200, PX-575, XW-P1, CDP-230 and PX-560 so there is definitely some cross-compatibility with a Casio pedal and several different Casios, why I keep at least one Casio sustain pedal. I have also successfully used universal pedals, but I always purchase those that have a polarity switch-because not all manufacturers use the same polarity-and will switch sustain off when you press the pedal, and on when you release, plus i have a 1-2 other digital piano keyboards that need the opposite polarity from my Casios. I also bought a pedal that had an ever so slightly shorter plug sleeve-could barely notice until i compared it-and therefore, it did not work at all-it was not making correct contact inside the jack! Drove me crazy until i realized what was wrong. Old post.....

Revisiting a zombie post. Disclaimer-I am reasonably experienced with most of the newest music technology-a broad statement to make, and i am not chasing people around with guns like another very ex-famous music producer but.... I recently (finally) found a very specialized repair tech who restored my original TEAC 3340 simul-sync tape deck-from 1971-I had one of the first out of a studio in south NJ before these were available to consumers-I knew a studio musician who was trying out a few. Mine is still pristine, I'll have to leave it in my will! and i paid around 1000 US dollars for it-in 1971 money-and i was a poor 20 year old aspiring/perspiring skinny and hungry-musician. I use the term loosely. https://museumofmagneticsoundrecording.org/RecordersTeac3340.html I have several digital decks, software with pro audio interfaces, workstations, etc. good condenser and dynamic mikes and am now conducting some A/B recording/listening comparisons-nothing very technical with scopes or other audio measuring devices-just audio with monitor speakers, full stereo 3-way 15" component speakers, small but good quality bookshelf component speakers and 6 or so various headsets from my pro neutral AKG's and some lesser more sound-coloring headsets such as Samsons and a few other Chinese imitation AKG's-admittedly not a huge cross-section of cans but probably adequate-even a set of esoteric "electrostatic" sort of(Chinese) earbuds for sh***s and giggles. actually pretty impressive sounding but not too comfortable. Not recommended unless you have access to a vulcan mind-meld after listening to a few pieces of death/meth metal music with them-not that there's anything wrong with that... What is shocking me-and I have had the TEAC bias-tuned to the Maxell and Ampex low noise-high bias reel tapes I use, this was a recommended procedure back then-is the quality of the sound reproduction i am getting out of this old TEAC. It does run at either 7.5 or 15 ips tape speed, but is only 1/4" tape, unlike the larger 1/2", 1" tapes originally used in many studios that had these reel-to-reel decks. My ears are not "golden" or perfect, but still around 80-90% in my old age. Is this tape quality better than my best digital mixes? No. And there was and is always the problem of imperfections in the tapes, and the heads have to be kept in pristine condition-but overall the differences are subtle IMO between digital sound and this deck, and in some ways imperceptible depending on my material. The TEAC sounds like it has better bottom than my best digital recordings, but this may be an "anomaly" of my perception. Of course, many commercial recordings were originally not done in the digital domain at all, and many CDs were 2nd and 3rd generation from tape or record masters anyway so could only be "enhanced" or cleaned up. Like the old saying goes, it ain't the tools, its the mechanic. Springsteen's "Nebraska' was done live on a 4-track cassette deck, in his house with an acoustic guitar. I have the original vinyl, doesn't sound too shabby to me. Many of the Beatles early albums (I think I recall this right) were done on tape 4-tracks-listen to all their albums. Redigitizing can create clearer definition and space even in their best recordings and in many others-but I've heard some efforts that have made the originals worse, and rule 1) if the original isn't there, you can AI reprocess all you want, I repeat if the original isn't there, it ain't there.

Verifying this. I kept this bar, which originally came with my PX-575 (also an 88-key) stand that I kept, and am using the stand without the bar for a different 88-key workstation. It was an exact fit with the screw threads in the PX 575, must be the same design. These are (were) pretty nice stands-flakeboard and rather heavy, but with the crossbar, very sturdy. I have a 60 pound workstation on it now. I kept the bar, will come in handy for-something.

Here is a good detailed description of the 770 Casio. I am sure the PX-5S and PX-560 have an identical action and tri-sensor piano tones. Looking at the diagrams verifies this, plus I've had my 560 disassembled and can verify this is the same as the diagrams I see in this review. https://www.pianodreamers.com/casio-px770-review/

I don't have and haven't played the 770/870 models but based upon reviews, the piano action and piano tones on those would have to be at least as accurate and realistic as the 560, with the advantage of a better sound system and of course the full cabinet and pedals. I am a trained player, prefer as close to a real acoustic feeling digital keyboard as I can afford, and have other 88-key hammer action instruments I play fairly regularly. The action on the 560 compares favorably to any digital piano I've played, a little firmer than my Fatar's/Korgs which are TP-40 Fatar actions. There are specific digital pianos including the Casio GP Celvianos-that have an "escapement" action-which imitates the key action from being released after the initial downstroke as on a grand-which is easier on the hands IMO and requires a slight adjustment to technique. If you are just starting piano technique, you may not need that degree of refinement. I can execute Bach, Chopin, Debussy and other classical pieces pretty readily on the 560. If you are a heavy-handed player, you might prefer an escapement mechanism-again just my 2 cents. It will cost alot more, I've looked. The touchscreen is a true touchscreen, very responsive, very bright-every function you would need to access is in that screen-with the exception of the 3 control knobs and wheels, which are programmable-the knobs are preset to adjust 3 bands of equalization, mid, high and low continuous-but can be re-programmed to a variety of functions-can adjust balance, filter, resonance to name a few. Beats the visibility of my Korg M3 screen by a mile, which is also a color touchscreen, nowhere near as good as the Casio. And unlike the 770/870-there are a huge variety of tones,and repeating, it is a true synthesizer. The DGX's I don't believe have that capability. The 17-track sequencer can also load and play midi files as well as saving its own format of "midi" file. We even have details here in this group as to how to create your own "rhythm" or backing patterns and load these into the 560-I've posted several of my own in the uploads section for the 560. Sorry I'm going on here, I'm not a salesperson but I must be sounding like one!! Another nice feature-once you have recorded a "song"/midi arrangement-or are playing one using the PX560 accompaniment features-you can directly record all that into its audio recorder and save it as an "audio" .wav file. Then-you can play live again, record more tracks into the "song"/midi recorder while you are playing back the audio recorder recording you just created, this is a very powerful feature-or you can record from any external audio source with audio outputs-into the audio recorder input, then use that as a backing track to anything you are playing. Even my Korg M3 and Alesis Fusions cannot do that unless I use a rather complicated way of connecting cables to loop the outputs into the sampling inputs. The only other Casio I can think of that is as powerful is the MZ-X500 which I can't find anywhere, and that has a 61-key non-weighted action. As far as piano action on the Yamaha DGX's-I have played these. Piano action felt a little slow and "mushy" for lack of a better description at least to me. Everyone's opinion on piano action preferences is different, even the best grand pianos do not always feel the same from brand to brand even within the same brands. The PX560 is still available new or used so is still supported. I've sent mine to Casio only once in many years for repair which they did. Was due to my own carelessness-they even repaired something else I hadn't noticed-turned it around in about 2 weeks. This is excellent for a keyboard service department. I've done much worse, or got no service at all, I won't mention which other company(s). An alternative IMO would be the PX-5S which has an excellent reputation, huge back-end support here. I see some of these coming on the used market now for much less than the list price-some as low as 600-700 US dollars. Has the same action as the 560. If I needed another keyboard-which I don't! I would pick either of these over the Yamaha DGX piano action boards. Again just my opinion. I have owned a few PSR Yamahas, and these sounded very good too. But I've kept the Casios...... Oh yeah, one more thing. I can carry 2 Casios-the PX560 under one arm, the XW-P1 under the other, and still have enough energy to play an entire gig. I think the 2 together still weigh about 20 pounds less than any other 88 key monster I've owned. Something to consider if you travel around a bit. Even in your house!!!

You might want to consider....the PX560. But I admit I'm a little behind some of the newer pianos. Has alot of functionality that the CTX series have. Great tri-sensor piano action which is holding up well on mine, plus a few hundred (I forget exactly how many) sounds onboard plus hex layers, like the MZ-X500. Also a 17-track sequencer/recorder with editing, a stereo audio recorder and has some very easy to work with arranger functions. And the color touch-screen, still a great way to get around all its functions real easily. Even if the CTX-5000 or 3000 had 88 weighted keys, I think I still would stick with the 560. And-it is a programmable synthesizer if you like to create your own sounds. Audio quality is excellent and the built-in sound system is pretty powerful. You could say, I'm a fan.

I haven't had that problem, but I know there are tiny black plastic "shims" in between the keys, but these are not accessible from the top or front of the keys-these are towards the back pivot points-are designed to keep the keys from moving from side-to-side. One guess-possibly one of these shims shifted and is getting stuck in between these keys. Not sure what you can do to fix this without a major disassembly-which I've done and why I know about these shims. I removed a few as these seemed to be slowing the key response a little-but i am very picky. There is no lubricants on these shims, at least none that I found, and I wouldn't be trying any lubricants of your own-these can seep down into the rubber boot contacts under the keys, then you have real trouble. If a shim is out of place, you might even see it slipping out of place if you look with a bright light in between these keys-if that is the problem.

Still sounds like it could the fader. I discovered something a few years back that might help if it is the fader, and not something with the amp chip or related components. Restoring an old digital deck with multiple faders that did not work correctly, I had to disassemble the faders completely-taking the ic board off the back, bending the metal retaining clips to open it, here is what I found-nothing else was working to restore several of these faders, and i could not find matching replacements-always better if you can find the part. Very difficult with fader pots as the length and width, plus the pin configuration must match and whether it is linear or logarithmic. Most Casio I believe are linear. Inside, and underneath-there was a tiny bit of accumulated dust and dirt, which no amount of cleaning or air from the top open slot could clear-it was jammed into the upper and lower extreme positions of the slide pot. Wish I had a pic, if I have some time today, I will take one of my spares apart and demonstrate where this was. I cleaned this out with airand some electronic contact cleaner and amazingly enough, these pots worked perfectly again. The Casio fader might be designed differently, but it could be similar. Use a good electronics cleaner on that pot, even alcohol can leave a residue that doesn't work. I was reminded of this recently-cleaning the main pot on an old Alesis Ion with a seemingly defective (but circular) pot. Alcohol did not work, but I sprayed some DeOxit electronic tuner cleaner-I also use CRC both of which will not damage plastic-don't go near anything else! Bam, it works perfectly now. I think this is because most commercial isopropyl solutions are in a water solution, and the water or alcohol can leave a residue that prevents perfect electric contact. You desoldered this, check your solder contacts, sometimes excess flux can cause a seemingly good solder joint to fail, and if you did not check for a crack in the original slide pot, this could have been the problem. I don't think a shorted speaker should short out the headphone audio, but anything is possible. Disconnect the speaker and see if the headphone out works. If none of this works, the first components to fail on older electronics will (usually) be the caps, although it is possible for the amp chip (if this design uses a discrete, all purpose stereo amp chip) to fail. You might be able to detect a bad cap visually, otherwise you would have to check individual chips, a little complicated if you don't already know how, whether soldered in place or de-soldered. A capacitance meter (these are now cheap) isn't a bad idea of you need to do this type of work alot.

These are all wav files-many of them. If the MZ can load and configure wav files-it will work, but depends upon how much internal sample RAM the MZ has. I don't have one, so can't really help there. How familiar are you with sampling technology in general-it is one of the more challenging aspects of sound programming. Each keyboard has it own routines for loading, mapping samples. I can also upload just a few of the individual wav samples from my Hauptwerk collection-to see if these will load into the MZ-each wav represents only one not on the keys, and of course is assigned to specific keys/notes. The usual technique is to create a multisample-an organized collection of wav files correctly mapped across the keyboard, and as you are trying to accomplish, in perfect tune in relation to each other and to your master tuning/pitch table.

A few months ago (would be hard to find now with all the posts here, I proposed a challenge right along those lines-to post your original sound edits/original sounds. I think it was in the PX560 posts section, might have been the XW-P1 section. There are plenty of Casios that are real programmable synths-including the old CZ series and of course many of the newest. I have a few PX560's edits I've put up, not much with the XW. I guess, since Casio hasn't put forth an update to a few of its more programmable boards, much less anything like a newer XW/MZ/PX, there hasn't been as much going on lately, but depending on your Casio, i have seen a few additions recently across the brand. The "honeymoon" period is over I guess, but the possibilities even with for example the PX5s and 560 are pretty extensive. It can take me a long time to learn even the simplest programmable functions, much less the more complex, such as how to route modulations-which can present some of the more interesting possibilities soundwise with most synths. For instance my Ion has 36 modulation sources and 78 destination sources-I won't live long enough to use half those! it took me almost 20 years(!) to figure out some the deepest most interesting programmable functions from my old Equuinox-and then I sold it! Of course was I was only 2 years old when i bought itAnd I still have yet to do much programming with my SY77 even though I've had it since-well 1990-but then much more astute programmers than I spent years developing FM and RCM sounds for that monster which still sounds unique. Oh well.