Jokeyman123

Ok, thanks Mike.

To get this retrobrighting right-and i have done it to restore a few musical instruments-just the peroxide alone might not work (I use the kind of jell one might use on your hair-I considered bleaching my hair to match my keys, but then my teeth already matched my older keys-before I bleached them😋 now i'm being silly-but back to my point-I needed to set these out in the sun, with the peroxide paste-and it needs to be made into a formulation that is thick enough not to drip on anything else-i always mask off everything-and not too thick that the sun will dry it out before it works. Even a few hours in our now martian-level sun did it. (No offense fellow space creatures)... I also recall needing to pay attention to the percentage of peroxide in the brand i bought-too little won't work, too much-might damage the plastic, bleach can penetrate if it is too strong a formula. I think I used something like 20% solution.

Definitely a cut above for a stage or home digital piano, the wooden keys might make a big difference in playability with the new support structure underpinning, must be quieter, smoother to play at all dynamic levels, I like the internal mechanical design. Very "retro" style to my eyes-almost a 50's-60's furniture vibe, although Japanese design is described. Put this is new keybed and design in a full-blown workstation-now you have my attention, and probably my money! If not, I'll wait for prices on these. If Casio is willing to send me a test model of the S5/7000 for my review..........🤩 Well can't blame me for trying!!!!!

Look at member posts for the PX560 for mine, but there are others who might have posted some. I listed my .ckf's under the member uploads/downloads for tones, since I couldn't figure out where else to put these that would be easy to find. Not all the tones may match the ctx series-one of the few Casios i don't have, but worked with the older CTK6200 and my even older PX575 as well as my PX560-so should be close to what I originally intended as far as individual tones in each auto-arrangement. Octaves might not always be right and you have to know how to load .ckf files-not sure if the CTX's are backwards compatible with my older .ckf files. Look up Chandler's posts-he compiled the most comprehensive document here for how to convert rhythms. his document can be downloaded from one of his posts-it is the sum of all the work that has been done by several members here going back to the CTK/WK arrangers, too numerous to mention although i need to mention "T" a member who helped tremendously way back in documenting how to work with designing and converting rhythms, how the Casios were designed for auto-arrangements. Jorgen Sorensen is another tremendous resource for working with Yamaha style files, understanding what needs to be done to get these styles to work with other keyboards or software. Nothing directly about Casio but helped me understand some of the difficulties with Yamaha's unique system for auto-arrangers. I've posted the link before here, but here it is again, worth bookmarking if you are working with style conversions... http://www.jososoft.dk/yamaha/software/mdbedit/index.htm

You need to look through our posts right here-there is a huge bunch of posts from all the people here at this user group who have done this, including me and how they've done it. Truthfully-Yamaha rhythms present a few unique problems related to their embedded settings (COSM modeling messages need to be stripped out) that require some fairly advanced programming to get these to work properly-but all the info is right here, you'll have to do some digging around to find the posts. I have a few .ckf rhythms I've converted from Yamaha styles and posted here in our upoad sections-I've listed mine under the PX560 forum but these can be loaded into any of the Casios. Mine are rather complex-I like complex styles for funk, fusion and other styles, but shows what can be done. I also converted some of these from Roland auto-arrangers for use in my Casios. I do not know of any specific website or users-except this one.

Short answer-no. I could be wrong but having studied the chain function-studying through its controls, i cannot recall being able to trigger separate chains from distinct sequences or performances. The design of the XW has several musical/rhythmic "layers" for lack of a better term. The lowest layer for putting together tones in a musical context-rhythms/melodies/arpeggios etc. is the sequence as you already know-actually the phrases are in their own category. The next "layer" is the performance-which can combine all of those-again you know that. "Chains" are a completely different level of assembling musical elements-and consist only of sequences-factory or your own. You can only connect all the other musical elements into a chain, it has no other function I've ever discovered. It is in a sense, not "backward compatible" in that it cannot be programmed to do anything other than connecting all the other musical parts you've created, and operates as its own unique function. I'll have to review my XW/manual but i don't think you are even able to connect separate distinct performances in a chain-only sequences. This is the basic architecture of the XW. Why you can't find any sysex for what you want to do. It doesn't exist as a programmable function. I am pretty sure you can only access one "chain" at a time, and I don't see any way to do that remotely with software or hardware-it does not have a "jukebox" function which some workstations used to have (or some may still have) for setting up a series of full arrangements and setting these up to play in sequence automatically, still not quite what you want to do.

Yikes! I like this one better....I know its a little early for Christmas but....never to early to be a little festive....I think Lionel Hampton was a little more shall we say....tasteful? Or maybe a little Gary Burton would help here. I don't mean to be critical, just a little comparative reflection on style.

There are a few controllers that have auto-configuration/assign for DAWs, and 1-2 that have built in sounds, are synths that are designed as controllers. I never obtained one because these are always limited polyphony and usually 1-2 independent tracks if that, with only arpeggiators but many analog controls. The X-and K-Station Novations i think are like this, and i think the Arturias-the micro and minibrutes will auto-configure settings for a few DAWs but are usually DAW-specific-Logic etc. I have an Axiom 49 which has a "direct-link" function, but only for certain functions-will work with Protools, Logic, Reason, Cubase I see no FL studio. I haven't tried the Axiom with direct-link yet-I prefer more direct hardware functions rather than recording. editing with software, but I am a bit old-skool. And of course this is only a controller. The new "extended" midi spec 2.0 is supposed to be able to incorporate many automated read/write functions not possible with the current midi specs-but will be expensive, probably not backward compatible with existing midi, and will need entirely new hardware/software to work. Not looking too good.

Hello Jeffn1...I never noticed this which strikes me as odd-I don't see any setting that allows for changing/reprogramming an ordinary simple switched sustain pedal's midi send channels-although there are "expression" pedals that can do this I think. sustain cc messages are #66-if you can filter cc 66 in your other tracks/channels with gig performer, this may be the only way, but then the CTK7200 will also be filtered for whatever tracks you filter. I am remembering-this is an old problem-where many keyboards cannot be split or layered with sustain on one tone and not the other. How are you doing this with the CTK7200? This does have additional midi settings the PX350 does not. I don't see any Casio documentation that addresses sustain pedal midi assignments. will have to try myself, I don't recall right now-but are all 4 midi channels sending sustain in single tone mode, song mode and whether auto-accompaniment is on or off? In other words, is there any difference, are you always getting sustain on all 4 channels-these 4 channels are the assignments for the "live" keyboard channels and are hard-wired specifically for that-whether in single tone, layered or split mode. Wish I could be more help-I will do some experimenting with my 560, I do not have the 350 anymore-the 560 touchscreen grabbed my attention!

Look at XW-Addict's recent post-some of us are waiting to see if Casio is going to release a new keyboard in the Privia line. What kept me away from the newest PX-S series and the 360 and CGP-only the PX560 could do that, and even with that, I still wouldn't mind seeing an update from this line of stage piano/workstation style Casios. I too like working with a built-in 17-track sequencer, use it all the time. I'll use software DAW's, have many but I guess I'm still a bit "old-skool" growing up with hardware keys, modules and analog controls. If the next Privia was designed a bit more like say, the new Kurzweil K2700/PC4 series, woo-hoo! Casio has the touchscreen, slider/organ/tonewheel concept already, AIX sound engine, great acoustic/electric piano simulations, good hammer-weighted actions, it could be done if they decided to.

Well....we're waiting!!!!!!!

jibin-I am watching for these new releases myself. Owning and playing the PX-560 and XW-P1 has kept me from adding other Casios, but i have owned other Casios indlucing CDP and CTK's-the newer AIX sounds got me interested, but drawbars on the XW spoiled me, kept me from going for one of the CTX's, and the newest voice-modeling Casio doesn't have enough features to pull me towards it, the vocal processing-I've tried vocoders, voice-modeling DSP's, a good spftware or hardware sampler/sample editor with DSPs can do plenty for human voice mangling for my taste!

Are these under warranty? Too bad these "cabineted" Casios are so difficult to disassemble because 2 different sounds-a clunking and buzzing, and 2 different places on the keyboard-i am no licensed Casio technician, take this the way you want. The buzzing sound-sampled sounds used for most of your tones-are "looped" samples-and if the sample gets "stuck" in one short segment of the sample, it will sound like this buzzy sound. I know this from experience using sample-based keyboards, creating my own samples to span across a keyboard on several different samplers over the years-Korg, Roland and software-based. The clunking-very odd-sounds like it could be the part of the piano sample to recreate either the attack, or even the AIR effect that creates the pedal release sound-but greatly amplified. Check your damper pedal, maybe a simple dirty connection somewhere in the pedal, the pedal jack or the pedal itself. Not to contradict the Casio techs, but if there were a consistent issue with the mainboards-it would duplicate the same sound error, and in the same spot on the keymap-the same keys would be causing the same problematic sample loop defective sound. I would try the compressed air in/around/under the suspect keys for that defect-if the sensors under the keys are partially collapsed or dirty-this is a possible source of the distorted sound, as the rubber/carbon contacts might be making partial contact even upon release, or not making full contact and causing your tone to be triggering at only one point in the sample. if I were to cut a very short segment of any sample with a software sample editor (or keyboard editor) that you would normally recognize as an instrument or synth tone and play it, this is what it would sound like. The thumping-all across or partially across the keys-mainboard could have a defect, or it could simply be a loose cable inside. If a tech checked it out, I would hope they'd noticed any questionable connections and ruled that out as it would be a shame to spend for a new mainboard, and discover the problem is still there. if a keyboard factory reset does not clear this, i would think the tech is right, might need a new mainboard. I have not experienced any defect like this on either my PX350, 560 or any of the CDP hammer-weighted keyboards for at least 4-5 years, i doubt there is a major defective run of mainboards. If there were, this would be showing up in hundreds of Casios, maybe more. We'd certainly be hearing it here.

Maybe a combination of the PX5s and PX560? Add programmable drawbars like the XW, the color touchscreen ala PX560, hex layers and the improved keyboard action like the PX-S series-but full-length keys-similar to a Kurzeil PC4 or K2700 at half the price or even a few hundred less....also conjecture. who knows!

I don't, and happy rat isn't in this group anymore, moved onto other user groups. If Mike Martin sees this post, he might know more about these. If the older wk1800 has a standard GM soundset, one of these other .ins files might work-at least for the basic GM sounds. Any "extended" extra sounds in different bank changes might not match but would probably be pretty close. Pianos, organs, strings, brass the standard basic GM soundsets are universal. The variations could present differences, and the drumkits are not always key-matched per sound. for example-my MC-505 is not GM and the many drumkits in it are all over the keymap-it is not GM standard, I cannot use this to play standard midi files. I would have to create my own .ins files from scratch. There used to be simple software that let one create a matching .ins file for anything you needed, and i recall it can be done with an "excel" type file but i haven't created one myself in quite awhile. These also used to be called ".idf"-instrument definition files. it's unfortunate that many DAWs do not use a universal file structure for creating these. The Cakewalk .ins standard was as close as I've come across. This is a really good article which might help you. Sound-On-Sound lately has been one of my "go-to" places for excellent archived articles re technical/musical tutorials. Good reviews too. https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/sonar-using-instrument-definition-files

Yes, price increases are just not useful right now-especially when so many of us are hurting financially, these "luxury" items are pricing themselves out of business. I would think if anything, vendors would drop their prices to sell, or at least keep to normal retail prices. there is some real predatory selling practices going on, have to watch where one buys just about anything.

Hello sailor!🤣 Considering what they have already, hmmm.......will be watching. Maybe a Privia MZPXCTXS3200! Can't imagine what this might end up being-and 3, very nice. Thanks XW for noticing this, hoo-haa!

Too bad...you might have been able to de-humidify the unit-dry it out, this might have fixed it. Even modest amounts of moisture can do wonders to sabotage electronic connections. why i always hated outdoor gigs-that, and lightning!!!!!!

Also strikes me as odd the MZ-X series was discontinued. especially since-or maybe because-the PX560 has many similarities, but some noteworthy omissions, I'd been hoping to grab one too. Either Casio wasn't selling enough of them to justify the assembly line continuing to manufacture them, or there is a possibility with all the supply chain problems, they ran into a serious parts problem which is also hard to understand-unless they contracted out other factories to manufacture for example the display screens, the main CPU chips and those vendors/manufacturers disappeared. Any vital MZ-X part that disappeared would have stopped these from being put together, a shame. And since most Casio parts are definitely not "off-the-shelf" that would create a dead-end for the MZ-X's. and the XW's. more puzzling, as many of the older CTK's/WK's are still being sold "new' from some vendors here-which might simply mean these are left-over stock manufactured back when the WK7600 for example, was newly created.

All the Roland discussion reminded me too, of why I did not keep many of their products-although I kept my MC-505 and PMA-5, but went through several Roland arrangers and keyboards. The company (for reasons of profit I guess) almost always pushed additional sound cards, arranger cards, etc. to get the latest/better/more better sounds and arrangements. These were not cheap. could easily add 1000+ dollars US to the price of a keyboard, module or arranger. If I just dropped 1-2-3 thousand on a keyboard, did I have a few hundred more for the extra sound cards? The extra sounds or arrangements-at least IMO/experience-didn't add much of an improvement. Re the "sound engine" discussion-unless the architecture is completely different-I don't regard 3 categories of PCM sounds as 3 different architectures-the way the sounds are produced/created/recreated are how I would define a sound engine. PCM, sampling, FM, VA (standard subtractive/additive synthesis but in digital form), true analog, physical modelling, Casio's PD, AIX/AIR, Roland's older D-50 type of architecture-with some similarities I would define these as architectures or ways of creating sounds. Vector synthesis/granular-still basically uses PCM or some other type of architecture as a basis for their sounds, but utilizes the sounds in a different way-such as the Yamaha TG-33, Korg Wavestation etc. but I would not describe these as distinct architectures. Something Peavey attempted to do years ago with their synths promising to be able to upgrade to an entirely different synthesis engines unfortunately failed to do. No wonder software synths have become so popular. I'd need a half dozen modules or synths to actually have all these architectures available-oh wait, I do!!! Why I know all this-that and 30 plus years, I had to.....

After reading a few posts recently-I am embedding this small rich text format document (.rtf) which describes the simplest way to record and manipulate "song recorder" tracks form within the PX350 Privia's song recorder functions. with its lack of huge screen as on the newer Privias, I thought this might be helpful since all of this must be done with button pushes and a rather small LCD screen, but this has a powerful 17-track song recorder which if you l know how to work your ay around it, can lay down some very nice sounding tracks IMHO. I originally typed up this tutorial for myself as I like to use these Casio (and other brand) internal midi/song recorders for laying down tracks. .RTF docs should be automatically opened by windows. I don't have an Apple platform machine, but rtf's can also be read by most tablets and smartphones, although you might need a "reader" app for rtf. I use the open source "abiword" word processor for .rtf files in the Windows platform. PX350 quickstart recording.rtf

The PX560 does not have a midi clock-so you will not be able to auto-sync different devices together. So a sequencer would not drive the PX560 rhythms, midi songs etc. nor would you be able to trigger the PX560 with an external sequencer or other midi clock device, a bit of a limitation for multi-midi setups like mine. I have found though that-depending upon external gear-I am able to"manually" sync 2 different midi devices, the internal clocks are accurate enough to hold the tempo settings say for example between my Yamaha QY100 and the PX560 sequencer and for at least 10 minutes-I've experimented and this worked. But if you wish to trigger start/stop or song position pointer triggers from an external sequencer, or vice-versa, no. You will have to use the PX560 hardware controls to start/stop recorded song/midi tracks or auto-arranger rhythms. You can use an external pedal to trigger start stop messages for the PX560 song recorder and or midi/song tracks. As far as controller functions-i have been able to control certain mixer functions with external gear, in a limited way. Mixer levels, DSP send levels, pan can all be controlled through external software and hardware as can program and bank change of course. There are other programmable functions that can be implemented this way. These are the things I have found to work so far. Look at the midi imp. chart-there are many CC messages the PX560 can send or receive.

Easy to do. Just get a regular 5-pin MIDI DIN connecting cable-come in many lengths from 3 to 100 feet long or anywhere in between. MIDI DIN out on the PX560 to MIDI DIN in on the MZ-X. No drivers, no computer, no Windows OS to screw things up-its a beautiful thing. You will have to study and experiment to see what other midi information goes out the PX560 MIDI DIN port. Look at your manual and the midi implementation charts. You need to learn everything you can about 1) your keyboards and 2) MIDI. I can tell you, rhythm (.ac7) files are not the same across the 2 keyboards. And you will find out which controllers will work through midi/how to do that if it is possible. Simple controllers like the mod wheel, pitch bend are pretty universal across keyboards-others such as control knobs, slide controls and/or software controls may not communicate across midi. I tried loading and playing MZ-X500 rhythm accompaniments and there must be something different about how these are programmed as i could not load and play the MZ-X rhythms in the PX560 but I "roll my own" on the computer anyway. Tones, hex layers etc. will not be cross-compatible even though the operating systems are very similar. Make sure you understand the difference between the "A"- "B" and "C" mixer and midi channel settings-this is very important if you connect these together through MIDI. I can't speak for the MZ-X, but the PX560 will read and play .ckf files, but not .z00-these are for older Casios and I don't think these will work. You can save (I think) .z00 files as .ckf rhythms-depending on the Casio keyboard, then play these in the PX560, no sure about the MZ-X. Look over the many posts here about how many of us have worked at trying to make different rhythm file formats work across more than one keyboard or brand of keyboard. it's all here in this user group.

Joe-my new Casio has no keys! Oh wait, I had it upside down. Sorry. I was wondering why it was playing by itself every time I plugged it in. But I was playing some pretty nice 88-note chords. Only the one though.

I did not think of that, I will try it. 4 different tones would work pretty well. not as well as the other Casio drawbar organ models, certainly worth experimenting with. Thanks for the idea Brad. Follow-up. No, there are no settings for individual hex layer control using the control knobs. I also could find no CC or sysex messages to control the individual volumes for each hex layer. Has to be set manually and saved as a hex layer tone. Guess this idea is dead in the water. Would have been nice.