Jokeyman123

Just when I thought I knew what I was doing-was reviewing Mike's video tutorials to "bone up" and this may be old news here but in case no-one noticed, using a performance with up to 4 separate parts I can be record live to the phrase sequencer, and played of course over the sequencer. I didn't even realize, thought the phrase sequencer was limited to one sound, my mistake. Since a phrase can record quite a few note events, an entire multi-part composition can be created just using the phrase sequencer, and then you can add a multi-part step sequencer in sync. This is wild stuff! Man I am glad i got my XW back, woo-hoo!

I don't have the px-135, I use the px-350 which uses the same tri-hammer action. Not sure about the piano samples I think they are the same. Certainly doesn't sound natural or correct. Based upon listening-sounds as if only part of the sample is being accessed on certain notes or "phase cancellation" is happening here-as if 2 unison notes (or piano samples) are clashing slightly out of tune with each other at the same time. If you are playing/recording through a software sequencer and the PX-135 local control is on, local control of midi must be off or you will be triggering 2 notes at the same time creating a midi loop. The px-350 has a setting for this using the "function" "midi" buttons. If I keep "local control" on and have the PX connected with midi through software such as Ableton or similar, this is what it sounds like since the keyboard is playing a note and your sequencer is 'echoing" the same note through the midi cable. If this isn't it, I would check with tech support since mp3 definitely doesn't sound right to me especially in the middle register. Either key sensors are not hitting right or something electronically is not scanning the samples correctly (not a very likely problem but could be).

Mike Martin is one truly classy guy-going to the Dover facility personally was actually very cool! He assured me they will repair XW-P1 free of charge, I am very happy. Closing out-this was a classy thing for Casio and Mike to do-they owed me nothing, I did this myself, had no warranty so I might have had to pick up my cookies, shut my mouth and tough noogies. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it) But as cynical as I usually am about acting in good faith and good will as Willy Wonka said "so shines a good deed in a weary world". I can once more drive everybody nuts here with impossible questions and ridiculous experiments. Thanks to everyone at this forum and also to Hugh O'Kelly for turning me into a "Father Ted" fan, a remarkable look into Irish whatever it is they were doing there, (I married a Murtaugh/Dempsey this has helped me understand her but only a little). A little nonsense every now and then....................

Finally with a little help from my friends personally delivered my XW-P1 to Dover, NJ (I live about 30 miles away). I mentioned it was the firmware "bug" that pooched it, I will know in a day or two what the damages will be. Debating whether to make a big deal of this. I have been able to restore and repair alot of equipment in my not overly exciting life, computers, phones, keyboards, tablet pcs, toasters, socks with holes. This is the first "techno-thing" that stupified me with armageddon firmware. Not overly excited about paying a large service charge for this. I could understand spending repair money if I had used it as a workbench for repairing roller-blades or carving pumpkins, but.........oh well. At least I haven't wiped the PX-350 (yet) and my CZs never had this problem but then no firmware was needed, only an occasional food particle in the keyboard easily removed without tech support. Pipe cleaners, toothpicks, tweezers, a soldering gun and band-aids are my friends along with occasional pain medication whilst working.

Still studying midi messages coming out of the PX-350 with Midi-ox when I get the time. Found only 2 more things might be helpful for people messing with splits and layers-in a split the left hand seems to always transmit on channel 3, right hand on any channel you set with the "function" midi menu buttons. Layer is the same. When in song recorder mode, no midi data goes out until it is recorded. This me I am thinking then that it will be impossible to control individual levels or DSP in real time as in the XW or WK models with the mixer function but I haven't given up....yet!

Wow, good thing nobody asked about the "1910 Fruitgum Company". Or "Moby Grape". Big fan of Peter Gabriel who has done some very interesting keyboard production work-sampling, textures, not as a soloist but more as a "sound engineer". As far as Banks-wasn't he more of a "hook" creator-played thematically whereas Emerson or Wakeman who were obviously going for the virtuosity. I still like "3 Sides Live". Afte that, I think Collins went for the Disney production values, guess he liked the big money.

Right-I checked this out too. No way to change the volume balance in a split. If you change the balance in a layer yhis is retained in auto-accompaniment mode on the right side of the keyboard, and you can lower the accompaniment volume in relation to that, but that doesn't help if you want to play a monophonic part with the left hand. There is no way to isolate accompaniment parts played live from the left side of the keyboard. If that were possible.........but it isn't. I wish I knew if splits and layers are controlled on seperate midi channels but the midi implementation doesn't say. Still trying to gain access to control these levels with software or hardware. No luck so far. If I can, I could reset levels per midi channel, maybe save in a "registration" memory. This would gain control of splits and accompaniment part loudness levels, like most workstations. Would be nice, I'll keep trying.

Phrase sequencer-the wording is confusing IMO. You can actually record any length of musical performance with the phrase sequencer from the keyboard while the 16-step sequencer is playing several other parts which will be independent of the phrase sequencer part you are recording. Think of the "phrase sequencer" as a continuous "song recorder". You can record an entire two-hand piano part as a phrase-each phrase can be up to 1600 notes long-this is midi data so that's alot of notes and can be as many "measures" within 1600 note limitation as you want. And 192K of midi data can hold alot of phrases. You can overdub a phrase, but it has to be the same sound for each phrase you record. Each phrase you record can be stored in user phrase memory, and used with any step-sequencer "loop" you record. So phrase record is not "monophonic" but can only use one tone/sound per phrase, unlike the step sequencer which can use any combination of tones you want. Not sure about DAW questions, but hope this helps phrase sequencer understanding. There is also a menu setting, don't remember where, I think it's in the performance preset setup, to switch whether the phrase is synced to the step sequencer or kept independent in order to seperately control the tempo of the phrase and the step sequencer. You can get some pretty complex music going on just with the step sequencer and phrase sequencer. And you can still have your DAW playing additional sounds/tones on seperate midi channels with all this, pretty intense.

Just my 2 cents worth. My first "synth" was a Sequential Circuits Pro One which was dual-oscillator analog monophonic. I had more fun layering recorded tracks one line at a time with that thing, with it's horrible mis-triggering keyboard, crude arpeggiator, noisy pots and other assorted twisted musical devices (these oscillators constantly drifted in an out of sync).A friends nephew tours all over the country with usually just him and a drummer with an old B-3, an old Wurlitzer tine piano and an assortment of toy keyboards casio included and a Mattel "Speak and Spell" modded. He seems pretty popular. Not for a cheap plug (he doesn't need my help) look for simply "Marco" on Youtube. He seems to be enjoying himself.

Only thing I've found is the KentonUSB/MIDI host box but at a whopping 140-150 bucks not worth it just to add a few control features that might or might not work. One other thing I'm trying-supplying 5V power to the Nanokontrol (ruining another warranty but 20 dollars worth won't kill me) by modding a power connector. I've dissected the Nano already and it's a multi-layer PC board inside. Having difficult time locating power connection points since it's supplied through the mini-usb connector and this looks to be soldered in between layers of the pc board. It could work. So could a screen door in a submarine with the right mods. All I really wanted is level control and maybe quantize for the "song sequencer" without having to connect a computer and software for editing multi-track stuff but after all this trouble maybe that doesn't look so bad anymore. it is primarily a digital piano not a workstation and it does recognize all 16 midi channels. I haven't given up the idea of an editor though-being able to alter effects, eq. etc would be nice, like the PX5S even if done in software, but none of the Casio editing stuff is designed for the PX-150, 330, 350 series.

Must be-I tried with 5-pidn din cable with a USB mini-adapter connected to a standard usb on the other end directly into the PX and nothing. You all must be right about host capability. there is an expensive solution I've seen somewhere-a host adapter box from somebody that creates host capability and uses USB to 5-pin din connections. Not sure its worth the expense-I remember it costing somewhere around 100 bucks. If i could find a less expensive hardware solution, I'd try it.

I have emailed Casio technical support 2 times about the possibility of adding a few features to the PX firmware and have not gotten a reply yet. I also asked for a few features for the "song recorder", specifically a track mixer at least. It's in the WK and CTK OS so maybe.....Since this split level control is not there (I didn't even notice something I take for granted on many keyboards) maybe I'll send another email to see if anyone can at least give some tech info to support what we'd like to see. If I can come up with a solution (still grappling with CC messages) I'll post.If a split is on different MIDI channels and I can control the levels independently with the Nanokontrol or some type of external control although I haven't been able to access the PX with the Nano yet, I'll post. Midiox is giving me sysex info to work with, I might solve this problem but unfortunately only through external software. I don't own a Behringer controller so I can't say if that would work either. Might also be possible with an XW as an external controller but who wants another keyboard just to control a split unless it's a regular part of your rig anyway. If I could re-adjust levels for a split in software, this might be something that can be stored in a "registration" which would be one solution. Registration stores split, split point and layer balance so again this looks like something to be added by Casio firmware so I'm probably barking at the moon at least for now.

I've just started scooping sysex data with Midiox and finding some interesting data, but still need more studying. I noticed changing chorus and reverb settings sends different sysex strings for each setting so output is there, it's input that still getting me stumped, the MIDI implementation shows its there. And I have sent from the Nanokontrol (and the Alesis A25 which is unique in that it has 5-pin DIN and USB MIDI in and out,) directly connected to 1) PX-350 5-pin Din midi ports 2) USB connector on back panel and 3) even the thumb drive port in front hoping this might work but no response so far although the thumb drive USB does present power to the Nanokontrol. I'm still trying to understand how bank changes are set up for the PX, not sure have to spend more time with Midiox. Scott-now I'm thinking, maybe some of the CC messages I'm sending are being recognized but only within registrations, I'll try that next, tried with song recorder in play and record but nothing there And was able to continuously control reverb and chorus depth with the Alesis A25 analog controls so maybe that too is sending other CC changes but only recognized within registration memories I'll try that. I can read code out of Midiox with software sequencers to see what sysex strings are working into the PX, any software sequencer is setting volume levels per track so i know that works. If I can suss out sysex messages that work, I can write code into "ctrlr", design a rudimentary or not so rudimentary editor and (depending upon user rights and copyright) submit it here for PX-330, 350 and other Casio digital pianos for anyone interested. The MIDI specs seem similar enough. If Mike is reading this, any info will be greatly appreciated.

OK, I just posted to someone trying to control volumes independently in a split of the PX-350. Strip LSB out-that's a big help. This means I will probably not be able to set up a hardware controller alone to do this if I can't edit and store sysex strings/commands in it. This may also be why PX-350 is not responding to other CC messages in software or hardware-thanks for the help, I will use a midi monitor and see what I can come up with. Korg's Nanokontrol editor doesn't have this kind of editing control. The Alesis A25 can, but it is fiddly-have to send each command separately not very elegant. I've gotten it to change reverb and chorus depth without any additional sysex commands. Again, without software to edit sysex commands guess my hardware control project will not fly. There is a design program called simply "Ctrlr" (www.ctrlr.com) for Windows, Mac or Linux platforms (not iPad) which allows complete custom design of software front-ends to control anything MIDI which I have been studying. There are templates on the website showing what it can do. If I can develop the sysex programming chops I am trying to develop an editor for the Px-350/330 similar to the PX5S editor using ctrlr. All this may not apply to your goal so you have been more helpful to me than I to you. I owe you, thanks!

Welcome to the PX-350 club. Owning the PX-350 too (and an XW and a few other non-Casios) i have been trying like all get-out to access various PX-350 functions through MIDI with not alot of success. You can read some of my (overly-long) posts about my work here. Casio support has not been forthcoming so far about accessing CC numbers through the MIDI ports, to change volume levels like the PX-5S with zones-I've been trying to do that with the song recorder track levels which has 17 tracks, but no mixer controls or editing functions for it. I tried to vary the split volume by accessing the "layer", song and accompaniment volume settings hoping for a hidden function but nope. Short answer is no, it can't be done. Long answer-if I know how the 350 responds to CC messages controlling volume in a split and in multi-track mode it can be done with an external controller-I'm trying to do this with a Nanokontrol, an Alesis A25 controller and software, but not having much success. The IDES editors don't seem to work on the PX-350 either. Any contributions here will be re-imbursed by the man who takes care of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Hello Supervivid, I have been experimenting with this, trying to send CC messages to the PX-350, which has basically same specs. I also can't get the PX to respond to most CC messages except pan, chorus and reverb depth although according to the MIDI specs, it sends and receives among other things program changes and most CC messages. I have contacted Casio tech support but have not gotten any response about this so far. I have tried "virtual midi fader" software, a Korg Nanokontrol which does power up through the USB thumb drive but got no response to anything I set up although this can be programmed with its editor and settings are saved internally, and an Alesis A25 controller through the DIN midi ports in back (this has both USB and DIN midi in and out) but again only managed to get access to reverb and chorus depth through the MIDI ports. i did discover that at least in the 350 I have to disconnect the thumb drive to use the MIDI 5-pin DIN ports. I also found unless I select tones with the record function in the song sequencer, the PX will not receive program change messages with my software sequencers, I've tried several. There must be something we are both missing. Let me know if you get anywhere, I'll post same. I'm trying to develop a PX 330/350 editor to access DSP settings especially for the DSP/eq/Leslie effects, volume settings and at least pan for the track sequencer and would like to be able to change these settings on the fly with an external controller like the Nanokontrol or Behringer. Others have been able to do this with other branded auto-arrangers such as Yamaha and Roland. it would also be much better to call up tones with a button or two (keypad entry) instead of scrolling through every tone like we need to do on the PX's. I'm guessing the new high resolution MIDI spec Casio is using might have something to do with not being able to get response to program change and other CC messages. All I found out through Casio tech support- track numbers match MIDI channels with the song recorder but that's all and was no surprise. Can't send PM to Mike Martin anymore through this forum, I would think he might be helpful here and I can't seem to figure out how to contact him through his facebook page either.

Destroying another warranty I disassembled the PX-350-to put more piano felt under the keys, a daunting project although I didn't put enough, it still hits hard on key bottom with my meatball hands but it helped a little. Confirmed speaker placement-there is one rather small rear-firing/rear mounted oval-shaped speaker on either end, and another very small speaker mounted upward on each side of the music stand slot! There are no other speakers facing upward despite the rather large cloth area on top. Weird, but thinking this a tweeter for high frequencies, not sure as I don't seem to hear much HF coming from these but as these are about an inch in diameter i can't imagine these are full-range speakers. There is some internal baffling but speakers are open inside. This may be why some people have had strange vibrations or other wierd anomalies (I needed a place to stick that word one of my favorites appropriate in so many situations) when playing not just the PX-350 but possibly other PX's with built-in speakers. I can't imagine all those vibrations flying around inside being too good for the internal circuitry after awhile, but there is almost no room for anything in there and sticking even a little bit of acoustic material might make the speakers sound worse, so I left it. I had no extra parts laying around, so I consider it a success. (UH-OH where's my Capt. Crunch spoon) The keyboard assembly seems very solid but I had to be very careful as there are many delicate parts that make up the weighted action and almost the entire keyboard has to be disassembled to add felt under the keys. One last warning-I don't recommend you take this apart as it will void your warranty, and it is complicated. I've sacrificed my warranty for the greater good, I'm sure Casio will put me in the "bad boy" category in a special file in Casioland if I'm not there already. Unless you've had alot of (successful) technical projects under your belt, I would not recommend you try this. There are many screws into plastic, it is easy to break a large variety of things large and small that will make you a very unhappy person. I do these things because either 1) I am bored and have too much time on my hands, 2) fear of global warming, and 3) I'm probably a little insane from too many gigs in one lifetime inhaling first, second and third-hand smoke and old booze stink. You have been warned.

I purchased a small USB adapter that enabled me to connect the nanokontrol directly to the PX (mini-usb to flat female standard USB) as an experiment, but still have had no luck. Most people onboard here seem happy with Neoventilator, I was just hoping to be able to control and edit the PX itself. I thought if I could change DSP settings with CC, I could store these in registrations, I'm probably expecting too much. Alot of switching around even if I can get it all too work, although being able to change Leslie settings and other DSP settings with a controller would be at least an improvement. Can't afford a PX5s in addition just for these functions and the PX-350 is a real sweet instrument as it is. Will keep trying until I come up with something.

Page 33 in the PX-330 manual has a description for registration store and recall-I have the 350 but it's the same "aaaaaaarrggghhh" procedure. Using the store and bank buttons to select an area and bank number-this is one of the most confusing things about the PX. So if i want different brightness settings on different instruments or the same instrument, it must go into an individual registration memory, which I must always recall if i want that brightness setting again, with that instrument. I cannot change the brightness setting and have it retained globally-for the entire instrument unless I use the "backup" function.

Hello David, if you've read a few of my posts, you can see I've been trying to get to grips with this too. Controller #1 is standard for the mod wheel according to the chart by the MMA here: http://www.midi.org/techspecs/midimessages.php Pitch bend might be #11 (expression) but I'm not sure if Casio uses it for pitch bend. I have contacted Casio tech support by email trying to get info about what exactly the DSP CC numbers actually do, but haven't gotten any response. The MMA chart lists numbers 16-19 and 80-83 as general purpose controllers but i think this is where the Leslie parameters must be. I have managed to squeeze more reverb and chorus depth and even panning by using an external controller to access those CC numbers, but I've had no success in accessing and altering anything else yet including the Leslie settings which I'd also like to be able to do. I also requested in an email to Casio support that they create some kind of editor for the PX 330, 350 etc. similar to the PX5s editor so we could do some programming as you and I are trying to do. I even tried connecting the PX-350 to the PX5s editor to see if anything would happen and no luck there either although sequencing software sees the PX and is usable. Not sure but I think each 'tone' must have it's effects settings programmed individually and locked in as part of the tone-when i record multi-track arrangements, it sounds like each tone retains its own DSP settings, even though I can't change anything externally. This would be really nice, as if there is separate DSP for each track. I could be wrong about that, still experimenting. and maybe I'm off-base in this post as I don't know if the PX-330 has a song recorder function like the PX-350 so disregard this if it doesn't. I also purchased a Korg Nanokontrol to see if I can program that, connect it to the PX and make some alterations to the DSP settings, individual track levels, panning etc directly into the PX but no luck so far. Wish i could be more helpful, but unless Casio sends me more tech details, I'm playing trial and error. If I find out anything more, I'll post it.

I used to have 2 softcover books when the CZs first were introduced, forget who published but each page had a full diagram for programming a sound for the CZ-3000 (compatible with all CZs, I programmed the CZ-3000 with these). I sold the books when I sold the CZ-3000, but not until I had programmed dozens of very interesting sounds. I then purchased another rather large softcover, spiral-bound book specifically for the CZs back when the CZ had just been introduced, created by an independent programmer who had settings for 100s of sounds including some very interesting concrete sounds-many of which were surprisingly good, explosions, bug sounds, UFOs, car crashes, etc. and definitely demonstrated the power of the CZ phase distortion synthesis. Sold that book too, was roughly 200+ pages in a small paperback. You might still be able to find these somewhere. Wish I had kept them, would probably have worked with the XWs too since these have all the basics of PD built-in, except the ring modulator a nasty bit of work!

Casio CZ-101, followed shortly by the CZ-3000, followed shortly thereafter with the CZ-1 complete with half dozen RA cartridges and custom larger cartridges that held banks of 64 sounds switchable with 2 tiny DIP switches (hey who called me a dipswitch!) all a load of fun. All gone now replaced with the XW-P1 and PX-350, formidable replacements.

Still working on this-sent emails directly to Casio tech support proposing they design (or help me design) an editor for the Privia series something like the PX-5S editor-the IDES software doesn't seem to want to see my PX-350 with USB or MIDI ports in back, so maybe it's not compatible. Can record and play MIDI files through USB or MIDI no problem but that's all so far. I've also requested more details about specifics of cc messages for the DSP-as far as I can determine, each tone has unique DSP settings saved and programmed in it for certain parameters over and above the global reverb and chorus settings. And these settings seem to be retained when recording multi-track stuff which is very good. As if you have seperate effects for each track, but hard-wired into the tone itself (at least it sounds like this is how it works). I also requested possibility of firmware upgrade to add a few functions to the song recorder such as a mixer as in the XW, CTK and WK series, for any PX'es that have the multi-track song recorder. And maybe this should be in a separate post, but Casio clarified that track numbers default to MIDI channel numbers (seems obvious but wanted to be sure since the song recorder has no settings for this). and strangely, MIDI channels 5,6 and 7 are used for the "system" channel but I still don't know what these control. And Mr. Mike any tech data about this would be very welcome. I have the MIDI implementation doc. I know I'm getting pretty technical here, but these keyboards are incredible, I think it's worth the time and effort.

Nice SK200 photo-I owned an SK2100 years back, sold on ebay quite awhile ago. used alot with kids in school music program-spent much time playing with the sampling function, kids loved it. Had alot of fun with it and it held up well to quite a bit of hard use (music room got pretty rowdy sometimes!)

CTK-640 with the samples-one of the first I used in my school music programs-kids loved the samples, I designed lessons around it! CZ-1-went from the CZ-101 I got from taking a music technology course, to the CZ-3000 and finally the CZ-1, complete with the rom cards and huge RAM cartridges that needed AAA batteries! A load of fun, spent hours programming and saving sounds. Sold years ago on eBay. had nice key actions too, very solid feeling for spring-loaded. Heavy metal cases (except of course on CZ-101) were really nice. Interesting that Hohner had this collaboration with Casio, since they pioneered making accordions and harmonicas. (How do you know someone is a gentlemen? He owns an accordion and doesn't play it). My brother's joke-figures he's a bass player. Not sure what that means.