ultra.klick

Lest it be forgotten, I wanted to put in my quarterly plug for the next ugrade, if there is one, to add the ability for the PX-5S to send MIDI messages for cc values 100 or greater.  A few of the controls on my Nord Electro 4 require this.  Thanks and happy holidays!

Don´t wait :

Get an Behringer BCR2000 - and you´re able to control all your Nord parameters incl. SysEx .. 

Much more comfortable than via Casio!

Boy ,

I'm not sure, but it does not appear that you've watched the Ustream clinics that I've done on the XW series and the PX-5S.  I agree manuals should be better, but that is also why we've done the blog sites that are filled with tutorials:

http://xwsynth.wordpress.com

http://priviapro.wordpress.com

 

In addition to the blog and forum, there is also a users group on Facebook.  I'd be surprised if you could find this level of support from most manufacturers. 

I´ve seen this wordpress blogs . I´m not interested in buying an  iPad for using this editors .

There are also a lot of helpful sites for all what you can buy or have bought in this world .

But for what i should read this sites - i have other things to do than reading and reading ...

Other Example: One P1 plus iPad are the same price as an Korg Krome or Kurzweil PC3LE7 .

This products or editors needs no explanation . And there is no needing for reading a lot of sites or forums .

I´m in the past a "Yama-highaner" . They have a perfect system of absolutely incompatibility with the own products .

And have a price politics like no other : Great polyphony with very heavy editing possibilities BUT miniatured-displays .

Or little polyphony with bigger displays . From Yamaha you can only choose the biggest and best .

Common to all of them is :  a lot of printed information .

Biggest i know is Korg M3XP with more then 1000 pages . This is a little bit oversized ?

Ultra.Klick,

Sorry but I'm having a difficult time following what you're saying and asking, but let me clarify a few things.

The PX-5S is first and foremost a Performance product.  It's architecture and controllers are designed to give you several options in this regard; from amazing synth textures to remarkable acoustic and electric piano sounds.  With the polyphony of the PX-5S it is easy to provide both at the same time.

In regards to using the PX-5S with an external sequencer, yes of course you can. The rules of the PX-5S architecture remain in place in that MIDI channels 1 and 2 can access the Hex-Layer sounds, leaving 14 other MIDI channels available for pianos, electric pianos, clavs, drums, basses and more.   ALL 16 MIDI channels have access to the SYSTEM effects that the PX-5S offers which include Reverb, Chorus and Delay.   MIDI Channels 1-4 do have additional DSP (Insert) effects available.

While the "Melody" tones do not have access to the full editing capabilities that a Hex-Layer tones does, your ability so shape these sounds using the filtes and envelopes is still quite significant.  What may not be clear immediately is that drum sounds are available on multiple MIDI channels (5-16). 

 

In regards to the XW-series, you comment about fraud is utterly rediculous.  The XW series does NOT have the same engine of the PX-5S, but the XW serires does have some unique capabilities of their own. Not to mention the Step Sequencer and Phrase sequencers, the sound engine itself is quite remarkable.  Are there limitations? Yes.   Does it still sound fantastic? Yes.   As an example this:

 

That demo uses 1 "Solo Synth" and 3 regular "Melody" tones that are zoned across the keyboard.

 

Yes , you are right , but i dont understand the placing on the market .

This is the only chance for casio to reenter the synthie market with a very nice looking 88-keys . Today i thought the korg krome was the answer of korg to casio . 256-polyphony versus 800x480/7" incl. 3,8GB pianosounds .

As you see on my first posts i have described not only what  - i - want . I think casio have wasted a good chance because of concepting a performance keyboard . and because of the supreme 256-poly .

I dont think that this mini-display does affect any user while playing . You have an pc-editor , so constructive editing is easily possible .

XW : i nearly know (all) your videos and nearly all youtubes refer to

This is why i ordered it .

But on videos -and here- the same occurs : nobody can tell exactly how it functions . Simplest things are not clear . Okay is a beginner synth and thought for the youth . But this is not the essence .

You made hours and hours of videos instead of printing a "new" manual - for "advanced" users .

The same occurs on PX-5s . I cannot find a standard midi-implementation . Should i print and scroll through 83-pages ?  only to know which things are sent/received ? This is abnormal , i think .

You can make in 2-3 month the biggest synthesizer in world with very very low costs .

But you must develope a new thinking - away from this marketing concept : yes we restrict the possibilieties of nearly all although it costs us nothing because of the price level we want to "reach" .

You all are old enough to know the synthesizer-concept .

I have an korg dss-1 from 1986 with three syntheseforms (add.+subtr.+drawwaveform) .

I ask what has changed since the last 27 years!

Read again my postings!

@ultra.klick

Do you own the Px-5s? 

NO .

I´ve ordered on weekend instead of it one P1 and one G1 .

On saturday i´ve seen another video of XW-clinic-live (Mike Martin), so i dont waste time , there a asks a guy twice a time about "64-polyphony" .

I wondered .. I jumped meanwhile to amazon.com for US-prices . There was a video which ends about: .. exactly NO editing possibillieties !!

I wondered more and more.. I refer the twelfth time to both manuals and both editors and now i have seen it :

Page G-18 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I immediately cancelled my order .

I need tone generators , nothing more .

But this is no tone generator , this is fraud .

OK ..if i Programm a jazz Guitar on Zone 1-4 how do i play this from a DAW ? should copy the jazz midi in 4 different tracks assigned to midi channel 1-4 or do i set zone 1-4 on midi channel 1 ? 

If you want to play your guitar from DAW you assign there the midichannel on which the PX-guitar is !

If you want to play in your DAW a voice? you assign on PX the midichannel on which the DAW-voice is !

If you want to play your guitar quattrophonic you assign on 4 midi-channels .

Note: Timbres "melody" is only little editing possible , hex is only Zone 1+2 .

- - So , try to experiment with MIDI-IN before you edit any sounds !

REFER TO PX-5s-TUTORIAL and PX-5s-MIDI-IMPLEMENTATION

FOR FURTHER INFORMATIONS !!!

Otherwise your time is maybe wasted .

The bottom line is the PX-5S is primarily a live performance Stage Piano / Studio Controller. While it does have some sequencing functionality, it is definitely not a workstation. What you have is an extremely lightweight and capable gigging instrument as well as a flexible sound design canvas and MIDI controller.   

Yes the GM tones can be used to play MIDI files. The results you get from these depends largely on the source MIDI file.. some are much better than others. However, the real power of the PX-5S is using the 256 poly and hexlayers to split and layer up to 14 sounds at once across the keyboard. Believe me when I say: "You ain't heard nothin' yet!". The sound designers have made some amazing Stage Settings so far, but there is some amazing potential for evolving soundscapes, "song ready" arpeggios splits orchestral cross layers. 

Scott , i´m definitely talking about external MIDI-devices like Sequencers/DAW , so the poor sequencing functionality of PX-5s is not needed .

You´re (all) always talking about PLAYING files ? This is the same difference as your example PX-part IS NOT midi-channel .

But this simplifiing assertion is not correct : because of a tone-generator is ALWAYS and ONLY controlled by midi-orders .

Advanced features are mostly system-exclusive or N-RPN .

Lets have a look on polyphony : one hex-layer use and needs 6 oscillators . Implemented effects are using additionally oscillators .

How many voices needs a piano player if he is playing a little bit quicker than a beginner ?

THINK One piano string sounds much more longer than the key-note is on ! Without reverb or/and delay .

I´m not a pianoplayer , but i´ve seen (on video) piano players they play so fast , that you hardly can follow his fingers .

How wonders that middlepriced stagepianos (kawai , etc.) are all at 192-polyphony . Ten fingers needs on hex-layers minimal 60-notes at one time . If you use chorus reverb and delay (so i think as in the most preprogrammed settings in PX-5s as in all keyboards) 192-polyphony

is not so much that you can jubilee about this "incredible" sound-capacity .

So how much is remaining for the channel/part 5-16 ? How much oscillators are needed for ONE voice .

If you play on "melody-voices" three simple chords and some pumping rhythms or noteincreasing arpeggios - how much oscillators are leaving

for the pianoplayers ? Simple mathematics : nothing .

YES , some hexsynths sounds good , all shaped with 7-point-shapes , but whats with the other voices from part 5-16 ?

The editing possibilieties are low down as an cheap casio or medeli keyboard .

So the sound is coming down to earth .

YES , its an amazing white-blue designsynth ... take pardon synthsound-playkeyboard , which may look nice on stage or at barbecue ,

but has nothing to to with a professional synthesizer . The cheapest synthie has 16 parts on 16 channels . Each part is fully editable like each

other . Most manufacturer using two oscillators per part on 128-polyphony . This concept results in 64-polyphony without any effects .

Nothing for pianoplayer who would hear ALL his played keys.

So SCOTT , i will ask you : WHAT DO YOU THINK

what is the concept of casio behind this "thing"  ?

This simplified 14-part-ROMpler and high-tech-synth .

Who should buy this "thing" for what reason? For whom it was made ?

Hi

Thank you for your honesty about PX-5S which should not be bought in order to do sequencing (Mike Martin has already said that it's not a workstation) but i am very embarrassed because i need :

  - a portable keyboard with 88 keys and good heavy touch

  - various sounds like hex layers, arpeggios and the possibility to create or download new sounds

  - a cost of 1000 euros maximum

PX-5S has all qualities that i am searching for, except the sequencer which could be improved in a new firmware (not sure) but with a PC sequencer, it can work even if the PX-5S is not very easy to use for this purpose.

Choice is very difficult because :

  - i could look at Korg Kross 88 which has a real sequencer but i think keyboard is much worse than the px-5s

  - i can also wait several months (but not several years) until Casio present a new workstation with same possbilities than the PX-5S (NAMM 2014 ?) but Casio doesn't say anything about new announces

That is why I consider all opinions and why i am wondering about buying PX-5S or not ...

Great thanks to all participants of this forum

You cannot have all . I think PX-5s is nothing for people who wants a tone-generator for external MIDI-devices . There is no information available (like conventional MIDI-Implementation chart) which can explain the MIDI-possibilities of this tone-generator . They make hours and days of videos instead of an advanced manual . The same is with XW-series . A look on PX´s  83-pages (!)  "midi-implemantation" shows : if you want to

have a simple oversight about MIDI , you have no chance . You must print this 83 pages and then compare point to point to point to point -

what is happening if i use external devices . It have 256-polyphony , which is the biggest generator on the market , but you can only play a little bit on the keyboard with little accompaniment . Thats all with this keyboard . It seems to like an typical Casio-keyboard , great but with strongly limited or restricted possibilities for making advanced music .

Your choice :  Korg Krome has only 128-polyphony but a 7"-display through which you can quickly access (i hope so) ALL the parameters are possible . For the same price . But you have only 61 keys .

So you can choose between 88 keys or a professional easy-editing sound-machine .

On the other hand Kurzweil (is from korea) have professional Fatar- (from italy!) keyboards , the best and easy editing possibilities (pc-editor) of all . Costs ? LE editions or SP-StagePianos at the same price (700-1200) but only are 64-polyphony .

Conclusio : You can buy PX as a playable keyboard with litlle sound possibilities PLUS an access virus ti2 sound module for about the same price as a professional Kurzweil-music-station with 88adjustable keys .

The PX-5s timbres are ONLY fully editable on hex-layers (max. 2) , don´t forget . The other 14 channels are very very simple construction .

twice the time : this is no useable tone-generator for advanced musical purposes .

So , we are fully free to choose some cheese from the cost-intensive cheese platter !

I'd have to agree here, because when comparing the fidelity of the sounds in the PX-5S to say my Kurzweil PC3LE6 which is in a similar price range here in Australia ($2,000 retail) the Casio sounds seem to be sampled at a much lower bit rate and don't sound as clean and crisp.

Now, while some people may be really disappointed with this, I tend to see the PX-5S keyboard as the ultimate excersise in compromise by the Casio engineers. I mean we have so many features packaged into a board featuring 88 superbly weighted keys with crazy polyphony limits, making it an amazing gigging instrument. Forget lugging a Hammond & Leslie to gigs, for some of us older folk, even lugging a Kurzweil or Roland is too much

What I'd really like to see is the ability to turn off polyphony so when you play solo instruments like woodwinds and some retro synth sounds the phrasing is more authentic. For example, think of playing the synth solo in the classic 'Nutbush City Limits'

Finally I want to add that this is one rare moment where I have not experienced buyers remorse and I've owned a lot of boards in the last 35 years.

In Germany the Kurzweil costs less than 1200 AUD and the P(hantastic)X-5s more than 1500 AUD .

This is because the Kurzweil have three soundengines instead of one . You know: You have VA and physical moddelling .

Not only Therefore it weighs up to 14kg .

..and (dirty trick!) is not expandable with V.A.-S.T.machine  KOREa64.

So , The Kurzweil is unfortunately cheaper

I think "PRIVIA PX-5s" is the perfect name for this design .
The name sounds very smooth . Reminds you on "privilege" .
If this became a fully editable Synthesizer , also the biggest in world , in future , this is also the perfect name , i think .
Because of this : It should be an privilege to own this beautiful white-blue designsynthies .   

So i have to wait for the PX-6-XL - THE biggest Synthesizer in world

I want to have a  S Y N T H E S I Z E R  with 256-polyphony !

With the multipoint-shaping-possibilities of PX-Hexlayers and the other helpful stuff of XW .

Fully editable with PC/Mac/Android . The PX nearly was concepted as the BIGGEST Synthesizer in World !

Thanks to Hirsoshi Iwase ?

But at least became only a beautiful Masterkeyboard ...

CASIO-CONCEPTS : ??

I cannot see a casio-concept behind this 3 items . I sit a week and compared the possibilities . The G1 is offered as

"Groove-Keyboard" , but you can only see a nearly fully editable Synthesizer (on left side) with much more synth-waves then the others. The P1-"sound" is offered as an crazySynthesizer , but i cannot see were the synth is .

If you compare the editors and want a synth , you buy XW-series with only 64-polyphony .

So i see , in EU the prices are much more higher than in USA , you get one P1 plusG1 for one PX .

So i bought now P1+G1 . Both on the way to me . I will get much more fun with this than with a Korg Krome - for the same price and same polyphony .

On the other hand i see a lot of very-very old people using and explaining XW-series . Because of what ? This is the sound of 

the seventies (Schulze, Vangelis,Schoener, Tangerine Dream , aso) eighties and late nineties (raver) . But the XW-series are positioned for the youth . And the PX for the old piano players !

So they seems to be concepted as 3 stand-alone machines instead of fully interchangeability ? A heavy mistake !

For 999,- USD ? - i buy three PX immediately . And order 5-6 Behringer BCR2000 for an VERY-VERY BIG

"analog"-synth . THIS is what i want .