Scottym

Thanks for the additional info Jokeyman123, I don't use that particular site but I do use amaz**, I found these which look to be thicker than what multiple layers of felt tape would provide and perhaps easier to apply under the keys, http://tinyurl.com/felt-strips do you recon they would be any good for the job ? One side has self adhesive as well and they shouldn't be too difficult to cut and are pretty cheap compared to the felt tape I've found. I actually opened up my old DJX, to see if I could do anything with the dodgy midi connector, it also needs some pretty serious cutting of the plastic frame of it and modified custom front bumper attached but as the Casio's have replaced it, it's more of a hassle (the amount of dust and dog hair in was crazy, I actually had to put my collie x labrador down dog down in 2006, so it was a kinda poignant reminder of him. The Casio's are going to be with me for a long time I think as my old DJX was that I got in 1997. I'll be looking to add some rigidity to the keys to prevent horizontal movement of them also, maybe the pads will help there too without affecting the key action too much. As the knobs are surface mounted to the PCB I'm considering using some metal plate. or large washer rings. Rotary knob wise, further modifications could led lighting ones similar to that of the Novation SL series have, and sliders could be replaced with ones that are more stylish. I don't have an Ipad yet but a mini ipad one could be integrated into it also along with rotary / pads / sliders modules. It would be renamed the Casio XW-G1-EX Professional Controller. One can dream https://db.tt/DASaz9kH

Thanks a lot for the info, I'm not really too worried about the warranty, my firmware is up to date in it anyways, by the time the end of next year comes, the keys will be freaking awful to play I'll imagine so probably better done sooner than later. I've never actually had to return any keyboard before in my life, even though I did buy a cheap second hand Pss 760 Yamaha one 18 years ago that had a dodgy key. Has the mod made any considerable difference or altered since you did it ? I'm not sure where I'll get the material strips and so pictures from your previous thread would probably help myself and probably a lot of others in taking action. Cheers.

I've had my Casio G1 for what must be like 4 months now, and the keys are starting to sound like my old Yamaha DJX which took about 10 years before the same issues arrived. So in that respect the the G1 key bed/ feel is very rapidly becoming really cheap and tacky to be honest. It's mainly the white keys, the black keys are not creaking but they are still noisy as you can hear them hitting the framework with a dull sound like that of a extremely thin pieces of paper covering hard plastic being hit. I bought a Casio P1 just 2 weeks later than the G1, and currently it's not so far experiencing as the same loose and creaking issues, though that might be because I play the P1 much less often, however the same dead sound of the keys hitting bed as with the G1 still remains which I don't really like. It's a shame Casio didn't put as much effort into the robustness and solidarity of the knob fixing as well like some solid metal housing to protect the PCB should knobs be pulled on the XW's, come to think of it, I'd probably attach metal knobs to the XW G1/P1's instead of the cheap plastic one's, to at least make it gig worthy should I ever take it anywhere.. The G1 is a great synth, there are some things technically I wish it could do and I'm surprised Casio didn't bother to allow the G1 to use the sliders easily and properly to allow it to send CC messages to a DAW for example. I can't fix the CC slider issue, but hopefully I can fix the key quality with some modifications. I'll be looking to add some padding of some sort to kill the dead feeling and increasing the rigidity of the keys themselves, and possibly adding some weight to make it feel like a semi weighted keyboard. If you have any sources of information/tips in ways to improve keybed / keys ect then that would be great. Cheers

There is another solution at home you can do, but it's more of a work around and that's installing windows on another partition of your hard drive (or another spare hard drive if you prefer) or ssd if you don't have another laptop, or pc, but as a safe guard disconnect from the internet and do not register it or activate it when it requests you to ( you can't accidentally if it's not connected ), this will save you having to buy another copy of Windows 7. I can pretty much guarantee it will work, in my case because I'm using a Laptop with a 32 bit processor so I installed Windows 7 32 Bit version. The problem is either related to a service which needs restarted or/and what needs to be deleted in the registery. I've not got to the bottom or it yet myself but these are your options apart from, finding the cause, re-installing Windows again over your's original or buying Win 7 or 8 again, if you have no friends that can help.

I'm trying to do directly through the sd card now without the dataeditor , I formatted the sd card in the g1 and basically I've copied alot of g1 compatible files onto the sdcard into the main dat folder. But I can't get the G1 to actually see them. Ah well, guess I will have do it through my laptop solution.

The result remains the same, I kinda gave up trying to get it to work on my main desktop system, the application works on my Laptop which isn't really ideal but it works that way. There is probably a service I've disabled, but I don't have a clue what that one is.

If you are using the P1, yes you can map the 9 sliders as they send CC messages, if you are using the G1 then no it won't work. It works perfectly fine with an application like Reason, the only thing you've to remember is that the sliders work in reverse, and remember to be in Drawbar mode. If the virtual organ vst accepts cc messages, then there is no reason why it shouldn't work.

Re-branding a company into a division isn't seen as a negative thing or in anyway to mock/shame the original brand name, It's actually seen as forward thinking just as developing new innovative products is forward thinking. Re-branding is not only just about the name and perceived image, as for a company there is a list of reasons for doing so benefiting the end user of the product. For example, third party addon's accessories, software support- eg Native Instruments integration, dedicated DAW support, dedicated third party hardware compatibility, e.g add on LCD display, integration ect.. Casio spent 20 years standing still before re-entering the synth market, it can do a lot more and a re-brand is in my honest opinion the way forward. Here's a couple of websites which cover the benefits of re-branding in more detail. 1. Gain competitive advantage 2. Stimulate growth 3. Long-term market expansion 4. Innovation = profitability http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/marketing-strategy/branding/do-you-need-to-rebrand-your-business- Identifying the Need Loss of Market Share or Brand Equity Competitive Advantage Product Launch Brand Personality http://blog.precisionmarketingpartnersnc.com/blog/bid/240518/4-Reasons-Why-Rebranding-Might-Benefit-Your-Business

Interesting replies in this thread since I posted it a while back, but to take off in a graphic name / logo redesign I mentioned I came up with a few idea's. This is just one of them, I've kept it pretty simple and it is indeed original, (i.e google doesn't recognise it from anywhere). It uses a very similar font to the casio brand font but it's unique in that it reads the same from both directions . I wanted something that made me think future and innovative sounding, which doesn't date. I used the 3d app, Cinema 4D in creating it, and may even come up with a 3d model logo to place above the 3d letters.

It's often the perception, mentioned or considered by many that the Casio brand name doesn't really show the company in the best of light when it comes to musical instruments or synthesizers, rightly or wrongly that's how I see it. I actually think for this to change, a divisional name for their products should be created to separate from the watches, and calculators which are so often considered Casio and remain so. The brand name is often an element in selling a product and although I do hope re-branding becomes a reality that Casio will consider, this thread is an opportunity for users who either own or don't own a Casio product to come up with some suggestions and maybe a reason for them. Maybe it could be an an acronym with some representation of the company, or perhaps you could even a design a logo of some sort...It's up to you...it's for fun but if you're posting images, please put some effort into the quality of your work..you don't know who might be watching this thread and taking notes. ;-)

Having looked over on the gearslutz forum, the absence of any mention of Casio has me curious if they are there at all with any products let alone with any new product updates to the XW range.

I use the big round 'jog wheel' whilst in the menu as an alternative.

Use Dropbox to host your images/files.

Think I've found some ideal ones to buy, http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Jack-Jack-Pro-Right-Angled-Instrument-Cable-3m/GCJ

Thanks for the replies and links dudes, lots of complex reading material there. FB Linky no worky though. I'll be doing some relocation of my setup so will try and isolate all my hard drives, audio interfaces, computer ect the best I can in addition to acquiring some decent cables.

Because my studio setup has never required dedicated Jack to Jack audio cables and music production has focused being pretty much made inside software, my need for them hasn't been an issue really. I don't even have an external audio mixer to be inclined to use my older synths I've been using over the years. Connectivity wise, using phono leads to amplifiers has always been the way besides monitoring on headphones. However, now that my studio has grown with new audio hardware such as having a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 which allows for '2 line in's', the convention of connecting a standard 3.5mm lead to 2 jack plugs at either end doesn't give great results or in other words lots of interference. So I'm pretty sure this is down to the cable not being shielded. However I'm not 100% positive if this is due to using stereo jack plugs in mono inputs of the audio interface rather than dedicated mono cables as I don't hear interference when using a stereo output to stereo input with a standard dual 3.5mm stereo jack cable with other hardware devices. So I'm wondering what you would recommend cable wise for connecting the XW's to an audio interface ? I'm looking at a few jack to jack options here in the UK websites but thought I'd query your thoughts and suggestions. Mono or stereo, low price, gold contacts ect. Thanks.

Casio has always been a unique and diverse company who are unafraid to try new things, however for many years they have flown under the radar. Casio hasn't really been known or indeed thought of as a software development company, but rather more worldly of a integrated electronics one. The introduction of the XW range has really stepped up their profile image as not to be ignored on the music hardware scene however, there are always ways to improve this range. I chose to illustrate some idea's Casio could take for the future of their synths. Perhaps a combination of the ones in this thread would be really drop some jaws of consumers that would normally shy away from the Casio brand. http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/5072-the-casio-xw-z-mpc-controller-synth/

This was my very first keyboard when I was around 8 (around 28 years ago), I think it was my older brother Kenneth and sister Avril who bought it, they are 9 and 11 years older than me. I think it was a couple of months before Christmas before I saw it and got to play with it. I loved playing with it, sampling conversations without them realising and making farting sounds behind peoples backs. Rather than my sister buy me a Christmas present, she said I could have it as one. Prior to this, my dad when he was alive could play 5 different instruments and had purchased an organ back in the 70's which still resides in my loft to this day. I always tried to play it in my young years but the keys were just too huge to span them properly. Kenneth and Avril tried to teach me though and I did manage to learn a short one. Today my sister can play the piano and sight read music notation as well as my younger niece. I've never been very much inclined to read music notation. In high school, 1st / 2nd year.. teachers tried to force us to learn notation by threatening detention on us if we didn't do the homework. So I ended up hating the theory part and not taking it in 3rd and 4th year and since then I have carried on producing music using the same mythology as I did 28 years ago with the Casio SK1. :-) Unfortunately when I was around 14 I put 12 volts into the Casio SK1 using one of those risky variable power switch adaptors, and fried the components. With the sudden flicking lights and burning smell oozing from it's openings, I kinda knew my Casio was pretty much dead. My Yamaha DJX 1D was it's successor around 6 years later with it's sampling capabilities..

Thanks for answering my questions, 515kb is surprisingly small, I just wonder how the quality of say a 16 Bit 44.1 Khz sample retains the quality after the conversion. Come to think of it, this is possibly why the actual output of the synth is stated as being 42Khz due to the sounds having to be converted in the compression process the data editor uses. If that's the case, it would seem that samples which were preloaded onto a card at 16 bit 44.1 Khz retained full 16bit would be internally down sampled when loaded in order to allow the internal processing of the DSP to process effects to be applied or in other words headroom to prevent clipping. Q1: Just to confirm, I take it that all samples need to be converted before the XW's will accept them ? Q2: Oh, something about the data editor, I noticed you could transfer 20 samples to the XW-G1, if I recall correctly meaning that when you do that, it's saving onto the SD card ready for loading or is there an option to apply them to just the memory ? I looked at the setting but could only see the option for a Card. 65000 user wave tones would be rather cool in a synth having said that ;-) I could transfer my library of Reason 7's sampled sounds on a 32 Gig card in with folders of 50 lol ( probably take forever ). The ability to map 61 + samples to full note / octave range for every note of the keyboard would be really cool though if it were possible, just so that perfect pitch would be retained, drum loops as you previously mentioned would be ok though. I also have Reaktor so I'll be grabbing some of Razor, Skanner, Spark ect to sample as well as a few RE's for Reason like Antidote / and Rob Papen's Predator, so I'll see what cool things I can do with them and how limited I am in mapping the sounds. It's nice to not depend on a computer connectivity / screen and take the cool things they have away and play with them and save electricity at the same time. As for you're query on saving I had, yeah... in saving a performance, I meant every setting and mapping of samples, sound settings ect, which I think you confirmed.

Hi dudes, thought I'd build on the questions asked about the XW-G1 as I currently own one. :-) My question relates to sample storage as I've still yet to pick up an my SD Card for it in town. (my camera's one is n/a). Anyway, if the Casio can store up to 190 seconds 21Khz Mono or 85 seconds 42 Khz Stereo across 10 user wave slots, I assume this is within the internal memory. How much could you store on a 32Gig Memory Card ? Also, are these samples loaded as blocks of user waves 1-10 ( for each of the user preset slots ) as one whole or require individual loading of them. In addition to this, is it possible to save an entire performance with all samples assigned and ready to be loaded from the memory card ?

If it's down to sales, it's probably because the economy of the UK, is still in a recession despite what the government is telling us. Many musicians and digital composers are spending less in the way of hardware or renewing it whilst buying only when they really need to. People are spending more in the way of choosing a DAW (which usually comes with a lot you need), a few VST Plugin's or Reason Rack Extensions for example (i.e cheaper alternatives to actual hardware ). And with that, there has been a big move to controllers which have been cheaper and provide more controls for less money. Casio with their XW's in an actual product development, effectively split it's nose in half I think by alienating the features of one product over another or in other words not combining all the features of both the P1 & G1 into one solid unit. UK buyers don't like manufacturers cutting corners off to make extra bucks when they could have been easily incorporated. Similar but different products divide and confuse potential buyers from a product so they will go else where and buy something that does the job. It also comes down to the pricing of the product, and if you get that wrong whilst confusing the product buyers mind or by making them feel the manufacturer is in any way teasing them for more money with another product.. well, the risk of not selling is high and even more so when you start selling products in America for far less money than what it costs in the UK. Get the pricing right and it will sell like hotcakes. I didn't buy the XW G1 on launch because it was OVERPRICED in the UK upon launch compared to the US, even though I wanted one. After that I forgot about it for almost 2 years and upgraded my software or bought other software such as Reaktor 5.8 on a deal they had last year, for just just £90 inc vat. People in the UK are cautious with money nowadays and will wait... I don't think you can put it all down to snobbery. It's the product and features people are buying, not the name. Computers, software and dedicated controllers which control them have made a big shift in the market over the past 5 years. The next Casio Synth needs more knobs, dedicated CC controllers ( oh Casio screwed up with XW G1 on that one, no slider midi control changes wtf???) and the the addition of 16 touch sensitive pads, a larger and proper high res LCD screen and perhaps even aftertouch on the keys, and at a price which is competitive. A few examples in this thread if you are reading Casio. http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/5072-the-casio-xw-z-mpc-controller-synth/

You'll need a pre-amp for the guitar of which there are a lot to choose from with different features and price points. If you're on a cheap budget, you could get something like this. http://www.dv247.com/guitars/behringer-gdi21-v-tone-guitar-guitar-amp-modeler-direct-recording-preamp-di-box--26906

Hi Mike, here's another screenshot with the settings and info and pic of the display. And yes I did press Exit, turned it back on and tried to reconnect. I also tried to connect vie my Toshiba 1.73 dualcore, 2 gig of ram laptop which runs Windows 7 32 bit which is just a bare OS with just a few applications and games. It doesn't want to know either. Below is a screengrab from my I7 920 system, I changed to basic windows mode to see if it would make any difference.

No luck, the Casio Data Editor version 1.2.0 seems to be broken even after changing the MIDI settings on the G1. I also did a system factory reset on the G1. Even tried running it on my Laptop that's running Windows 7 32 Bit. Tried running the Data Editor in compatibility mode for XP and Vista and the Data Editor is still broken in recognising the G1. I read on the notes that they updated the editor in compatibility for the travasty of what's called Windows 8. Is there a previous G1 Data Editor version I can use ? Are either of you running Windows 7 btw ?