Scottym

I don't know why it's not connecting, I was able to update the firmware to the latest version over on the Casio site using the appropriate USB cable and my DAW's are able to recognise the midi in inputs from the G1. I don't have any daws running whilst running the data editor so I'm kinda at a loss in why it's saying it's disconnected.. Here's a screengrab. My System spec

I've just updated my last post and fixed some grammar / punctuation formatting errors I noticed as well as adding some more info. It was typed out in the dark in the wee small hours of last night. Should be better to read now :-).

Ah well better late than never to reply.... so here goes..I'll probably condense/overlap in one paragraph in my replies. Hi Scott, yeah the DJXii for me when I first seen it, it was in the well known 'Computer Music' magazine. It was a rather odd instrument on first impressions, and from what I remember reading about it back in 2002, on the bus at 22.45pm after finishing work in a food factory, it kinda like felt a bit of a let down having been using the DJX 1D for almost 4 years at that point, which included an LCD screen, and also something about the lack of assignable control knobs for midi out to a computer / midi device. The coloured sections of the keyboard and the hifi speakers which didn't look bad in themselves made the DJX!! really look like it was something aimed at young kids. The DJX 1D is was more like the Yamaha CSX1 in comparison looking terms, even if the shape was different and even more so in actual specifications. I've never actually played the DJX!! synth, though it actually sounds pretty cool from a few of the youtube video's I've seen online. But for me at the time it was coming out, it was kinda disappointing as I had hopes for a back lit LCD screen, more knobs and controls and a better sampler with higher quality and longer sampling time. It's a real shame the Casio G1 sliders don't have the capability for sending CC's at all, there must be a way for Casio to do a firmware update to allow this, especially since the P1 can. Even applying a new dedicated button combination with a caption 'All Ctrl's Ext'. I know there are workarounds like buying a dedicated controller like the Korg Nano that you mentioned but still..The option would be really appreciated if it was implemented, i noticed it's been requested quite often on forums. Maybe a mass petition / email request to Casio from G1 owners would motivate them. :-) Hi Bigmark, I was lucky enough to get one of the last few of the G1's that appear to be out there from one of the mainland UK suppliers. I think my heart and possibly my buying decisions would still have gone with the G1 even if the P1 was still available at the same price earlier this month as 2 years ago I had focused on getting the G1. The same kinda question as in whether I would want to spend another £220 inc (P&P.. I live in an apparently rural postcode in Scotland) on the P1 just for the sliders, would be pretty hard to justify when I could get a controller for less than a quarter of that. I never use organs in my music and whilst the Hex Layer thing is cool, I'm not sure if that would entirely persuade me, whilst also considering another dedicated controller with more knobs and sliders. My DJX key-bed was really on it's last legs, just having a new keyboard itself is a huge difference and make life a lot more fun. In fact I really like the feel of the keys whilst playing them, they have a slightly weighted springy synth feel which makes you fingers bounce a lot faster up and down and along the key-range which is nice. Hi Alan, yeah.. from my initial post of writing, I didn't have the Casio G1 in front of me, but have I watched I think all video's on the G1 so far. The similarity's between the Yamaha DJX, and the Casio G1 are so close, but it's almost like they are different Hybrids of each other, with the Casio G1 allowing for much deeper control of the sounds but with what I can only describe as having a rocket up it's ass on roller-scates in terms of sonic power. However the DJX does have tricks of it's own such as a beat repeat key where you can stutter the rhythm rapidly, use turntable / pitch shifting with the assign knob and also in combination with ribbon controller. It also includes dynamic's where you can crossfade between the drum beats which adds a sort of punch and fade between the melody elements and applying the same kind of effect there. The groove knob adds swing to the beats which is interesting in combination with dynamics and the assign knob allow you quickly access the reverb / chorus / attack / release /modulation / DSP / turntable,and adjust the arpeggiator speed amounts. Attaching a sustain pedal also allows you to hold the arpeggiator in the on position allowing you to control and play freely besides allowing for sustaining. The arpeggiator is probably one of my most used things when using it with Propellerheads Reason. At the time of getting the Yamaha DJX, (My first track with I ever did with Reason and my DJX back in 2001) =http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=11233573&q=hi&newref=1[Euphorical Love ) Prior to PC based music production (before I started on the Playstation), I was using a range of different sequencers like Bar & Pipes, Tiger Cub, and exploring sound trackers. Eventually I settled on Octamed Sound Tracker on the Amiga 1200, which came free on a CU Amiga coverdisk. (I also had an Amiga 500 for a year which I part exchanged with some extra cash to actually get the A1200 a year later. Making patterns was fast in Octamed's pattern note lanes, whilst using the Yamaha DJX's the arpeggiator. There was some great games machine for it's era and had some technically brilliant games which rivaled the consoles. Super Stardust AGA, and the Ruff & Tumble platformer, visually stunning and audio wise with their epic music tracks. I also bought a lot of magazines, Amiga Format, CU Amiga, The One, Amiga Shopper, Amiga Joker, Amiga Power, and Amiga Action. Moving forward after the transition of the PS1 console with Music 2000 on the Playstation, in 2000 I bought myself an Athlon 750 with 128Mb of ram which was pretty much essential for a music course I was doing at the time. Spent a year exploring all the software on the net and bought a Magix's Music Studio Generation 6 (basically a Logic clone) and spent more time exploring VST's with less time making music.. From June 2001, I've been with producing Reason to this day and with quite a few rack extensions, however I did pick up Reaktor 5.8 last year along with Razor, Spark, and Skanner which are pretty unique and offer lots of diversity. I'll post my complete setup/photo in the next day or so once I've sorted it out. My first ever keyboard was a Casio SK1 Sampling Keyboard, it looks like I've gone full circle now with the Casio G1. lol 2nd Yamaha PSS 680 and oh it lots of trigger pads. 3rd Yamaha 330. 4th DJX 5th ? (Yamaha QY100 doesn't really count lol) Thanks for that, it's comprehensive to say the least lol. Yeah, I actually did a photopshop version the XW-G1 2 years ago, which actually shows the accurate scale difference between them. I wanted to know what that was at the time. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4463220/Casio%20XW%20G1%20%26%20ork%20Nano%20Kontrol%20%26%20Pad%20%202png.png Thanks, yeah I think I've seen all the applicable one's regarding the G1, seen almost all of the P1 ones I think of Mike Martin's. I thought it was pretty cool to have a front man on hand to showcase the Casio products and support users with video's and forum questions.

Ah well, this thread had zero views but I'll reply and give you the solution as I figured it out myself. When in Step Edit mode, press the Mixer button below the screen and press the Part - + buttons (found below the main volume knob) until you reach channel 13. Press the mixer button again and use the up/down arrows (on the right section of the main panel) till your bullet point is next to DSP Line. If it's showing "off", press the Yes button on the main panel, ( the one next to No and Menu). Press the Mixer button again to make the change and you can now use both the sliders and knobs to change the cutoff as well as the res parameters for the sequence pattern.. When changing patterns press the mixer button again if you want to change the DSP Line for the bass to on and again to make the change. It's my first day with this new synth so still learning it's functions, I'm not sure if you can set all sequence patterns to have the DSP Line on by default. Anyone ?

Im not sure whats going on here with the G1 but I'm running SSEQ Electro D&B, I select Part 13 from the mixer gui and I'm unable to change or rather hear any change in the filter when using the knobs or drawbars. I must be missing something as on my Yamaha DJX, it's as simple as pressing the Part Control button, selecting the bass key and filtering the bass with the cutoff/ribbon controls. Thanks.

Hi dudes, just a heads up to let you know that the Casio G1 arrived about 4pm today, I wasn't completely expecting it as of today but thought there was a chance. I didn't really get to play with it till about 6pm as I had to do some tidying up and re-arrange my setup. I took some photo's with my phone but they're just too grainy in the light I have so I'll use my 12meg digital camera sometime tomorrow. In the past 5 hours besides watching some tele, I've had a lot of fun exploring just what this thing can do and indeed how to use it. It's really different from how the DJX works operation wise... Anyway I'll get back to folks those kind enough to post in this thread shortly. Cheers.

A Casio XW G1 Hybrid Synthesizer !!!, Wow it's really not the keyboard I was expecting to buy after all these years of internet window shopping looking at expensive professional synths on the market from the likes of Yamaha and Korg. I would have expected to have bought something along the lines of the MOX6 or something similar in years past. Going from a Yamaha DJX to what feels like it's spiritual successor like in the way my old Atari 800 XL had some legacy to the Commodore Amiga is somewhat a strange feeling. The Yamaha DJX was released under the impression that it was just a home keyboard for kids but actually underneath and control wise, it was really a sibling of it's mother the Pro-end the Yamaha CS6. My Yamaha DJX has taken quite a battering over the years after a few falls, with a broken front keybed bumper, and dodgy midi / power connection's on it's rear. Other than that it's still working albeit with a few worn keys. Today the Roland's new synth at Namm2014, might have been a possibility, or even another dedicated midi controller such as the Panorama P6 for my primary DAW Propellerhead's Reason 7 which I've been producing with since June 2001. Auturi's Keylab 61 caught my eye over the last year also which I was also considering, besides the new interesting keyboard controllers from Namm 2014. But, I've always had an eye on the XW-G1 in the back of my mind, I had an 11 page thread over on the Props forum filled with loads of info and video's on the G1, there's P1 stuff also. You need to be a registered Propellerhead user to see it though. And with that ,the last few days I've recently found out and from my own searches that the availability in the UK of the Casio to buy is scraping the proverbial barrel. You'll be lucky to get one within the next week there are so few and the price margin between say Amazon and a couple of retailers that have any is literally into the hundreds and even then you'd be hard pressed to find the P1 in stock. Now here's a dilemma if you can call it one, I've just bought a new Casio XW-G1 for just £200 :-O (exc £18 P&P) (Amazon are still selling it for £370). P1's if any available still have a £300+ price tag. Although I'd like a P1, the cost margin between them is too big to when essentially there not a huge difference hardware spec wise. -- In regard to the Casio G1, I do have a question on how much of the G1 I can assign to CC externally for DAW's such as Reason. I've read that the sliders don't send CC on the G1, but what about in the case of RNPN's. There is displays for CC parameters in the settings menu, so is it possible to assign the sliders to them or indeed using RNPN's. -- The courier should be arriving sometime between 29th and 30th with my big box of tricks . Hardware wise, I've got a few other pieces of gear that I've bought over the past 20 years including another Yamaha DJX ( in perfect condition, but 600 miles away however) and a Yamaha QY100 Sequencer (XG soundset) and my old PSR330.

Here's some photo compositing images I did with the current manufactures product, the XW-G1. Previously posted over on Gearslutz where Casio's Mike Martin had commented directly on them and gave some feedback about the connectivity limitations.

Ah, eventually a few of the folks here did rekindle this thread albeit over a over a week later, but anyway seeing as Namm 2014 is upon us, I thought I'd reply to a few direct posts since I was here last. Interesting question, thought what exactly would you take from that other controller and what would be feasible in making it all work correctly is another. There is only so much space available so essence a totally redesign of the manufacturing process of the keyboard would possibly be necessary such as adopting a modular mechanised solution or addon displays. Sample editing screens like those of Mashcine Studio's are aspects which would preferably be something akin to fold up displays from the edge, giving easier accessibility and overview than having to enter display menu's. The Maschine Micro version with it's simplified surface would possibly be adaptable though. With the Casio redesign's the aim was an evolutionary realistic one that Casio could consider without completely abandoning it's current design and pushing it forward as a real must have product. As I mentioned earlier, my hands are tied up with something else atm gui wise so no plans for a resdesign at present. This is actually a pretty old project in the scheme of things. Thanks, I think they were both included as it's something I saw mentioned on a forum somewhere so didn't have much knowledge of how they actually differed, however my first ever keyboard was Casio SK1 Sampling Keyboard around the age of 8 back in the 80's lol. It would be preety funny to see that on the XWZ. Humm, whilst I really like that keyboard, to do any actual image editing with that picture, I feel would be pretty difficult to pull off with lots of compositing required, possibly also in 3D and with a low grade quality of that photo, the time it would take wouldn't really be rewarded visually besides the technical issues. You can always imagine though in visualising some elements that could be adopted.

Phasoray was a unique and original name I came up with to replace D-Beam which originates with Roland's version. It's basically a laser which performs multiple functions like that of Rolands D-Beam but with an added function button called Pulse Rate.Pulses refer effectively to the switch on / off functionality like a gate system. The Pulse rate button can also be linked to the arpeggio features in the LCD menu's although a button could have been added on the main control panel like Arp Pulse..The height of one's hand changes the note value up and down the scale, the actual height and rate of movement determines the speed of the next note change combined with any assigned effect such as modulation or delays you perform by methods of wobbling your hand or any object in line of sight..

Thanks. Yeah, it's something I considered doing but I didn't think I'd have much in the way of verticle space without altering the original circutery space and include the additional pattern banks to make it much bigger. It would need a complete redesign with a new LCD similar to that of a Triton size. The wip I posted above is actually slightly bigger than the other two however.

This was still a work in progress version I did after the first one I posted in my opening post, I didn't really get round to finishing it but thought I'd post it anyway. Multiple backlit LCD's was something I felt it's needed, where you can use both the G1/P1 features, I/O docks for phones X/Y pads to replace the strip kind and a few other things I've added to the mix.

Here is the original version which was posted over on the Gearsutz and Props forums back in 2012, it's similar feature wise, I think Mike Martin did see this, so who knows if Casio HQ got wind of it and though humm...

I don't currently atm have either of the XW Casio Synths, but I was intreged in what they were capabile of and was considering buying the XW-G1 in particular when they were revealed at Namm 2012. I never got round to getting one, perhaps because I was holding out on a keyboard that would cover all my needs for the right price which I know is difficult. I use Propellerheads Reason 7 & Reaktor and I'm familiar with Nektars Panorama as a Reason dedicated option but there are still aspects and ommisions of it I feel let it down to question buying one. The price of the XW range has been cut by around £250 since the original price of around £450 so I'm very tempted to pick one up very soon. Holding out on whats going to come in Namm 2014 is maybe a wiser option though :-/. Anyway back on topic, I regulary redesign and create original designs/concepts of both music hardware and synth gui's I think I'd enjoy doing and generally improve my photoshop skills, and once I've done one I'll move onto a new project. I felt the combining of both the XW G1 and P1 added with desirable features was a fun challenge at the time. I did this back around Feb-March 2012 and thought I'd post it here seeing as I heard Casio had something on the grapevine soon. Currently I'm in the process of other projects so don't see more designs of the XW range on the horizon atm. Thanks guys ;-)

Could this be the next gen of XW Casio controller synths for the future ?