Ebonivor

I was getting frustrated by the same thing, so I got into the habit of naming them in the format YYMMDD-#, e.g. For the third backup today it would be named "140317-3". There are three problems with this: it takes a lot of knob twiddling to enter the name; it only allows for nine backups daily ( OK, ten if you include "0"); and the big one - remembering what number thelast backup was!

Oh how I wish Casio would move into the 21st century with its naming conventions - 8+3, really? I thought DOS was dead! Don't get me started on my frustration with having to have the recordings named "TAKExx". And loading stage settings etc. from the USB drive - how can you possibly tell what's what when the name is truncated to such an extent that it's meaningless. If you are loading a stage setting or whatever, you don't need to see the file extension. If that was dropped, at least it would allow for more of the actual name to be displayed.

I agree with what you are saying Choppin. I am particularly cautious about losing any resources ( it comes from 40 odd years of working as a professional photographer and graphic designer and having learnt the necessity of having multiple backups of everything!).

Although I find the data editor to be quite primitive, it's the only way that I create or edit anything on the PX-5S, because I can easily save everything to disk so that I can reload it at any time and I never overwrite any stage setting that I haven't created myself. That way, all of those unique tones that are were saved as part of the stage setting will still be there.

However, if I do find a customised tone in a stage setting that I particularly like, I will both save it to a user slot and also copy it to disk.

Hey Mau Van, no need to apologise! With the number of great contributions you've made to the downloads section, your hands can write anyway they like!

I write a lot of my posts, emails etc. on my iPad, and I'm always finding that I've typed something wierd - usually just after I've sent it. What I need is an iPad with fully weighted hammer action keypad! :-)

The biggest problem I have with sliders, knobs, wheels and pedals is remembering what I've assigned to them - at some stage, I'll have to decide on some sort of standardisation. But then that would take away all the surprises!

I've got one stage setting I've made that has hex layer with four layers comprised of various strings ( would that actually be a quad layer?) on zone 1 plus concert grand on zone 2 and brite grand on zone 3. I use sliders 1-4 to control the mix of the layers and sliders 5 & 6 to mix the two piano tones when I need to cut through more. But like SonnyDaye suggests, I use the mod wheel to control the volume of zone 1 - it''s then like a master volume for the hex layer mix. But then I switch to another stage setting where the mod wheel acts as just that, and when I reach for it - whoops! That's not a volume control!!!

Then there are the other stage settings where I've set the sliders to work in the opposite direction - like drawbars - to avoid the sudden jump in level when you first adjust them in a stage setting. I'm driving myself crazy... there are just too many options.... but isn't it great to have them!

Choppin, the downside of that method is that you can't partially add an opposing layer to the mix, for example, if you have layer 1 at full volume and want to add layer 2 at, say 60%, volume. I tried this method for a stage setting where I had a hex layer on zone 1 and tones on the other three. I wanted to be able to not only control the volume of each layer, but the other three zones as well. On top of that, I wanted the knobs to control reverb, delay, pedal 2 on-time and pedal 2 off-time. I eventually gave up because I figured I was just being greedy - and my aging brain couldn't remember what I had put where!

I can't begin to imagine why anyone would want to try to control 12 layers, but then, I've seen some pretty amazing keyboardists that have left me in awe!

Hey, here's an idea for Casio - since most of us have five digits on each hand, how about putting 5 sliders on each side of the display? Aaah, but then there's the hex layers - better make that six! ;-)

Thanks Brad. That cornfirms what I thought to be the case with stage settings and tones, but I was not aware of the situation with phrases. Good to know!

I'm a little confused. I understand that tones are saved within stage settings, but I'm puzzled by the fact that some of the downloadable stage settings have instructions to place an accompanying tone into a particular slot.

I also seem to remember someone asking why a particular stage stetting that they had downloaded was not working properly and the author said that they had probably not imstalled the tones in their correct slots. Surely this shouldn't be necessary.

Of course, having the tones separately available can be very useful if you want to load them into user slots for easy access in other stage settings.

You'll be wishing the days were longer when you get it! There are just not enough hours in the day to do all the things we need to do, and yet have sufficient time to experience all the pleasures the PX-5S has to offer! All too often I find myself still playing and exploring its wonders at 3am... :-)

Unfortunately, no. The PX-5S does not support a volume or expession pedal. It only supports simple on/off pedals.

You need to turn Knob 4 off in Zones 2, 3 and 4. Make sure you have selected Zone 1 (it is showing on the display) then do this:

1) Press the Edit button. Select 'Stage Setting' (enter) > 'Zone Edit' (enter) > 'Controller Edit' (enter). Scroll down to 'Knob 4 Enable'. Check that you are actually editing Zone 1 - it should show 'Z1' at the top of the display. Leave 'Knob 1 Enable' set to On.

2) Now change to the next zone (press the 'Zone/Part/Step/Track' '+' button. 'Z2' should now show at the top of the display. Set 'Knob 4 Enable' to Off (press the '-/No' button).

3) Repeat step 2 for the other two zones

4) Hit the 'Exit' button repeatedly until you are back at the main display.

That should do it.

If I'm understanding what you want to do correctly, it shouldn't be a problem. Let's say that you want to control just the volume of layer 1 of the hex layer tone with slider 1 and control the overall volume of the tone with slider 2.

Set the target of slider 1 to "Layer 1 Volume" and the target of slider 2 to "CC07:Volume", then in the Zone Editor, turn sliders 1 and 2 on for Zone 1 and off for the other layers.

If you want to be really adventurous, you could continue to assign all sliders to hex layers 1 through 6 and assign the knobs to control the volume of the four zones

The important thing to remember is that the controller(s) for the layer(s) is only turned on for the zone that contains the tone and off for all others.

In Ice Castles, knob 4 is set to target Reverb; you just need to set the target to CC07:Volume and turn off Knob 4 in Zones 2, 3 and 4. leave the sliders set the way they are.

I'm afraid not - but it would be nice if we could!

I was curious about this too, because I wanted to assign one of the knob to adjust the amount. Looking at the DSP parameters, I thought that if was able to increase the wet level with target 1 of the knob while decreasing the dry level with target 2 (swapping the min and max values), that I could vary the amount. But the dry level was already set to zero, so it appears that the wet and dry level parameters differ from what I am used to. If I just increased the wet level in that situation, I had to reduce the tone volume to compensate, but since there was no dry signal in the mix, I just end up with the same sound.

On the other hand, if you are building a hex layer tone from scratch, adjust the wet and dry relationship might get you there.

Hopefully, someone will have the correct answer and enlighten us both.

You certainly can do as would like - I do exactly that. I have a Yamaha FS4 sustain pedal plugged into pedal 1 and the original Casio pedal plugged into pedal 2. They both work exactly the same i.e. they are both really just normally-open switches, but any momentary on/off pedal will work.

I usually leave pedal 1 set up as a sustain (hold) pedal for piano and most EP stage settings, but use it for wah, rotary etc for others (as is done in the factory stage settings).

I set up pedal 2 to do a number of different things, depending on the stage setting - e.g. hold an arp, fade strings in and out, and start/stop a song or phrase - which is what you want to do.

Just navigate to the pedal settings, set the target to Start/Stop Phrase (it's about second last on the list I think) and leave the rest at their defaults. You can leave the pedal action set to Momentary, but make certain that pedal 2 is turned on in all zones. Then write the stage setting to memory so that you don't lose it when the keyboard is turned off. That should do it.

Just remember that setting will only apply to the particular stage setting that you save it in; if you want the same effect in other stage settings, you'll have to repeat the procedure for them.

Hey Jaspeter, you can't be a moron - you bought a PX-5S! :-) Glad I could help - it's one of the few things I know amongst the millions I have yet to learnI

I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to do. The setup of either pedal is saved as part of the stage settings, so can perform different functions and be set to momentary or toggle, depending on your needs. You could, for example, have pedal 2 set to toggle mode and target Zone on/off for one stage setting, but have it set to momentary mode and target CC:07 Volume to fade in a zone. Of course, you have to have a good memory to know what you've set it to do in each stage setting ;-)

Also, remember that like all the controllers, it can target two paramaters, but if you set target 1 to hold and target 2 zone on/off, you will only hear the zone while the pedal is down - obviously not what you would want.

If you want to try an example of how the dual target works, try this (best done in the data editor as follows):

Load the Concert Grand stage setting - it has strings on zone 2

Select the Common tab scroll down to the Pedal 2 panel

Select the Target 1 tab and set the target to CC:64:Hold 1

Leave the Mode as Momentary

Now Select the Target 2 tab and set the target to CC07:Volume

Leave the Min Value at 0 and set the Max Value to 95 (this will be the volume the zone will reach, change it as desired)

Set the On Rate to 64 and the Off rate to 40 (this gives a slight swell and slow release so that the on/off of the zone is less abrupt)

Now select the Zone tab and scroll down to the Controller area

Turn off Pedal 2 in all zones except zone 2

Turn off Pedal 1 in zone 2

Now you have a pedal 2 operation that turns on zone 2 at the same time as sustaining its notes. It's not something that you would be likely to use because the strings will just build to be a mess, but it allows you to sustain the strings independently of sustaining the piano while fading the strings in and out. If anyone has some variations on this that are actually useful, I would be interested in trying them - probably the subject of another topic. There are certainly lots of possibilities.

Good luck!

Jaspeter, have you set the Stage Set Filter to "off" in sys setting>general>stage set filter>compressor. It's set to " on" by default and prevents the master setting from changing between stage settings.

It's just a thought; I'm not near the keyboard at the moment, so can't check what you are experiencing.

Scott, which app were you using on the iPhone for the strings?

Nice work. I particulary like the feel of the drum/percussion track.

I have one of these that I used to use to switch between my two guitars and rout them alternatively into the two channels of my amp. The battery didn't last long, so ended up going back to using a passive switch box that I had built years earlier.

I just dug it put and tried it with the PS-5s and as I expected, it didn't do any more than the included pedal, and most of its switching capabilities are of no use. The pedal input on the PX-5s only relies on a simple single pole switch, so the AB200's changeover capabilities are wasted. A better choice might be a Boss FS-5U, but it's also battery operated, and you definitiely will not get the one pedal to perform both functions as you request.

I use a Yamaha FS4 as pedal 1 and the Casio footswitch (which I've attached to a piece of rubber-backed steel plate add some weight and stop it sliding around) as pedal 2. It works great for me. Hope this helps.

I too like the idea of being able to return to a program as it was when I left it.

For example, say I'm using a stage setting that has drums on zone 1, a hex tone on zone 2 and concert grand on zone 3, but I need to cut through a bit more so I switch the piano tone to rock piano. Then I switch to another stage setting that I've set up for the solo - I would ideally want the previous setting to be just as I had left it, with the same zone selected.

Resetting to the saved state could be as simple as pressing the +&- buttons, just as you do to return to defaults when editing.

Hugh,

I don't have problem with the lead guitarist, because that's me too! But the drummer and bass player...that's a different story!

That Line 6 amp looks interesting... pity the don't make one just for keyboards with stereo 1/4" jacks.

How do you run that cheap second speaker off the Bose to get stereo? And wouldn't you get a noticable drop in quality? I guess I'm just a little bit tempted.

Hi Choppin, thanks for your imterest. This issue has been discussed on another thread: http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/4279-noise-gate-on-audio-input/

My inital intention was to run the guitar through either Amplitube or JamUp Pro on my iPad into the mini jack input. When I discovered the clipping, I suspected that the software was the culprit, so I tried going direct into the line inputs, and then via both an active and a passive DI box. The result was the same. Adjusting the input level made no difference. One poster recommended adjusting the compressor settings, but that also had no effect. Another suggested that I should try sending a tone through the input, recording it to the USB drive and then check the resulting signal waveform in Audacity to see exactly what was happening. Curiously, his post has been removed... possibly due to his suggestion that some electronics manufacturers were using a noise gate to mask the effects of low quality components. I think that it is more likely that Casio is using it to reduce noise from attached devices and if so, it would nice to be able to either turn it off or adjust it. Of course, it might be nothing like that.

Anyway, I actually did something similar what was suggested by the poster (sorry, I can't remember who it was).

I generated a repeating series of 5 second 400Hz sine wave tones with a cosine fade. I saved it as a WAV file and loaded it onto my iPad. I then played the file through the PX-5S and recorded it. The clipping was clearly evident both audibly and when comparing the the graph of the original and the recorded signal in Audacity. I was intending to post images of the waveforms and mp3s until I saw that the post suggesting the approach had been removed. Also, earlier in the thread Mike Martin had said that he had made Casio aware of the issue, and I was really only looking to see if the had been any update.

Sorry for the lengthy reply, but it might help anyone else who is experiencing the problem. Hopefully a fix is in the works,

Scott, I'm also interested in your opinion of KC110. I was originally quite interested in this at the time that I was considering the PX-5S and following PianoManChuck's YouTube reviews ( thanks PianoManChuck! ). Since then, I seem to have nothing but negative comments and reviews - plus at $640 in Australia, it seems a bit overpriced.

I'm looking for something that I can also run my guitar through, bearing in mind that for gigging I use a MusicMan 212 HD130, which I wish was much lighter!

When I bought the PX-5S, I was hoping to run guitar through the external input so would only need something basic but with a good frequency reponse for practice and quiet jamming. Unfortunately the (?) noise gate (?) that clips the input signal before it has fully decayed makes it impossible.

I am also interested in the Yamaha Stagepas series. Your Stagepas 500 would be over the top for my needs, but I can a 150M for about the same price as the KC110, and the 250M for not much more. Have you (or any other member) had a chance to try either of these?

What I would really love is something that I can easily cart around to show off the superb piano sound that I hear through my Sony MDR-V6 studio monitor headphones - but that might be asking too much ;-)