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Jokeyman Yes ! The CTK/WK units are like the PX in that respect. If you load a CKF rhythm file into one of their user memory slots, and then use the Data Manager to bring it back up to a PC, it comes back as an AC7 file. I originally thought that the Data Manager software did the CKF-to-AC7 conversion, but now, I believe it may be the keyboard's operating system that does it.

Leon With the Casio CTK/WK models, if the FIRST NUMBERS are the same, then their features are IDENTICAL. The CTK units are the 61 key models and the WK units are the 76 key units. For instance, the features of the CTK-6000 and the WK-6500 models are identical, except the CTK-6000 is 61 keys and the WK-6500 is 76 keys, while the 7 thousand series have additional features over and above the 6 thousand series units, so in this case, the CTK-7200 and WK-7600 have identical features, except the CKT-7200 is 61 keys and the WK-7600 is 76 keys. The Casio CTK/WK-6XXX/7XXX units range roughly between $300 and $600 USD, while the Yamaha PSR-S950 is currently going for $1900 USD, so there is really not much comparison.

piano_71 You are correct. The Casio Data Manager is exactly that - a data transfer and management utility. No tone editing capability is included. Since tone editing (tweaking, actually) on the CTK/WK-6XXX/7XXX units is somewhat limited, Casio apparently thought an editor would not be necessary, but from my own experience, when you are doing a lot of "tweaking" on a lot of tones, an editor would be a welcome convenience, particularly when you get to dabbling around in the DSP settings. While the IDES Data Manager for the older CTK/WK units did include a tone editor, sadly, it is not compatible with the voice architecture of the newer boards.

Lisa Welcome to the Casio Music Forums and congratulations on your purchase of the WK-7600. I wish you luck and much enjoyment with it. While the newer model CTK/WK keyboards allow for some very minor editing (tweaking, actually) of their tones/patches/sounds/programs (whatever you prefer to call them), it is nothing compared to what is possible with the XW synths and PX5S, which allow heavy editing of nearly every tone parameter. Consequently, no software editor was provided for the CTK/WK's, as Casio apparently thought it was essentially un-needed, but I must say from my own experience with the WK-7500 and CTK-7000, if you are doing a lot of "tweaking" of a lot of tones, a software editor would be a nice convenience, especially when you get to dabbling around with DSP settings. The older CTK/WK models of some years ago had a "Synth" mode and a software tone editor, but with the newer models, Casio has apparently decided to take a different approach to its arranger keyboards versus its synths.

Posted in error ! Disregard !

Paulo In the past, many local "mom and pop" music stores were not comfortable tying up funds in used equipment, but with recent changes in the world economies, they are beginning to realize that there may be a substantial market there. Still reluctant to tie up funds in such equipment, they are starting to venture into the consignment business. Any internet advertising they may do is normally limited to new inventory rather than consignment, so you may want to check with local stores for a consignment WK-3800. These folks have a "business culture" network of their own, so if you let them know your desires, they may be able to track one down for you that you could not on your own. Good luck !

OK Geria ! Sounds like you are "getting there" - kind of like the early days of flying - where you took pride - just in "getting there". You've already found the most important part - H A V I N G F U N ! ! ! Cheers,

The Performance Presets on the XW-G1 are completely different from those on the XW-P1, so as a P1 owner, I am unable to test them directly for you. Of the 100 Performance Presets on the P1, only two or three are set up for the Arpeggiator to trigger the Step Sequencer from the keyboard. The rest are triggered from the START/STOP button. To check your G1, select one or your "suspect" Performance Presets. PRESS AND HOLD the ARPEGGIO button until the ARPEGGIO selection menu comes up. Read the line at the very bottom of the display. If it says "SYNC : S / S", then the arpeggiator should be triggering the Step Sequencer (S / S). If it says anything else, then the arpeggiator is not set to trigger the Step Sequencer. If it IS set to trigger the Step Sequencer and is not, check the key range of the Zone that the Step Sequencer is assigned to. You may just be playing outside of its key range. If you have a Preset that is not set for the arpeggiator to trigger the Step Sequncer and you want it to, you can change that by editing the arpeggiator set up in the Performance and saving it as a User Performance. Page 84 of the G1 manual states that a factory reset should return ALL settings AND DATA to their original defaults, but if you still think you lost something, you can download the original settings and data from the Casio website and re-install them onto the board. Good luck !

Mike-n-Mac First, I will deal with Mike's statement that he presses and holds the "BOTTOM" part of the Arpeggiator button. The buttons on the front panel of the Casio CTK/WK keyboards are not "ROCKER" type switches, where pressing one end of the button (TOP) does one thing and pressing the opposite end (BOTTOM) does something else. The electrical contact inside the switch (button) is the same, no matter which "END" you press. Even though Casio's "dual function" labeling makes the switches (buttons) appear to be of the "ROCKER" type, the function actually performed when a button is pressed is determined either by what MODE the keyboard is in when the button is pressed, or in this case, by HOW the button is pressed (MOMENTARY vs. HELD), NOT by which "END" of the button is pressed. Now, as for your Arp problem: PRESS AND HOLD the "AUTO HARMONIZE/ARPEGGIATOR" button until the "Hrmo/ArpegType" sub-menu appears in the display. Use the Data Wheel or the "-/+" buttons to select an Arp (13-162). If you WANT the keyboard to automatically select (change to) Casio's "RECOMMENDED" tone for the selected arp, PRESS AND HOLD the "AUTO HARMONIZE/ARPEGGIATOR" button AGAIN, until the "Arpeggiator" indicator in the display flashes very quickly two or three times. (You have to watch very close for the flashes, or you will miss them.) You must have already selected a valid arp type (13-162) at this point in order for this function to work. If the selection menu is still down in the HARMO type area (1-12), this "recommended tone selection" function will not work and you will never see the "Arpeggiator" indicator in the display flash. Note that this step allows the KEYBOARD (NOT YOU) to select the "recommended" tone. Once you see the flashes, the automatic selection has been made, and you should proceed to the next (EXIT) step. Once again, the "Arpeggiator" indicator in the display WILL NOT stay lit at this point. The flashes are merely to indicate that the "RECOMMENDED" tone has been selected. If you DO NOT WANT the keyboard to automatically select the "recommended" tone for the selected arp, SKIP this entire step and select your own desired tone after exiting back to the main display screen. MOMENTARILY press the EXIT button to return to the main display screen. At this point, the "Arpeggiator" indicator in the display will be OFF, and the arp will not play. MOMENTARILY press the "AUTO HARMONIZE/ARPEGGIATOR" button. The "Arpeggiator" indicator in the display should be ON and the arp should play. From this point on, any further MOMENTARY presses of the "AUTO HARMONIZE/ARPEGGIATOR" button will toggle the arp on and off. The selected arp will remain selected until a different arp is selected (PRESS AND HOLD), a Registration that changes the arp is selected, or the keyboard is powered off. Bear in mind that if the ACCOMP function is turned ON, the arp will not play below the accomp split point of the keyboard. That is, the arp will not play in the Accomp portion of the keyboard. In order to play the arp in the lower portion of the keyboard, the ACCOMP function must be turned OFF: "ACCOMP" NOT showing in the lower left of the display. In the above steps, where you press the EXIT button to return to the main display screen, you should be able to MOMENTARILY press the "AUTO HARMONIZE/ARPEGGIATOR" button to do the same thing (as instructed by the manual) and leave the arp ON, but this step seems to be a bit unreliable, so the EXIT button is a better choice. At least you know the arp will be OFF and will need to be turned ON. Good luck and enjoy !

Geria I have an old, old "You are the Star" 3-1/2 inch diskette with a dozen big band songs on it - mostly Glenn Miller. When I play it from my PC DAW, the WK-7500 just defaults to its GM voice set, and I really have to say, it doesn't sound all that bad. For whatever "lead" instrument I decide to play along with it, I select one of the high quality panel voices, but just let the background tracks play GM. You don't say in your post, but if you are playing through the internal speakers, by all means, go to an external sound system where you have, at least, some EQ or tone control. It makes a world of difference. If you are trying to use the internal rhythms as backing, then you may need to edit the rhythms, select different (better ?) tones and save them as User Rhythms, but by all means, a $500 12 pound Casio is never going to approach the sound quality of a $5000 32 pound Yamaha Tyros. Good luck !

Thomas I think, more than anything, you just need to learn to accept the stage you are currently at (as a newbie), and just RELAX and enjoy your playing. The "actual music" you are looking for will come with time and practice. As musicians, amateur or pro, we all tend to become our own worst enemies when it comes to being overly critical of our mistakes and inabilities. The "setups" you are looking for will come from personal preference born out of your own experience, but in the meantime, we will be here to assist you with any specific "how to's" you come up with. If you are able to come up with a learning "buddy" in your area, by all means, go for it, but don't be discouraged if one is not forthcoming. I am sure, by now, you have already explored the various training options and selected the one that is best for you. Best of luck - and E N J O Y ! ! !

Leon If you are using a DAW software sequencer, then it should provide a means of embedding MSB/LSB Bank Change and Program Change codes at the head of each track for proper voice selection. Refer to your DAW manual for instructions on how to go about this. Rather than doing this manually for each new song, you may be able to write an XW-P1 instrument definition file (or search online for an existing one) to make these conversions for you. If you are using a hardware sequencer, then you would need to use its step editor (if it has one) to embed the proper tone selection codes at the head of each track. Good luck !

I thought compressed samples were the industry standard these days, in order to save memory expense. That is why Roland and Yamaha always follow up their sample ROM size statements with the disclaimer in parentheses "in equivalent linear format" or something to that effect - meaning "expanded".

Go to the following link at the PG Music site and download the zip file. Extract the .pat and .ini files from the zip file. Copy the .pat file into your "BB" folder. If you have their Power Tracks Pro sequencer (DAW) software, copy the .ini file into its folder. See the BIAB and Power Tracks manuals and help files for instructions on how to use them. http://nn.pgmusic.com/pgfiles/support/patchmaps/Casio_WK-7500.zip Good luck !

When Casio speaks of "creating original user rhythms" for the CTK-6000/6200 and WK-6500/6600 keyboards, they mean that by turning tracks on or off or substituting different accompaniment voices (sounds) or drum kits in the original rhythms, you are creating "new" user rhythms. I know, using that term in that way is rather questionable on their part, but to be sure, you have read and understood the manual correctly. What you have determined that you are capable (or NOT capable) of with the WK-6600 is correct, albeit quite limited compared to what you were looking for. In order to create entirely new user rhythms completely from scratch, or to edit the note patterns of existing accompaniment tracks, you need the Pattern Sequencer feature of the CTK-7000/7200 or WK-7500/7600 models. However, all of these newer boards are capable of loading most (many ? / all ?) of the older CKF rhythm files of the older boards. By loading and "editing" those, you can come up with a fairly wide set of rhythm genres that are completely unique compared to what other CTK/WK owners are running. It is certainly worth a try. There are several members here who have been experimenting with creating MIDI files with PC based sequencers, converting them to CKF rhythm files with the "Rhythm Converter" software for the older boards and loading them into the newer boards, but I am not certain how much success they have had. I think many have discovered what some of us discovered some years ago with the older boards - that creating reasonably good sounding rhythm files from scratch is quite difficult, at best - particularly without an onboard pattern sequencer. Usually it is best to start with an existing rhythm that is as close as possible to what you are looking for and just modifying that. See the following link for the discussion of that topic: http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/topic/4281-software-to-create-patterns-for-wk-7500/ Good luck !

Jokeyman While you are in Step Sequencer mode, you can press the EDIT button and then use the 16 buttons at the left side (1 - 16) below the 4 Assignable Knobs to turn the various tracks on and off. While you are in this mode, you can press the MIXER button and hold down one of the 16 track control buttons to "solo" a particular track. As for your second question, the Step Sequencer uses Tracks 8 thru 16, so while you are in Step Sequencer mode, the Mixer defaults to that with Track 8 being the first track. See page 50 of the XW-P1's manual for a diagram of the Step Sequencer's track layout. Parts 8 thru 16 are for recording "note" data (note-on / note-off / etc), but the diagram shows four additional parts for the recording of controller automation. I have yet to determine where these additional four parts actually get recorded. I can find no indication that they are recorded on any of the seven remaining tracks. I have also been unable to determine exactly the relationship between a "part" and a "track" and a "channel" as Casio uses those terms. For the most part, I just assume that they are on a one for one basis, that is, Part 8 is Track 8 is Channel 8, and so far, I have gotten away with this assumption with no problems.

It appears that Cubasis VST replaced the LE (PC) versions of Cubase for a number of years and in addition to being bundled with hardware, was also available on the open market. While it was licensed and sold under the Steinberg name, it was actually published and distributed by Pinnacle Systems, a producer of low priced software in the UK. Cubasis VST was on about the same level as Cakewalk's Music Creator. There is a distinction between "Cubasis VST" which was a Windows PC product and "Cubasis" which is a current product for the iPad market.

Chas Rust is correct. Cubasis is an iPad app. It will run stand-alone, but it was really designed to run as an adjunct to full Cubase running on a PC. The stripped down versions that are distributed with hardware are the "LE" (Limited Edition) versions. Some years ago, there was also an AI-4 version, which was the LE-4 version customized to integrate with the Yamaha Motif XS Workstation, and was distributed with them.

Sorry Rusty ! My error ! I thought they had ported it to a Win-8 tablet/surface app as well. Have no idea where I got that. Thanks for the correction. Would hate to see Chris, or anybody else, run out and buy a Win-8 tablet thinking they were going to run Cubasis, but my original point to Chris is still the same - I think it will be the Win-8 tablet/surface market that undercuts the price of iPad for music production way before the Android market.

Chris Right now, Best Buy is selling the 32 Gb 8 inch Lenovo Miix-2 tablet with quad core processor and running Windows 8.1 for $300. That is $200 less than I paid for my Samsung Galaxy Tab-2 a couple of years ago and way less than I paid for my iPad. I think you will see the Windows Surface/Tablet market give the iPad the real run for its money in the music production arena way before the Android products do. The Windows hardware and operating system are already MIDI Class Compliant, so they don't need to do the "catching up" that the Android market needs to. There are not a lot of music production apps available now, but give them a few months. There are already a couple of serious sequencers avaiable for them - one of which is Steinberg's Cubasis. You don't get much more top drawer than that, and even the iPad doesn't have an app that comes up to Cubasis' features and capabilities.

My . . . my . . . my . . . Looky what I just found in the Technical Specs List for the XW on the Casio website: . . . . . . Non-Resonant Filter Yes (6) Resonant Filter Yes (1) Amplifier Yes Oscillator Mixer Yes LFO Yes (2) Envelope Generators Pitch, Amp, Filter, LFO Assignable Virtual Controllers 8 Effects System Reverb; Preset Types; 10 System Chorus Preset Types; 5 Limitations System Chorus, DSP and Solo Synthesizer are mutually exclusive Master Effect EQ; Editable 4 Band EQ . . . . . . If I bought one of these things, based on that, thinking that it would do double duty as a MIDI Controller board, I sure would not be a happy camper when I found out the rest of the story !

Jokeyman et. al. I have been experimenting with MIDI-OX for the past hour or so and have come up with some very interesting results, and I have some good news and some not-so-good news. All of the sliders transmit their default, factory assigned, RPN/NRPN MIDI values in TONE Mode, and surprisingly, even in TONE EDIT Mode, but here is the not-so-good news, as soon as the XW is put into Virtual Controlled Edit Mode, the sliders cease transmitting any MIDI messages. Since the XW has to be in Virtual Controller Edit Mode to access "re-assigned" sliders, that pretty much limits the "re-assignments" to INTERNAL USE ONLY. This has nothing to do with the re-assignments, themselves, as I can select a Pre-set tone and see it transmit slider messages, even in Tone Edit Mode, but as soon as I go into the Virtual Controller Edit Menu, even without changing anything, the sliders stop sending messages. So, for those who were hoping to use the XW sliders as part of a MIDI Controller keyboard set up, it looks like that will not be possible. I suspect that if Casio were to fix the necessity of being in Virtual Controller Edit Mode to use the re-assignments, the sliders would also transmit their re-assigned values via MIDI. If Casio elects not to fix this, all the big box music stores whose ads tout the XW as having 8 Virtual Controllers are going to have to pull those statements from their ads lest they be guilty of false advertising. BUT . . . now for the good news part. For my experiment, I chose a Solo Synth tone and assigned Slider-1 to vary its Synth-1 Part's Oscillator Pitch and Slider-2 to vary Synth-2 Part's Oscillator Pitch. Both Oscillators are set to vary their pitch when they receive a Control Change (CC) Message 10, which is normally a stereo pan message. With that User Tone selected - BUT NOTHING OF ANY KIND IN ANY EDIT MODE - when MIDI-OX sends a CC10 (PAN) message, the tone's oscillators change pitch rather than changing their pan position in the stereo field. In other words, the slider re-assignments work EXACTLY AS THEY SHOULD for receive MIDI messages - no special edit modes required, but this really isn't all that surprising, as receive MIDI messages do not depend upon the physical sliders, they come in and are routed directly to their assigned function(s), bypassing the sliders. For those wanting to control the XW with external controller keyboards or from software DAWs, or external sequencers, incoming Virtual Controller messages should work as expected. For now, I think I have pretty well exhausted any testing ideas I had and don't have anything else planned, unless someone can come up with ideas on other items that need to be checked as they apply to this topic. I think I will slip the XW back into its bag for a while to give it a well deserved rest so that I can remount the CTK-7000 back up in the rack next to the PC here and try coming up with some new rhythm styles for it. Cheers all !

UPDATE - UPDATE - UPDATE As we left this topic several days ago, we had identified at least two major problems with assignment of the XW sliders as Virtual Controllers - (1) the assignments could not be saved reliably to a User Tone for later recall and (2) did not appear to send or receive MIDI CC messages for controller (slider) communication with other devices. I have found what I will call a "part" of an answer to the first of these problems - saving the assignments to a User Tone for quick call up at a later time. I use the term "part" of an answer, as I still do not believe that it is working correctly, or as intended by the Casio engineers. As we were discussing this earlier, Virtual Controller assignment of the sliders appeared to be lost as Tone Edit mode was exited so that the assignments could not be saved to a User Tone, but from time to time would still be there and work when going back into edit mode. First, I must state, that all other features of the Tone Edit menu appear to work and are saveable to a User Tone as described in the manual. Only assignment of the sliders as Virtual Controllers appears to be afflicted with the problem I am about to describe. Contrary to our speculations of several days ago, assignment of the sliders as Virtual Controllers was NOT lost when exiting TONE EDIT mode, but rather they were lost as soon as the Virtual Controller Edit sub-menu was exited. That is to say, they were lost a complete exit step ahead of where we thought they were being lost, but as it turns out - the assignments, themselves, were NOT being lost - only the EFFECTS of the assignments were being lost. If the assignments were saved to a User Tone, as soon as the Virtual Controller Edit menu is recalled, THE NEW SLIDER ASSIGNMENTS WILL STILL BE THERE AND WILL WORK AS DESIGNED. Just where the save to the User Tone is done seems to have some bearing on the reliability of the save. If I saved my slider assignments to a User Tone after exiting from the Virtual Controller edit menu or after exiting the Tone Edit menu completely, my new assignments were only saved sporadically, but if I did a "WRITE" to a User Tone while I was still in the Virtual Controller edit mode, the assignments were saved and worked first time - every time when I recalled the User Tone and WENT BACK INTO THE VIRTUAL CONTROLLER EDIT MENU. This is a very important step, as the slider assignments will only work when the XW is in the Virtual Controller Edit menu. The assignments will be there, but will not work outside of Virtual Controller Edit mode. So now, we have a means of reliably assigning the sliders as Virtual Controllers and recalling them, but I still do not believe this is "normal" or "correct". I do believe that this needs to be referred to Mike Martin and Casio as a bug in the firmware that needs to be corrected on a future release. If this IS to be considered "normal", then there needs to be an addendum to the manual to make this procedure clearer, rather than being handled "word of mouth". Next stop down the line is "XW Virtual Controller MIDI Town" to see if we can get these things to work via MIDI, so that the XW can serve as a MIDI Controller keyboard and also so that it will respond to MIDI controller keyboards and make itself more useful than it already is ! OH ! And for those of you who may be wondering already - the 1-8/9-16 Slider Switch button does not work in Virtual Controller Mode, so NO, we can not assign 16 Virtual Controllers and switch between them as two sets of 8. Until next time !