Peter

A keyboard with VGA out needs to have a more serious video card, especially if you want to connect it to a HD monitor. And I don't see any logic in this, since there are data editors for almost every modern keyboard. Install it on your computer, connect your keyboard and voila - you have a HD monitor from which you can control your beloved keyboard.

Sometimes before I go to bed I play like this

Endless knobs, let each have a small numeric LCD display showing the knob's actual value, and small LCD dials around just to have some visual representation of the knob's position. Improved HexLayer, CASIO just did that in the new Privia, but why stop there? And the name is cool. HEX Layer, yeah .

Wow A controller synth? Controller for what? The Space Shuttle?

Hehe, not a "real" Casio, but a "CASIO Solo Synth" at 0:33

My influences: - Alexander Brandon's magnificent video game music from 90's, mostly Tyrian 2000 and Unreal, both fantastic games and soundtracks - music from various NES video games, mostly Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 4 - Jean Michel Jarre - Soundtrack from "Transformers The Movie" from 1986 by Vince DiCola ( see my profile picture ) - Frederik Chopin and Beethoven, since I studied piano ( I have a trance like half finished track in which I incorporated some phrases from Chopin's Etudes and Nocturnes, they sound fantastic in those trance saw waves ) And so on... Sometimes I just start improvising and suddenly compose some phrases in music genres I never really liked or listened... then I feel funny Happy New Year !

I wish the next XW be a "pure synth" (polyphonic!) with no drawbar organ and no PCM tones, and with knobs and sliders for almost every parameter, so there will be no need to buy gadgets worth like the whole synth (or more) just to have adequate control. Creating sounds by constantly jumping from one menu to another on a small screen is not fun. The only focus should be sound synthesis. Step sequencer optional but not vital.

Occasionally I want somebody to hear what I play. And my headphones are squeezing my ears. I think I will go with the Roland CM-30. It some kind of monitor/amp hybrid. It is compact and portable, and I don't need to worry how I position it like with the monitors, just put it on the ground. There will be no stereo though. And this is what I plan for the next year: my GF will buy an electric guitar and a Guitar-to-USB interface, so she connects her guitar to her laptop with guitar amp software, then she connects her laptop to my CM-30. So we will play through only one amplifier. Will that work?

Thanks for all the answer guys !

Just play a C major scale from bottom to top. That's my method. Good for exercise

The are some waves which does not sound the same through the keyboard. Like the Sy_ND FM number 695. Seems like this wave has a split between C4 and C4 sharp. Not the same sound. And this is not the only wave with this issue. Is this normal? Anybody else noticed this? Or is it just my unit?

It is easy. Select a blank USER tone, press EDIT, then LAYER EDIT. You will see L1 on top, it indicates that you are currently editing LAYER 1. With the buttons PART + and PART -, you can select other layers to edit. If you want a 3 layer tone, then be sure to have enabled the 3 layers you want to use with "Layer On/Off". Beneath you select the PCM wave you want to use (there are a LOT of waves, but they are in order similar to your PCM tones). While you are Layer Edit, you edit those layers each individually. When you exit this menu, you can edit your sound on a global scale, like detuning, editing LFOs or enabling DSP effects.

I'm not a programmer, but a randomiser could be easily implemented in the PC editor. Right?

David, I actually did that ! Rolling D100s to fine tune some hex layer waves. The results were, how shall I say..., "interesting". Maybe my sarcasm wasn't so clear

Nooo..... absolutely not..... That D20 dice showed up on my keyboard all by itself And no.... , I never ever used d&d dice to randomly chose parameter values for my tones....

Check your Chorus Send parameter. It adds loudness, but when you enable a DSP effect it seems that it just turn off (or ignore) the Chorus.

For while, I tried to convince my girlfriend to learn keyboards. In vain. Now she learns guitar. I have failed.

File Name: VA Thing+ Hex Layer File Submitter: Double P File Submitted: 01 Dec 2013 File Category: XW-P1 Upgrade to my "VA Thing" patch. Layers 1, 3, 4 are the same. Currently layers 1, 3, 4 and 5 are active. Add the rest with the sliders, or combine the layers for different sounds. Click here to download this file

File Name: Singing Bell Hex Layer File Submitter: Double P File Submitted: 01 Dec 2013 File Category: XW-P1 A "nice" sound. All layers are on max volume, but I usually play in this order: - only layers 1, 3, 4 are active - add layer 2 (bell) - add layer 5 (saw/strings) - add layer 6 ("doo" voice). You can of course combine them as You like. Click here to download this file

File Name: SawAnalogPad Hex Layer File Submitter: Double P File Submitted: 01 Dec 2013 File Category: XW-P1 4 Saw and 2 VA sounds mixed together. Click here to download this file

File Name: MidnightBell Hex Layer File Submitter: Double P File Submitted: 01 Dec 2013 File Category: XW-P1 Slam some octaves with your left, play random notes with your right. Wait for the Ghostbusters to arrive . Click here to download this file