dfahrner

See page 19 of the MZ-X500 MX-X300 Firmware Version 1.60 User's Guide (MZX500_300-160-E-1A_EN.pdf in the update documentation)...

Is there any way to buy / download / otherwise obtain these KMP Studio saxophone samples and program(s)?  Can't find anything but the demos online...

Old jazz guys looking for old jazz sounds should check out my Deagan vibraphone samples/programs (in the MZX user download section)...much better that the stock vibraphone sounds, IMHO...

df

A quick search of the MZ MIDI specification doesn't find any mention of the rhythm variation and ending buttons, so it doesn't look like MIDI control of the functions is possible...

...is now available at :

http://support.casio.com/en/manual/manualfile.php?cid=008010003

OK, I have things set now so that the line inputs aren't distorting, but I'm not sure exactly which level adjustment solved the problem...there are so many places to set levels: on the external device, on the MZX balance screen, mixer screen, effects screen, etc., etc...at some point I'll have to go through and try to figure out where the distortion was coming from, but everything seems to be working now...

df

I'd like to use the MZX "Line In" jacks to eliminate a mixer, connecting another keyboard's line outputs so that the second board is routed through the MZX master effects and volume control.  But I get a lot of distortion if I try to raise the external keyboard's output level to match the MZX internal voice levels, either with the external keyboard's volume control or with the MZX External In volume (which adjusts the level, but the distortion is still there).  Distortion is the about same with several different external keyboards, including Korg Krome and Kronos, and a Casio PX-5S.

There's no distortion when connecting those same line outputs to the MZX "Audio In" jack, even when the external keyboard's output level is raised so its volume is significantly higher than the MZX internal voices.  Specs for the Line In and Audio In jacks are the same: 9.0K ohm input impedance, 200 mV input voltage.  It's like the distortion is coming from the "External Part" circuitry, where the Line In signals are mixed with the Mic In, routed to DSPs,  system and master effects, etc.  Has anyone else seen this problem?  Or is it a problem with my MZX? 
 

df

Thanks, CoreyW, I had this same problem last night with some 8 second samples, and had resigned myself to spending time loading samples to all possible locations to try and figure out which ones were for long samples...but thought it was worth checking the forum first...

df

Scott and Rick are right, of course: unless you're sure that you know what you're doing, you shouldn't be doing this kind of electronics work...still, volts are volts, amps are amps, etc., so if you do have the knowledge, and are a careful worker, there's almost zero risk of frying your MZX....and as an engineer myself, I just want to be sure that I'm using correctly specified parts when I do this kind of work - so what are the manufacturers part numbers and/or industry standard specs for those DC power connectors?

df

On 10/21/2016 at 4:12 PM, Rick Sterling said:

I use two 12v 7AH gel cells in series for portable power. Works great

Rick - what kind of DC power connector did you use to connect the batteries to the MZX?  I'm trying to find out what industry standard type (EIAJ-?), or manufacturers part numbers, are used for the MZX power connections...???

df

It's pretty hard to measure these jacks and plugs, but the MZX jack requires a 1mm center pin in the plug, and the Casio AC adapter plug has an OD of about 6mm.  The EIAJ-5 plug has a 6.5mm OD / 4.4mm ID / 1.5mm pin; the EIAJ-4 plug has a 5.5mm OD / 3.3mm ID / 1mm pin (from Wikipedia), neither of which seem to match the MZX  So maybe the MXZ power connections are not standard EIAJ RC-5320 types?  Maybe RC-5322, an automotive type of DC connector?  Elliot Electronics (http://www.elliottelectronicsupply.com/) sells a 6.5mm OD / 3.1mm ID / 1mm center pin plug which seems about right...probably the thing to do is buy a few and see what fits...

df

Does anybody know if the MZX power input jack (and the plug on the AD-E24250LW AC Adapter) are standard EIAJ types?  EIAJ-04 or EIAJ-05?  Or some non-standard proprietary connectors???

df

6 hours ago, BradMZ said:

Looks like the bottom panel mould is also used to make other models that can be battery powered like the XW and CTK series. Unlike those, the MZ-X series needs 24 volts rather than 9.  My guess is covering the compartment ends up being more efficient for production rather than creating another part number.

I didn't think about that, but that's probably the reason, since the MZ-X has the same 5-octave keyboard assembly (mounted to the bottom panel) as some other Casio instruments.  Still, I wonder what the actual current draw of the MZ-X500 is with the speakers turned off?

I notice that my MZ-X500 has a battery compartment on the bottom for installation of six D-size 1.5V cells, but there are no electrical connections for the batteries.  Has something changed from the original design so that battery operation is not possible ?  Maybe batteries simply don't have the capacity to run the power amplifiers for very long, although at 9V / low volume D cells should be adequate (assuming that some higher internal voltage is not needed).  But headphone operation should be OK - what is the actual power requirement with the speakers turned off?  It's certainly not anywhere close to the 60W that the Casio power supply puts out...

df

• See http://www.jososoft.dk/yamaha/index.htm where there are utilities that can extract data from Yamaha styles...it's a lot of work, though, to do this and then get them into the MZX as rhythms...

Assuming, as Brad says, that you are trying to make a new user tone, dragging and dropping WAV files into the Key/Velocity palette works fine with my Sample Manager installation (on a cheap Acer laptop running Windows 8.1)...you need to be sure that the WAV files meet the specifications given for this version (v.1.0.0) of Sample Manager:

Data format: Linear PCM
Quantization bit rate: 16 bit
Sampling rate: 44.1 kHz
Channel: Monaural, stereo
Maximum file size: 768 KB (mono), 1536 KB )stereo
Maximum number of files: 128

The PDF manual included in the Sample Manager download has this kind of basic information...

df

1 hour ago, handsonkeys said:

Hi Silvano,

 

I've just bought this Keybord X500 , but in the sample manager , you have wave convert , and then "open "

The sample manager asking then for a file .ztn, buth I tought that the sample manager convert standard wav files to casio mz-x format.

How can I convert the WAV files into casio format ??

 

The online Sample Manager manual doesn't have a lot of more detailed information, but it does answer basic questions like this...

df

After more work with Sample Manager, it looks like the problems I've been having are related to velocity layers.  If I use only a single velocity layer 0-127 (for all 8 samples that have different key range assignments) things seem to work - I can reload the files into Sample Manager for editing, etc.  The new tones can be loaded into the MZ-X (as single tones, not hex layer) and then I can create a new hex layer tone on the MZ-X that uses those newly loaded User Splits (one for each single tone) and then assign a velocity range to each.  (When a Sample Manager ZTN file with multiple velocity layers is loaded in the MZ-X, it looks like each velocity layer is assigned to a separate User Split anyway.)  I've tried loading a multi-velocity-layer ZTN file as a Hex Layer tone, but that doesn't work - it loads as a single tone that uses the highest velocity layer for the full velocity range.  Information about this should be in the Sample Manager manual.

I've also had trouble with individual samples within a user split not sounding, or user splits not working at all, after deleting unused or replaced tones to clean up earlier attempts, to try to get rid of unused user splits.  I've also had sample and User Split problems after deleting old unused files from the USB flash disk that I've been using (and I leave installed in the MZ-X).  It doesn't seem like disk files should affect anything after they've been loaded into the MZ-X (???).

The Tone section of Sample Manager doesn't relate very closely to the MZ-X sound engine architecture - for example, the envelopes are very different, parameter ranges are different, there's only a single Tone section, etc.  It looks like Sample Manager was adapted from a program written for another synth, and maybe this explains some of the problems.  Hopefully Casio is working on this, and/or they should at least update the manual with recommended procedures and workarounds.

df

More info: In Silvano Silva's post "Delay in loading Sample ZTN", he quotes a report that in Sample Manager ZTN files "some keys are muted within a tone" after loading into the MZ-X - this sounds like (one of) the same problems that I describe above.

When I try to reload the ZTN file into Sample Manager for editing, only one group of samples is loaded: several samples that have the same original key.  They are shown with the correct (different) velocity settings; but all are incorrectly mapped to the full key range (C-1 to G9) instead the correct range (the original key + and - 1/2 step); and none of the other samples are loaded.  This has not been hit or miss for me, it does this all of the time, and with different ZTN files.  Clearing a tone that had used one of the original (incorrect) user splits did clear a couple of the UserSplit files; I'll continue to see if rewriting / clearing tone cleans up the others.  We ought to be able to rename and relocate user splits on the MZ-X, just to make it easier to keep track of things.

It sounds like you're kind of in the same situation, trying to get early release software to do what (we think) it's supposed to do, with only preliminary documentation.  I guess we'll just have to wait for updates (hopefully?).  But as I say, once I was able to get the samples set up in Sample Manager and into the MZ-X, they sound right.

Edit: Clearing the tones that use user splits does seem to clear the splits, but at some point a newer user split that I wanted to keep got cleared too, even though it was still used by a tone (actually, all the user splits got cleared!).  It seems like the "automatic" user split management isn't working correctly all of the time - the user should be the one who determines where s user split is to be stored, what the name will be, and when user splits are to be deleted, moved, or renamed.

That's good info, Brad...but what exactly is a "sample split"?  I can't find that phrase in any of the manuals.  The multisamples I created with Sample Manager are saved in the MZ-X under "Wave Number" as "UserSplit(nnn)" - is that the Casio terminology for a user multisample?  And can I have my selected name for the "multisample" used instead of this (not very useful) "UserSplit" terminology? Am I doing something wrong in saving things from Sample Manager?  And maybe most important of all, how can I get Sample Manager to reload my ZTN files for tweaking?  Sorry for all the ???s, but Casio really needs to upgrade the manual(s) to answer these kind of questions, which will always come up when using complicated software and instruments...

I've been able to use Sample Manager to set up a new multisample and download it to the MZ-X500.  I'm using some Deagan vibraharp samples that I made years ago on an Ensoniq ESI-32, that I've used on a number of synths since, Yamaha Motifs, Korg KRONOS, etc., and they sound just as good on the MZ-X.  It took a few tries (of course) to figure out how Sample Manager works, and now I also have several early attempts - useless user samples - on the MZ-X.  How do I delete user samples on the instrument?  Can I rename user samples?  And how do I reload them into Sample Manager to tweak things? - I try to reload the .ZTN file but it doesn't seem to load correctly.  The documentation is not very detailed or helpful, either...???

df
 

On 8/31/2016 at 4:27 AM, Joe Muscara said:

But he gave it a Key Buy award! 

...but Keyboard gives (almost) everything they review a Key Buy award! *...it seems to me that most Keyboard reviews are designed to promote keyboard sales, anyway (duh)...and it's hard to get everything right about new, complex instruments in a short review....disclaimer - I have an MZ-X500 on order...

df
_____

*...sort of like: "I've got to get me a [fill in keyboard name]!  The Jacksons used two of them on their Victory tour!"  "The Jacksons use two of EVERYTHING on their Victory Tour."

Has anybody else been able to do this?  Or import Korg or other manufacturers' styles?  Is there any documentation from Casio that describes this process?  I can't seem to find any "official" mention of this capability...

df