Rick Stirling

Cakewalk Sonar Artist - love it!

I've created Cakewalk Instrument Definition files for the MZ-X500 ---> 

2 hours ago, jpm47 said:

Hi Rick!

 

I would like to have it also. Thanks!

Please use the link above.

Thank you.

I would consider the Behringer FCB-1010 midi controller first. Much more facility for less than half the price of the Roland FC-300 (FC-200 is discontinued)

6 hours ago, Casiokid said:

 ...

 

It would be also be useful to know what Style derivations (*.***) members find compatible with the MZ-X500.  -I've used *.sty files without problems

 

 

I just rename the target file to *****.MID then play it with a midi player. If the player doesn't geek on the file and it sounds fairly decent then I've had a 100% conversion rate. 

1 hour ago, Scott Hamlin said:

Sounds like fun if that's your thing, but I wonder how many users would really want to wipe the machine and load in all their own tones. I don't recall any Casio having "open architecture" for the presets and I really don't expect them to add it in. My stalwart advice for anyone looking at any keyboard (or any tech for that matter): Get it for what it can do today, not what it may be able to do in the future. Otherwise you are setting yourself up for a lot of frustration and disappointment.  

How many times have you wished that all registrations using 0001 GrPnoConcert in registrations directly played your custom piano du jour or you would like GM MIDI files to automatically use your custom tones instead of the factory GM tones (without having to edit every MIDI file!)  or you would like to replace many tones you will NEVER use with those you will or you basically like the factory tone but want some changes to the sonic parameters. That is my 'thing' ;-)

You don't "wipe the machine", you make piece-meal changes over time that define your customized version of the keyboard.  

The more customization a mfg provides the user the easier it is to sell a keyboard that is a different thing to different people. Also makes it a lot easier to sell to folks who have no opportunity to get a hands on experience before they buy if they know that the keyboard can be easily customized to their needs.

This is not rocket science, it's a proven approach to arrangers that has been in place for many years on other keyboards.

Lest anyone here thinks otherwise,  I really do love my MZ X500. I just see some s/w enhancements that would REALLY "float my boat". ;-)

1 hour ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

But there is always a risk involved in tinkering with the factory Tones and Rythms.. but it sounds good!

Increasing the User memory will most probably fix this problem.

I like Korg's new feature in the PA4X where you can have any number of DIRECT keyboard sets (registrations) read directly from USB memory/disk without needing to be loaded into keyboard memory first.

7 hours ago, Scott Hamlin said:

 

Hey Rick. ROM isn't really ROM anymore.   Pretty much anything can be updated nowadays (not necessarily at the user level, but almost certainly via a firmware update). The main issue with doing this for tone/rhythm updates is backwards compatibility. So ADDING new sound and tone (if thee is available space) is easy and painless, updating existing stuff can cause issues with those who have built up registrations based on those sounds and beats. 

So to answer my question, Casio does not use ROM, but EPROM or NVRAM? If they do then there is no real reason why they couldn't offer user rewrite of factory tones/rhythms if they chose to do it.

Folks, this is nothing new in arrangers, KORG has been doing it for years and it is VERY useful. The argument that it will screw up someone else's  registration doesn't really apply unless you share your custom resources with someone else.  re: The argument that it is risky ... No more so than creating any other user tone/rhythm ... If you screw things up just do a factory restore. 

From a Korg manual ...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Removing protection from Factory Keyboard Sets, Sounds,  Styles and Pads

Factory Keyboard Sets, Sounds, Styles and Pads are normally protected, to 
avoid overwriting the standard musical resources. You can, however, remove 
this protection and use any Factory location as if they were User locations.

1 Go to the Global > Mode Preferences > Media page.
As an alternative, keep the SHIFT button pressed and press the MEDIA but-
ton to open the Media page.

2 Deselect the Factory Protect checkbox to remove protection.
This protection will be automatically reset when turning the instrument off.
Hint: Should you accidentally delete, change or overwrite some Factory data, reload 
the Backup data or use the Factory Restore procedure (in the Media > Utility page).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bottom line is ... Casio presently does not let the user over-write factory tones/rhythms (other arranger manufacturers do). Whether that is a hardware or software limitation remains to be seen.

I do like it that Casio has provided 620 user tones & 30 user drum kits, but the forced categorization is a little awkward ... that 11th user piano will have to go in another tone category as there are only 10 user "Piano" slots (but about 50 guitar slots) They could have just as easily provided dynamically assigned category space so if I want I could assign user slots as needed to any tone category until I run out of memory.  

Question: Does Casio really use ROM for factory tone/rhythm resources? If so then updates to those resources are never possible?

3 hours ago, BradMZ said:

Casio provided user slots that uses all of the re-writable memory available.  The factory tones reside in read only memory.  Perhaps you are simply asking for more user tone memory?

There's the issue. The factory resources are in ROM so any unusable (for me) resources are "wasted space" if I can not redefine them with something I can use.  On my PA600 I can set a global write protect parameter to off that then allows me to write over factory Programs (tones) and/or Styles (rhythms).

Perhaps Korg has a patent on this radical idea. ;-)

Here's a BIG one for me. All factory tones, rhythms etc should be re-writable by the user. The Korg PAs (including the PA600) have this feature which permits customizing your keyboard to your tastes. Why should I give up over half of the space on the keyboard to those resources I'll never use. Let us recover that "wasted" space! 

They're on their way.

cheers,

Rick

3 hours ago, BradMZ said:

Perhaps the simplest way to add a drum fill to a pad is by sampling.  

I think I'd rather create a MIDI drum track in Sonar. ;-)

Ah! OK ... somewhat like the single channel pads on the Korg PA keyboards but more limited. So no Program Change events. So which PAD structure is best for DRUM channel events? (like a FILL)

1 hour ago, BradMZ said:

A phrase is very different from a rhythm.  It would not be useful for this. 

I guess I need you to point me to the definition of a phrase. I was under the impression you could store midi note events in a phrase. ??? 

5 hours ago, BradMZ said:

You can start with a variation of your choice but not a fill in. 

Brad, 

Can you save a Fill as a Phrase to a PAD? That would be useful.

You can only send MIDI data over the USB port cable. You can not send file data. File data must be saved on a Flash Drive on your computer, then plugged into the X500 Flash Drive port.

All midi files are not created equal.  You could post an example of a MIDI file you are having issues with here and we could take a look at it.

Drum tracks on MIDI files are usually found on Track 10. Depending on the source of your MIDI file, the DRUM track may not be on Track 10. VanBasco might be automatically compensating for the Drum track location, i.e. It sees drum information on track 9 but send it out on track 10.  

3 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

8. Can MZ X  synchronize or follow the backing part (auto- accompaaccompaniment as we play the keyboard normally (Like playing normally without worrying about the Auto -accompaniment)?

 

[Please check this link of Cesar Guzman of Roland Latinamerica Showing the  BK-5 Backing Keyboard at Roland Arena - Namm Show 2012.]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C7SYnEyCoSo

 

 

 

Yes, just set CHORD INPUT TYPE on MAIN SCREEN to "Full Range" and the X500 will determine the correct chord from both hands over the entire key range.

There are 5 Chord Input types, FIngered 1, FIngered 2, FIngered 3, CASIO Chord & Full Range 

I've created INS files for the X500, There are separate INS files for instruments and drums. I've loaded this into Sonar and it appears to be working fine. These files can be edited in a text editor like TextPad to customize the instrument names to your liking or add new instruments in the USER sections.

EDIT: I've Posted a ZIP file with the INS files here.

Enjoy!

best regards,

Rick Sterling 

x500.zip

Well folks, I've been working on this all day today and it's getting close to being done. A Cakewalk/Sonar INS Instrument Definition file for the X500. Hopefully I can test it soon and upload by morning.

cheers,

Rick

Just now, jibin.jacob3 said:

It's ok! I don't mind if it can't play the mp3. I love this keyboard and I Thank Casio for launching MZ X . Now Casio CTK/WK users can upgrade comfortably to a Casio flagship Arranger--- MZ X500!! 😊

I can tell you that I'm enjoying my X500 VERY MUCH! ;-) Haven't hooked it up to my Korg Kronos 2 yet, but that will happen soon. ;-)

6 minutes ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

Thank you so much!! Your answers were  really helpful! Most of these features that I asked for are found in the Roland E-A7 which costs around ₹20000 more than the MZ X500, but E-A7 oddly does not have a 16 track sequencer!!  Casio always sets new standards!! But it would have been great if it had mp3 play back from a pen drive . Might be...it can be made possible through a simple software update!

You might want to read this ....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Licensing.2C_ownership_and_legislation

Putting MP3 technology in a product is not straight-forward. ;-)

5 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

I have a few questions regarding some features that MZ X500 might be having. These are as follows :-

 

1. Can it play mp3 files (Other than wav files) from the Pen drive (USB memory)?

NO

5 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

2. Can it change the Scale (Transpose) and tempo of the mp3 file played from Pen drive?

NO

5 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

3. Can the sliders be used live, to reduce the volume of various parts of the Rythms(styles), like drums, bass etc?

YES

5 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

4. Can it mute the vocals of the mp3 file played from the Pen drive for karaoke?

No

5 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

5. In the official website, it says that Rythms(styles) from other arrangers can be imported to the MZ X500. So which arranger keyboards are they taking about? Is it Casio WK/CTK keyboards or Keyboards from other brands like Yamaha, Korg etc?

Some Yamaha Styles can be directly imported to create MZ X500 styles. You can import MIDI phrases to create X500 styles elements

5 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

6. Similarly, can tones also be imported from other keyboards (please mention which keyboard)?

Not directly, You can create new Tones from samples

5 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

7. Does it have a memory card slot also (other than USB Pen drive slot)?

No

5 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

8.Can it operate on batteries?

NO

5 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

 

 

25 minutes ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

Wanted to try the MZ X keyboard. (At present I own a Casio CTK6300IN). Can't find MZ X series keyboard in India. This is something I'm craving to try before I buy. Saw many videos, but haven't seen it yet, here in India! Good that MZ X arrived, now I can continue with Casio as my next keyboard and  hopefully the layout of MZ X series is similar to CTK  keyboards.

That really depends on your local sales company. You should contact them to see if they have any on order. See their Facebook page here >>> https://www.facebook.com/CasioElectronicMusicalInstrumentsIndia/

Yes, that was a strange default setting to make on the Grand Piano (it's also set on the GM Piano 1). My main issue so far with the X500 is that you can't correct the factory tone settings to your taste without giving up a User slot. Rewriting factory settings is a feature I really like on my Korgs (PA600 and Kronos) I'd even settle for a programmable index pointer function, so when a MIDI Program Change calls for GM Piano 1 you could have the keyboard use the Tone #0001 instead of #1563, in other words X points to Y

3 minutes ago, BradMZ said:

Turning that setting OFF freezes all layer parameters when chosing waves.  With it ON, layer parameters will change to default settings appropriate for the wave chosen.  

Ah! Good to know! Thank you Brad.