Rick Stirling

3 hours ago, mattf said:

Could someone please reup this? Thanks...

You need to be logged in before you can download it.

1 hour ago, Allanon said:

 

I've found this on Twitter dated 17 Feb 2020

 

Yes, Casio America is still promoting the X500 😉

The MZ-X500 is still being promoted as a current product on the manufacturer's web site.

https://www.casio.com/products/electronic-musical-instruments/music-arrangers

Whether your local distributors and/or retailers choose to sell it are their choice.

32 minutes ago, Chandler Holloway said:

Thanks Rick. Let me know if you hear any Rhythms that are clearly duplicates of existing MZ-X Rhythms. If I know which ones were recycled for the CT-X3000, it'll make the process of archiving the MZ-X series Rhythms much easier, since I'll know which ones to skip.

Just did a random sample and heard both new and old. Will need to do a structured approach later this week. (Really busy next 3 days)

Excellent. Thank you. Just downloaded to MX500 and am auditioning them now. 

11 hours ago, Carter said:

Can the pads on the MZX trigger external MIDI devices? How? Say I would like to trigger individual drums from a kit that is on an external device, could the MZX be set up to do that?

 

Also can I midi sequence the internal sound engines of the MZX by using external hardware midi sequencers?

You might want to read this ...

The answer is 'yes & no' ... The PADs do not send a midi control message, they will send the note on and note off messages for the programmed data they contain. If you could trigger a remote device by a note on-note off signal then you could use the PADs for remote trigger.

Here's an example of what you get on MIDI Out when pressing a PAD ...

 TIMESTAMP IN PORT STATUS DATA1 DATA2 CHAN NOTE EVENT               
 0003F0C8    1   --     91    42    5E    2  F# 4 Note On               
 0003F113     1  --     80    42    71    2  F# 4 Note Off 

I'd be looking at a PX 160 or PX S1000 given your requirements.

Listen to the PX S1000 samples here...

8 hours ago, Muso7 said:

Australia list it as current but similarly, no-one is stocking it - my local retailer sold off a few at less than 1/2 price - Casio literally produced this keyboard and didn't bother marketing it. Can't imagine it will survive now - VERY disappointed!!!! Will probably end up getting rid of mine....

 

Pete 🙂

Wish my retailers had them for 1/2 price! I'd pick up another one! 😉

3 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

One of the local sellers made it clear that the MZ X500 has been discontinued.

Retailers will often say this when they have no stock or have decided not to carry a product. They don't want you leaving the store to purchase the product elsewhere. They want to sell you something they have in stock. Sales 101. 😉

11 minutes ago, Mike Martin said:

Casio is still making them. Your local distributor has chosen not to carry them. 

Just as I thought. Thanks Mike.

Really important not to confuse local sales companies with the factory. 😉

6 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

Has Casio stopped manufacturing MZ X500? Sellers in India say, these are out of stock. I hope Casio is planning to launch something better. I'll wait till 2020 for something better. 

(Previously, I was confused between the MZ X500 and the PX 560 but when I made up my mind to buy the MZ X500, can't find it and neither can I find  anything even closer to the MZ X500.)

Still available at many retailers in the USA. Perhaps your local retailers have stopped carrying it. Looks like Casio is still making them.

https://www.casio.com/products/electronic-musical-instruments/music-arrangers

Mainly my custom pipe organ sounds and ballads or jazz rhythms.

2 minutes ago, MANY said:

Thank you Rick, for the time spent creating this document, not in French, 
too voluminous for Google Translate, I will find translators online.

Merci beaucoup...🗒️

https://www.iceni.com/blog/translate-your-pdf-with-google-docs/

2 minutes ago, MANY said:

One of the issues was that the information was spread over several documents. There is a "combined manual" that I created available here.

Combined PDF Manual

2 hours ago, jenny said:

Lubrication of keys is not a solution.  All then may return to the place.
It is good who knows how to make out and do it yourself. Or there are services nearby.
And if they can not?

 

Because of the bad keys old model, to pay a new models it is a question for me.
Either wait for the problem to manifest ... or not ( in new model ).

I very much doubt there will be new models of the MX series.  We're talking about how to deal with what we have now. For my solution, I use a Kronos 2 as a controller. 😉

36 minutes ago, roncist said:

According to clicky/clacky keys I found this short video on youtube - but I think you can lost the casio quarantee - I dont know it.

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAX19ZKP8vQ

 

Just some silicone grease to prevent plastic on plastic clicking. Should work fine. I've heard or read on this forum that this is the "repair" done by others (including dealers?) to reduce mechanical key noises.

On 10/22/2018 at 3:51 AM, Casiokid said:

I know a guy who plays his MZ-X500 from his Pa4X 76

 I know him too! 😉

Happy New Year from the Rocky Mountains!

One feature I still enjoy on my Korg PA is the ability to customize the factory rhythms without having to use up user memory.

On 7/11/2018 at 1:24 PM, CoreyW said:

Oh!  I did want to add a comment about memory...  How many remember the first CMI Fairlight?

     8 voices with 16k (WOW!) sample memory per voice

     Large 8" floppy drives, with a boot floppy that took like 5m to load.

     A mono color (green) computer screen with light pen interface

     88 note keyboard with keypad interface

     Page R sequencing software

Whoa...all that memory for $25K!!!  Boggles the mind.

 

My point...while 256M seems like a little, maybe Casio wanted to see how many people would actually use the Sample Manager software before investing and moving forward in that direction.

    

I do, and if I remember correctly, a fully tricked out Fairlight would set you back more than $100,000 😉

Here's a fairly comprehensive list of artists who recorded with the Fairlight...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairlight_CMI#Artists_who_have_used_the_Fairlight_CMI

As evidenced by this and many other threads here, I think many people here think of 'Casio' as a monolithic entity responsible for all that happens to Casio products (good or bad). I think the the truth is that it is much more complicated than that. I don't purport to know all the relationships between the myriad offices of 'Casio', but I think it is safe to say that Casio Japan is NOT responsible for all marketing and support of Casio keyboards around the world. There exist many 'sales companies' around the world that may or may not take direction from Casio Japan. Given that there are Casio sales companies who are independent of Casio Japan, is it any wonder that product marketing efforts can vary so greatly from country to country?

Bottom line? We probably should not put all blame on Casio Japan for the lack of marketing and support by the independent sales companies.

I do not know. Perhaps it's just a Photoshop animation. ;-)

Lee

1 hour ago, Brad Saucier said:

I thought you knew that.  The same thing works with a ton of parameters across the keyboard and across Casio products going back to the 80s.  Press both plus and minus, up and down, buttons to reset to default.  Works for synth parameters, effects levels and more. 

It's been a LONG time since I played my WK-1800 😉 Re: Arrangers I was a Yamaha PSR owner then a Korg PA guy since 2012 until I got the X500. Guess I need to go back and read all the manuals from cover to cover again. 😉

My combined manuals PDF can help a bit.

Combined Manuals Post