Allanon

Hi @dalekwars , and welcome to the club I'm a proud owner of the MZ-X500, this is the first Casio instrument I bought and I'm really impressed by MZ X capabilities. I came from a Korg Pa600, a great instrument but too complex for my own needs, lack of hardware controls (knobs & sliders) and rhythm & sound programming really difficult to get, even more difficult than my MOX6 with it's tiny display. The MZ X has almost all under your finger tips, very intuitive interface, plenty of hardware controls and relatively easy to program and understand. For my personal experience the MZ X is a very inspiring instrument and incredibly fun to play.

Hi @Randelph I'd like to use the MZ X to compose original music, I also have a MOX 6 for this purpose. I'm from the old school, I do not use any DAW because I love using the keyboard internal sequencer So, for me, it's very important to have the needed tools loaded on the keyboard. Here is my opnion about the topic you have requested: SOUNDS Many sounds are ok, many sounds like the synths and the hex layers are excellent (some are breathtakingly beautiful I'd say!), as well as the piano sounds, I've found the piano sounds even more realistic than the MOX 6. The organs including drawbar organs are very good. Few MZ X sounds need more love from Casio . Some PA600 sounds are also great, for example I loved the vintage synths reproduction, they are very good and fun to play. The MZ X offers the ability to create tones much more easier than the PA so I think that soon we will enjoy new great tones created by the community! EASE OF USE The MZ X interface compared to the PA600 is definitely more simple and immediate to operate, you have all at your finger tips and after few hours you have the feeling that the instrument is entirely under your control. I like it very much, especially the registrations: initially I've understimated this feature, but after some times I've realized that a registration is a snapshot of almost all the keyboard's settings and this is awesome! SPEAKERS Very good in my opinion, good frequency range and good basses. Compared to the PA the MZ X500 seems louder. KEYBED I'm not a pianist (to be honest I've studied piano but ages ago...) and I'm used to synth-action keybeds, so for me it is good... it's quieter than my MOX6, almost the same (speaking of keys noise) to the PA600 one. Very playable in my opinion. OVERALL SATISFACTION It was a very good buy for me, I do not regret purchasing it nor I do not regret to have replaced the PA600 with the MZ X. This keyboard is loaded with amazing features like the various pad modes, the very user friendly edit screens, the wav recorder/player, chord progression (amazing!), mixer, the organs! And the drawbars! The sampler! Tons of stuff to unleash creativity! The ability to import midi and foreign styles it is also amazing, it's quite easy to import a foreign style and adjust it for the MZ X from the MZ X, without the need of a computer. WHAT I MISS FROM THE PA600 Right now there is only one thing I miss - The ability to search tones/rhythms/registrations/etc... by name. When you need something specific it's difficult to remember where it is located, with a search by word function it could help a lot. At least a favorite section could also help. Well... there are so many things I like, that I'm still excited when I turn on the keyboard I was forgetting to talk about booting time: well, the MZ X boots in few seconds, the PA600...loading... loading... loading... ... ... Anyway the most important thing that convinced me to switch to the MZ X is the support: the Casio staff is always present to answer questions, suggest tips and fix bugs.... it's really nice to have a post-sales support like this.

Ciao @msx ! @all Lately I've played around with my X500 and I've seen many features not mentioned in the manual (unless I have misread it!). For example to revoice a rhythm I was hoping to find something to quickly change the tone of a specific track for all variations, however I have found the following method quiet fast: 1. Go into rhythm edit 2. Tap the tone you want to change in your track and select a new tone to assign 3. Instead of goin' back and select a different variation for the revoice operation just press the variation button on your keyboard 4. The tone screen will not change so you have only to tap again the tone you want to assign to the previously selected track 5. Do it for all the variations A second tap to the variation (1, 2, 3, 4) will select the relative Fill In (1, 2, 3, 4), the keyboard will signal the Fill In selection flashing the variation button. Another nice thing I've found about pad phrases is that you can select which track you want to play with your phrase, this way you can trigger a bass phrase of any other tone in your current rhythm, this feature is very nice because you can trigger many different tones/phrases with your pads. Maybe many of you was already aware of these tricks If I can suggest a possible feature to Casio developers, well, it could be really helpful a search function to find items by some typed text, especially for tones, rhythms and registrations. Also an updated manual with detailed informations on key-features could be very helpful for possible new buyers... Before buying this keyboard I've read the manuals and I've guessed the potential in it, I've also seen many video on YouTube and I what I really liked was the HexLayer technology, but now that I can dig deeper into this keyboard I can say that it is a very innovative and powerful instrument Yes, so far I'm very happy with it, and I cannot hide this feeling!

Thank you @Lobbard, this keyboard is incredibly fun to play!

Just to say hello to all MZ-X users! Today I've received my MZ-X500 and after 1 hour I can say that it's an incredible instrument loaded with great features, I've replaced my PA600 with this shining gem and so far I'm very satisfied by it. to Casio!