TheBradge Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 A friend of mine bought a CT-X700 today but he wanted to have it delivered to my place because of work and stuff. He DID tell me to unbox it and play with it a bit and well... That's exactly what it did: Unboxing Improvisation in A Minor. Some Maroon 5 song, you can hear the Versatile Guitar in the intro of this one! Sounds incredibly good. A classic Abba song with a nice Disco Shuffle style, listen to the Electric Piano with the Phaser on it, wow. My first impressions are, WOW! Is this machine REALLY only 200 bucks? It sounds very punchy, has a lot of great sounds, versatile tones (megavoices, lol) a couple of really good styles, and it looks stunning. When i played it i was still overwhelmed with how it sounded, but i dislike the keybed, i was playing in constant fear of playing too hard, not that a key would break off, but it feels very flimsy. Still, Yamaha PSR E-373 or the CT-X? No choice, CT-X. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jokeyman123 Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Sounds good-thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTapani Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Great demos 👍. Now that Casio has improved their sound-chip, they should really focus on making better keybeds. I guess the keys are just as flimsy, noisy and cheap as those in the MZ-X series? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBradge Posted January 30, 2019 Author Share Posted January 30, 2019 Thank you both! Yeah, the keybed is still as flimsy. Played it for a total of 2 hours since it arrived yesterday and the 3rd D key is already starting to make a tiny bit more noise than the rest, totally unacceptable, and i'm not a very firm player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbdx66 Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 Hi Bradge, Thanks for posting, nice demo. I am surprised that you disliked the keyboard. I had the CT-X3000 for a couple of weeks at home and the keybed was very good. When I asked the question on this forum, the Casio guys told me that the keybed was the same for the whole CT-X line so maybe your friend received a unit with a faulty keyboard and he should ask for a replacement unit. I agree, soundwise, the CT-X line is way better than the Yamaha PSR E. That said, the PSR E363 (the E373 is not out yet and might never come to existence - by the way, that « new » E360 is just a silly piece of junk😱) has some very nice features, the most important being the bi-directional digital audio interface. And on the model next up, the PSR E463, you can even record audio directly on a USB stick, which is really great. I wished the future AiX models would have both these features: an onboard digital audio interface and the possibility to record audio on an USB stick. If you really like the CT-X700 and think about buying it, put a few Euros more and get the CT-X800 instead, the pitch bend wheel is a great tool for cool electric guitar and realistic brass sounds. And it is so convenient to add new rhythms and to play MIDI files directly from the USB stick. Hope you will be doing more demos. Would you consider doing some in the Jazz and EDM genres? Regards, Vinciane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shad0wfax Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 3 hours ago, vbdx66 said: I am surprised that you disliked the keyboard. I had the CT-X3000 for a couple of weeks at home and the keybed was very good. When I asked the question on this forum, the Casio guys told me that the keybed was the same for the whole CT-X line so maybe your friend received a unit with a faulty keyboard and he should ask for a replacement unit. I've got both the CT-X5000 and the CT-X700. The keybed itself might be the same, but for some reason (because of the physical structure of the case, I guess), the CT-X5000's keybed feels much more sturdy. The CT-X700 sounds great (as long as you use external amplification or headphones), but feels too flimsy. It makes you fear it's going to break if you play a bit hard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbdx66 Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 Hi Shad0wfax, Thanks for your input. If other people could give how they are feeling about the keybed of the CT-X3000/5000 vs. the CT-X700/800 this would be great. I am quite surprised that Casio’s staff maintains the keybed is the same for all four keyboards. I don’t see how the casing could have any effect on the feel of the keys... maybe I’ll be able to try out a CT-X700/800 at a music shop and decide for myself how the keys are feeling under the fingers. Regards, Vinciane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m10538 Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 Improvisation in A minor ROCKS!!! Fantastic speed playing there, Maestro...or Bradge...whatever you call yourself now. $200?! Even I could afford that. Hmmmmm...maybe..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBradge Posted February 1, 2019 Author Share Posted February 1, 2019 On 1/31/2019 at 10:33 AM, vbdx66 said: Hi Bradge, Thanks for posting, nice demo. I am surprised that you disliked the keyboard. I had the CT-X3000 for a couple of weeks at home and the keybed was very good. When I asked the question on this forum, the Casio guys told me that the keybed was the same for the whole CT-X line so maybe your friend received a unit with a faulty keyboard and he should ask for a replacement unit. I agree, soundwise, the CT-X line is way better than the Yamaha PSR E. That said, the PSR E363 (the E373 is not out yet and might never come to existence - by the way, that « new » E360 is just a silly piece of junk😱) has some very nice features, the most important being the bi-directional digital audio interface. And on the model next up, the PSR E463, you can even record audio directly on a USB stick, which is really great. I wished the future AiX models would have both these features: an onboard digital audio interface and the possibility to record audio on an USB stick. If you really like the CT-X700 and think about buying it, put a few Euros more and get the CT-X800 instead, the pitch bend wheel is a great tool for cool electric guitar and realistic brass sounds. And it is so convenient to add new rhythms and to play MIDI files directly from the USB stick. Hope you will be doing more demos. Would you consider doing some in the Jazz and EDM genres? Regards, Vinciane Well, to be honest, i've played with it a few days now (The owner picked it up yesterday evening after rehearsal) and while it's certainly a great bang for buck i'm more of a Yamaha lover, and i can certainly understand why people would buy this since it sounds great, but it's also a lot of hype. Sure it has a few great sounds, and some really funky styles, but the rest is just a recap of the late 00s Casio's in my opinion. I can't do any more genres and videos for you since i don't have it anymore.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBradge Posted February 1, 2019 Author Share Posted February 1, 2019 12 hours ago, m10538 said: Improvisation in A minor ROCKS!!! Fantastic speed playing there, Maestro...or Bradge...whatever you call yourself now. $200?! Even I could afford that. Hmmmmm...maybe..... Thanks, just "TheBradge" Combination of my name and "The Edge" (since i'm a massive U2 fan) KeyboardMaestro was a bit too much i think lol. It's a great keyboard for the money, but the keybed... meh. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbdx66 Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 Hi Bradge, Too bad you couldn’t keep the keyboard for a few more days ☹️It would have been fun to hear you playing some more tunes 😉 I have a couple of questions for you: which Yamaha model would you favour over the CT-X700, and why? I, for instance, tried both the CT-X3000 and the PSR E463 for a couple of weeks, and honestly, I found the CT-X3000 to be vastly superior: better sounds and styles, better keybed. The only areas where I found the E463 better were: much more intuitive UI, ability to make a recording on an USB stick, more interesting arpeggio patterns, the Live! Knobs. Another question: which keyboard model are you playing now on a regular basis and why did you chose it? As you probably realised, i am currently looking for a portable keyboard (probably the Casio or Yamaha) and until I find what I am looking for, I am playing th Yamaha DGX650, which is a very fine middle-of-the-line digital arranger piano (it has some advantages and disadvantages over the Casio digital pianos of the same price). Regards, Vinciane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBradge Posted February 4, 2019 Author Share Posted February 4, 2019 I got bored with it quite soon though so i was glad that my friend picked it up lol. Keyboard i would chose over the X-70... if it has to be a new one in the same pricerange? Probably the E-363. It's not that i dislike Casio, i seriously DON'T, been a fan of Casio's ever since the late 90s, but they're missing something in the style and sound department. All their styles sound lackluster, seriously a mid 90s Yamaha sounds more dynamic in my opinion, and are more useable in my opinion. Sounds are pretty good for what they are, Casio sounds. But they tend to sound quite plastic and / or nasal... Sure, they have solo sounds nowadays with sampled vibrato but eh.... Sweet voices, anyone? Yamaha has been doing that (more realistic, i might add) since the late 90s.. Same with Megavoices, On the Tyros since 2001, Casio came out with a simplified version of it, called it versatile tones and it's the best thing ever on a keyboard, it took them FIFTEEN YEARS. I am now playing a Yamaha PSR-E403 and i enjoy playing it, great keybed, really good sounds and very groovy styles. It's an older keyboard and you can pick them up for $75-125 probably. If you were going to spend $200 on a keyboard and you seriously want to get a bang for your buck, try if you can get either the MZ-2000 or the Yamaha PSR-8000. But if you're not really in to fancy stuff and you just want to play? Then a CTK-811 will do or a PSR-S500. All the best 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbdx66 Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Hi @TheBradge thanks for your advice. I had the PSR E433 years and I loved it. Great keybed, nice Sweet! and Cool! sounds, the Live! knobs were great fun. I liked it better than the E403 to E423 because of the buttons to mute tracks from the auto-accompaniment, which were great to build up a song arrangement. I also enjoyed the DJ patterns. I thought that the E463 would be the same as the E433 with some bells and whistles, but unfortunately the keybed is rather crappy. I guess I could go for the E363 but the keybed is even crappier... and quite honestly, when I tried the CT-X3000 then the E463 for a couple of weeks within the same month last year, I found the sounds and styles much punchier on the Casio than on the Yamaha. Too bad that the CT-X3000 UI is so counterintuitive and complicated. This is why I am interested by CTX-800. But if you say the keybed is flimsy... Vinciane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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