I’m in love with my “new” Casio MZ-X300

[Shad0wfax]

Hi all,

I’ve been lucky enough to get a brand new Casio MZ-X300 for only 300 euro (about $350). I purchased it at Musicstore.de (Germany). After having messed with it for about a couple of weeks, all I can say is ‘what an incredible keyboard for the price!’. I’m in love with it and I can tell for sure that it’s the best keyboard I’ve ever got for such a price, and it is probably the best money can buy under (at least) $500. I’ve also got a CT-X5000, but IMHO, the MZ-X is much better, for several reasons which I’ll try to explain here. In fact, I’m going to sell the CT-X (which is indeed a very good keyboard with a great value for money), because I’m running out of space and the MZ-X fills my needs better.

Why I like the MZ-X so much? Well, among other reasons:

·       The touch screen. It’s big enough, clear enough, and fast enough to control every aspect of the keyboard easily and effectively. Certainly, there are better screens out there (for instance, the 7” screen of my Yamaha MODX), but you cannot ask for more in this price range. In fact, there is not anything like that in this price range.

·       The speakers. To be honest, I didn’t expect such a good quality of the amplification system when purchasing the MZ-X. The two-way speaker system not only provides plenty of power, but also very good sound quality. I use a couple of Yamaha MSP-5 monitors in my studio setup, and first I planned to connect the MZ-X to them when working in my home studio, but to my surprise, I ended using the built-in speakers virtually always, because honestly, the quality is good enough (except maybe for mixing). Despite there is little difference on paper between the CT-X and the MZ-X (15W per channel vs. 20W), the MZ-X sounds much better, not only in volume but (especially) in quality and detail.

·       The controls. The MZ-X is much more “serious” or “pro” than the CT-X regarding realtime controls. First, you get a proper modulation wheel, and not only a button with only two positions (or on off), and two programmable knobs, besides the “value” dial and the sustain and expression pedals. But the best of all is that those controls are damn easy and intuitive to program thanks to the touch screen. In the CT-X, it was a headache simply to assign the modulation button to control the speed of the rotary speaker in organ sounds is a, whereas in the MZ-X assigning any controller to virtually any parameter is a breeze.

·       The connections. It’s evident that Casio designed the MZ-X for “serious” usage. Stereo ¼” inputs and outputs, line in, mic in, proper 5-pin MIDI ports, two pedal inputs, USB to host and to device… The only “pro” feature that could be missed here is the addition of supplementary line outs and/or a usb audio interface. Anyway, it’s certainly more at the “pro” level than at the “home keyboard” one.

·       The sounds. Well, to be honest, it’s a sort of a mixed bag here. There are certainly very good sounds in this board (and I know what I’m talking about because I’ve owned Motifs, Fantoms and the like and I have a MODX and an Integra-7 in my studio setup), but there are also many other mediocre ones, which surely come from older generation keyboards. I’d prefer having a few hundreds of good sounds instead of several hundred or even thousands of mediocre sounds, but the same happens with the CT-X. Indeed, many of the sounds are the same, both in the CT-X and the MZ-X. I won’t claim that the MZ-X has better sounds than the new CT-X ones based on the AiX chipset, but there are only a few sounds that I would say they are better on the CT-X, so it’s not a deal breaker for me. Maybe it would have been a good idea to include a specific “legacy” sound category, to clearly separate the “new” from the “old” sounds. The AiX chipset has also a more powerful effects section (more effects and DSP inserts), but the MZ-X is good enough regarding the effects section and I can live without the extra ones. The virtual tonewheel organ with physical controls is a big plus also. Regarding the accompaniment styles, it’s true that the ones from the CT-X sound generally better and more polished, but as long as I use my keyboards for midi sequencing in my studio, or for playing live, I don’t care much about auto accompaniments.

·       Sound editing. Another good surprise has been the comprehensive capabilities of the MZ-X for sound editing. All parameters but the oscillators (waveforms) can be tweaked, so you can modify filters, envelopes, LFOs, effects… with great flexibility and ease. And there are plenty of user locations to save the edited sounds. And drumkits are completely editable, so you can assign every single sound or waveform to any key and all the other parameters to build a drumkit exactly as you wish. And, AFAIK (I have still to test it), you can build completely new sounds from scratch with your own waveforms via software! These are very advanced features for an arranger keyboard, and put the MZ-X virtually in the realm of synthesizers.

In sum, the Casio MZ-X300 might not be my most advanced or my best sounding keyboard, but it’s probably my best purchase ever. I simply love it!

 

 

[sslyutov]

deleted

[vbdx66]

Hi, thanks for this extensive and very interesting review.

Edited March 6, 2019 by vbdx66
Typo

[Allanon]

@Shad0wfax I completely agree with you!

I've a MZ-X500 along an MOX6, and I'm using the MZ-X500 almost every day to record ideas, and play for pure fun!

It's so easy and quick to edit stuff or to create a scene (registration) adjusting everything you need! The only complains are for Casio policy about this keyboard which seems to have been abandoned to its destiny.

I hope that Casio will think again, and will listen to all users of the MZ-X line for an updated firmware release, anyway the really important thing for me is that every time I turn on this keyboard I really enjoy it
 

[Jokeyman123]

Holy cannoli did you get an exceptional price-how could you not be thrilled! Lowest I've seen in the US for a new one is 700+ US dollars for the 300, and the 500 is pushing 900+ at least as i speak 3/6/2019. and even the older Casio 'workstations" the CTK and WK series are still fetching pretty good price new-so apparently the market has latched onto how good these are, and that must be keeping the prices up. But personally I would like to see the MZ-X series a bit more affordable-I am spoiled with the PX560 and that color screen, woowee I still am loving it. If I had no PX560-I can see the MZ-X seems like an exceptional arranger at any price. Casio-make modules for us overly-endowed Casio keyboard museum owner/operators! Running out of real-estate! 

[Shad0wfax]

11 minutes ago, Jokeyman123 said:

Holy cannoli did you get an exceptional price-how could you not be thrilled! Lowest I've seen in the US for a new one is 700+ US dollars for the 300, and the 500 is pushing 900+ at least as i speak 3/6/2019. and even the older Casio 'workstations" the CTK and WK series are still fetching pretty good price new-so apparently the market has latched onto how good these are, and that must be keeping the prices up. But personally I would like to see the MZ-X series a bit more affordable-I am spoiled with the PX560 and that color screen, woowee I still am loving it. If I had no PX560-I can see the MZ-X seems like an exceptional arranger at any price. Casio-make modules for us overly-endowed Casio keyboard museum owner/operators! Running out of real-estate! 

Yeah, the price of the MZ-X300 in musicstore.de and in amazon here in Europe is awesome. It seems like it's a clearance, as it's quite difficult to find MZ-X keyboards in stores. In fact, I haven't been able to find a new MZ-X500 anywhere. But the MZ-X300 is good enough

Sadly it seems that from a commercial point of view the MZ-X series has not been quite successful. It's a pity because they are good machines, but at the original price tag it was very hard to fight against Yamaha PSR-S750, Korg PA600 and the like. Many people willing to invest several hundred or even a thousand dollars in a keyboard tend to be reluctant to buy Casio as they intuitively think of "home" and not "pro" products. I confess that I don't know if I'd buy a MZ-X500 if for about the same price I could get a PSR-S750/770. But at $350, it's a no-brainer!

For me, the worst thing of all is that, as long as Casio realized that it's very hard to compete in the hing-end arranger/synthesizer market, they decide not to make more models, and leave the users "abandoned to their destiny", using Allanon's words.

 

[Jokeyman123]

This user group helps the Casio name-I've never seen such a productive, supportive user group-and I'm on many. This group has alot to do with Casio going forward-at least I think so. Look at the posts, look  at the variety of instruments covered, new an old, I hope it lasts as Willie Wonka once said! That, and good moderators who pay serious attention-thanks! 

[Shad0wfax]

Of course, this forum is very helpful and moderators do a great job (thanks again!). But my concerns are more related with the decisions of the Casio HQ (in Japan). After all, it's all about business, and it makes little sense to invest in the development of high-end products if there is no profit 😥.

[anotherscott]

Another great MZ-X feature... you can load your own custom keyboard-playable sampled sounds.