firmware upgarde Casio, please give us a firmware upgrade!!!

[Casiofun]

This is their way of forcing a buyer into a CTX 3000 or 5000. 

[RogerBannister]

Is there anything wrong with that?  I don't think it's unreasonable.  They have to draw the line somewhere.  I bet the majority of X700 / X800 users don't care about this feature.

[vbdx66]

I don’t believe this is quite true. If it is not possible to adjust the splits and layers, then don’t make them available in the first place. People who are not interested in these features can always buy one of the new Portatones, for instance the S300.

 

Even beginners will very soon notice, the first time they try to layer a piano with some strings on the CT-X700/800 (which is the most basic usage of the function), how inconvenient and non-musical it is when you cannot adjust the balance of the main voice and the layered voice. Same for the split voice.

 

I sent the CT-X3000 back because it was too complex for my usage. Hey, I don’t need a fully-fledged Mixer, but what the heck, I do need to adjust the balance of the two or three voices I am using together ; even the very basic and much liked by music teachers Yamaha PSR E363 has this much needed and much liked feature. Which is a shame, because the CT-X700/800 has so much better sounds and styles/rhythms...

 

Casio, are you hearing me...? 😫🙀

Edited November 27, 2019 by vbdx66
Typo

[Silvano Silva]

1 hour ago, RogerBannister said:

Is there anything wrong with that?  I don't think it's unreasonable.  They have to draw the line somewhere.  I bet the majority of X700 / X800 users don't care about this feature.

 

Are you serious? Imagine mixing two accordions and can not move the volumes. Imagine mixing a trombone and a trumpet and one of them sounding too loud. Imagine the Strings sound louder than the acoustic piano.

[RogerBannister]

On 11/27/2019 at 6:20 PM, Silvano Silva said:

 

Are you serious? Imagine mixing two accordions and can not move the volumes. Imagine mixing a trombone and a trumpet and one of them sounding too loud. Imagine the Strings sound louder than the acoustic piano.

Sure I’m serious.  You might want this ability but others might want more rhythms for example.

 

The fact remains: they have to differentiate the models somehow.  They’re a business 😉

[Silvano Silva]

9 hours ago, RogerBannister said:

Sure I’m serious.  You might want this ability but others might want more rhythms for example.

 

The fact remains: they have to differentiate the models somehow.  They’re a business 😉

 

I'm sorry.  I disagree with you. He would casio for example take reduce factory rhythms than take a precious resource from it.  tone balance is a serious fault. Remove pitch bend modulation reduce polyphony Not even editing a style is conceivable. But the CTK line up to the 6250 does this feature. If Casio made the Great Sound Engine advertisement it would have to at least give it freedom to change the volumes of UPPERS AND LOWERS. It's the same thing as creating a sport car without reversing. I participate in the forum because I like Casio and we should contribute its great features but also points out its flaws.

Business today in the keyboard market is attracting the beginners in music and holding them to the professional lines. 

 

 

[casio_style]

On 10/15/2019 at 3:55 PM, vbdx66 said:

 

Hello. This text was translated using Google translator, I hope that it will be translated correctly enough to understand.
The problem with adjustment and balance of layers can be solved with the help of a midi commander, which is installed on a tablet or smartphone and connected to a synthesizer, but for this some knowledge and skills will be needed. There are two mixers on the casio, one for the keyboard, and the other a midi input, in the midi commander set in Thru settings and if you play the keys now, you will get two sounds, one on mixer A, the other on mixer B (midi) and that sound which will be on mixer B, you can completely control it from the midi commander, all controllers, volume, pan, chorus and others are practically available. Also, the pedal buttons can be programmed so that they will immediately include the instruments you need, 256 pad buttons are available, which means that from the tablet screen you will be able to turn on 256 synthesizer tools.
Midi Commander works fine on the СTK and СT-X 3000 series. I don’t know if it will work with the СT- X700 synthesizer;
Here is a link to one video https://youtu.be/zDgOe6zr-bI
I didn’t shoot anymore, since few people were interested in this topic. I hope that the translator has translated google quite understandably.

 

 

midi comander https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.bordero.midicontroller&hl=ru

 

[Casiofun]

If you want to do complex sounds a computer is better because you have more control over your tracks. All hardware has its limits. 64 is low by today's standards but is decent polophony. Not that many years ago 32 was standard polophony for a keyboard and many digital pianos so running out of notes was more common.

[Brad Saucier]

@jose antonio tafalla blas  So far, your contribution to this forum has been complaints.  We don't stop anyone from voicing their concerns or opinions, but what you are doing is endless complaining.  You are not contributing to the community.  We have tried to offer help and explain why your CT-X functions the way it does, but you refuse to accept our help.  I have offered help and @Casiofun was offering suggestions.  Despite this, you simply continue to complain.  This is an independent user community.  We're here to help one another and share our music experiences.  This is NOT a place for endless complaints about something you regret purchasing.

[Casiofun]

If you want to do complex sounds a computer is better because you have more control over your tracks. All hardware has its limits. 64 is low by today's standards but is decent polophony. Not that many years ago 32 was standard polophony for a keyboard and many digital pianos so running out of notes was more common.

 

Jose Antonio,

You might not realize it but many musicians dump their songs to a computer to finish, edit, or embellish them. Keyboard hardware has limitations and does not always offer the best or easiest way to work. The CTX 3000 and 5000 keyboards are budget boards with a lot of options found on more expensive gear. They are not perfect nor are their advanced functions easy to use within their user interface. There is a learning curve. But what they offer for the money is quite amazing.

[XW-Addict]

I'm reading this with great interest it's a sizzling hot topic , there no side to this as the topic is about upgrade ,Jose makes some good points but , but something are just not possible with an upgrade as the hardware is fixed like that. I do agree some design decisions that were good in previous keyboard are not standard in newer ones and should have been , there is nothing to do about that then just hoping someone will make good design decisions. Could make a  new topic listing these good design from all keyboards past untill now I know a few. 😉 Jose.

[Joe Muscara]

@jose antonio tafalla blas It's not like the polyphony was a secret. If you didn't know it "only" was 64, that's your own fault as it's published in the specs.

 

As far as what @Brad Saucier said to you, you previously said

 

Quote

 I will not stop saying it until the next generation of arrangers keyboards:

 What's the point of doing that? You made your point, it's been seen and read by others including those at Casio I'm sure. They do read and take in user comments for future products. They do investigate and fix (when possible) reported bugs. They do post here and help us with our use of their instruments. But your complaining isn't helping anything at this point. And it isn't just that you're complaining, it's that you don't help others with their problems and it seems like you don't have anything good to say either. I mean, if you bought a new car and every time you picked up your friend, he says things like, "it's only a six cylinder engine?" "the 0-60MPH/100KPH times in this car are too slow" "I think it should have bigger brakes" "the cupholders are hard to reach" "the windows take too long to roll down" "why did they put the radio controls there?" "why does it only have four seats?" "I don't like the color", wouldn't you get tired of taking him? He might be generally right about all those things, but it gets old. At least he could say, "thanks for the ride, congrats on the new car" once in a while, offer a couple of bucks to help pay for gas. To make matters worse, your car was a mid-level model, and he's comparing its features to ones from the high end models and performance versions.

 

We are not only here to praise Casio. We are here to help each other, talk about Casio's music products new and old, and yes, give feedback to tell Casio what we would like to see in future products. But they already know we want it all, and we want it for free.  They're going to draw some lines about what features they will give us and at what price points. We might not agree with every decision they make (it will never be free), but we will also realize that they do have to make those decisions.

[Jokeyman123]

There is a saying-don't beat a dead horse!!!! There are many user groups, for many different products. I stay here because-Joe said it for me. if i want to discuss the fine points re a Yamaha, Roland, Korg or whatever it may be-there are plenty of forums for that. whistling in the wind-life is too short. Let's move on. How sane is it to expect something to change that is already-the saying is-it is what it is. if you want to play, you have to pay. sorry folks, that's life-I'm hoping after all this death-dealing virus does to everyone, maybe we will all be a little more reluctant to whine and complain about what could be, and figure out how to make something better ourselves. Look at all the music companies that went belly-up, and with the best of all features, some of which are not available years later except on the 3-4000 dollar workstations.......

 

Ensoniq, Peavey, (at least with keyboards),  Generalmusic, Bachmann, Seil, Crumar, Sequential Circuits, and Moog-although this company has tried to re-incarnate itself, and Dave Smith got some of the patents for Sequential since he was one of the developers. and I'm sure I left out a few from the music industry graveyard. Ever try to get a Mellotron-how about Synclavier? Before I drop a dime on anything-and I've been at this way too long, i thoroughly investigate the instrument's capabilities...before I buy it...being fully aware of its shortcomings or features. All the majors-that Casio is trying to compete with on some level-have done things requiring you to spend more money to get more sounds, add features-update the firmware-add sampling boards etc. Anybody who has ever had to run a business knows (I had to briefly-unbelievably difficult, most small businesses go belly-up the 1st or 2nd year)-you can't please everybody, you do the best you can to create the best products-diversify as much as is possible within your manufacturing and fabrication capabilities and hope you stay in business. Ever see how many guitars some players own, basses, drums? Why-because each has its own strengths and weaknesses from a player's point of view. My brother visited Tony Williams  years back before he passed-and told me he had drumkits all over the house from quite a few different companies-yes he had the money, but why-because each sounded different to him. So it is with every keyboard I've owned. If there was one perfect keyboard, I'd probably still end up with a few-that's part of the fun for me. But that's me. And why I grabbed the PX560 once I understood what it could do, and what it couldn't do-and I've complained-a little but I've managed to make some pretty OK music with it-and on a gig, I could cover just about anything with some work-but I'd still be carrying 1-2 other boards with me. and it doesn't fit on my lap-but almost-I have a pretty big lap and it's still lighter than most of the other 61-keys I own.  There is one new member here who could tell you more about Generalmusic and what a horrible thing it was to see such an amazing company go belly-up, for god's sakes, thy had engineers from MIT on their development team, had features that I still don't see on most even very costly workstations, and they still could not survive. Casio will survive, IMO, even if their keyboards don't make everybody happy. At least I know if something goes wrong, they will still be in business.......sorry for blowing off but I had to say it.

[Brad Saucier]

5 hours ago, jose antonio tafalla blas said:

... this forum has been created to praise Casio? So this is not my forum.

 

If that were true, we would have removed your account and deleted your content by now.  Anyone can voice their problems and opinions here, but once is enough.  Once is all it takes to be seen here.  

[Gp1]

Hi just thought I would comment. Yes I agree this was an over sight on behalf of casio. Unfortunately this is common amongst all manufacturers. There are always design faults in gear. We are buying imperfect designs. Also the less expensive a product the more unwilling manufacturers are to rectify or halt the signing off of things. The people who make them are human and make mistakes. The lack of ability to change the relational volumes of voices is quite a big one to be frank. But it's not something that would warrant a recall or an update because both voices work and sound fine ect. I always find that manufacturers of products ( for instance children's toys ? ) Rarely try out out the products they've made. If they did design flaws would be noticed. I get the impression Casio thought wow we've got this amazing aix chip and were a bit blinded by this. If they hadn't had the chip they would of had to have made the product stronger in other areas. 

[Gp1]

Also people have different expectations. Complex ones defined by what experience of musical equipment they have tried. Some people like me are amazed at what these things sound like. The last synth I had was manufactured a good 20 years ago so I am blown away. Trade offs is the word for stuff. Wish lists are common. Some things have work arounds or mods and other stuff gets sold on. It's unusual to hit a brick wall with a product that you love but is ultimately you can't work with. So yes I guess Casio would have to look at at how many units they've sold. And what they have in the pipeline to amaze people in the future. If nothing much happening in the research and design department go back and rectify a couple of things that could have been implemented more satisfactorily 

[Rudolph R-N R]

It seems clear that Casio went to ambitious lengths to produce a board selling for $179 that has great sounds.  And part of that equation was not having a firmware upgrade path, which keeps their expenses lower over time.  I will receive mine in a few days, and the price point was important to me.

 

I would argue however that if no provision was made in the initial operating system for adjusting the volume of the 3 voices, and there was no way to change that down the road, then it would have been better to offer only 1 voice.  Saying you're offering 3 voices, like other boards at this price point, but omit a super basic capability ANYONE would expect of a board with multiple voices.  Like vbdx66 said, it's very unmusical.  It's like giving a person shoes that fit perfectly on one foot but having no control of the size for the other foot.  Or same analogy of selling an outfit consisting of a comfortable shirt, ill-fitting pants and a childs sized hat. It's ludicrous.

 

And I don't buy the argument that it takes a mixer in order to add that feature.  Where there's a will.

 

Like vbdx66, I really like the light weight of the x700.  You go from 

9.5 pounds to

15.2 pounds with the x3000.  That half again as heavy!

And the depth of the x3000 is karazzzzy-

15.1" deep! (though that's standard for most budget arranger boards).  At least with the X700 its about 1.5" shallower.

 

My quest began with a search for a bed/couch/travel board.  Only the new Casiotones (like the CT-S300) and the Roland Go Piano-61 and Go Keys are super lightweight and shallow, 7.3 pounds (!) and only 10.1" deep!  Built in handle and everything.  Casio had no qualm about it being a 1 sound at a time board, and it's only $30 cheaper.  

 

However, I didn't like the sound quality or the speakers, so I'm returning the CT-s300 and will receive a x700 in a few days. I suppose I can treat it like a 1 voice at a time board and not get too worried about it. Would rather not have to pony up for the x3000 and deal with the greater depth and weight.  Oh well, I don't even have the board yet and am already complaining (sorry, it hits a nerve- can't adjust the volume of the different voices?! WHAT????)

 

As long as the sound quality is a big improvement over the CTS-300 that would be a big plus, and the x3000 is always an option (within 45 days that is).  My only REAL complaint is that the sweet curve of cheap music tech has only just started delivering great sound quality at historically low prices.  Like getting an 88 note board for $600-700 with a decent action and very playable sounds and lightweight to boot- I've been waiting decades for this quality, weight and price point!

 

Randy

 

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by Randelph

[Chandler Holloway]

Layer and Split volume balance has been added to the CT-X700 and X800 via my new RBK Mixer program. Please check out the hub thread for more updates.