PX560 song edit

[missakwatch@gmail.com]

hello im new here. For a long time i managed on my own and was oblivious to forums.

But now ive given up trying to figure out a mystery, so i discovered this community of

problem solvers and would truly appreciate any help and response. 

 

 i just sold my yamaha sy77  and roland xp80 synths from the nineties so i could invest

in the px560m which has all the sensation of a full featured production synth far exceeding

all the features of those two ( even combined ) i traded up for her, especially in terms of

powerful tone generation and midi editing songs, on top of new audio and usb capabilities, 

and surely it will take me years to explore all of this privia’s powers. 

 

but i need help trying to locate the simple step edit functions and single note corrections that were

the staple of my production work until now.  They also spared me all this time from the intricacies

of pc recording and saved me untold studio expense and labor having allowed me to correct mistakes

to perfection without re-recording those otherwise perfect takes.  who can help me find this basic old

school edit in this impressive 17 track synth powerhouse thats now decades more advanced in this

mystifying flagship beast that is the pride of Casio?

[Jokeyman123]

I have numerous posts about my PX560 here, a terrific workhorse after several years.

 

Unfortunately, the sequencer is missing some functions that you will miss from your Roland and Yamaha (I kept my SY77-I've used several over the years and preserved my last surviving one from road use). I have created many multi-track arrangements on the PX560 but have had to work within it's limitations.

 

There is no step sequencing-nor is there any other cut/copy and paste function within the sequencer. You can copy tracks-but has to be an entire track at once. You can loop a section-but only the entire sequence-not individual tracks.  And there is punch-in/out for individual track recordings. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but once I discovered these limitations, I asked on this forum for a possible firmware update to add these features to the sequencer, but I do not think this will happen, according to what others have said here although I still hope it could happen. It is still an outstanding board for what it can do-the mixer functions and editing for tones and hex layers is very powerful-but you will have to rely on an external software or hardware sequencer if you need microscope editing as it's called in the Roland world, or the typical cut-and paste of so many other workstation sequencers.

 

Another important recording detail-always record your tempo to the system track first-the other tracks will not record tempo data. And if you change your mixer settings in the middle of creating a composition-use the play and store button to save these settings to the mixer-those settings are also saved in the system track, and will revert back to whatever was originally there-will not save your changes to pan, DSP etc. This simple function rewrites those changes to the system track

 

One nice thing you may notice-many of the PX560 tones-including a few of the evolving hex layers are very similar to some of those great evolving sounds on the SY77-not quite without FM, but pretty close-and the organs and acoustic pianos are better, and of course editing tones will be much easier than the SY-but then there are only a few musicians/programmers who ever mastered FM programming-and most of them are in the "home for marginally sane but tremendously confused".  I'm sure many others will post here-and there is a wealth of info here for the PX560-I have a few custom tones I created and uploaded, along with quite a few custom rhythms in the files section. What this is capable of far outweighs the few recording limitations IMO, and when I want to practice serious repertoire for piano-its not a Steinway, Bechstein or similar-but it sounds and feels pretty close for a digital-great heavier long-throw action, very close to a grand. I love mine.

[missakwatch@gmail.com]

thank u very much jockeyman.   thats some shattering news,  but u must be mistaken.  any engineer that would put all those powerful features together all obviously pointing to the objective of creating a workstation to break records would not have been this stupid to leave out the most important aspect of production.  no it must be somewhere there. i hev 250 polyphony but I can't enjoy them because some dimwit  engineer after putting in all the muscle and high tech suddenly had a wet dream about linear recording casting  the poor 560 back to the Dark Ages of tape recording because that is essentially what it has been reduced to .  I'm sorry I can't believe it.    for all that engineer's genius Casio would not have approved it.  Not while the company was already hot on the trail of proving itself as the new force to blow the competition along technology and innovation.  My God what did I do ?  I disposed of precious competent vintage for something  supposedly new and revolutionary just to discover it's less capable.  a bunch of bells and whistles but still unusable.  im stuck with a toy.  i cant finish any serious work and  i own this flagship model.  250 polyphony tri sensor hex layer audio recording 17 track sequencer it's all there.  how i fell for it!.  and yet who would have thought it will force you to re-record a 23 minute medley again from the top all because one note could not be step edited.    Jockey you're a good person u took the time to answer me and explain exhaustively and i truly appreciate it.  But unless i hear it straight from the horse's mouth i think you're mistaken.  Let's see what Mike Martin and rich formidoni say.   I mean the remiss is so stupid’ it’’s unbelievable..  Its almost saying “ i'm a complete and capable machine”.. And In the same breath also saying  “nah, just kidding”.   You are dead right If they realize this by now the firmware update should at least follow.  Pray for the firmware it should be an intelligent easy fix.  Otherwise they really shamed the 560 and rendered its gallant attempt to be the perfect all in one self contained production keyboard Casio's greatest unfulfilled destiny.    

[Jokeyman123]

If you find such editing tools in the PX560-please let me know. I have used at least 10 different hardware sequencers over the years-starting with the Alesis MT when new. then the Roland MC50mkII, V50, SY77, QS300, QY100, QY22 Yamahas-Ensoniq TS-12, MR76, MR61, KS32,  Generalmusic Equinox, SK76 and at least 6 different software sequencers.  Perhaps if you make your feelings known to Casio Japan, they will re-consider adding a few sequencer features in. They have promptly corrected the only bug I ever found in 3 years of playing with a firmware update-thus you have version 1.16. In conclusion.......THAT'S ALL FOLKS.................

[Jokeyman123]

One good thing about this-it forced me to play each track live from beginning to end in real time-gee just like being in a real live performance-but without the union pay scale-grunt!!! Oink!!!

 

I actually did a complete cover of "Telstar" mp3 I posted somewhere here exactly like that with only the PX560-and a Zoom MRS-1266-and a computer to convert to mp3. Not perfect, but close enough for jazz, as I've heard elsewhere. The hard part was getting the rocket to land in my backyard for the rocket sample sound-it cost way too much money.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                       

[Brad Saucier]

First I'd like to welcome you to the forums!  Welcome!  Unfortunately Jokeyman is correct.  The feature in question is called event editing.  It is not a feature of the PX-560 digital piano, but is included on the 61 key MZ-X500 music arranger.  The MZ-X500 is tailored around a workstation oriented experience, so leaves out some piano oriented features that the PX-560 includes.  The PX-560 is tailored for a piano oriented experience, so it leaves out some of the workstation features that the MZ-X500 includes.  This keeps prices at a competitive level on each product.  An 88-key hammer action version of the MZ-X500 would be awesome.  Unfortunately the market won't support a product like that at this time.  I have seen some consumer interest in it on the various forums, so maybe one day it will happen, if enough people support the expansion of Casio's lineup. 

[missakwatch@gmail.com]

thank u brad for your welcome.  thanks again jokey.  i will look into the mz 500 like it still matters coz i already bought the 560.  and what s the point otherwise if ive been waiting decades to graduate from 61 keys and have those same power on the 88.  and to jokeyman i am making my feelings known to the Casio world including japan if they log in here.  but isnt that the whole point of forums, in aid of after sales legislation, improvement efforts and fixes and add ons  especially software ones like in this case where  the latest AIR tech is already in the physical infrastructure of this flagship model and requires nothing else but code.  .  why would they turn u down the first time?  if u want we can make a concerted effort to reiterate this request making reference to your great contribution  of a previous fix by your initiative that spawned  the piano's enhancement after all and redounded to Casio's benefit even more than yours, uplifting consumer confidence where Casio's support reputation and instrument quality shines further.  imagine unleashing a fresh lease in life for the 560 now that it's aging,  and catapulting sales of re-issued 560's  with this fix shifting all eyes back to it with even more sales potential.  thats new income again for casio.  and im willing to pay for this firmware.  id rather pay more to  convert to it and be a happy 560 owner,  than die slowly everyday each time i look at this power synth  and yet feel powerless,  remembering the painful sacrifice of two great keyboards my sy and xp80 for it, that by now either would have made me finish my medley.  im appealing to u brad to echo these sentiments up the corporate since youre admin.  and jokeyman u can jump in anytime.  thanks again guys.   

[Jokeyman123]

I'd be willing to pay for a firmware update too. There must be some strong business or technical reason why these types of updates are so rare-not just for Casio, but for most manufacturers of music equipment-I am just guessing here, but I am thinking most of the operating system is burned into the CPUs that drive these keyboards, and there is only a little memory available for re-writing and storing some of the OS code. I recall more than one keyboard designed this way-part of the operating system functions were "hard-wired' could not be changed-and other parts of the operating system resided in memory that could be 'flashed" into an eeprom. Cyberyogi here might know something more about this, he is very knowledgeable re Casios and code chips. I don't know enough to be able to determine what can and cannot be re-flashed. for example-I am pretty sure the entire XW-P1 operating system must be reflashed in order to embed new commands into its functions, and it is all done into the one CPU, as far as I know. and this must be done at the factory using i would guess some very specialized eeprom programmers or similar and those knowledgeable about the specific code language used in this Casio, not a task for DIY,

[Joe Muscara]

Isn't it funny? It used to be that when you bought an electronic keyboard, what you walked out of the store with is what you lived with. Now, people think that all sorts of features could be added via a firmware update, but they frankly have no idea if it's possible.

 

Frankly, you have to know what a keyboard can and can't do when you buy it and not expect it do something more later. While I'm sorry that the OP's workflow doesn't work with the 560, I wouldn't expect their needs to be met by a firmware update especially this late in the game.

 

On 8/16/2020 at 2:35 AM, missakwatch@gmail.com said:

but isnt that the whole point of forums, in aid of after sales legislation, improvement efforts and fixes and add ons

The point of these forums is for users to help other users with these products. Yes, there are people from Casio USA that chime in here and monitor things, and the info gets to Casio HQ in Japan as well I'm sure. For us users, that should be considered a bonus, not a feature.

[Jokeyman123]

I agree Joe. I know of only one other keyboard forum as knowledgeable as this-Yamaha UK, and I believe one of the moderators there is now with us here in this forum. No matter what instrument I play, none is perfect-but part of the challenge for me is making good music with whatever it is. I've gotten some pretty nice arrangements out of the old PX575, and it has even less as far as the sequencer-but in some respects is still a viable music making machine for me. And like I said-the PX560 sequencer makes me think more like a performer-one take can be done over-and with 16 tracks-I can have 2-3 alternate takes on separate tracks-and keep whichever track ends up being a keeper-like in a studio session.