In w/the old, in w/the new PX560 vs. Alesis Fusion

[Jokeyman123]

After steeping myself in my PX560 for the last year or so, i recently decided to finally obtain an older Fusion 8HD-as this troubled older monster was screaming at me-except for Casio, I have 2 other now "obsolete" workstations, why not a 3rd????

 

Seriously though-after discovering some interesting background re the Fusion in relation to Casio-I decided had to have one...in my constant quest for musical and technological "angst" (look it up if u don't follow). i discovered I was not alone......

 

There were remarkable similarities in some respects-a large screen (but not color and not touch-I kept going for touching the screen!!!)   A "Holy Grail" acoustic piano-4 control knobs-the 560 has 3. A sleek design-for an 88 key-this is amazingly sleek and small-not as compact as the Privia but was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately this weighs almost as much as 2 Privias-I still can't figure out why except the internal desktop hard drive probably weighs 5 pounds-which will be gone soon, it can use an SSD drive-but must use the older more expensive PATA SSD which are still available-but more expensive than the faster SATA SSD's.  And, unlike many older obsolete music machines, there is an astounding amount of website support-not by Alesis who abandoned it, but by the many owners like us here at Casio-who squeezed the last bit of goodness out of this, and almost all of that is now on my computer....

 

So why bother posting this here, at a Casio forum? Because part of the development team of this truly remarkable workstation, I believe was someone here at Casio-and I am paying my respects but staying anonymous also out of respect. And also to anyone here-the operating system refinements on the Casio 560, 360 and CGP-for anyone who has complained or not complained-operating my 560 as compared to the Alesis-I can drive my car pretty well anywhere-even in NJ....but if you put me in an F-16 or any other fighter jet, well i would pray it stays on the runway. Maybe apples and oranges here, but let's just say, after struggling with the Alesis for a day or two, i am much more appreciative of how easy it is to lay down some meaningful music tracks with the audio and song recorders w/ the 560 and the touchscreen-is fast.

 

Acoustic pianos-the Alesis is quite realistic IMO-and can load just about any piano soundfont that exists-but the Casio 560 piano-the 2 are very close-but I think the Casio edges it out IMO-the AIR sound engine I think puts it just over the Alesis.  I will post a musical example here as soon as I have some more time.

 

Finally....in case you like me have the urge to add something like this to your collection-and the going price for a used one is still in the PX560 range new-around 900-1000 US dollars if you can find one that still works-beware, it is a very complex, very deep instrument-and weighs almost 2X as much as the PX's-any of them!!!!

[faz726]

Out of interest, I downloaded the User Guide for the Alesis Fusion. What a well written manual! Every step carefully explained- and where an item is difficult to grasp - accompanied by a well drawn illustration. None of this; (CT-X3000 talk) refer back to page EN-27 when you're on page EN-52 which then tells you to go to page EN-117 for further information! 

Mind you, after all said and done, the CT-X3000 and it's User Guide is going keep me fully occupied for years to come.  Thanks Casio.

[Jokeyman123]

Many early Fusion owners did not agree with you. I do but then this is one of the most complex instruments I've ever come across-being literally 4 different synth engines including full stereo sampling, and an 8-track audio recorder. Some of the concepts are definitely here on the PX560 and I don't own it, but the MZ-X500 although its not an -autoarranger but has some pretty amazign arpeggio programs that are fully editable and multis. Certainly far from perfect-and if it weren't for the user groups, this would have probably vanished into oblivion. Why this Casio group is so important-look at the wealth of information here now after several years and an astounding array of knowledgeable Casio owners, worth its weight in keyboards!!!  

[faz726]

Jokeyman123, I am in total agreement with you on your final comment. The frustration thing is that the relevant User Guide for whatever instrument we possess covers everything you need to know about it. Are we becoming lazy? Maybe it's easier to pose a question in a user group then plough your way through a manual. How many times have we seen YouTube videos of someone unboxing a new phone, games machine, tv and dare I say it, Casio keyboard, and cast aside the User Guide. Mind you, casting aside a Casio User Guide would result in certain injury to the person in the line of fire! My CT-X3000 came with 4 different language manuals - total paper weight unknown.

 

There's no doubt, without this user group I would be in deep trouble.  As you rightly said - look at the wealth of information available. The depth of knowledge is amazing. I only wish my 77 year old brain could grasp a fraction of it. My task tonight is to try to understand how to use Phrase Pads. The question is should I read the manual or watch a YouTube video ??!!

[Jokeyman123]

Some things now are too easy-people don't have to think anymore, don't need to try to figure something out. This is a dangerous trend if taken too far. The joker in the deck-you can get an easy answer only because somebody else had to sweat through trying to figure it out first, and now maybe has been nice enough to tell you how they did it. There is BBC show called "The IT Crowd" about a bunch of people in charge of a computer company that basically don't know much of anything and don't have much to do all day-they use a taped message for customer service that asks customers about their computer problems..."Did you plug it in?"  "Is the computer turned on?" And i can have 10,000 tones in my keyboards-then I think about the musicians who spent a lifetime mastering the sound of....one instrument. Kind of scary in'it? 

[faz726]

Years ago, when I was a young whipper snapper, my daily mile walk to junior school took me past an electrical shop. In the window, way out in front, lay a shiny white crystal set with two black knobs set like eyes following me on my school run. It was priced at one pound. With one shilling a week pocket money I was in for a long haul. I feared that one day, what I lusted after would vanish from the shop window, having been purchased by someone with more cash then I could gather together. But that Crystal Set never moved, teasing me as it were.

On my eleventh birthday my uncle presented me with a watch and my father gave me a crisp pound note. I was soon in possession of that Crystal Set. This replaced my previous attempts at listening to London's Home Service via a safety razor blade, a piece of lead from a pencil and a pair of high impedance war worn headphones - but that's another story. Some time later, with a few more pennies saved, I bought a single Mullard transistor. A few resistors and a couple of penlight batteries later and I had an audio amplifier. The weekly series Journey Into Space on the Light Program (weaker signal) was within my grasp. Oh what joy!

I read somewhere that the new Apple phone has over 10 billion (English billion) transistors fabricated on a single chip. I find this absolutely incredible. I wonder how many discrete components lie hidden within Casio's AIX chip. The way it generates those hundreds of tones and rhythms  to me seems magical. The sheer volume of work involved by a team of dedicated Casio Engineers to get where we are today is staggering. What's next I wonder? A CT-X???C series with a color touch screen for under 350 dollars (£300). In my dreams...

Keep safe all, John

 

 

[Jokeyman123]

Another crystal set aficianado. Yes I listened to WABC AM radio on my homemade crystal radios grounded to a steel radiator, great fun. Hw i got hooked on music listening to Cousin Brucie and all those great 1950's hits. I still have my lafayette LR9090 receiver and TEAC 3340 4-track "simul-sync' tape deck, with discrete transistors inside both. still working famously. It is a bit scary seeing how rapidly technology has taken off in the last 50-60 years. But then it took thousands of years-to see cars, planes and so much more. I still like my bicycle though. If you are stranded n the middle of the woods and lost-and your smartphone goes dead-suddenly I realize how helpless we can let this technology make us. I'm keeping some of my old-world skills intact-I can still toast marshmallows without an iphone.  

[faz726]

And I can make a compass with a sewing needle, a length of cotton and a hammer!!