is it possible to edit the balance of the rythms in the ctx 700 / cts400?

[octaviu5]

im thinking of buying a ctx 700 or a cts 400 (when it comes out) to use it as a songwriting tool.
I mostly intend on using the included rythms as accompaniment for my voice and my guitar.

 

Is it possible to control the volume of the elements of each rythm (so that i am mostly left with drum and bass, with no other elements) in any of these two models?

 

i bought a ctx3000 but found it to be too complicated so i returned it, im looking for something simple, so was thinking of asking before buying.

 

thanks in advance.

[casio_style]

The CT X700 or CT S400 synthesizers are easy to operate, simple because they don't have any of the features that the Casio CT X3000 has.
They do not have a mixer, there is no style editor, there is no editor for tones, timbres and styles, also about a hundred less and much more that is not there, which is on the Casio CT X3000
Therefore, what you want to get from them is rather impossible, although the owners of the CTX 700 may be able to answer for sure.

Personally, I think CT X3000 is the best choice in this price segment. Among other brands, there are still no models that could compete with it in terms of price - opportunities - sound.

[Casiofun]

None of the other manufacturers offer anything in the price range that can do what the CTX3000 can do. Everything else is a preset keyboard that you can't edit sounds, rhythms or anything else. Also all of them have limited recording ability. 

[Chandler Holloway]

Through the onboard controls? No, neither the CT-X700 or the CT-S400 will be able to do that. They don't have a mixer menu or a Rhythm editor.

 

However, you could accomplish the same thing by editing Rhythms externally and then importing them to the keyboard as User Rhythms. You'd simply delete whatever tracks in the source Rhythm you don't want to hear (everything but the drum and bass, apparently), save it as a new User Rhythm, and then import that back to the keyboard.

 

The main issue is that there's not currently a proper software editor for the AC7 Rhythm format Casio uses, so your options for editing Rhythms on your computer are slim to none. One is currently being developed by a community member, but it's not publicly released yet and it has its own learning curve. If you found the CT-X3000 to be way too complicated, I doubt this is a solution that would work well for your needs, but it's something to consider.

 

The other restriction is that those two models only have 10 User Rhythm slots in the onboard memory, so even if you did get used to pre-editing your Rhythms, you'd run into space limitations fairly often. This isn't as big of a deal on the CT-S400 since it can load extra Rhythms in via flash drive, but for the CT-X700, it would be a big problem.

 

If all you want is bass and drums to play guitar on top of for songwriting purposes, I'd recommend getting a dedicated drum machine with bass accompaniment. The Alesis SR-18 seems like it would suit your needs well, plus it has built-in effects and a really good onboard sequencer/recorder if you wanted to build up full-length songs to play on top of if in a performance setting.

[octaviu5]

2 hours ago, Chandler Holloway said:

Through the onboard controls? No, neither the CT-X700 or the CT-S400 will be able to do that. They don't have a mixer menu or a Rhythm editor.

 

However, you could accomplish the same thing by editing Rhythms externally and then importing them to the keyboard as User Rhythms. You'd simply delete whatever tracks in the source Rhythm you don't want to hear (everything but the drum and bass, apparently), save it as a new User Rhythm, and then import that back to the keyboard.

 

The main issue is that there's not currently a proper software editor for the AC7 Rhythm format Casio uses, so your options for editing Rhythms on your computer are slim to none. One is currently being developed by a community member, but it's not publicly released yet and it has its own learning curve. If you found the CT-X3000 to be way too complicated, I doubt this is a solution that would work well for your needs, but it's something to consider.

 

The other restriction is that those two models only have 10 User Rhythm slots in the onboard memory, so even if you did get used to pre-editing your Rhythms, you'd run into space limitations fairly often. This isn't as big of a deal on the CT-S400 since it can load extra Rhythms in via flash drive, but for the CT-X700, it would be a big problem.

 

If all you want is bass and drums to play guitar on top of for songwriting purposes, I'd recommend getting a dedicated drum machine with bass accompaniment. The Alesis SR-18 seems like it would suit your needs well, plus it has built-in effects and a really good onboard sequencer/recorder if you wanted to build up full-length songs to play on top of if in a performance setting.

 

Bummer. I wish this could be achieved simply.

Like in the casio mt-68 from the 80s, in which there was a dedicated fader for the levels of the drums, bass and piano.

 

I dont think i want to buy another piece of equipment like the sr-18. as its a bit more expensive than i'd wish. but thanks for the suggestion. Can you think of something else that has this features at a lower price? Soundquality doesnt need to be the greatest.

 

thank you all for your kind responses.

[Chandler Holloway]

I mean, it can be achieved simply... with the CT-X3000. Editing the mixer values for a Rhythm is pretty easy on the CT-X3000, but you didn't want to use it. You're not going to find a more affordable Casio in the current line-up that can edit Rhythms through the onboard controls outside of maybe the WK-6600. The WK is a full blown workstation, though, and it's got 76 keys. Even though it has more dedicated controls, it still has a mixer menu and you'll find that the process for editing Rhythms is very similar to that of the CT-X3000, which you didn't like. Buying something like that just to handle drums and bass would be "cracking eggs with a sledgehammer", as they say.

 

If you want simplicity and fast access to the stuff you find most important, you should get specialized tools to fit your needs. Casio arranger keyboards have lots of features (and become more complex when trying to implement those features) because they need to cover a lot of use cases and appeal to a wide variety of musicians, all while maintaining a highly affordable and competitive price point. You want to use maybe 5% of what the instrument is capable of, and you're disappointed that the features contained within that 5% of functionality aren't more streamlined and accessible (even though again, using the mixer menu on the CT-X3000 is really not that hard and I'd be happy to walk you through it).

 

If you got a drum machine with bass accompaniment instead of an arranger keyboard with auto-accompaniment, I think you'd find that the features related to drums and bass are much more prominent in the design philosophy. Which is why, again, I point you to the SR-18. It has an instrument input designed specifically for guitarists and bass players (eliminating the need for a separate mixer when practicing/performing), not to mention footswitch jack inputs for hands-free triggering of fills and pattern changes (a feature you won't find on any of the Casio models you're considering).

 

29 minutes ago, octaviu5 said:

I dont think i want to buy another piece of equipment like the sr-18. as its a bit more expensive than i'd wish.

 

The CT-S400 will retail at $230 new, the SR-18 is just a bit more at  $260 new. Your CT-X3000 was $300. I see several used SR-18s on Reverb for less than 200, although I can't link them to you due to the forum rules.

[octaviu5]

11 minutes ago, Chandler Holloway said:

If you want simplicity and fast access to the stuff you find most important, you should get specialized tools to fit your needs. Casio arranger keyboards have lots of features (and become more complex when trying to implement those features) because they need to cover a lot of use cases and appeal to a wide variety of musicians, all while maintaining a highly affordable and competitive price point. You want to use maybe 5% of what the instrument is capable of, and you're disappointed that the features contained within that 5% of functionality aren't more streamlined and accessible (even though again, using the mixer menu on the CT-X3000 is really not that hard and I'd be happy to walk you through it).

 

If you got a drum machine with bass accompaniment instead of an arranger keyboard with auto-accompaniment, I think you'd find that the features related to drums and bass are much more prominent in the design philosophy. Which is why, again, I point you to the SR-18. It has an instrument input designed specifically for guitarists and bass players (eliminating the need for a separate mixer when practicing/performing), not to mention footswitch jack inputs for hands-free triggering of fills and pattern changes (a feature you won't find on any of the Casio models you're considering).

 

 

The CT-S400 will retail at $230 new, the SR-18 is just a bit more at  $260 new. Your CT-X3000 was $300. I see several used SR-18s on Reverb for less than 200, although I can't link them to you due to the forum rules.

 

 

 

hey! thank you very much for taking the time to help me. i sincerely appreciate it.

im kind of ashamed at the fact that i didnt know these tools existed in this format. im used to build everything from the ground up in my daw.

 

im checking the sr 18 out, seems interesting, im curious, is it possible to change the chords of the patern on the fly? like with a keyboard?

also, there is an sr16 available for very cheap near me, would you choose it over the sr 18? thank you again!

[Chandler Holloway]

 

32 minutes ago, octaviu5 said:

also, there is an sr16 available for very cheap near me, would you choose it over the sr 18? thank you again!

 

The SR-16 can only handle drums, it has no bass voices. The samples on it are very dated 90s and 2000s stuff, and it has no onboard effects or EQ. If you don't care about sound quality then sure, it's a great drum machine to supplement a guitarist (it also has the hands-free footswitch features). But it doesn't have bass, and that seems to be an essential feature for you.

 

32 minutes ago, octaviu5 said:

im checking the sr 18 out, seems interesting, im curious, is it possible to change the chords of the patern on the fly? like with a keyboard?

 

No, the basslines are pre-recorded in each pattern and will always loop the same notes. You can transpose everything within a pattern by half-steps to put the recording into a different key, but you can't input a custom chord progression on the fly like you can with auto-accompaniment on an arranger keyboard.

 

If you want to program a custom bassline to match the chord progression you want to play with, you can record a loop with separate A and B variations + fills either using the onboard pads, or connecting an external MIDI keyboard to play bass notes that way (or you use the MIDI output of a track in your DAW). You can edit your recording after the fact to fix mistakes or change pitch/velocity/note length of the bassline, but if you're hoping to dynamically change what you've recorded in the middle of a performance, that's not possible. It's not an arranger keyboard, it's a drum machine, after all.

 

You could have the A variation of your pattern play one chord progression, and then record a different chord progression on the B variant. Just switch between those two variations when you want to play on top of the new chord progression. In this case, you are still limited to what was recorded in each pattern, though, so you'd have to have your different chord progressions set up beforehand.

 

You can then take that a step further and use Pattern Play mode. Normally, each of the SR-18's pads controls one drum sound (or one note if you're controlling the bass layer), but when you're in Pattern Play mode, pressing a pad will transition to a completely different pattern. So if you have a bunch of different chord progressions already pre-recorded across several different patterns, you could activate pattern play mode and just press the pad that corresponds to the chord progression you want to transition to whenever necessary.

 

Again, this all requires preparation, as you need to have your different chord progressions programmed into patterns before you start dynamically switching between them. But if you put the time and the work in to understand the machine (it has an AWESOME manual written by the legendary Craig Anderton), I think you'll find it could be an extremely powerful tool for songwriting or practice. I know lots of gigging solo guitarists singer/song-writer types who use it onstage, it runs on batteries and has great I/O for live settings as I've already mentioned.

 

My buddy calls it "the open mic-ers drum machine" because it's a perfect fit for solo performers, but has just as much utility for bedroom practice if that's what you'd prefer to use it for. It's flexible and fully-featured enough to be used in polished tracks, after all, and I'm fairly certain that you won't "outgrow" this purchase anytime soon. Alesis' SR series are some of the best selling drum machines in the world for a good reason! The SR-16 came out in the mid 90s and it still gets sold new today. Crazy useful little boxes.

 

Of course, this is a Casio forum and I don't want this to turn into 20 questions on the SR-18. I'd recommend reading through the manual and asking more detailed questions on Alesis' user groups, or a more general gear forum like gearspace.

[octaviu5]

1 hour ago, Chandler Holloway said:

 

 

The SR-16 can only handle drums, it has no bass voices. The samples on it are very dated 90s and 2000s stuff, and it has no onboard effects or EQ. If you don't care about sound quality then sure, it's a great drum machine to supplement a guitarist (it also has the hands-free footswitch features). But it doesn't have bass, and that seems to be an essential feature for you.

 

 

No, the basslines are pre-recorded in each pattern and will always loop the same notes. You can transpose everything within a pattern by half-steps to put the recording into a different key, but you can't input a custom chord progression on the fly like you can with auto-accompaniment on an arranger keyboard.

 

If you want to program a custom bassline to match the chord progression you want to play with, you can record a loop with separate A and B variations + fills either using the onboard pads, or connecting an external MIDI keyboard to play bass notes that way (or you use the MIDI output of a track in your DAW). You can edit your recording after the fact to fix mistakes or change pitch/velocity/note length of the bassline, but if you're hoping to dynamically change what you've recorded in the middle of a performance, that's not possible. It's not an arranger keyboard, it's a drum machine, after all.

 

You could have the A variation of your pattern play one chord progression, and then record a different chord progression on the B variant. Just switch between those two variations when you want to play on top of the new chord progression. In this case, you are still limited to what was recorded in each pattern, though, so you'd have to have your different chord progressions set up beforehand.

 

You can then take that a step further and use Pattern Play mode. Normally, each of the SR-18's pads controls one drum sound (or one note if you're controlling the bass layer), but when you're in Pattern Play mode, pressing a pad will transition to a completely different pattern. So if you have a bunch of different chord progressions already pre-recorded across several different patterns, you could activate pattern play mode and just press the pad that corresponds to the chord progression you want to transition to whenever necessary.

 

Again, this all requires preparation, as you need to have your different chord progressions programmed into patterns before you start dynamically switching between them. But if you put the time and the work in to understand the machine (it has an AWESOME manual written by the legendary Craig Anderton), I think you'll find it could be an extremely powerful tool for songwriting or practice. I know lots of gigging solo guitarists singer/song-writer types who use it onstage, it runs on batteries and has great I/O for live settings as I've already mentioned.

 

My buddy calls it "the open mic-ers drum machine" because it's a perfect fit for solo performers, but has just as much utility for bedroom practice if that's what you'd prefer to use it for. It's flexible and fully-featured enough to be used in polished tracks, after all, and I'm fairly certain that you won't "outgrow" this purchase anytime soon. Alesis' SR series are some of the best selling drum machines in the world for a good reason! The SR-16 came out in the mid 90s and it still gets sold new today. Crazy useful little boxes.

 

Of course, this is a Casio forum and I don't want this to turn into 20 questions on the SR-18. I'd recommend reading through the manual and asking more detailed questions on Alesis' user groups, or a more general gear forum like gearspace.

 

 

well. i will check into it. thanks!