Cannot find my Dream keyboard

[jibin.jacob3]

I waited for more than 4 years to buy my dream keyboard: MZ X500, because I didn't have enough money to buy it. Now when I have the money, I can't find the keyboard!

   I have been trying to buy my dream keyboard since 2020 but cannot find it in India. (No reputed sellers)

   I have owned a Casio CTK6300IN since 2016 and I wanted to upgrade to a Casio Keyboard. EVEN TODAY THERE IS NO COMPETITION TO CASIO MZ X500. The only available keyboards are old geezers!

    I request Casio to make Casio MZ X500 available on Amazon India, Flipkart or Casio India Shop or at least launch a successor to the MZ X500🙏🙏🙏

     My CTK6300IN has stopped working since February 2021 and haven't played any keyboard since then. I can buy only one keyboard. Please give an explanation for this weird unavailability of MZ X500, because even 6 to 7 year old keyboards are available today! 

[casio_style]

And I want to buy a Casio MZ X500 synthesizer, but it looks like the Casio campaign doesn't release them anymore. I'll wait another year, if Casio does not release a high-level synthesizer during this time, then I will have to buy a korg pa700 or a yamaha psr sx700

[Casiofun]

The MZX-500 is still sold  by Casio America but has been dropped in other world markets and no one quite knows the exact reason why. Your only option might be the used market if one exists. This model did not get heavily promoted for some reason and for the present Casio appears to be aiming all new products at specific price points that appeal to the home market. The AIX sound chip is at the heart of many of Casios new products. It doesn't look like any of it's pro products are being updated which leads to the assumption they are still selling well. 

[jibin.jacob3]

The worst part is that there is no competitor to the MZ X500 even today (In the price range from ₹31000 to ₹60000), after 5 years or so. The only latest competitor is the Yamaha  PSR X600 but how can it ever compete the HEX LAYER if it cannot even layer 2 sounds in the lower part?

   Casio is the only company that can truly integrate Synth, Arranger and Workstation into one keyboard! Is there any upgrade to the Casio WK7600?

    Is there anything from Casio for Summer NAMM (July 15, 2021 to 16th July 2021)???

Edited July 6, 2021 by jibin.jacob3

[Chandler Holloway]

On 7/5/2021 at 6:07 PM, Casiofun said:

The MZX-500 is still sold  by Casio America but has been dropped in other world markets and no one quite knows the exact reason why.

 

The MZ-X500 is no longer sold in the states either, to my knowledge the product is entirely discontinued. It has been removed from the main Casio Music Gear site and the Casio America product pages, along with the entire "Arranger Keyboards" section altogether.

 

I think when we stopped seeing the MZ-X on the international site, production stopped. Casio America still had back stores of inventory so they kept marketing the MZ-X here until the remaining inventory was sold or liquidated. That's a pretty common procedure; the CDP-135 and the PX-160 were still being marketed here after production had stopped, but those products were in such demand that the remaining stock didn't take long to get sold. The MZ-X500 was a high-end specialty product towards the end of its lifecycle, so there was a longer buffer period for it to be "fully discontinued" in all regions.

 

Another thing I would like to point out is that the WK-245 has also been removed from the product line, although it wasn't as high profile of a product so I doubt anyone noticed. With the XW-G1 gone in late 2019 and the MZ-X500 and WK-245 gone for good, this marks the first time in a very long time that Casio has no sampling keyboards on the market.

 

16 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

Is there anything from Casio for Summer NAMM (July 15, 2021 to 16th July 2021)???

 

Casio is not attending Summer NAMM this year, but that doesn't completely rule out the possibility of a product announcement around that time.

Edited July 7, 2021 by Chandler Holloway

[Casiofun]

I didn't realize the MZX-500 had been dropped. That leaves the used market for anyone wanting one. Perhaps there will be a replacement for the XWP1 at some point as Casio does not have a synth in their product line. They've never made a workstation either. They only make arranger keyboards. That would be a new product for them.

[anotherscott]

17 hours ago, jibin.jacob3 said:

The worst part is that there is no competitor to the MZ X500 even today (In the price range from ₹31000 to ₹60000), after 5 years or so. The only latest competitor is the Yamaha  PSR X600 but how can it ever compete the HEX LAYER if it cannot even layer 2 sounds in the lower part?

 

The Korg PA700 is a competitive option, each doing some things the other does not. And it kind of has a hexlayer equivalent, though not as easy to use. At first, both the Casio and Korg look like 4 part instruments... Casio has two upper and two lower; Korg has three upper and one lower; but both actually permit more flexibility there than is first apparent. Then, Casio adds the ability for a part to be a hexlayer that consists of up to 6 tones that can be split, layered, or velocity switched, while Korg allows you to create sounds that have up to 24 oscillators that likewise can be split, layered, or velocity switched (and each oscillator can itself have 2 velocity-differentiated samples assigned to it). So you could build hexlayer-type sounds out of it.

[jibin.jacob3]

Thanks for all the replies but PA700 is out of my budget. I'm really heart broken! Don't know why Casio does this discontinuation thing (So quickly)but just look at those old geezers out there, they shamelessly hang around for years without any successors!! 

     I would suggest that you  discontinue a product only if you have a replacement/successor  I hope Casio has not given up.

 

Edited July 13, 2021 by jibin.jacob3
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