Medeli AK-X10 versus Casio MZ-X300/500

[CasioCTK]

It looks like Medeli AK-X10 could be good substitution or even upgrade for Casio MZ-X 300/500 owners. Can anybody compare quality of tones and rhythms in these keyboards?

[Jokeyman123]

🤪

I've come close to adding this to my rather voluminous (word of the day) assortment of music making "devices" but I have one big concern. Will Medeli still be around in another year or so? They have been around for a few years-but like some of these "tour-de-force" instruments-Medeli has nothing else quite like this one-will they still support it in the future? I am spoiled-any arranger, if it cannot create a different main variation for each chord quality-yes my Generalmusic SK did this-I'm sure there are others, I don't see much of an upscale improvement over the Casios there, although I am not aware that Casio arrangers can do that either.

 

Some of the acoustic instruments sound...well not quite there for some, others sound very good but then the demos seem to be highlighting the easier sounds to dupe-flutes, percussion but the saxes on this sound cheezy-IMO. And there are not enough sound demos that I could pull the trigger.  Many of the orchestral sounds are not quite up to what I'd like to hear too but aren't terrible. Medeli is  still upgrading firmware-meaning there are bugs-but at least so far Medeli is addressing these issues but may give up on this sole instrument in time, like so many manufacturers do.

 

I am missing the drawbars which are/were so nice on the other Casios. The acoustic piano sounds "brittle" to my ears-and i listened to the Kris Nicholson demo carefully. Not terrible, but it sounds a little too "tinny" to my ears. and Kris is a good player although with spring action keys for piano.....not so easy to play stride on a spring-action keyboard!!!! Nice Kris.

Edited October 9, 2022 by Jokeyman123
deleted

[Akshansh - Alex]

AK-X10 have 3 layers tone option in upper section and 1 in the lower. While MZ-X500 have freely configurable Hex Layer option... 24 to 30 sounds at the same time.

 

Medeli dose good job in the rhythm section. While MZ-X is soo smooth in rhythm playing even with automation is enabled. 

 

Overall, I can say that MZ-X is much better then AK-X10 in many features

[CasioCTK]

For me, visibility of Medeli's backlighted buttons is much better than Casio's black buttons on black panel. Also 7“ touchscreen could be a plus. Four Quick settings for every rhythm/style (Registration memory), 3 buttons for easy switching or layering tones during playing on keyboard and 3 assignable switches seems to me very attractive.
Therefore I am asking about quality of tones and rhythms. Some reviewers wrote that AKX10 tones are nearly as good as some 2000$ keyboards, other that its tones are nearly unusable. So you can choose whom to believe. I need just comparison between AKX10 and MZX.
As for rhythms, on planetkeyboard.com there are 8 rhythm packs for Casio MZX and 29 rhythm packs for this Medeli. It looks like Medeli is much more supported by other vendors even now than Casio MZX ever was.
And what will happen with Casio or Medeli companies or keyboards in next 5 years? I don't ask. I am 75...

[Jokeyman123]

CasioCTK-

 

My approach, aside from being in a music store to play one.....are such things possible still? but probably not with Medeli, is stick my best high quality ear-cans into my computer stereo headphone out port, and listen very carefully to anyone who is actually playing one. There are almost no examples of what this sounds like except for the demos (not a good yardstick, these always are optimized by the manufacturers) and a few of the more common tones. To me at least, the quality of the other tones is paramount-drumkit samples, orchestral-how are the VA tones if any and eps, organs.

 

repeating myself but the acoustic piano sounded a bit thin or 'tinny" to me, certainly not terrible but then it's hard to judge based upon a Youtube video where so much depends on the quality of the sound reproduction, also the player's skills-playing a chord or 2 is one thing or a short riff, but to play a full-range piano piece or organ lead, can be very telling. and the better other tones are, the better the auto-arranger will sound of course. Last I checked was last week. Maybe by now more demos are online. The AKX10 is very limited distribution, I only found 2-3 vendors in the US, and 2 on Reverb from European listings. The only Casio I can compare the Medeli to is my PX-560 for auto-arrangements, sound reproduction, flexibility, mixing panel, hex layers etc. and color screen which although is several hundred dollars more, IMO is equally or more well-designed depending on what you want to do although you have a weighted-action keyboard, not to everybody's playing style.

[CasioCTK]

Thank you Jokeyman123,

there is no store in my country where I could try and listen to that AKX10. Therefore I had some kind of hope that maybe somebody from this forum had such possibility to try this keyboard personally, not just listen it on YouTube only. That's why I asked here. But every answer and advice is appreciated.

[Silvano Silva]

For me what counts in a keyboard is not only what it has on board but what it can do in terms of expansion.

I have the MZ-X500 but I admit that on some issues the AKX has more expansion.

An example is its Sampler memory, which, in addition to being bigger, allows you to play everything without stuttering or limitation.

But even so, due to its high cost, I don't think the AKX can be compared with the MZ-X because the AKX is much more expensive here.

AKX has Vocalist, and so does OTS. This is very important for live performance.

[CasioCTK]

This answer I got today from pcpanik-Musik on his YouTube channel:

„The AKX-10 has better natural instruments then the MZ-X series from Casio. And a better keyboard 🎹. But missing the great style editing functionality from Casios MZ-X. To be honest: both, Casio MZ-X500 and AKX10 have some big flaws in their software, which make both not a great choice if you are planing to create your own styles for specific songs. But Medeli will maybe fix some of those issues, while Casio stopped developing anything for the MZ-X series years ago. In my opinion the MZ-X500 was a great idea to build a companion keyboard, workstation and multilayer Synthesizer with a 16-key midi controller in one product, but the implementation was poor and the natural Instruments sound even worse.“

Edited November 2, 2022 by CasioCTK

[Jokeyman123]

My other concern, and why i steered clear of this for now-Medeli advertised a year or 2 ago, a whole new line of keyboards, none of which was the AKX10, and these never appeared on the market I could find, in the US or abroad. Their existing line has been around for quite awhile including the piano which despite the good reviews, is using a rather cheaply-made internal weighted system with anchor points identical to unweighted spring action keys, and i did not like the acoustic piano tones compared to the Casios and my other virtual and hardware pianos. To think Medeli will support this keyboard with any updates or revisions, i think might be a bit optimistic, and has not stood the test of time. In that respect, it may be in the same "boat" as the slang goes, than that of the Casio MZ-X series. and i am not convinced the AKX10 key action is any better than the MZ-X, or any other casio for that matter, unless i get to play one. Judging by pictures of the internal construction of the piano as i said, i don't see much of a difference in internal key design. Even the other major players seem to be opting for cheaper plastic keybed designs, not better. How about this-Casio, put that action from the newest S6000/7000 pianos in a 61 or 76 key updated MZ-X or PX-560, or even an 88-key?  That's what I was hoping for.

[Silvano Silva]

On 11/2/2022 at 6:33 AM, CasioCTK said:

This answer I got today from pcpanik-Musik on his YouTube channel:

„The AKX-10 has better natural instruments then the MZ-X series from Casio. And a better keyboard 🎹. But missing the great style editing functionality from Casios MZ-X. To be honest: both, Casio MZ-X500 and AKX10 have some big flaws in their software, which make both not a great choice if you are planing to create your own styles for specific songs. But Medeli will maybe fix some of those issues, while Casio stopped developing anything for the MZ-X series years ago. In my opinion the MZ-X500 was a great idea to build a companion keyboard, workstation and multilayer Synthesizer with a 16-key midi controller in one product, but the implementation was poor and the natural Instruments sound even worse.“

In fact, the MZ-X owed many gaps. In terms of Sounds, what helps a lot with the MZ-X is its expansion and sound editing. It is a respect synthesizer where you can improve your quality on instruments a lot. And as a last resort, for those who know how to sample the MZ-X, the issue of poor sound quality is eliminated.

The MZ-X is not a "ready-made" keyboard but its features even if incomplete help a lot. Casio should continue in this segment for the next professional arrangers.

[CasioCTK]

Thank you Jokeyman123 and Silvano Silva for your good hints.. Especially that Silvano's last post, which pointed me to the fact, that I need ready made keyboard with out of box good rhythms and tones of acoustic instruments and a big choice of other available rhythms and tones, was very helpful to me. Finally a couple of days ago arrived my new Yamaha PSR-SX700.