Members Etienne Rambert Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 2011 AnotherScott stated earlier that it has MIDI over USB. I shopped for a lightweight 88 key controller w/an on-board soundset late last year. I refused to buy the Yamaha DGX series (which is a nice, light-weight rig with an XG soundset), for exactly the same reason. 'MIDI over USB" is a PITA. It's a non-starter. Any synth that does not at least have a MIDI output is useless for my purposes. I have several sound modules. Not one of them takes a stupid USB cable. I actually thought the Casio Previas I saw sounded good & were nice rigs -- until I saw the 'MIDI over USB'. I have no problem buying a Casio. But w/o a MIDI port, it's not worth $99 to me. I ended up buying an M-Audio Axiom 61. It leaves a lot to be desired. But at least it has MIDI In/Out. Screw the idiots at Casio & Yamaha who decided MIDI ports weren't important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members danuniversal Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 2011 Casio VL-TONE VL-1 VSTi http://www.polyvalens.com/vl1/index.html [video=youtube;L5uX5wP-KVE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5uX5wP-KVE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted March 22, 2011 Members Share Posted March 22, 2011 I shopped for a lightweight 88 key controller w/an on-board soundset late last year. I refused to buy the Yamaha DGX series (which is a nice, light-weight rig with an XG soundset), for exactly the same reason. 'MIDI over USB" is a PITA. It's a non-starter. Any synth that does not at least have a MIDI output is useless for my purposes. I have several sound modules. Not one of them takes a stupid USB cable. I actually thought the Casio Previas I saw sounded good & were nice rigs -- until I saw the 'MIDI over USB'. Yes, Yamaha and Casio are both crippling some models this way. The Privia PX-3 is a very nice piece, and it has MIDI jacks. I don't like the PX-330 very much, but at least it does have MIDI jacks. Of that series, only the bottom PX-130 is stuck with USB only. (There are also many previous models that have MIDI jacks, since the move to USB has been recent.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwandar Posted March 23, 2011 Members Share Posted March 23, 2011 There seem to be a lot of inexpensive USB to midi connectors out there, but I'm not sure if they'd fix the problem of no midi? They seem to be designed more for providing a computer with midi, than replacing the USB with Midi functionality. Is the issue only the legacy midi ports versus USB ports, or is there a concern with fidelity/latency/jitter over USB (I had thought USB was generally faster). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted March 23, 2011 Members Share Posted March 23, 2011 Most USB MIDI converters only provide MIDI ports to a USB host. I don't know of any that go the other way around and provide MIDI ports from a USB device. There may be such a thing, but I haven't seen one (yet). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted March 23, 2011 Members Share Posted March 23, 2011 Is the issue only the legacy midi ports versus USB ports The problems with having USB ports instead of (rather than in addition to) MIDI ports on a keyboard are... 1. for live performance, there's no way to connect another MIDI device to your keyboard unless you also bring a laptop computer to the gig (and even then, getting the pieces to work together may be complicated, compared to just being able to plug one device right into the other) 2. keyboards that work with USB on today's computers may not necessarily work with future computers, whether because of hardware (computers may eventually lack USB ports, just as serial and parallel ports have disappeared), or because of software (a MIDI device that works with the current version of Windows or MacOS may not necessarily work with whatever version is shipping a few years from now). You may even find you can't update your current computer to the latest OS without losing compatibility with your keyboard. The Yamaha DX-7 is almost 30 years old, and I can use it with today's computers. I wouldn't be sure that the WK-7500 and other USB-only keyboards shipping today will work with computers 5 years from now, much less 30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members poserp Posted March 23, 2011 Members Share Posted March 23, 2011 There may be such a thing, but I haven't seen one (yet). http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/iConnectMIDI IIRC, it can work standalone as a USB Host to legacy midi converter. Edit: Yup, see here -- http://www.iconnectmidi.com/node/4 This bullet: "standalone operation, capable of bridging between MIDI devices including DIN and USB" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Randyman Posted March 23, 2011 Members Share Posted March 23, 2011 That IS a lot of board for the money. With the 8 sliders, mic and line in, create and save your own rhythm patterns, 8 part sequencer with sliders, organ with sliders, audio recording, 76 keys, built-in speakers, etc etc, it's a lot of music technology for that price point. I had the WK-3800 once upon a time (10 years ago?) and liked a lot of things about it: light weight, big sound from on board speakers, surprisingly good piano patch. But now, owning workstations, I've got a better vantage point to judge the sounds, and the other day when I auditioned the lastest incarnation of the WK series I was less than impressed. The piano sound is not bad, but most of the other sounds (using the onboard speakers) were not something I'd want to play! Hopefully they've improved their soundset since then! For me the biggest drawback is not the lack of a physical MIDI port but the lack of controllers- what were they thinking? No continuous pedal input, and all those sliders but no way to do typical mod wheel/cutoff filter controls. I had a $200 Yamaha e413?, and that little guy bucked the trend: it had two matrix controlled knobs with a surprisingly good cutoff filter. Was fun. But seriously, esp if I got a board like this for $400-$450, I might consider it. I like to play with a small amp in the park sometimes at drum jams, or play out on the street, and this guy does have good qualities for that: lightweight, inexpensive (don't want to bring my M3 or Nord Stage out to such places), battery operated, mic in. But I'd never get it until I had a chance to play the sounds- the WK-3800? that I had before is noticeably inferior to the sounds of the Roland Gi/Di, the Korg Microstation / PS60. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted March 24, 2011 Members Share Posted March 24, 2011 http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/iConnectMIDIIIRC, it can work standalone as a USB Host to legacy midi converter.Edit: Yup, see here -- http://www.iconnectmidi.com/node/4This bullet: "standalone operation, capable of bridging between MIDI devices including DIN and USB" Yes, that's the $199 piece I was talking about... which is still vaporware, it was announced over a year ago. But supposedly it will be out "any day now..." It's a cool piece with many functions, I'll probably get one. Adding MIDI ports to the 7500 also can address the other problem Randyman mentioned... once it has MIDI, you can connect pedals or other control boxes to give it continuous controllers. But once you add a $200 interface and perhaps another $150 for some kind of pedal or knob/fader control unit, you've turned a $500 keyboard into an $850 keyboard, and the value equation changes. And it would be a pain to transport and wire up and find stage space for the extra pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DJ RAZZ Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 I played one of these 2 days ago. The organ was not that bad surprisingly, even had a leslie on and off. The piano and other sounds were no different than their lower models, now thats bad and was a surprise also. Screen looks great but the action is terrible. You can SWITCH between bender and mod on the wheel but that missing wheel just looks off. This thing is huge and ugly. It reeks of home keyboard. No midi? Do not take this to a pro audition you will be very sorry. I would rather have a JunoDI, Yamaha MM6, or a Korg PS60, seriously. Then you could say "This is my practice AX". Good keyboard for children and families though. Later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 You can SWITCH between bender and mod on the wheel Did you actually try this yourself? Because the manual I downloaded doesn't say anything about being able to use the wheel for anything except bend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwandar Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Did you actually try this yourself? Because the manual I downloaded doesn't say anything about being able to use the wheel for anything except bend. I don't see this in the manual either, just the mod button shows as assignable. While its possible its buried in one of the menus, I haven't noticed it. Would be nice if it were there, but I'm not counting on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DJ RAZZ Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Now you have me doubting myself. did I play a several boards that day but I could have sworn something was was right next to the wheel. Maybe it was the PS60. Any how I do know that the leslie and B3 was much better than the demos on line and that everything else sounded really familiar. With some companies that is a good thing with Casio not so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members carbon111 Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 CASIO?! Did someone say Casio? I love my casios! The freaky old squarewave-powered 202: The unusual additive board the 1000P: ...and a few (secret) others. Very useful, very distinctive. Their emulative keyboards, especially the recent ones...well...I'm not so hot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AnotherScott Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 The freaky old squarewave-powered 202: I've got one of those too! I wonder what it would go for on eBay... Casio has made some nice 88s... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Everytime I see Casio, all I can think of is Soul Coughing... WZDAt75bN6M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChristianRock Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 When I see Casio I think of this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan88z Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 The freaky old squarewave-powered 202: The unusual additive board the 1000P: ...and a few (secret) others. Very useful, very distinctive. Their emulative keyboards, especially the recent ones...well...I'm not so hot on. I had one of those 1000P's when I was younger. Pretty cool board for it's time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwandar Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 Now you have me doubting myself. did I play a several boards that day but I could have sworn something was was right next to the wheel. Maybe it was the PS60. Any how I do know that the leslie and B3 was much better than the demos on line and that everything else sounded really familiar. With some companies that is a good thing with Casio not so much. I liked the piano sounds actually; thought they were quite good. I'm generally using headphones, mind you? Maybe just a case of different taste? Does your impression match up with this youtube video of the factory demo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Caligvla Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 When I see Casio I think of this That's hot ... I hope they f-cked in the toilet at the next stop ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RPdigital Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 It has no MIDI IN. It has no MIDI OUT. It could have the best on-board patches in the world and it still wouldn't be worth $99 to me. I will second that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members carbon111 Posted March 25, 2011 Members Share Posted March 25, 2011 That's hot ... I hope they f-cked in the toilet at the next stop ... Happy endings all around! :love: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members acidolem Posted March 26, 2011 Members Share Posted March 26, 2011 I AM VERY EXCITED about the new line of Casio WK and Privia series, available April. Specs show these models to be equipped with on board calculators. Technical details: 8-digits, vintage green vacuum fluorescent display. The display of the calculator will show 12345670. The right-most digit is a half-height 0. very retro. Scientific functions. 4x AA cells. Main integrated circuit: NEC uPD179C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundwave106 Posted March 26, 2011 Members Share Posted March 26, 2011 That's hot ... I hope they f-cked in the toilet at the next stop ... Casio = herpes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Caligvla Posted March 26, 2011 Members Share Posted March 26, 2011 Herpes prevention = turn off the dark ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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