Members carbon111 Posted March 26, 2011 Members Share Posted March 26, 2011 Rutabaga = Combine Harvester Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RPdigital Posted March 27, 2011 Members Share Posted March 27, 2011 Casio = herpes? Always when I see CASINO label, it reminds that CASIO has copied the logo from it. And it is a wheel of fortune, if your unit works fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Plink Floyd Posted March 27, 2011 Members Share Posted March 27, 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 Pffft. Can't they get anything right?Nixies or none for me thanx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike Martin Posted March 28, 2011 Members Share Posted March 28, 2011 Wow - Apparently I'm coming late to this thread.... I'm going to add a few comments and/or clarifications. Regarding USB MIDI - It is correct that the CTK-7000 or WK-7500 does not have any MIDI other than USB. The fact is that these keyboards simply are designed to be mostly self contained machines. They also work well with computers which I think reflects a trend for the way a majority of people work these days. Additionally, the USB MIDI port on the WK-7500 keyboards (and Privia) is "class compliant", meaning it does not require additional drivers to work with Apple Macs, Windows PCs or even iPads. Yes there may be a day when there is an OS or computer system that it may not work with several years into the future but you can say that about dozens if not hundreds of music products made today. Regardless of what happens with computers in a decade the WK-7500 will still be the instrument it is today. To clarify a comment about Privia: The Privia PX-130 is the only current Privia model that does not have regular 5-pin MIDI jacks along with USB. In regards to the WK-7500 being a Kronos killer, I don't think anyone at Casio is suggesting that at all. Completely different products and different customers. If you've seen the banner ad running here on Harmony Central we call the WK-7500 a "songwriters dream come true". Here is why - you have hundreds of great sounds, a powerful arranger, a fantastic sequencer and probably my favorite part it will record AUDIO. Simply put, hit the audio record button and play - it captures it as a stereo audio file. Anyone can do it, it is very easy. If you are a singer/songwriter plug in your mic and guitar, build you parts in the sequencer then sing/play along and again, the whole thing gets captured as stereo audio file on an SD Card....and its under $500, in a more portable 61-key package under $400. Yes you can probably find a list of things these products don't do or things they don't have. We're not trying to be everything to everyone, but these products fill a niche and certainly a price where nothing comes close to the value. As someone correctly pointed out a CTK-7000/WK-7500 along with a Ventilator pedal would provide a killer organ solution for a fraction of the cost of dedicated clones...and that is just one of the things that this product can do. Last to suggest that "pros" don't use Casio products is ludicrous. The PX-330 and PX-3 are well accepted by pros and everyday gigging musicians because of their feel, sound and portability (under 25 lbs)...not to mention price. Last week at SXSW, Privia digital pianos were the most seen brand at SXSW next to Nord. The new WK and CTK are no exception in just the couple months we've been shipping, have been a huge success and there is still so much power under the hood that hasn't even been discussed in this thread. Take care, Mike Martin Casio America, Inc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members McHale Posted March 28, 2011 Members Share Posted March 28, 2011 Holy crap, Casio America is located in Naperville, IL? I'm just a few minutes from there! Does Casio need a local endorsee who opens for national acts? I love Casio! -Mc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike Martin Posted March 28, 2011 Members Share Posted March 28, 2011 Holy crap, Casio America is located in Naperville, IL? I'm just a few minutes from there! No - Casio America, Inc. is located in Dover NJ. I "live" in Naperville, but spend most of my time here in NJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members McHale Posted March 28, 2011 Members Share Posted March 28, 2011 darn! Hey, we appreciate you coming in. Harmony Central is not for the faint of heart and it takes a lot of courage to venture in... especially as a synth rep. For the record, I did most of my synth learnin' on Casio keyboards and you guys will always be cool in my book. P.S., I still have mu SK-1... -Mc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members workstation M.I Posted March 28, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 28, 2011 "Power Under The Hood" is a good way to go. When you talk about "pattern sequencing" are you referring to JUST drum patterns? I'm going to buy this 'board no matter what, but I'd like to know if someone can assemble patterns then string them together in a finished song, ala the Alesis MMT-8? Linear sequencing is like recording-If you make a mistake you have to start the whole thing over whereas with true pattern sequencing, you can work on it 2-4 bars( or more) at a time then string it all together into a complete song so I'm hoping the WK-7500 has true pattern sequencing. If not, I'll just refurb my MMT-8!!! FYI, it's just an urban legend that I wrote "Kronos Killer" in my initial post, but it just ain't true! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike Martin Posted March 29, 2011 Members Share Posted March 29, 2011 I mis-typed a little. The WK-7500 and CTK-7000 have a "Pattern Recorder". To be clear this allows you to create your own (what Casio calls) Rhythms, some companies call them "styles", but it is much deeper and cooler than what you might initially think. A "Rhythm" can be a simple as a drum part, with different variations and fills. Each section can be up to 16 measure long. The cool thing is that a Rhythm can consist of 8 parts that can be just about anything (bass, chords, arpeggiated parts...etc). The Rhythm can follow along with you in any key that you play. The cool thing is that you can set it to scan the whole keyboard so you're not stuck just playing chords in your left hand. With some clever programming it is very capable of things that remind you of Karma in a Korg synth. We're working on some libraries that will show of the true capabilities here. In some experimentation I've pulled everything from the Main Theme of Blade Runner to The Who's Eminence Front just using Rhythms. Also note that the "rhythms" can also work in combination with the sequencer. So you have 8 of these rhythm tracks but 16 linear tracks in the sequencer. McHale, I'm no stranger to the forums here at HC. At one point in time I was "Kurzrep" - and represented Kurzweil on here. Did the same for Yamaha and TC Electronic. Take care, Mike MartinCasio America, Inc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted March 29, 2011 Members Share Posted March 29, 2011 darn!Hey, we appreciate you coming in. Harmony Central is not for the faint of heart and it takes a lot of courage to venture in... especially as a synth rep. For the record, I did most of my synth learnin' on Casio keyboards and you guys will always be cool in my book. Mike is always welcome here because 1) he's really into gear, and 2) he has the remarkable ability to speak English instead of marketing-speak. He never comes in to hype, but to inform. I have to say that regardless of his working for Casio, his comments in post #129 are right on target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Synthaholic Posted March 29, 2011 Members Share Posted March 29, 2011 What is the quality of the actual arrangements, compared to the Tyros or Korg Pa2X? If it's competitive, then I see it as an inexpensive yet powerful tool, regardless of it's sound. As a side note, Craig: I've enjoyed and been informed by your excellent columns and reviews for 30 years now, and I just want to say thanks! *bump* for Craig. (or Mike Martin) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Franz Schiller Posted March 29, 2011 Members Share Posted March 29, 2011 No - Casio America, Inc. is located in Dover NJ. I "live" in Naperville, but spend most of my time here in NJ. Holy crap! Dover is just a few minutes from MY neck of the woods. A little Casio love: although I don't use any of their arranger keys, I loved the old CZ series, and a VZ-10m was the first synth I bought. I also had a Casio cell phone (which I just replaced a week ago), and damn if that thing isn't indestructable. I wish Casio made a smart phone with the android OS. I was working CES a few years ago, and I caught the Casio floorshow...it was so much fun. Finally, I know somebody who knows somebody who works at Casio, and they reputedly take very good care of their employees. See ya' at the Laughing Lion! (which is in Dover) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike Martin Posted March 29, 2011 Members Share Posted March 29, 2011 I'm not very familiar with these arranger-type boards. Can you do up a whole arranged song, then export it as a MIDI file? Or are the arranged parts only onboard? What is the quality of the actual arrangements, compared to the Tyros or Korg Pa2X? If it's competitive, then I see it as an inexpensive yet powerful tool, regardless of it's sound. (or Mike Martin) Yes you can export rhythms or sequences as MIDI files. In regards to the quality of the built-in rhythms, I think they're very good and as I've said there is a lot of power under the hood that can be taken advantage of. In addition to creating your own, there is a lot that can be done with the sounds themselves......as an example most of the preset tones for example do not utilize insert effects by default. Will it stand up against products costing 6-10 times the price of the WK-7500...that is a bit of a stretch. However for the money you'd save with a WK-7500 you could get several other musical tools to go along with it. We shot a lot of video last week at SXSW. In particular we had the girls from the group Karmina stop by our booth. We plugged in their two vocal mics into a small mixer and took the output into the keyboard's mic in, then also plugged an acoustic guitar directly into the keyboard. They both sang and played and while I shot some video all the audio was captured as a stereo audio file. The quality in my opinion is stunning and it was all done on a CTK-7000 (same features, just 61 keys, $100 less). This all happened in a room which seemed to have nearly 95db of other noise from other vendors and a band that what getting ready to perform. I'll try to get a link to the video posted here soon. Take care, Mike Martin Casio America, Inc. http://www.facebook.com/CasioEMI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members liliththekitten Posted March 30, 2011 Members Share Posted March 30, 2011 do any of the new ones have the "sleng teng" riddim? love my HT-700 though, love the way it sounds and its fun to play anywhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members workstation M.I Posted March 30, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 30, 2011 I'd like to hear a demo of it that represents that. Until now, all the demos sound like every other casio I've ever played at Best Buy or Wal-Mart. As requested, here you are: http://soundcloud.com/skyy38/vaders-shuttle-in-death-star Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members workstation M.I Posted March 30, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 30, 2011 Oh yeah, got the NEW Sweetwater Gear Book the other day and I am especially heartened by the fact that the WK 7500 ( and it's siblings) has FULL page coverage. Don't know what that means but cool nonetheless! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members carbon111 Posted March 30, 2011 Members Share Posted March 30, 2011 As requested, here you are: http://soundcloud.com/skyy38/vaders-shuttle-in-death-star Those are extremely short sustain loops and there's little to no articulation. Not what I would call "playing to an instrument's strengths". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members workstation M.I Posted March 30, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 30, 2011 Those are extremely short sustain loops and there's little to no articulation. Not what I would call "playing to an instrument's strengths". I will admit that I'm fairly new to this "MP3" game. I decided to record in MP3 /320 so I wouldn't have to convert from a higher resolution like WAV.Didn't use loops on this and I didn't multi-track-This is a stereo recording coming from the speakers of the Casio using a Zoom H1. I'm still experimenting with the best way to point this device for optimum sound.I notice you offer downloads on your website in FLAC among other formats. Would FLAC be usable for my situation?As for articulation, that could be the "MP3 crunchies" at work here in which case FLAC would be vastly preferable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members carbon111 Posted March 30, 2011 Members Share Posted March 30, 2011 I was talking about the sustain loops built into the samples. Articulation is another thing entirely - having to do with the velocities and manner in which each note is played. It's probably a decent enough keyboard but I certainly wouldn't be able to tell from that particular snippet...that's what I meant, that you should play to the board's strengths if doing a demo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BonsoWonderDog Posted April 1, 2011 Members Share Posted April 1, 2011 When I see Casio I think of this I have the keyboard he's playing.......it's now missing a key and is used by my kids. I think I got it when I was a teenager..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dpedroche Posted April 1, 2011 Members Share Posted April 1, 2011 Hi guys. I tried posting a message here with a link to an audio clip demo of my WK 7500. System says it's gonna be reviewed, but it never got posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Synthaholic Posted April 1, 2011 Members Share Posted April 1, 2011 Yes you can export rhythms or sequences as MIDI files. Thank you for the reply, Mike. I have to ask, though: how much does it cost to include 2 plastic MIDI ports to a keyboard? I have to believe it's ridiculously inexpensive. If it added an extra $5-$10 to the price, would that discourage any of your targeted buyers? No. Would it have opened up the unit to a lot of musicians who will not buy it without MIDI ports? You betcha! Seems penny wise and pound foolish to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dpedroche Posted April 2, 2011 Members Share Posted April 2, 2011 I tried posting the link one last time. Still no success. Sigh. Anyway, those who would like to hear my demo of the WK 7500, just click the link on my signature below (hoping it displays), then play the "I'll Be Over You" track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members workstation M.I Posted April 2, 2011 Author Members Share Posted April 2, 2011 Mike, I was wondering if you could do something, demo wise, for the WK 7500? Most if not ALL demos showing up are mostly pop, rap, modern etc. Is there anyone art Casio who could do a full on orchestral demo? I mean, you have LOT'S of Orchestral patches in the 7500-Why not show them off. It doesn't need to be the longest thing in the world either:http://soundcloud.com/skyy38/death-star-motif-t1 Constructed on my humble WK-1350. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwandar Posted April 4, 2011 Members Share Posted April 4, 2011 Mike - nice to see Casio is contributing here.For what it is worth could Casio kindly post the video tutorials (or at least all the links to them) on the Casio support website? That and either a full set of the German language tutorials (with voice over) or preferably Australian or US videos would be wonderful.I like my WK-7500, but there is a lot I'd like to learn more about and sorry ... I hate reading that manual Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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