More than 1000 new sounds, 5.3-inch color touchscreen (like the PX-560 piano), hundreds of accompaniments, Flash Sample memory, virtual tone wheel organs, and a remarkably powerful 40 watt speaker system. As you can see there are 16 pads that will likely be velocity sensitive. The keys will be velocity sensitive including aftertouch most likely. The big question is will it have 256 note polyphony like the PX-560? I certainly hope so since I believe it would increase overall sales of the MZ-X and thus enriching Casio's own bottom line so they can continue to invest in the R&D necessary for future cutting edge products. And thereby compete directly with the Big Three i.e. Korg, Roland and Yamaha for additional marketshare and the consumer dollars that go along with it. If Casio continues to gain ground in cutting edge technologies they could eventually surpass the Big Three in terms of product quality and consumer loyalty. I admit that's a big challenge because Yamaha has essentially dominated much of the market for many years. Roland seems to be focusing on lower-priced products targeting the general public as opposed to actual musicians and that is I think because they lost a lot of money and also some customers during the last economic recession. Korg is a smaller company with a loyal following but they have also experienced a bunch of quality control issues that affect many of their products including the Kronos and even the new Pa4x. If Casio "strikes the right tone" with quality made products at very competitive prices Casio could soon dominate the musical instrument market which is to say keyboards in general. And kudos to Casio if they can pull it off. Increased competition is a win/win situation because it leads to lower prices and better products. Those who snooze lose as they say and therefore it keeps all of the competitors on their toes looking for new ways to improve their products and subsequently consumers are the benefactors of the increased competition. But you guys already knew that.

NAMM should be very interesting this time around. The MZ-X looks very promising and of course the Montage will likely steal the show.

All the best,

Mike