Hey everyone

Just wondering about people's opinion on these boards. Have searched through a few past threads. Currently have an EM-55 that I bought about 3 years ago. Blargh what a waste of money, should've saved for a VA. I will probably end up selling it.

Seems that the DGX sound cannot compare to the CASIO (suprises me since I used to own a CT series and sell CTK's and dispised them for anything but beginners!). The YAMAHA seems to be the better option for key feel though.

I also have the option to buy a Roland EXR-3 at $500, but I suppose it would be too similar to the EM-55.

Haven't played for a while and just getting back into it so budget wise I don't want to spend too much.

I own a Casio WK-3500 (For Sale now in the buy and sell area) and I upgraded to the Casio WK-3700. I love the new sounds on the WK-3700 and all of its functions. The only difference between the two WK's are the quality of tones, styles and more sampling memory.

When I purchased the WK-3500 a year ago, I tried the DGX 300. My daughter ended up buying the DGX 300 and I purchased the Casio WK-3500. Reason was fairly clear for her. She loved the boxed weighted keys on the DGX! She had no use for the sampling ability of the Casio WK or the fact that it had a smartmedia slot media. She still loves her DGX because she is mainly a piano player and does not normally use the arranger functions.

The piano sounds on the Casio are MUCH better than the Yamaha in my opinion.(even on the WK-3500) As are the draw organ and just about every other sound. Its all in ones likes and dislikes. Keys on the WK are not the best in the world but work well for keyboard arrangements. If you want the most bang for the buck the Casio is the way to go.

-Linda

Does the 3700 have a lyric or score display?

The WK-3500 and WK-3700 has a staff display that shows notes and chords played.

It does now show lyrics.

-Linda


[This message has been edited by LindaFus (edited 10-21-2005).]

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>>>>.... She loved the boxed weighted keys on the DGX! ...>>>>

I have the DGX305 and I cant feel any weight on the keys. Could you explain what you mean by this?

>>...The piano sounds on the Casio are MUCH better than the Yamaha in my opinion.(even on the WK-3500) As are the draw organ and just about every other sound. Its all in ones likes and dislikes...>>>

There sure is no accounting for taste. I tried the 3700 and 3500 and I just dont see how their piano sound are even in the same league with the DGX. Maybe I would feel differently if I were a better player. But then I have some high quality piano MIDIs and they sound completely like a real performance....anyway, I'm happy you got something you are happy with.

The DGX doesnt have drawbars, but I really like most of its 30-some fixed organ tones.

Douglas Wolfe
Sacramento.

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The demos on the casio euro web site have left me in two minds. The piano sounds great, as does the guitar and organs. However sounds like the jazz scat and even some of the drums tend to sound a little tinny. Of course they're only MP3s so hearing it live would be different. Is there any need to apply effects and adjust tones before they sound great or will they be great out of the box?

>>Keys on the WK are not the best in the world but work well for keyboard arrangements.<< This concerns me a little. I remember being quite unhappy with the keys on one of the cheaper Celviano pianos. They were okay to play on, but still felt quite cheap. Even noticed an inch worth of gap between the back of the keys and the chassis! Not that this effects playability ;-)

I've heard about the 32MB sampling memory of the WK3700 but am unsure as to how this works. Does it use sound fonts, individual sample files or another format? I have a heap of sound fonts from years back using them with a sound card. It would be nice to load in a steinway piano sample! Loading them in is an easy process?

Could only find 3 demos of the DGX, used to be a good site at www.yamahapkclub.com but this only goes to the official yamaha site. I did demo a DGX-500 a year or two ago, and I remember being fairly impressed however the sales person's attitude in the store left me sour. There's now a different display in the DGX-505 which should be a great improvement as I remember viewing the DGX-500 display from some angles was just not possible. You basically had to be looking right down on top of the display to see it.

Hopefully I can demo these units soon and shake that casio stigma.

[This message has been edited by maestroec (edited 10-21-2005).]

Flatfoot,
I guess they feel weighted compared to the WK series. I have not played her DGX in a while. There was more of a piano feel to them. BTW, the PSR2000 I owned I simply hated those cheapo keys. I actually like the Casio feel better!

maestroec,

The WK-3700 keys work fine for me. I had always used a Casio WK series for a 76 key controller for the past few years. I used it up to last year to control my PSR2000. Worked fine for me. That is an individual preference everyone has an opinion including me!

I always tweaked the sounds on the WK-3500 I find I do not on the WK-3700. They are pretty neat right out of the box.

Good luck with you choice. Everyone's tastes are different. Try before you buy!

Good Luck!

-Linda

Demoed both today AND the Roland EXR-7s.

Unfortunately it was the same sales person working there as last time!! Pretty uninterested in demoing the units for me and selling features to me, I had limited time so I was only fumbling around.

The DGX-305 was written off almost instantly with what the saleperson described as a "wussy" sound. The piano did sound great, but I put it down to a bad internal speaker system. Out of the WK3700 and EXR-7s I honestly couldn't hear that much difference between their piano sound. What I picked up on was that the Roland had a beefier speaker system with bass reflex, but still I felt the piano tone was quite similar.

Querying the salesperson further I received responses like "with 3 string tones, how many strings do you really need?" or "Roland preset organ tones will still beat whatever can be generated on the Casio" I kind of got the feeling his idea was to sell the most expensive rather than matching the product to the customer ;-)

I enjoyed playing both instruments although I think a trip to another music store might prove useful. There's only about a $200 price difference between the two instruments. Here in Australia the WK3700 is going for about $1100US (on special!) which seems to be an absolute rip off considering it's $4-500US most sites i've seen!

I'll throw my 2 cents in...

The newest WK series is a dramatically improved sound engine vs. the prior models.. I've always thought the very 1st piano sound on the wk series would be the best sample, but it's the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th pianos that are much improved vs. previos models..and I would say that this is true of all sound categorys, just when you think you have the right trumpet sound, there are 4 or 5 other trumpets that could work also. Casio added vibrato to each instrument, the other wk series, did not have teh vibrato, you had to use the mod wheel. Over 700 sounds on the current wk series...The WK 3200 & 3700 also have very nice synth pad sounds and fat synth sounds that can all be changed with the sound editing feature, that I think is better that the Yamaha series.

The styles on the new casio are inproved, with a very noticable difference in the snare sample,however, the global volumne of all the styles need to be turned up, to help balance the right hand lead sound. The volumne setting is just my personal conclusion, some may like it. I find that the DGX series global volumne are balanced, less tweaking than the wk series...

The Speakers.. Casio could have done a better job with the speakers...if you turn them up, they will distort, with the dgx,when turning up the volumne,it never distort's.

Casio WK series is a big improvement over their last series, big imo...


But, Yamaha does have a screen that will
help show notation (score) of sequences, as well as lyrics, the 3200 & 3700 does not show notation (score) or lyrics.....


That's it for now....I'll be back...

Dan O'


------------------
Ketron, Yamaha, Casio,Roland arranger keyboards. http://www.keyboardcity.net

1-866-348-8876

[This message has been edited by DanO1 (edited 10-23-2005).]

Dan,
very interesting information, thanks for sharing!

-Thomas

Hi,
things have come a long way in the last 3 years. I dropped out of music just before soundfonts came in. ( I think they're having a bit of a revival)
I use soundfonts with OMB realtime arranger software http://www.1manband.nl/omb.htm

I have my Clavinova CLP170 piano (or a DGX305, which I'll probably sell) midied to my laptop/audigy soundcard/omb.
I can use use the soundfonts or the xg sounds of my Clav for the style parts, I use Clavinova for melody parts as I mainly use piano for the melody voice..

You could have the best of both worlds , a Casio if you require a new keyboard , and the ability to play (psr) .sty style files via OMB software. The styles would need some tweaking with either the casio or soundfonts as your soundsource.

We do tend to get ripped off for keyboards down under, I can't beleive some of the USA prices compared to ours.
Tyros 1 was retailing for approx $7,000AUD when they first hit the market. Our Aussie dollar at that stage was worth around 52cents compared to USD. Our dollars now worth roughly 75cents compared to the USD. Be interesting to see the retail price of the tyros 2 when it hits our shores. Even though I get discounts, I still got fed up with these high prices

Don't kick yourself about not buying a VA7, I had one for a while, and I wasn't wrapped. Very awkward to navigate. I used to luv my Roland G800, but the VA7 was a whole different kettle of fish.
Not intuitive in it's functions.

best wishes
Rikki


[QUOTE]Originally posted by maestroec:
[B]
I've heard about the 32MB sampling memory of the WK3700 but am unsure as to how this works. Does it use sound fonts, individual sample files or another format? I have a heap of sound fonts from years back using them with a sound card. It would be nice to load in a steinway piano sample! Loading them in is an easy process?


[This message has been edited by rikkisbears (edited 10-23-2005).]

[This message has been edited by rikkisbears (edited 10-23-2005).]

Dan, is the vibrato integral to the sample, or is it modulation that can be removed by editing patches? There are definitely times when I'd find vibrato to be wrong for what I'm playing. If it's part of the samples, how long does a note have to be sustained before it's audible?

--Barry

I'm an absolute beginner, but I've been considering both the WK3700 and the DGX350. It seems like the Casio packs in a lot more bang for the buck than the Yamaha, but that it's a bit more advanced. Am I correct in this assumption?

Also, Yamaha's internal software that would help me learn is an attractive selling point...problem is, I can't read sheet music. Would that negate the whole thing?

I'm really left in the dark as to which would be better, or if I'm better off with something else entirely.

THe Caio is more advanced, but that should not deter you.
As far as making a decision. Let you ears decide. Cycle through the voices on both keyboards and cycle through the styles on both units. Count the voices you like and the styles you like on both. The decision is then made for you - by you.
Starkeeper

More "advanced" in what sense? It just has more features catered to a more advanced player? And also, is the Yamaha teaching program any good?

I personally feel, if you want to play 'piano' you probably would want to go with a DGX. The DGX has boxed keys like a piano and has that piano feel. I know my daughter could care less about the arranger features on her DGX. She loves the 'piano' and plays it as one. I love playing with a band in the room (grin) so the arranger parts are important to me. The WK series has more of those options than the DGX but in the end its what you personally are interested in that will solve the choice issue.

My daughter did use the lessons at first on her DGX but quickly went to a much more advanced form of instruction not using the built in software. She loves playing the piano so having all the other bells and whistles is not important to her.

-Linda