One thing that is very interesting with this keyboard (MZ2000) is the arpegiator . You can arpegiate a sound in the left or right hand . It's very cool ! For $650.00 its a very powerful keyboard IMHO ! dano

Right you are Dan0! It's well worth the $650.00 I still regret selling mine. Hey, I suggest you also try out the pattern sequencer. It's pretty extensive... I still think this keyboard has been way under rated. So many people gave it bad marks, and they didn't even play it. I really give Casio credit on this board. It's in a whole different world compared to their other models....

Squeak

I had one and in some ways I too wish I hadn't gotten rid of mine. Much maligned by some, but for me a rather useful board for composing. I would rate it somewhat lower for a live playing situation but only because I didn't like all of the styles ( some were pretty decent though ) and there was no vocal harmony option. The arpeggiator definitely IS cool on that board though. The sequencer edit screen was by far easier to understand and more intuitive to use than either my Pa80 or the PSR line. I did actually use the MZ though for a couple of impromtu gigs along side my 740 because it had jammin' lead guitar, synth, and sax sounds. Organs weren't bad at all either. It's pretty packed with other useful features too. If you fool around and modify them enough though, the styles can also be made to be pretty good. Style editing seemed easier and more user friendly ( to make them sound good at any rate ) on the MZ than any other arranger I've ever owned or tried. Casio came so close with this board, but didn't follow up or try at all to improve on it afterwards. It actually got some fairly warm reviewws in a couple of the keyboard magazine. I agreed wholeheartedly with one reviewer that ended by saying that he'd like to see Casio take the best sounds from this board, add a few more, and launch a whole new range of synths. LOL... Dan, I remember that you were joking with me last year ( good naturedly of course ) about Casio watches, but now I think you can see for yourself the potential this board has.

Korg AJ

the arpeggiator was a useful function to have. But the mz2000 altogether was little more than a copy of a technics kn5000 with many similar features and operating points. It was interesting in a features respect - but let down by the same poor casio samples, in my opinion.
ps forget about watches, casio make great digicams!

Samples and sounds are subjective, so no matter what any of us thinks about the ones in a particular board, what sounds good to me won't necessarily sound good to you and vice versa. I found a lot of the sounds to be pretty good, and so did some major mags.. That doesn't mean squat if the person buying one doesn't like the samples though. I myself don't care for some of Yamaha's samples. ( yet I find their boards to be very useful for live play ) In fact I got the MZ to go along side of the PSR740 because I liked the sounds I mentioned in my earlier post better than the ones on the 740, and it had a ton more features.

The bottom line is for me and probably some others, at it's price it could be a very useful tool. Besides, for the features, at that price, if I had a spare 650.00 dolars right now, I'd gladly use a sound module with it for the sounds I don't like ( and there are quite a few in the MZ ..and maybe less but always some in EVERY other keyboard I've ever played no matter what price ) If the MZ is basically a copy of the KN5000, this isn't necessarily a bad thing is it ? At the time of its release MZ was what, about half the price of the KN5000 ? Try to even FIND a Technics around here to demo... I don't think so .. and THAT to me is an unfortunate thing, because I had a Technics many years ago ( so long ago I've forgotten which model # ) and even then I thought it was a heck of a board for its time. I'd love to see the latest offerings.

Korg AJ

[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 03-08-2002).]

AGREED! for $650.00 is a great KB, I don't know what I'm going to do, or sale, but I need to get one pronto!!

I hope but the time I get the money there will be some left!

ViLo


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ViLo
HE'S COMING, MAKE MUSIC, GET READY!

[This message has been edited by ViLo (edited 03-08-2002).]

Hi Bluezplayer,
my point was the kn5000 was already out of production a year when the mz2000 was introduced (and sounded much better too - subjective I know).
the mz2000 came out here at £1299 vastly overpriced for its market quality level.

very soon it was heavily discounted. then casio gave £300 trade in for 'anything' else to garner sales. this meant you went to your dealer, bought a £49 casio mini-key board, and gave it straight back to him for £300 off an already heavily discounted mz2000.

the poor souls who bought at top price when it came out found themselves with something virtually worthless as a trade in. but - relatively good value if you waited for the huge drops in price, or bought second hand.

over here is different with technics easy to find and compare and gem and ketron relatively rare with tiny market share for example.

Valid points Tech.. I agree with you. At 650.00 I think though that it might be worthwhile for someone to at least check out. I DO believe that the Technics might have better overall sounds for my ears too, just based on the little I've heard from them and the old model I had, but man I just loved the elctric guitars and saxes in that ol MZ. On the other hand the drums and pianos left a lot to be desired.

Which brings me to another point that you already raised Tech. It seems that for whatever reason some of these boards drop dramatically in price near the end of their runs. Roland did it with the EM 2000 / G1000 series and it appears that they are doing it again with the VA series. All good for the new consumer, and the manufacturers and stores who can unload excess stock, but maybe not so good for the person who already has one and just watched his / her trade in value potentially get cut in half. The recently replaced PSR 740 also took a dive in price recently at some stores. On the other end of the spectrum, almost from sublime to ridiculous, companies are still trying to sell the Yamaha 8000 for near the original asking price. How long ago was that replaced already ?

I think for myself, after experiencing buying the MZ, PA80 and PSR2000 at the very beginning of their runs, a switch in strategy is in order. Unless there is something new that TOTALLY blows me away, I'm gonna wait til the end of the run for something new. Not only because of price but... my PSR2000 is already in the shop and there is no chip yet available to replace the one that Yamaha already admitted to my dealer has big OS problems, so here I sit with a 1000 as a loaner waiting.... I waited and held my breath for months with the PA80 until OS 3.0 came out Thankfully I like the board with it. I bought the MZ fairly new, watched it's value begin to plummet and observed that there were NO updates to the OS coming out. Luckily I was able to trade it in for a PA80 for nearly full value.

Korg AJ




[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 03-08-2002).]

Things are getting less expensive ! dano

[This message has been edited by DanO1 (edited 03-09-2002).]

In comparing the MZ2000 to the PSR2000 what boards is better? Sounds, ease of use features and price factor?