I just found this:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/-i1795214.gc

Hi Linda, I asked Synthzone member friend Tapas who's at Naam right now, to please make a special stop at the Casio booth to checkout the WK-7500. He called me back to say it sounded like garbage, and nothing even remotely as good as the online video demos sounded. That said, this wk-7500 youtube promo never showed anyone actually playimg it live either. Deceptive promotion perhaps? Interestingly enough, symthzone member, Kabinosus, recently posted a similar very negative reaction as well, after having just auditioned it in a musc store.

It showed up at Sweetwater on the first day of NAMM. However.., they still don't have a price listed on their site. I haven't been able to play this model.., but fortunately the guy who has been posting many of the 7500 demos on YouTube has personally sent me MP3's of this new model.

I have to be honest too. I still think the ZPI sound set is much better than these current models. What really troubled me was the VERY obvious loop points on some of the sounds. On a few saxes.., when a note was held or sustained that loop point smacked you in the face.

Feature wise these new models IMO are loaded for the price. Granted the sound quality isn't up to par with the old MZ-2000.., but for the price I still think they're on hell of a bargain. If the 7500 is going for $499 that means the 7000 is going to really be a good bang for your buck.

If I had one of these units.., I'd be utilizing every part of the tone and DSP editing to clean it up a bit.

Plus.., as we all know.., even if the sounds aren't top notch.., when placed under skilled hands a WK-7500 could sound very good.

Hi Scott and Squeak,

I agree the sounds are really not so good. I was excited about getting one of these boards but after watching many many youtube videos and hearing samples they are not much different then the WK-500 tones. Yes, there are many extra features but I think I am going to pass sigh. Casio has always had the best options in their keyboards but I am used to hearing my Yamaha S700 tones and Casio tones do not compare. Heck, even my Casio CDP-100 grand piano tone with reverb and chorus sounds better than the new Wk 7500.

I could be wrong but a big Meh for me.

Hey Squeak, i went to a keyboard store yesterday with my dad as he was keen to buy a Casio CTK 7000 to add to his studio. He had the cash to buy it and was about 95% going to get it but ended up leaving it...

for the price YES its feature packed and has some great sounds. but it is still very far behind the game in my opinion. I Too believe the MZ 2000 was way ahead...

browsing through each of the sound categories we were very unimpressed. The Stereo Grand Piano was probably the most impressive voice and thats after you add a bit of reverb to it...

The styles were not very great either. with only 2 variations, no style part select/mute buttons, its not versatile enough for live play as you would get on most other MOTL boards.

I see the CTK 6000/7500 as a low end beginners board with some good quality sounds than the rest of the bunch at its price range.

I would go a GW8 or Prelude any day over the new CTK series...

Nick

Sound quality and limitations aside... this is the first time I know of that Casio has given users the ability to create styles from whole cloth. I am not sure if the styles are compatible with the PX-330 (which does have good sound IMO.) If so, PX-330 users who are tired of the factory styles might buy the CTK-7000 just for its style creation capability.

Casio allowed you to record user styles from scratch on the MZ-2000 (and that board was like 10 years ago). This new line of WK models are heading back in the direction of the MZ-2000. However they're a more watered down version of it. The sounds on the old MZ (that used the ZPI sound chip) IMO were better than the current WK's.

These new WK's also don't have anywhere near the tone editing capabilities of the old MZ. Still.., I may pick up a CTK-7000. If the WK-7500 is going for a mere $499.., then I wouldn't be surprised to see a $399 price tag on the CTK-7000. I think the CTK-7000 is going to be a very good bargain arranger with features found on higher end models. Even at the $499 price tag.., the WK-7500 does a hell of a lot for the price. You're getting full style sequencing, 16+1 Midi Sequencer, Drawbars, SD storage, and the BIG whammy IMO is the audio recording feature.

Granted the sounds may be sub par to what's out there now.., I think behind the right hands these new models can sound pretty good. If I get the CTK-7000.., I without a doubt would probably use every bit of the tone editing and DSP editing to clean up the tones. The editing is limited..., but if used creatively should yield some pretty satisfying results.

It probably only costs Casio $100.00 to make their WK7500....and buy sell them in places like Walmart, Bj's, Costco, etc....they earn a nifty profit and that will always be their niche in the market.

I'd be surprised to see the CTK-7000 and the WK-7500 make it into those stores. Perhaps the lower models., but I would imagine the 7/7500 would probably be sold through music retailers.

Around here they usually have Casio KB's stacked up to the ceiling in Bj's and then have a guy dressed up as Santa clause playing one in the isle in from of it at Xmas time to try to sell them as fast as they can.