Tom,
You cant compare a new Casio high end with a 10 year old Yamaha low class keyboard.

Impuls

Thank you for the feedback on my review. My hope is that it is helpful for anyone considering the WK-7500.

I am going to post a follow-up soon, now that I've played with the thing a bit more.

But to Impuls let me say this: Yes, of course I can!! ...compare the PSR540 to the WK7500

While the WK-7500 is currently near the top of the consumer line for Casio, I would never consider the PSR-540 a low class keyboard. It wasn't the top-of-the-line Yamaha workstation when I bought it, but it was very much on par with high-end models from Casio at the time, and it certainly has held up very well over the years.

The two share quite a few features, among them:

- Extensive sound bank (10 years later - some sounds more realistic - perhaps)
- onboard speakers
- Auto-accompanyment (10 years later - more "modern" beats, less traditional)
- 16-track sequencer
- Split and layer
- ability to create your own rhythms
- external storage (10 years later we have SD card rather than floppy)
- registration memory
- Chorus, DSP, Reverb effects
- Fast/slow DSP switch (e.g. for rotating speaker)

There are probably other similarities I am missing. But the bigger question is: why not compare? Sure, time will allow probably a lower price for similar features, but if someone owns a consumer keyboard (like I did with the Yamaha) that did its job well, then why shouldn't it be the basis against which I evaluate newer keyboards that are being offered? I'd be crazy if I didn't.

Whenever I was in a music store, I would make a point of checking out keyboards, with the thought of perhaps replacing the Yamaha if something really grabbed my attention. Up until the WK-7500, nothing really did. And there are still things that the Yamaha does much better than the Casio, even for what someone might call a "low class keyboard" (e.g. MIDI ports, direct button access, syncro start/stop, multi-pad, numeric keypad, simultaneous DSP/Chorus/Reverb). So IMO, the PSR540, even for its age, stacks up very well to the WK-7500. Honestly - as I was making the decision to get the Casio, I kept thinking of all the things that the Yamaha did better - wishing that the Casio had them. In my mind, features should be added, not phased out or replaced. Of course these are two different companies. If Yamaha made a consumer keyboard with organ drawbars, I probably would have gotten it instead.

So what was it that tipped the scales for getting the Casio?

- Organ drawbars and control buttons
- Piano-style keys
- 76 keys
- More sequencer storage room on a more modern media
- Stereo/Mono output (rather than just a headphone jack for PA output)
- Great piano sounds
- Internal sounds editable to a degree
- Internal effects editable
- Mic and instrument inputs
- Price + Good deal on eBay

I probably wouldn't have bought it if I didn't get that great price from eBay.

I will follow up with more thoughts on the WK-7500 now that I've fooled with it a couple weeks.

-Tom

OK - here are some additional thoughts on the WK-7500. Mixing pro and con so they are somewhat random.


Sounds:

- Great variety of quality piano sounds
- Why no good caliope sound?
- The EP sounds die out way too soon.
- I don't like the jazz guitar, english horn, or steel drum sounds
- Great breathy sax sounds
- Great pads and synth lead sounds
- I'm not impressed with the drum kits, mainly kick drums. And even though it sounds kind of fake, there is a vibra-slap!

Features:

- I would have paid extra (not sure how much extra) for a numeric keypad.
- Ditto for MIDI ports. I find I'd love to control my Korg EX-8000 or DW-8000 with this wonderful keyboard, but I can't. So if you are looking to use this keyboard as a controller for other synths, look elsewhere (unless I'm missing something).
- Even though the organ drawbars have only 3 levels, I still love them. They are the single best feature of this keyboard, IMO.
- Being able to tweak a sound to make it more to my liking is a GREAT feature. I can then save it to a user patch.
- Also, I've hooked this up to a laptop and run the data storage application. So I can save/load settings. This I can tell will be handy in saving a setup for specific gigs, etc.
- I love the fact that I can hold a sustained chord, switch sounds, and the sustained chord does not cut off. I know that many EXPENSIVE pro keyboards don't work like that. Not sure what the reasons are, but I love being able to sustain a sound, call up a new one, and it all sounds seemless.
- Including an arpeggiator is nice, but I have yet to find a setting that will just play back what I play into it, in the same sequence. Maybe I just haven't fooled with it enough.
- For as full-featured as the sequencer is, I'd love to see it do pattern sequencing, so I can compose the verse, the chorus, and the bridge of a song, repeat sections, etc. - instead of start to finish all one monolithic sequence.

Auto-accompanyment:

- Overall, the rhythms seem kind of boring
- Why no sync stop mode?
- Casio needs to fix the fill-ins - pushing the fill-in button more often than not interrupts the accompanyment. It's like there's a "hit" right when you push the button, so if you push it at the wrong time in the measure, it just sounds wrong
- The play-along feature, Music Preset, which does a canned chord-progression accompanyment, is a lot of fun. Not sure where it would be useful - maybe an impromptu jam session? But it's fun.
- Combining Harmonize with Arpeggiator makes no sense to me. I would think those would be used in two completely different contexts. It makes realtime finding of a good harmonize setting very difficult, since there's no numeric keypad to go directly to a setting.

Overall, I'm still glad I got this keyboard, especially for the price. The true test (for me at least) would be using it for a gig. After that happens, I will probably post another followup.

-Tom

here is a very thorough demo of the Casio WK7500. For the money this is an excellent keyboard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItTdzP_09ag

also i have afound a user demo that demonstrates the sounds briliantly. this is an awesome keyboard period . the price is just a bonus.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFoODXzNjz0&feature=related

and this demo is just plain fabulous ! Korg need to emply this guy to demonstrate their instruments. Just imagine waht they could do !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkozonnSfEY&NR=1

and here are the styles demos. A bit cheesey but its under £500

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM3grHlPGEI&NR=1

Jeff Dunmire is an excellent demo player, but I found it somewhat odd he didn't demo, at all, utilizing any accompaniments(styles)
...speaking of...

Yamaha has tons of custom styles, sounds, registrations, etc. readily available in many places, both free, and paid. It's one reason Yamaha arrangers are #1.

Does anyone know if Casio offers any custom styles, patches, etc.? And are there any Casio forums, groups, or similar where user styles and files(accompaniments)can be shared?

Finally, are styles, registrations, sound patches, etc. from past Casio arranger workstations compatible with the 7500?

Yes I'm thinking of buying one...

Yes Larry there are alot of styles available on the casio site for free and all are compatible with the new Casios. You only need to do some tweaking on most styles.

There are no special forums as far as I know. I have the CTK 7000 and it is a great keyboard for the money.

Thanks so much Tom:

I enjoyed your comparison and tasteful review. I'd love to get my hands on the CTK 7000 for a day or two. "Kicking tires" on keyboards is a "rite of passage" and absolutely essential to those of us with restrictive budgets. (My wife, the gatekeeper, continues to reinforce this idea!)

Thanks for your input.

Dave Rice

Thanks Fran,
But I've search around the World, and I'm unable to locate any downloadable styles from Casio. Anyone have a direct link?

Here is a link Larry http://www.casio-europe.com/euro/emi/cms/