OK - tried to load some styles from the Casio site. Some loaded, but the one's starting with "p_" did not - something about the file being too big. The ones that loaded sounded good. Seems like you have to download them one at a time, though.

-Tom

Using the WK-7500 live

I used the WK-7500 in a live band situation this morning (church band) so I thought I'd post some thoughts on how it did.

The short of it is that it did great. Typically I use a Roland Fantom X7, so I may make some comparisons to that board (which costs considerably more of course than the Casio). For this set, we did 5 tunes. Prior to the rehearsal earlier in the week I set up 6 registrations that I figured would cover these tunes (they did). So when it came time to play I would be ready.

Pro:

- The sound was great. I used layers (Stereo Grand/Warm Pad, Stereo Grand/80s Strings) and they really had a great, full sound. Thick, yet not muddy. The contrast between the "Warm Pad" and "80s Strings" was enough to cover both the softer and louder sections. Something that I probably will do is create several variations on "Warm Pad" just by tweaking the filter resonance, saving them as user patches, then saving those in piano/pad layers in registrations.

- The output from the L/Mono through the PA was excellent. Band complemented the keyboard on its sound.

- Being able to switch from one Registration to another while the previous sound was still audible was very handy. I could transtion from verse (soft) to chorus (louder) with no interruption in audio output. This is something that the Fantom cannot do.

- Onboard metronome helped us set the tempos.

- Onboard speakers also served as additional monitor sound (we were in a small room without the Aviom system, so this came in handy)

- Great feel to the keyboard, especially when playing piano sounds. The Fantom X7 has synth-style keys, and although the WK-7500's keys are not weighted, their feel is much less springy than a synth. And 76 keys is the only way to go, if you can afford it over the 61-key version.

- This thing is light! I just tucked it under my arm and carried it around. Very gig-friendly. The Fantom probably weighs upwards of 30 pounds - ugh.

Con:

- Perhaps I need to tweak things, but it was not easy to play really soft on the piano sound. I maybe should mess with the Touch sensitivity or some other parameter.

- A couple times I wanted to have the metronome flash the tempo rather than hear it. Short of digging into the menus and muting the metronome, I wish there was a quick way to turn its audio on and off. I ended up just turning the volume down when I needed to mute it.

- I know I'm greedy for functionality, but again - it would be so useful to allow realtime tweaking to sounds using the sliders. This is something the Fantom X7 can do (assignable knobs to tweak things realime). One small addition in particular would make using this board in a live situation so much more effective - the ability to modify the mix on a layered sound (the Upper 2) without muting the others (Lower, Upper 1). That is, allow the mixing sliders to act like a REAL mixer. Casio - can you update the firmware to allow this? What a feature this would be!! I'd love to be able to mix in more of a layered pad without changing the registration - just slide a slider.

This was just one gig, and it really didn't challenge the WK-7500 too much, but I was pleased with its ability to do the job well. Given its great performance, and portability, I won't hesitate using it again.

-Tom

Oh - one commment on loading rhythms from the SD card: It's not very intuitive. At first I tried hitting "Card" but the only files that showed up to load were a couple MIDI files. After scouring the manual, I found you first EXIT CARD MODE - talk about non-intuitive! Then press the USER RHYTHMS button. Then, while holding down Function, press the CARD button. Then you can load a rhythm.

Loading a registration bank I had saved was similarly confusing. To do that, you have to press the BANK button, which displays the bank selection. THEN you hold down Function, then CARD.

Oh - and when choosing a name for one of these when you save, I don't believe there's a space key choice.

-Tom

Thanks Tom,

Your detailed report is very helpful, and for anyone considering the 7500, I'm sure they appreciate it as much as I do. I'm looking for another keyboard, mainly to be used to teach beginner lessons, and this reasonably priced unit may be just what I need.

That's kind of a crazy round about way to load styles and saved registrations from the SD Card, certainly not practical. But the pros seem to outweigh the cons, and for the price, it may be the best deal around.

Thanks again. I look forward to more reports of your experiences with the WK-7500

I can't believe it's been nearly a year since I posted here.

Since then, I've been able to try out the latest Casio - the XW-P1 - at my local music store. I only mention it here because some of its features line up with some of the "Cons" I have with my WK-7500. I'm very tempted to sell the WK and get the XW-P1 because of this.

Casio really did it right with Performance features on the XW-P1. I've listed just a small few below that directly address those shortcomings of the WK-7500.

1 - Hex mode - this pretty much uses the sliders in a way that the WK-7500 needs to. You can do real-time mixing of up to six PCM tones (one can be drawbar organ). This is huge.

2 - Assignable knobs give you the ability to assign 4 knobs to control pretty much anything, including volume of course, in Performance mode (the mode that gives splits/layers of up to 4 tones (again, one tone cane be organ drawbar or solo synth tone).

3 - all 8 levels for organ drawbars, rather than the 3 on the WK-7500. You can't hear the discrete level changes. This is a huge step up.

4 - Performance set-up (similar to Roland Fantom) allows for up to 4 tones in a split/layer, overlapping if you want, with velocity switching. This is a very, very versatile feature. The "Split" and "Layer" on the WK-7500 are nice and quick for realtime use, but not as versatile. I've wished for velocity switching on the WK-7500 - the XW-P1 delivers it.

5 - Real MIDI ports!!!

Some other observations after playing this unit in a band setting for the past year:

- I love the onboard speakers, even when the floor monitors drown out their sound. The feedback provides vibration through my hands, very similar to what I'd get with an acoustic piano. There's just something different about feeling the sound of an electronic instrument that a rig with no onboard speakers can provide.

- The acoustic piano sound is superb, and sounds great in a band setting

- After editing a sound, when you try to Write that sound, the unit always seems to select the first user location(K-1) rather than the next available, unused location. The problem is that all user locations are already used when you get the unit from the factory. It would be nice to be able to erase all user locations - or somehow identify them as unused. I have to keep track of them externally so I don't overwrite existing user locations.

- Every time you power off the keyboard, the EXT/MIC input section resets - things like chorus send, reverb, level, etc. I usually have my Fender Rhodes output going to the EXT INPUT jack. Whenever I power up, I always have to go in and remove the excessive reverb. Maybe I'm missing a way to save this parameter so I don't have to keep doing this.

So will I sell (or mothball) my WK-7500 and save up to get the $499 XW-P1? I'm thinking about it, that's for sure. I'd give up a lot of "fun" features on the WK-7500 (auto-accompaniment, built-in speakers, etc.) but I'd gain a pretty capable keyboard. I know for sure of one tune where I could put several features of the XW-P1 to use (Florence and the machine "No Light") - Hex mode, realtime mixing, phrase sequencer to trigger a harp run.