Registered: 06/01/98
Posts: 6484
Loc: Ventura CA USA
I was at NAMM today and listened to the demo of the XW-P1. The XW-G1 wasn't demoed at all so who knows if it is really completed and the unit we saw wasn't an empty box. But the XW-P1 has no competition in it's low price range. It is very impressive for Casio's return to the synth market. Very nice virtual analog and the PCM samples sounded great too. And that right hand panel is simply a ledge for an iPad or mouse. In the demo he used an iPad to feed an audio signal in to process with the XW-P1 synth engine.
The XW-G1 looked good but we didn't get to hear it.
And that SonicState demo doesn't show the organ and drawbars off at all. I don't think that demonstrator had a chance to set it up to show it it off. Not his fault, it was just an impromtu interview that caught him off guard. The organ sounded great when I heard it demoed by another demonstrator. Very impressive drawbar control.
The XW-G1 is obviously aimed at the DJ and HipHop community while the XW-P1 is aimed at the keyboard musician. They both share the same solo synth engine but that is where the similarity ends.
Casio's promo clip is very much aimed at the XW-G1 DJ community
But the XW-P1 is a completely different animal despite the similar appearance is much more a keyboard musician's tool. The XW-G1 is much more sample loop oriented which suits DJ and HipHop production.