Wow, Casio may have something here. The field needs some competition, and they have the clout to do it if they want to.

I am excited to see what this is about - Casio seems to be willing to come back in the arena. They used to mean something a while ago, so why not.
Maybe Panasonic will revive Technics too, if they still own it.

I will be at NAMM on Friday and will make a point of visiting the Casio booth and will report on what I see and hear.

http://casiomusicgear.com/products/menu_mz-x/mz-x500

They created a beast..... I dar call the MZ-x500 a total arranger...

They upped their game, styles now have 4 variations and fills...
Phrases are there
And an arpeggiator

And much much more...

16.5 pounds, including speakers. Wow. Very interesting. Might make excellent backup for my PA4X!

Its almost as expensive as the pa4x... (In a way of speech)

I think $1500 for a 61 key Casio is huge...

The 300 will sell for $899 and the 500 will be $1099 MAP. These are priced to compete with the PSRS670 and PSRS770. If the styles sound as good as Yamaha's the ease of use with their touchscreen will make this a very desirable keyboard. For me, it's if Casio's styles and drum kits can compete.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/890c7908-9ab2-11e5-be4f-0abd1978acaa.html#axzz3xuvr6p2f
"Panasonic spins revival with Technics turntables" from Dec 2015

I think the interface of this arranger is the best on any arranger ever....

The intuitive touchscreen...
The assignable knobs
The programmable drumpads that can be assigned to almost any function

It has 6 different sound sources
- normal sounds
- advanced sounds
- piano sounds
- organ sounds
- drum sounds
- hex sounds.
All have their own sound structure
With insert effects for every sound..
4 main parts with an option to add an arpeggio to each of them
Each of those 4 mainparts can be a hex sounds which is 6 layered sounds


The arranger has been highly advanced..
8 tracks/4varriations
Up to 16 samples on the pads
Up to 16 midi pads