Hey folks, I feel the need to update people here who might be considering the MZX-500.

Currently, that vast majority of my opinions in the review still stand. However, there is an issue that needs to be addressed and I thought I'd share it with the Zone.

At the moment the MZX-500 has two flaws that I've found and reported within the style/pattern recorder and midi sequencer. There is a bug associated with mixer settings being saved for styles used in the midi sequencer, and in the style/pattern recorder.

In the pattern recorder, any mixer settings applied to variations 3 and 4 will not save. You can make the adjustments, they apply momentarily, but as soon as you move to another section, any mixer settings for variations 3 and 4 will reset to default.

The problem carries over to the midi sequencer too. I recorded a style progression within the midi sequencer. I wanted to test to see if this problem was just associated the style/pattern record mode. It is not. All mixer settings made to parts/tracks that contain style date recorded in the midi sequencer would revert back to defaults as each section progressed. You can literally watch the virtual knobs snap back to their default positions.

This IMO is a pretty serious issue. It's an arranger keyboard.., and not being able to have mixer settings properly apply to arranger parts (especially considering we're talking about the most basic form of editing here) can render this board useless to some (myself included).

I purchased the MZX for production. I create my own styles and songs. Currently the style/pattern recorder appears to only function as a 2 variation platform for recording/editing purposes, and any style use in the midi sequencer is plagued by this bug as well due to a mixer bug. I'm hoping Casio addresses this issus ASAP.

A firmware update was released this morning, but did not address this issue. I'm shocked that something so basic was missed in beta testing. It also leads me to speculate that perhaps that's why the demos prior to release were so limited in what was being shown.

Just wanted to share this info.

Sqk

It sounds like they used the old software of the wk 7600 just added the touch screen. From the videos I watched, this to me what they did. Same ol repackaging of the product.

This machine is NOT a WK in any way shape or form (I still have a WK-7500). If I was going to take a guess I would say they used the PX-560 OS as both machines overlap in functions. I know I have both!

My MZX has the same issue as Dan's however, I am going to wait for a fix which I hope is soon and hope that no more bugs appear.

Other then the issues listed, it is a great arranger keyboard!

I have to agree with Linda. This is not a WK. The MZX-500 is basically the PX560 with four variations, sampling, and performance pads. The OS between them is almost identical. It's almost like they didn't take into account the coding for the additional variations. The mixer issue problem is across the board. Even in normal play.., mixer settings made to style parts applies momentarily. You can make the adjustments, but as soon as you move to another variation, or even hit the fill.., everything resets. This is a serious Mixer issue across that board that pertains to the styles that needs fixed.

I also remember seeing a post from another user about the sustain pedal not recording in the style/pattern recorder. For me the mixer is a huge problem.., as I imagine it would be for anyone who plans on using this board to create music. Even if you don't take the mixer issue with recording in both the style and midi sequencer..., not being able to adjust basic mixer settings (and have them retained) under normal style play will certainly be an issue for many.

Right out of the box the first thing I felt needed done to just about every style I used was that they are over saturated with reverb. However.., I can't even get the reverb adjustments to work in normal style play mode.

Casio needs to step it up. This board is supposed to be a big move for them. The original MZ-2000 had an uphill battle. They market the new MZX with all these production tools, but fail to code the most basic features properly.

OUCH.......not good news Squeak are you going to return it?...
I was afraid of this with the Casio MZ x500 the truth is coming to the surface although I am not surprised....anyway I hope it all works out for you.

good luck..

No plans of returning it yet. I'm going to see what Casio does. It's all really starting to make sense though. When the demos started showing up.., almost all of them were extremely short, and didn't really show too much. A few that surfaced were showing sounds and material "added" to the keyboard.

I'm shocked the board went out to consumers with the list of bugs that have been found over that last week. Mike Martin said he thinks today's firmware update was already finished prior to these reports. I find that very odd and troubling because I found these issues very quickly. I don't think there was any way they didn't know this prior to shipping them.

As soon as you attempt to do any basic pattern editing you're hit with the mixer bug. As soon as you record a style to the midi sequencer and do post song editing, you're hit with the mixer bug. You try and make basic mixer adjustments under NORMAL STYLE play and you're hit with the mixer bug.

For me.., at the moment the board is useless for my needs. What's the point of an arranger if you can't do get basic mixer settings to be retained, and both the style and midi sequencers aren't functioning properly due to bugs. I'm just going to put the dust cover on it and wait to see what Casio's response is.

I like the board.., but the styles IMO are completely over saturated with reverb when it comes to drums and other style parts. If I can't get something that basic to function across all modes.., the board is useless to me (currently).

Disappointing.

i think ill add a few dollars and get a korg or yamaha down the road. i have the wk7600, i like it for what it does and price, it has a mixer issue ,you cant mix while playing live on stage , it takes you out of arranger mode. oh well, it looks nice. sad to hear. btw i stand corrected on the os in my earlier post. did you try saving your edit to user style after each variation before editing the next variation? just curious if that would work

Well, same buiseness as allways....


Dont be an early adaptor if you rely on a product...
Most of these products take months to become bugfree
Its just that they dont have 10.000's of beta testers to help them improve the software
So they rely on the early addaptors..

As long as the early addaptors keep communicating on a sane level with Casio the problems/bugs will be repaired..



It allways bogs me how people are allways surprised when there are still bugs in a newly released product... Its just the way of things when software is involved...


(In keyboard land only Yamaha seems to be doing better then the others on average in releasing products relatively bugfree)

Ditto Bacchus on the Yamaha..

Thats a good suggestion Wrinkles303 I will try that.