I think I red a while ago that one or two members here tried this keyboard before. But have not heard anything more about this.

How come? Is this a bad keyboard? Sub-par? What is missing? On the paper looks actually quite nice.

No one else uses it?

[video:youtube]http://www.synthzone.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/420006/Re_More_Casio_MZ_X500_explaini[/video]

Incredible features, and the best interface of all arrangers, ... the pads add a lot...

However, builquallity including keybed is lackluster, and soundquallity of many sounds (some soundgroups are okay) is atleast a decade behind the main brands.

It however seems quite popular in Asia..

So, Bachus........do you have a Casio that you recommend. In the next few weeks, I'm going to Sam Ash again. They have almost all the models on display for audition. I tried them all and LIKED them all. I'm just wondering how they would be after a lot of usage. I just need a knock-around lightweight portable......no bells and whistles.

Mark

Actualy the casio px-5s offers the best experience, because ithink the casio lightweight piano keybed is rather good. And of decent quallity, and it offers some very decent piano, organ and synth sound. Sadly it does not have the touchscreen...

The fact that it does not have any styles but has arpeggiators and other things makes it even better, i have yet to hear a casio style onpar with korg, ketron and yamaha.

But compact and leightweight, th mzx500 is the best casio has to offer, In the same price range i would prefer a roland ea7, yamaha psr s770 or even the korg pa600.. but that would be mostly personal preference...and me being spoiled by the kronos and the pa4x..

I seriously cant advise any lower end casio’s because they dont really interest me..nor do i have any experience with them over a long periode of time.. so. Ant amswer the longlevity.. in general tough lightweight, cheap and buildquallity domt really go hand in hand.

Thanks Bachus......I read everything you wrote.

I tried that PX-5s twice and each time I walked away from it not liking the sound and thinking the keys feel too plastic.

I think the best thing to do is to go to SA and try them all again. I remember playing one that sounded good, felt good, and weighed not more than the price tag attached to it. And the price was appx $500. For that kind of money you can buy a dozen and give them out as door prizes and keep a few for yourself for when your own breaks down after a month.

Seriously, I'll post after I've tried them again. It's hard to find a piano and especially one in tune on the job these days. I'd be happy if I could just walk in with a portable Casio tucked under my arm and a 2 oz beach chair to sit on. Otherwise I might have to actually learn my PA3x!

Mark

Have you seen this...? interestingly, I think I like the more "raw"sound of Casio... Sounds less polished, but not bad I thought.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmw_nKVhy8c

I've owned the MZX-500 since its release. I've spent a considerable amount of time using the keyboard, and have delved quite deeply into its features. My initial review was quite positive, and I still hold to much of it, but I'll update my opinion after having it for some time now.

In terms of the features, I'd say the MZX-500 is pretty amazing. You get a 128 note sound engine, and the very impressive ability to create tones with up to six layers using the Hex Layer feature. Plus you can edit each layer individually. It samples directly, loads samples, can record audio, has a 16 (+1) track sequencer (Casio calls it 17 tracks), you can edit the preset styles (or create originals from scratch, sliders for organ drawbars (which also double for other editing features). The board in general is just very indepth.

The sounds are a mixed bag. Some are quite good, and some are just ok. The Pianos are certainly an improvement over past Casio's.., HOWEVER.., I feel it's important to note that ALL of the pianos still greatly suffer IMO from Casio's common problem of poor decay, too short sustain, very short samples, and REALLY obvious looping resulting from the short samples.

What I find is a big problem is that many of the sounds on their own do quite well. However, it's when you put them in a mix that you start to notice the shortcuts and corner cutting with the sound engine. Many instruments suffer from very poor sample stretching, and very inconsistent vibratos (even with sounds played within their proper note range). When you mix various sounds in a song, what I find is that these issues conflict with each other and don't sound very polished. It's not to say the sounds are bad..., it's just that Casio still has some work to do. I will applaud them though in that they've now included "Mega Like" voices.

My biggest issue with the MZX-500 has to do with the keys. The overall construction of the keyboard isn't bad. The keys however IMO are just down right awful for the price you pay. I cannot believe that Casio would use such a cheap quality set of keys on a keyboard that's supposed to be one of their flagships. This is actually my second MZX. My first unit developed a horrible key rattle issue. Mike Martin was on it though.., and quickly arranged a replacement for me.

However..., out of the box the new model "seemed" to be better. It wasn't long that I realized this is an issue across the board. The keys are so damn cheap..., ugh! The plastic is extremely thin, the lightest tap (after being broken in) results in a rattle. I kid you not.., the keys on my Korg MicroArranger are better. They might be small, but the action is consistent, the key material is thicker, and they're really quiet. I honestly cannot tell the difference between the keys on my MZX-500 and the $120 current Casio I bought for my kids.

Sqk

Hex sound sounds amazing, 6 layers of sounds, untill you realise that any normal yamaha sound consists out of up to 8 layers... and a korg pa4x sound can even excist out of up to 18...

Bachus, care to elaborate? I am not sure I understand what you mean by these 8 and 18 layers. Thanks!

Sqk, also for me the key feel it's important. I know what I'd like, but also know what I could live with. I know what I do not like.

Could you maybe, if you have the right experience, tell me what of these would you consider to be close to the key feel of X500...?

1. Roland E-A7
2. Roland XP 60
3. Roland E60
4. Korg Pa50
5. Korg Pa600
6. Korg Pa3x (well...)
7. Yamaha S970
8. M-Audio Keystation 61

These are the keyboards I played and sort of remember how they feel like. Some I liked, some were ok, some I hated.

Thanks!

On that list you provided I've got hands on with:

Roland XP-60 (loved the action on that one.., I used to own it)
Roland E-60
Korg PA-50
M-Audio Keystation

I haven't played the S-970 yet, but I'm going to assume it has the same keys as its predecessor.., I've played that one.

I think every board I listed is better than the MZX's keys (yes.., even the M-Audio Keystation).

**Important** If you get your hands on an MZX-500 to test out.., make sure you get to play one that's "broken in". Out of the box, or a unit that hasn't had much play will feel completely different than one that has been played regularly. The action over time will become very clanky, the keys will rattle with light taps, the noisy keys will be very obvious when playing fast runs. I won't even attempt a palm slide for organs or synth bass because I worry about the keys holding up.

I thnik squeek answered the keybed quallity quite well, i played the mzx right after plying an ea7, i didnt like the ea7 action much, but the mzx was far worse/// cluncky at best... i do however like the casio weighted hammer action(and keyfeel)

So what did i mean when i said the yamaha awm2 has 6 layers of multisamples? Just like it reads, a yamaha sound can have 8 different samples on a key.. all these samples could sound at once, but they can also be divided over the velocity range or trigg\ered \by special comditions, like legate key-off or when a switch is active...

Korgs system is even more advanced, where you can assigne up to 18 oscilators to a single note, where an oscialtor is a multisample... the engine also has much more ways to influence the note triggering.. however where the yamaha samples are stereo, the korg samples are mono...

The mzx normal sounds consist outof a single multisample... only exception are the -iano sounds... with hexlayering you can layer up to 6 sounds



In the end, the korg engine is the most advanced

The EA-7 has your typical synth action and the keys are slightly shorter. Having said that, I see no quality control problems at all such as Squeak is describing with the Casio.

I was not very impressed with E-A7 keys. Actually, I was quite disapointed with them, maybe my expectations were not realistic. But I did not like it. I actually think M-Audio controler is better, but indeed noisy and springy... But at least they have a deeper range and the size is about standard.

Anyway, I will try to get to try the X500 in a short while. They had one in a shop close to where I'll be in two weeks time. And hopefully, they will have more keyboards displayed, so I can compare.

Of course it is a matter of taste and preferance to a point, so subjective. But I also liked a lot the action on XP60... Long time ago.

Thanks for explanation on samples. Yes, I knew this, it makes sense. Korg it seems to indeed the most advanced engine, but the fact it makes available for user to go very very deeply in editing makes the whole difference. In here, because the entertainers use a lot of speicfic samples, the Korg is brand of choice by far.

My point was that the EA-7 has no quality control issues with the keybed and the Casio apparently does. I agree that no one will confuse the EA-7 keybed with the G70.