Casio is back in the synth game after a 20 year break

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:10 am

Always liked their CZ-series synths. Not really into synths anymore, but if I were to ever need one for a band/gig, I'd really consider this. It will retail for $500 here in the U.S. and looks to compete with the Roland Juno Di.

Cool bits:
hex layers @3:14 (blending around 3:50 looks handy)
step sequencer around 6:20
arpeggiated sound + step sequencer around 7:40

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2012/01/ ... -up-close/

gaybear · Post by **gaybear** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:24 am

man, that looks like a shit ton of fun ad user friendly enough for a moron like myself.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:29 am

This thing is bad-ass.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 4:45 am

Thanks for posting! I'm kind of wanting to know more about this and if I should consider selling my Yamaha MO6 for one (I'd feel a bit foolish because the Yamaha is probably a much better synth, but this thing looks way more user friendly and tweakable, the Yamaha is just full of complicated menus)

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 2:45 pm

Nick wrote:Thanks for posting! I'm kind of wanting to know more about this and if I should consider selling my Yamaha MO6 for one (I'd feel a bit foolish because the Yamaha is probably a much better synth, but this thing looks way more user friendly and tweakable, the Yamaha is just full of complicated menus)

I think it depends on what you want and need in a synth. Yamaha makes stuff that sounds great, but their user interfaces have never really appealed to me--lots of menu diving like you mentioned. Even their analog modeling synth, the AN1x, had some menus to deal with whereas lots of other analog modeling synths did not, even thought it sounded great (I went through 3 of them).

If you need a huge palette of sounds, including a lot of realistic sounds, then you might be better sticking with the MO6. But these were only introductory demos that were rushed out for NAMM. I suspect we'll see more in-depth demos soon. Sweetwater has a guy that makes his own demos for them and he's usually pretty thorough. If I see some new demo clips, I'll post them here. There's supposed to be a second version of this synth which excludes the hex layers but is more dance/performance oriented that will be a $100 more (more panel controls for the solo synth feature). The XW-P1 is supposed to hit stores in March, so you know they'll be in every Guitar Center and every other Casio dealer.

Listening to it last night inspired me to play with a synth for the first time in nearly 2 years. Started messing around with the impOSCar and might upgrade soon. For $99, why not? Here's the current version:

[youtube][/youtube]

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 8:05 pm

I would think the motif would be really powerful in the studio because the possibilities are basically endless. but for performance, ease of use, and inspiration, I think the casio looks excellent. sound wise, the casio sounds up to par, I don't think you'd have to worry about that.

I'm most familiar with the roland jv series synths and this looks like a similar engine. the jv-80/90/1000 all have that fader for each oscillator feature and people used them to make fake drawbar organs as well. this synth is like they took that idea, amped it up and threw in a groovebox style step sequencer as well. pretty awesome.

I think they've done a really job in creating a product that is desirable and has no real competition.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 9:11 pm

[youtube][/youtube]

yeah, like everything from 0:40 to 2:50 are things that you could sort of jerry rig a JV or similar synth into doing, but they've made it WAY more straightforward here. one thing I wonder about is if you can use the virtual analog oscillators in a polyphonic mode.

it's kind of amazing that they have pretty much covered all of the bases in an easy to use performance based package. you would normally need a pile of gear to do the same thing with the performance functionality this thing has.

- pianos, organs, electric pianos (ROMpler)
- evolving soundscape (korg M1 type thing)
- fat synth lead stuff (virtual analog synth)
- groove production stuff (groovebox/electribe)

is there anything out there that has similar ability all in one box?

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:03 pm

Mages wrote:is there anything out there that has similar ability all in one box?

Not with that interface and not with that price that I know of. I think the Juno-Di (a descendant of the XP/JV series) would probably be the closest thing to compare it with right now.

The virtual analog mode you asked about is only monophonic, although I wouldn't be surprised if they made it polyphonic in a future version.

One of the neat features I forgot about was the ability to use an external audio source (basically anything) as a sixth component in hex mode. That's pretty impressive.

The other, more dance-oriented model of this synth will feature sampling, but won't have the hex layer feature. It will also have more controls on the panel for the virtual analog mode. It will be $100 more and have some "groove box" type features. I think it's supposed to arrive later this Spring.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:57 pm

plaidbeer wrote:One of the neat features I forgot about was the ability to use an external audio source (basically anything) as a sixth component in hex mode.

yeah this would be sweet if you could have an analog or FM or something rack synth that you could run with MIDI and then run back through the filters on this. godamn that would be sweet.

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:52 pm

Now to wait for user reviews to start appearing!

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 1:41 am

Here's a user demo of the XW-P1 I just found... wanted to see some stuff by users, rather than Mike from Casio. It still looks like a good deal, despite the apparent cheap feel of the board/keys.

[youtube][/youtube]

Dokterrock · Post by **Dokterrock** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:05 am

I wish they would put something like this in a weighted 88 key version.

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Thu May 17, 2012 6:10 pm

Blade Runner bit on the new Casio:

[youtube][/youtube]

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Sun May 27, 2012 3:38 am

yeah I saw that. casio has a blog for these synths here, where they post new videos and other content related to these synths. the blade runner rendition sounds OK. you can find people on youtube playing it on other synths and sounding way cooler.

what I really want to hear is a real solid demo of all the sounds. all these features are great and it seems to sound fairly decent anyway but in the end if the soundset provided is really not good enough to rely on that kinda breaks the deal. I'm probably going to head to the store next week sometime and check it out for myself.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Sun May 27, 2012 5:06 am

ok, I finally found a really good complete review/demo: http://www.muzykuj.com/testy/instrument ... t,389.html

it's polish but using the google translate you can pretty much get the idea. it's a really in depth review though and he demos a lot of the sounds.

my impression of the sounds from his demos are this

Virtual Analog: sounds pretty good. I mean it's VA so you can tweak it to sound however you want so it's fine.
Hex Layer: Sounds pretty good from what I can tell. Nothing quite as impressive as a Korg Wavestation or Yamaha SY-35 or something like that but still pretty good.
Organ: sounds fine. obviously you're not buying this primarily for the organ so for the kind of user that is getting this in addition to this other stuff it sounds fine.
PCM: decent to poor. to be honest some of these really don't sound very good.

a great point that he makes in the review though

Many people buy [an Access] Virus, because its users are doing a lot of sounds and make them for free. Given that the Casio does not cost much, it might fairly to very similar situation that network users will be willing to exchange sounds and the problem of deficient universal sounds disappear.

I've definitely found this to be the case with other synths I've had. I'm sure people will be making hex layer patches that really push things to that korg wavestation level or beyond.