Casio Mz X500 Tutorial

What will you find in this post?

• 1 Digital Piano Casio CT X5000 Full Review Is it a good purchase?
  • 1.5 Where to buy Casio CT X5000

Hello! Before you read any more remember these posts with the best apps for when you finish reading this post:

The MZ-X Series is the evolutionary successor to Casio’s powerful MZ-2000 Series instruments. It will jump-start your creativity with its authentic sound, intuitive Color Touch Interface, and extensive control. This new flagship keyboard will enable musicians around the world to perform, create, and inspire like never before. View the manual for the Casio MZ-X500 here, for free. This manual comes under the category Midi keyboards and has been rated by 2 people with an average of a 8.3. This manual is available in the following languages: Engels. Do you have a question about the Casio MZ-X500.

Casio is a Japanese company that produces various electronic products, including digital keyboards. One of these is the Casio CT-X5000, a keyboard for beginners and intermediate players that has many great features to get you started. With a price of €365/$520/£333 it is a keyboard with many possibilities and many sounds:

• 61 keys with configurable touch sensitivity
• 64 notes of polyphony (Number of notes that can be played at once. This includes accompaniments that also consume notes. So if you play on top of an accompaniment more notes will be accumulated)
• Sound generator with AiX engine
• 800 sounds (Different sounds of piano and other instruments)
• 30 pre-installed songs
• 235 types of rhythms (Rhythms of accompaniment that adapt to what you are playing. There are bossa nova rhythms, etc. Sometimes they are also known as accompaniment styles) Accompaniment preset, not bad this number of possibilities
• Pitch-Bend Wheel
• Four-phrase pads to improve usability
• brings the following basic effects: reverb (Reverb effect), Chorus
• Harmony
• DSP (Digital Signal Processing) effects. These are digital effects that modify the sound of the keyboard)
• 100 types of Arpeggios (The Arpeggio function allows you to play an entire passage of notes by pressing just one key. Many come pre-recorded and some keyboards allow you to create them)
• One-Touch presets for fast switching between functions
• Transposition (Transposition allows you to move the note spectrum of a keyboard. This is to be able to play with transposing instruments. It is not an easy concept but it is made to facilitate the writing of an orchestration for instruments with very different bass and treble registers)
• LC display for improved usability
• Auto shut-off function (energy saving)
• Combined headset/line connection
• Pedal connection
• Usb to Host Connector (This is a more modern MIDI connector. MIDI allows you to do such wonderful things as connect your keyboard to your computer, record a sound track, and with certain programs pass what you have played to musical notes on a score with a single click. MIDI tracks store the information of the notes)
• USB to Device Connector
• Recorder who understands MIDI
• It has a connection for a sustain pedal (The sustain pedal of a piano or keyboard serves to keep the note playing even if you stop pressing the key)
• 2 very powerful 15W speakers
• A very portable weight of 7 kg (it can even be carried in a meter)
• Includes power supply but WARNING: does not support batteries, which are sometimes not clear

As you can see we have a keyboard with good features: a great amount of sounds reaching 800, 64 polyphonic notes that is not bad to start playing the keyboard (for sure with time you will need more and you will want to jump to another level), we have 235 different rhythms (with different musical genres) that serve as accompaniment, a Pitch Bend wheel and another important function are the 100 types of arpeggios that it offers, to compose or interpret diversity of compositions.

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Let’s continue to do a comparison to the Casio CT X5000 with its more common alternatives. Also at the end of the post you will find a section with the best shopping possibilities for this digital piano. But you can go directly to that part of the post by pressing the following button.

Casio CT-X5000 vs Yamaha PSR-E463

First let’s compare these two digital keyboards our Casio CT-X5000 with a price of €365/$520/£333 and the Yamaha PSR -E463 which is currently priced at €285/$350/£259, making a difference of 80 euro between the two. We will put them face to face in order to verify their differences and similarities:

• Both keyboards have 61 touch-sensitive keys, which means that when we play the keys loudly they’ll sound louder, and while we play less loudly, they sound quieter.
• When it comes to sounds, the Casio CT-X5000 has 800 sounds with 64 polyphonic notes, while the Yamaha PSR-E463 has 758 sounds with 48 polyphonic voices. Polyphony is the maximum number of notes that can be played at the same time.
• Both the Casio CT-X5000 and the Yamaha PSR-E463 have 235 different kinds of rhythms. That’s not bad for the level of keyboards we have. In addition to a pitch bend wheel that allows you to change the pitch (height) of the sound when playing.
• Both keyboards have effects like: Chorus, Harmony, Reverb and Master EQ. They have functions of: Transposition, Metronome, and Arpeggios where the Casio has 100 types, and the Yamaha has 150 types.
• In speakers, the Casio CT-X5000 has 2 very powerful 15W speakers, while the Yamaha PSR-E463 has a 2 x 6W speaker system. The Casio’s speakers are twice as powerful.
• Both keyboards have very similar connections, mixed headphone/line output, sustain pedal connection, USB inputs and outputs, which can be connected to standard USB sticks, and can also be connected to a computer with a music composition and production program.
• The Casio CT-X5000 has a very portable weight of 7 kg and dimensions of: 948 mm x 384 mm x 116 mm (Width, Depth and Height), while the Yamaha PSR-E463 has a weight of 6.6 kg and dimensions of 946 x 404 x 139 mm (Width, Depth and Height).
• The Casio CT-X5000 cannot be powered by batteries, the Yamaha can.

Here’s a video of the Yamaha keyboard sound engine, the AWN Dynamic Stereo Sampling:

We found good options for digital keyboards, with their advantages and disadvantages. The Casio has slight advantages over the Yamaha. A greater amount of sound, a more powerful speaker system, the downside is that it can’t run on batteries if you want to play it on the street or in a place that doesn’t have power nearby. However, for the price, the Yamaha is still a good option.

We will put the characteristics of each of these pianos in 2 different columns to make it easier to see the differences:

And now a video of the Yamaha PSR-E463:

If you want to know more about this model don’t miss our review of the Yamaha PSR-E463.

Casio CT-X5000 vs Yamaha PSR-EW410

First let’s compare these two digital keyboards our Casio CT-X5000 with a price of €365/$520/£333 and the Yamaha PSR-EW410 which is currently priced at €385/$470/£349, getting to a difference of 20 Euro between the two. With such a short difference, it is most likely that they can have the same features, or maybe not, we will see.

• Let’s start by comparing the keys, the Casio CT-X5000 has 61 keys with touch sensitivity and 64-note polyphony, and the Yamaha PSR-EW410 has 76 keys with touch sensitivity and 64-note polyphony.
• Both have 235 styles/rhythms that serve for accompaniment, both have the Pitch Bend wheel (which serves to change the pitch of the notes that are played), and effects such as: Reverb, Chorus and Delay. Transposition, Metronome and Arpeggio functions where the Casio has 100 types, and the Yamaha has 150 types.
• In speakers, the Casio CT-X5000 has 2 very powerful 15W speakers, while the Yamaha PSR-E463 has a 2 x 12W speaker system. The Casio speakers are twice as powerful.
• Both keyboards have very similar connections, mixed headphone/line output, sustain pedal connection, USB inputs and outputs, which can be connected to standard USB sticks, and can also be connected to a computer with a music composition and production program.
• The Casio CT-X5000 has a very portable weight of 7 kg and dimensions of: 948 mm x 384 mm x 116 mm (Width, Depth and Height), while the Yamaha PSR-EW410 has a weight of 8.4 kg and dimensions of 1179 x 138 x 413 mm (Width, Depth and Height).
• The Casio CT-X5000 cannot be operated with batteries, when the Yamaha does allow this option.

A notable difference from the Yamaha PSR-E2410 and a feature that makes it stand out are its 2 Direct Controllers, also called spin regulators that filter and adjust the sound like on an analog synthesizer, plus its Tone Inflection wheel adjusts the tone of the sound making voices like Guitar, Sax or Trumpet sound real. Excellent input from Yamaha.

We will put the characteristics of each of these pianos in 2 different columns to make it easier to see the differences:

And now a video of the Yamaha PSR-EW410

If you want to know more about this model don’t miss our review of the Yamaha PSR-EW410.

Casio CT-X5000 vs Korg EK-50

Now we will continue with our comparisons, in this section we will have the Casio CT-X5000 that as we have already mentioned has a price of €365/$520/£333, along with a keyboard brand Korg, the model EK50 that currently has a value of €294/$450/£272, which give a difference of 69 euros. Let’s see your face to face:

• Both keyboards have 61 touch-sensitive keys, so you can start studying the piano and playing compositions with musical dynamics.
• In terms of sounds we see a remarkable difference, 800 sounds has the Casio CT-X5000 with 64 notes of polyphony and 235 rhythms / musical styles, when the Korg EK50 has 702 sounds with 64 voices polyphony and 280 rhythms / musical styles.
• Both keyboards have effects such as: Chorus, Harmony, Reverb and Master EQ. They have functions of: Transposition, Metronome, and Arpeggios where the Casio has 100 types, but in the Korg we don’t have the option of Arpeggios.
• In speakers, the Casio CT-X5000 has 2 very powerful 15W speakers, while the Korg EK-50 has a 2 x 10W speaker system.
• Both keyboards have very similar connections, mixed headphone/line output, sustain pedal connection, USB inputs and outputs, which can be connected to standard USB sticks, and can also be connected to a computer with a music composition and production program. In addition to a pitch bend wheel that allows you to change the pitch (height) of the sound when playing.
• The Casio CT-X5000 has a very portable weight of 7 kg and dimensions of: 948 mm x 384 mm x 116 mm (Width, Depth and Height), when the Korg EK-50 has a weight of 7.5 kg and dimensions 994 x 392 x 132 mm (Width, Depth and Height).
• The Casio CT-X5000 cannot be operated with batteries, the Korg can.

A relevant difference to the Korg EK50 is that it has an upgradeable operating system, which gives the instrument a somewhat longer life so that it can be used with new operating systems.

We will put the characteristics of each of these pianos in 2 different columns to make it easier to see the differences:

And now a video of the Korg EK50

If you want to know more about this model don’t miss our review of the Korg EK50.

Casio CT-X5000 vs Yamaha PSR-S670

Now we will continue with our comparisons, in this section we will have the Casio CT-X5000 that as we have already mentioned has a price of €365/$520/£333, along with a Yamaha PSR-S670 keyboard that currently has a value of €598/£545, giving a difference of almost 240 euros. Big price difference, we will see if there is also a big difference between its functions and features:

• Both keyboards have 61 touch-sensitive keys, so we can start studying piano, and playing compositions with musical dynamics.
• The Casio CT-X5000 has 800 different sounds with 64 notes of polyphony and 235 rhythms/musical styles, while the Yamaha PSR-S670 has a total of 930 sounds with 64 notes of polyphony and 230 rhythms/musical styles.
• Both keyboards have effects such as: Chorus, Harmony, Reverb and Master EQ. They have functions of: Transposition, Metronome, and Arpeggios where the Casio has 100 types, and in the Yamaha we also find the option but it’s not as worked on as in other models.
• In speakers, both have 2 very powerful 15W speakers.
• Both keyboards have very similar connections, mixed headphone/line output, sustain pedal connection, USB inputs and outputs, which can be connected to standard USB sticks, and can also be connected to a computer with a music composition and production program. In addition to a pitch bend wheel that allows you to change the pitch (height) of the sound when playing and on the Yamaha modulation wheel.
• The Casio CT-X5000 has a very portable weight of 7 kg and dimensions of: 948 mm x 384 mm x 116 mm (Width, Depth and Height), when the Yamaha PSR-S670 has a weight of 8.1 kg and dimensions 1004 x 410 x 137mm (Width, Depth and Height).
• The Casio CT-X5000 cannot be operated with batteries, the Yamaha does have this option.

The Yamaha PSR-S670 surprises with both the quantity and quality of its mostly electric piano sounds, which have been sampled in high definition and quality. Below is a sample video so that you can hear the different sounds and have your own opinion of them.

We will put the characteristics of each of these pianos in 2 different columns to make it easier to see the differences:

And now a video of the Yamaha PSR-S670:

If you want to know more about this model don’t miss our review of the Yamaha PSR -- S670.

Where to buy Casio CT X5000

Thomann

• Free Shipping.
• Full warranty. If you have any problems, they take care of everything.
• 100% reliable payment.
• Leader in trouble-free shipping.
• Usually Best price.
• Best Reputation: They are the leading online store in Europe and have the best catalogue and information.

Amazon

• Free Shipping and possibility of shipping in one day with Amazon Premium.
• Full Guarantee but they are no experts in music equipment.
• Sometimes better price.
• He’s got worse stock than Thomann.

Check below related models with similar price and features:

Arranger keyboards are something of a known quantity these days.All serve up a buffet of sounds, “one-person band” accompaniments that follow your chord changes, the ability to record your performance, and bells and whistles such as auto-harmony. Powerfully musical in experienced hands? Yes. Cool, easy-play factor for beginners? Of course. Hip and relevant for 2016 onward? Opinions diverge, but the Casio MZ-X500 might make them diverge less.

With the Casio MZ-X500, Casio tried to give us a new take on an arranger and wound up offering a veryrobust multi-timbral synth workstation with a contemporary and fun user experience in the bargain. Its bang for buck is off the scale and Casio is ready to give tough competition to all other Manufacturers with its most special offering in the keyboard market till date.

Features Overview

My first impression of the MZ-X500 came from its industrial design. Yes, it’s plastic, but the fit and finish are excellent and everything feels very tight.

As on most arranger keyboards, Registrations act as snapshots of pretty much everything in the machine. In general, navigation is very easy, though occasionally “so easy it’s hard” if you’re used to synth workstations of the past 20 years—on the Casio, the thing you’re looking for is almost always more in-your-face than you think.

Three buttons on the right side of the color touchscreen assure you that you can always get back to where you came from; the Main button is home base for everything going on in the current Registration, and the Menu icon offers cheery-looking icons for anything that can be selected or edited, such as Tones, Rhythms, effects, and the extensive mixer, which manages all multi-timbral parts in the machine plus incoming external audio.

Speaking of external audio, the MZ-X500 is well-endowed with inputs—stereo 1/4″ line, TRS mic with a physical trim control, and 3.5mm stereo for an MP3 player. You can apply the keyboard’s effects to the mic and line inputs, as well.

In the effects department, two DSP slots function as Inserts and include a variety of useful algorithms. After that, you get Sends with chorus, reverb, and delay. A master EQ and compressor put the final spit and polish on the mix.

The 16 velocity-sensitive pads do several different things. Factory modes include one-shot samples such as drum hits, programmable chords, and musical phrases appropriate to various sounds. The pads can also trigger articulations (MIDI-generated, not alternate audio samples) that you select from a generous factory bank that ranges from bends and crescendos to choppy dance-floor gate effects.

It gets better. In User mode, you can mix and match these functions on a per-pad basisand save your custom setups. Using the easy Pad Record function, you can play your own phrase into each pad, overdub onto that phrase (with the same sound), and program custom chords. You can even sample your own audio to a pad via the audio inputs. The pads can drive or be driven by the accompaniment styles that you interact with via the intro, variation/fill, and fade buttons, with everything syncing to musical key and tempo.

Both audio and MIDI recording are onboard. The former lets you record simply everything—your playing, auto-accompaniment, and incoming external audio—to a USB flash drive as a stereo file. The latter is a full 16-track multi-timbral sequencer, and since it’s on a separate internal MIDI port, it exists independently of the live keyboard parts and auto-accompaniment playback. (Bring up the Mixer and cycle using the Port button, and you’ll see the sounds assigned to the tracks change.)

Physically, the only thing that says “budget” is the keyboard itself. The piano-lipped keys are nicely sized and feel great with your fingers on them. Play a glissando or wipe, and you’ll hear ’em.

Sounds

Casio told me that under the hood, the MZ-X500 actually has more sonic horsepower than the Privia PX-5S and after checking out its factory Tones (sound programs) I believe them. You can play two upper and two lower tones at once, with an adjustable split point. Here are just a few highlights.

Acoustic pianos are on par with what’s in the PX-5S, with a lot of dynamic range. I might not use them for a solo jazz or classical recital, but I’d do so for just about anything else—definitely any live band gig in any genre. The EPs offer a ton of variation and personality across the Rhodes, Wurly, Dyno, DX, CP, and Clav gamut. (Oddly, the EP bank is where you’ll find mallet instruments.)

The organs are impressive, with drawbar control on the mixer sliders. Buttons toggle harmonic percussion and speed for a rotary simulation that gives a clear sense of distinct bass and treble rotors spinning. Foldback (repetition of extreme high and low drawbar frequencies) is reproduced accurately. Nothing is quite in the league of today’s dedicated organ clones, but the overall sound is warm, realistic, and miles ahead of the static organ samples you would usually get in a keyboard of this type.

The synth sounds positively shine, and there are tons of them. Subgroups comprise leads, pads, bass synths, and Hex Layers. Originating on Casio’s XW-P1 synth, these are six-way stacks that the machine treats as single sound programs. One among many addictive examples, PriviaSynth1, is as good for Prince’s “1999” as I’ve ever used. The special Bass Synth group is monophonic: Its sounds range from simple sub-basses to Juno and Minimoog territory to postmodern buzzsaws.

Many of the guitars and basses are new and the nylon guitars are especially delightful. Orchestral sounds include some great new solo instruments that take full advantage of the pad-based articulations mentioned earlier. World instruments are plentiful, with emphasis on India, China and Indonesian gamelan.

Sound editing goes much deeper than I expected in an arranger at this price point: filter cutoff and resonance; amp attack, decay, and release; entry volume and velocity sensitivity are adjustable per Tone from the first editing screen. Hitting the Advanced icon takes you to even more fine-grained control, including graphical pitch, volume, and filter envelopes. You also get independent and highly programmable LFOs for pitch, filter, and amp (volume). Effects settings are editable per Tone as well, and you can save your creations as User Tones. There’s no “oscillator” editing; any User Tone begins with the multi-sample of some factory Tone. If that makes the MZ-X500 less than a full and true synthesizer, it’s only just barely.

Synth-style performance control comes by way of the K1 and K2 knobs, which you can assign to any MIDI CC. Each knob can control two parameters at once, with different ranges and reverse polarity if desired. Knob assignments, however, are saved at the level of Registrations, not User Tones. This seems related to the fact that each of the two parameters under a knob’s control can affect all four Tones in the Registration. Though it’s the same aspect of the sound across the board (e.g. filter cutoff), you can toggle whether each tone receives your knob twist.

Accompaniment

Casio calls accompaniment styles Rhythms; the Accomp On/Off button mutes everything but the drums. A style on the MZ-X500 is composed of 12 “elements” (song sections) that you can switch in real time. There are two intros, four main variations, four fills, an auto-fill option for when you switch variations, and two endings. Each element can make use of up to eight multi-timbral parts—drums, bass, five melodic/chordal parts, and additional percussion.

The factory styles are very good, with special attention paid to giving electronic dance and hip-hop styles some credibility and attitude. Latin, European, and pan-Eastern styles from Bali to Bollywood are also well represented. Of course, all of the standard rock, pop, ballad, and waltz fare is on hand.

Can you create your own styles? Yes, element by element and part by part. The tools here include a pattern sequencer with both real-time recording and an event list editor. You can also import Standard MIDI files.

Parameters governing how the accompaniment behaves are no less deep. Left-hand chord recognition can operate in a variety of fingered modes or the easy Casio Chord mode, which triggers full chords based on one-and two-finger input. You can set up fades and slowdowns, specifying the starting measure for each. An unexpected arranger feature is auto-harmony, which adds notes to your right-hand melody based on the left-hand chord. It’s here, with a dozen voicing modes to choose from.

Another level of accompaniment consists of Music Presets, which add ready-made chord progressions to all the other goings-on as well as pre-selecting appropriate Tones. You can alter, rename, and save Music Presets in a step-based editor. For ease of use, this presents itself in terms of measures, beats, and ticks, and offers tools for adding ties, rests, and different note values including triplets. Powerful stuff, here.

Conclusions

The MZ-X500 strikes me as one of those rare items that is way better than it’s supposed to be. I’ve only had room to scratch its surface here, particularly with regard to the way its various modes can interact to kickstart your music-making. There’s a fusion going on here of a modern “producer” mindset with a traditional “arranger keyboard” paradigm.

As a synth, it’s great-sounding and powerful enough to be the cornerstone of any band rig even if you never touch the accompaniment features. If you do, they’ve received a welcome hipness injection. As a studio tool, it offers multiple and fun pathways to quick composition. As a value, it’s a definite Key Buy.

Snap Judgment

PROSExcellent sounds in all categories. Deep sound editing. Accompaniment styles/rhythms are musical and satisfying, with custom styles easy to record and save. Drum pads perform many cool tasks and integrate seamlessly with arranger section. Onboard speakers play loud and clean.

CONSMany great features are under-documented, even in supplemental tutorial downloads.

Bottom Line

Part arranger and part pro synth workstation, the MZ-X500 punches well above its price class in terms of sounds and features. More importantly, it’s serious fun.

Casio Mz X500 Manual

Rs. 64,995 MRP