MEGA-POST COMING-UP - GRAB YOUR SNACKS!!!
I'm absolutely smiling from ear to ear, and you know what, the first thing that went through my head while reading up about the CT-S1000V was that this is the perfect instrument, they've done exactly what I wanted apart from the vocal thing I didn't need.
Then I saw the new CT-S500 released along-side it and THAT is the sort of keyboard I dreamed about, and here's why I like it so much:
- Quality full-size 5-octave keybed (Better than similar priced Korg, Roland and Yamaha keybeds)
- Large clear display in monochrome (Thank God cause I hate tiny or colour displays on gear)
- Minimalist interface and menu system (I mean could it get any easier and clearer?)
- AiX soundset (With control knobs on the same machine, finally)
- Sampling for melodic and drum samples (Endless sound scope there)
- Proper pitch change for the samples (Like we can finally do on the MKII)
- Programmable user accompaniment styles (Making it a full-on arranger too, not a preset box)
- Multi-Track MIDI Recorder (For whacking-out ideas all handly-like)
- Fully editable effects (I even see Touch-Wah cause CASIO understand Musicians needs)
I mean holy fucking shit, then you have the ability to sample standalone through analogue input (or even wirelessly if that's your thing). And that's just the CT-S500. That's my perfect keyboard right there because it LITERALLY has EVERYTHING I wanted and NOTHING I didn't want!
Seriously bro, fucking hell, if you could see the smile on my face
Then if you want the vocal stuff, you can choose the S1000V instead, which is absolutely identical other then the addition of the Vocal Synthesis. What might surprise you though is that I'm not necesserily going to go for that over the CT-S500.
Like I said, when you've wanted something so exact for
such a long time and it finally arrives, it feels kinda weird to then say, right, OK, I'll go for the other model instead, the one that also has something I didn't want even though it has everything I did want.
I can't do that, the CT-S500 was made for me!!!
Also, the obsessive compultive in me also prefers the panel of the CT-S500, because if you look at the naming used on the two control knobs it is simply "K1" and "K2" and I absolutely love that, because I would be reassigning them quite a lot on a nice and easy design like that.
On the CT-S1000V those knobs are physically renamed due to the Vocal Synthesis stuff, and I don't like that for the same reason I don't like the FX buttons on the MKII having preset names on them.
Regards that Vocal Synthesis stuff though, it does go a lot deeper than might first appear. You can enter words, syllables, timing and play mode, sure, but you can also deep-edit the pronounciation engine if you are not happy with the way it's handling it, and you can even use custom waveforms for the speech synthesis to generate its speech. So it's a lot more awesome than might first appear, but what I don't like is that you need to use an app to do that, and to me that is absolutely unacceptable. When buying a vocal synthesiszer, all paramaters should be available on the vocal synthesizer, not an app!
So cool as it is, I personally am swayed more to the ST-S500 due to the panel being more like a blank canvas, doesn't need an app to perform any of its functions, and like I said, the CT-S500 is, quitel literally, my dream keyboard having EVERYTHING I want and NOTHING I don't.
FUCKING PERFECT!!!
Just like that I feel like I've gone from being the world's most unlucky gear-buying dude to being the luckiest dude on earth. The only thing I feel like giving CASIO a good arse kicking over is the lack of MIDI DIN, but I suppose they see the WIRELESS MIDI thing as the alternative.
One thing I find hard to believe is that they have given you a fully programmable accompaniment system IN the same unit as a synth AND a sampler AND at that price point, it is unheard of if they have, but it does say "User Rhythms" in the specs and that is what they often refer to them as - so wow!!!
I've been trying to find a download of the manual to look deeper at the sampling and user programmable accompaniment styles, just so that I don't have to keep pinching myself telling me it's all true -hahaha!
BTW, at two hours long it's a long sitting, but this was honestly the best product launch LiveStream I've seen, it was very enjoyable and I urge everyone to watch it if they have the time (some very nice stuff in there).
CASIO 2-Hour LiveStream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q49pU9wdnR0
