Which to buy?

[Billyjoe]

Hey,
Im looking to buy a new keyboard. I cant decide between the Casio wk-3100 or the Yamaha dgx 500.
I want the keyboard to play classical music on it, plus use it to compose industrial type stuff.
I like the box style keys of the yamaha, plus theres 88 of them, but does it have a good sequencer? And, i had a wk-1800 years ago and loved it. Is the wk-3100 better, and does it have a good sequencer on it? And, how does it play classical music?

Thanks

 

[sishan]

BillyJoe,
I own a wk-3500 and I had tried out dgx-300 and dgx-500 before I bought the casio. Since I used my casio for over a year, honestly, I know this instrument lot better than the dgx-500 from my 10 minutes playing at the store.

-- some of the strings on dgx may sound better at first place than wx but you can customize wk strings to sound better than dgx.
-- I don't know why was this but 80% vol level of dgx ws weaker than 50% vol of wk.
-- the wk is particularly famous for the grand piano and drawbar organ tones. grand piano tone00 of wk is much much better than the same on dgx. Well, keywise none of the instruments offer weighted keys, so you really don't get true piano feeling.
-- the biggest advantage of wk is its capability to download samples from casio site and other sites(i can give you details if you are interested). So you really get to expand the tones of your instruments and this is damn simple.
-- it has good built-in sequencer 32 memory registrations and 6 banks. i dont use it much as I use direct audio recording. I hope dgx has it too.
-- like you, i was also attracted towards the box keys first but the advantages of wk alongwith its price just kicked out dgx models.

The biggest disadvantage I see of wk is its cheap plastic keys and improper felt padding beneath the keys...if you try playing staccatissimo, f, ff, fffs etc...you WILL feel annoyed...I have a yamaha PSR310 too and its keys are much more better than wk.

For requirements as light classicals and pops, balads, folks, I would say wk would be better deal. But again as I said, if you want to bang on the keys as hardcore classical player, wk is not for you...

Regards,
Shan
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http://www.audiostreet.net/shantanusinha

 

[Billyjoe]

Thanks Shan.

I found the Casio music site and downloaded internet data something or other, but i cant get it to work. Maybe i need to actually have the keyboard.

Where did you download your Casio data from?

Plus, i remember years ago with my wk-1800, i downloaded loads of mp3's of all kinda of different songs people had put together, then i converted them into a different form, and played them on the casio. I remember i got cool stuff like Nine Inch Nails, and rock stuff. People had taken popular songs and composed them onto the keyboard. Is there anywhere i could get stuff like this?

 

[sishan]

You will need to convert the .ckf files you got from the site into .z0* (* from 1 to 6) files in order to play them from your wk. There is free software from Casio called Internet Data Expansion System that does this conversion.

other than casio site, you can get some tones from
-- www.musicalmoods.net
-- wk forum at www.originalz.com/casio/casio_bbs
-- http://home.arcor.de/till.tuesday/wk3000/

Other than being able to download things, the sound of wk boards are much much improved from earlier version of casios.

Shan
----------------------
http://www.audiostreet.net/shantanusinha