PX5s & B4000+, a good combination?

[kaptainkeys]

After doing much research on different keyboard options, a Casio PX5s and a Ferrofish B4000+ (both used) would cost me around the same as something like a Roland FA08 or a Kurzweil PC3x (also both used), and will give me a more compact setup with a dedicated clonewheel engine that sounds better than either the KB3 engine in the PC3 or the SuperNatural Organ in the FA, plus is will give me physical drawbar control.  This setup also doesn't need mixer, since the PX5s has audio inputs, so my signal chain would be B4000+ -> PX5s -> Amplification/FOH.  My only questions are: can I apply reverb to the B4000+ within the PX5s, and is the PX5s powerful enough as a synthesizer to play 80s tunes?

[counterpoint]

Can I apply reverb to the B4000+ within the PX5s?  NO

 

Is the PX5s powerful enough as a synthesizer to play 80s tunes?  YES

37 minutes ago, GotKeys said:

 

 

[AnotherScott]

For synth sounds, keep in mind that the PX5S does not have a mono mode. All sounds are always polyphonic.

 

At first I was also concerned about the lack of expression pedal on the PX-5S, which would be an organ limitation, but then realized the B4000+ has an expression pedal input of its own, so you'd be okay there. 

[Shamanzarek]

When buying a used PX-5S check the velocity response on the A# notes. There was a design flaw that caused many to have erratic behavior on A# notes usually on a lower A#. The PX-5S has been in production since at least 2013 and the price for a new one just went up by $100.

[ElmerJFudd]

Same on the PX-560. The audio is internally wired directly to the Audio out.  No opportunity to apply FX. 

[kaptainkeys]

1 hour ago, counterpoint said:

Can I apply reverb to the B4000+ within the PX5s?  NO

6 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

Same on the PX-560. The audio is internally wired directly to the Audio out.  No opportunity to apply FX. 

Shame, I guess if I go this route I'll have to run a reverb pedal between the Ferrofish and the PX5s.

22 minutes ago, Shamanzarek said:

When buying a used PX-5S check the velocity response on the A# notes. There was a design flaw that caused many to have erratic behavior on A# notes usually on a lower A#. The PX-5S has been in production since at least 2013 and the price for a new one just went up by $100

I'll make sure to check this, is there any fix to the problem?

1 hour ago, AnotherScott said:

At first I was also concerned about the lack of expression pedal on the PX-5S, which would be an organ limitation, but then realized the B4000+ has an expression pedal input of its own, so you'd be okay there

Not to worried about that, though it would be nice to have an expression pedal on the PX5s in order to fade in layers.

1 hour ago, AnotherScott said:

For synth sounds, keep in mind that the PX5S does not have a mono mode. All sounds are always polyphonic.

I'm sure I can work around this limitation.

[Pa Gherkin]

Be aware that any the PX eq settings are also applied to anything fed to the audio inputs.  Also, it's pretty easy to overdrive the PX audio ins. I tried a setup similar to what you described and abandoned the idea because of the aforementioned.

[hookie]

3 hours ago, Shamanzarek said:

When buying a used PX-5S check the velocity response on the A# notes. There was a design flaw that caused many to have erratic behavior on A# notes usually on a lower A#. The PX-5S has been in production since at least 2013 and the price for a new one just went up by $100.

I heard the  Bb notes had the same problem. 🤭

[Delaware Dave]

I'm not a big fan of the ferrofish, it's not a strong performer of the b3/leslie sound.  instead i would look at either the viscount EXP or a mojo desktop.  they are worth the extra $200 over the Fish...

[stoken6]

4 hours ago, Delaware Dave said:

I'm not a big fan of the ferrofish, it's not a strong performer of the b3/leslie sound.  instead i would look at either the viscount EXP or a mojo desktop.  they are worth the extra $200 over the Fish...

QFT. Note that both of Dave's suggestions also included dedicated expression pedal inputs, so the PX5s limitation here may not apply.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Jwave]

On 3/10/2022 at 10:36 AM, GotKeys said:

I'll make sure to check this, is there any fix to the problem?

This sounds like the Casio PX-5S problem where a particular key (G#3 in my case) would start to sometimes generate an additional note-on with velocity 127 soon after the initial strike.  There's no fix, but an effective workaround for me (and others in the PX-5S forum) was to set maximum velocity to 126 for that zone in any program where I needed to use that note. This eliminates the additional loud note without affecting the original note. This of course also filters out velocity 127 notes that you generate, but I don't hit the keyboard that hard so it's not a problem in practice.