casio ct-s1000v Team Test: Casio CT-S1000V Arranger Keyboard with AiX Vocal Synthesis

[AnotherScott]

The first two points of the update were the biggies for me. As I mentioned elsewhere, if you want to keep playing with one hand while you scroll to select the sound you want to switch to, the board will switch to every new sound as you play through it. The ability to address the keyboard-playable parts over MIDI means you can use an app to navigate among all your favorite sounds directly. And similarly, the ability to select Registrations from an app effectively gives you a way to name them and to navigate among them more quickly.

[Anderton]

The Bluetooth Fun Factor

 

I know, I know...you want me to get into the whole voice thing. But there's enough going on with this keyboard that it's worth building up to it by going over the other features. We will get into the voice-generating capabilities before too long, so check back periodically.

 

With the possible exception of crayons and toilet paper, just about everything has Bluetooth these days. So, it's no surprise that the CT-1000V makes good use of Bluetooth, which adds to the inherent fun factor. What is surprising is that it's handled painlessly.

 

I don't know about you, but some devices just don't see to get along with Bluetooth. Fortunately, this one does. That may have something to do with the WIBU dongle, which is small but apparently, mighty because it has more range than many other Bluetooth devices I've tried. I had it working in the 2nd floor studio with the CT-S1000V, and my pathetically cheap Android A12 was able to talk to it from 50 feet away, through walls and other obstructions. It might have been able to go further, but that would have meant going outside, and it's freakin' cold tonight. Anyway, here's what the dongle looks like... 

 

 

...and here's what it looks like nestled up to the CT-S1000V's backside. It's not like a USB flash drive that sticks out from a laptop's port, just waiting to be broken off. Quite the contrary - you'd need a serious, perhaps life-threatening, klutz factor to have this dongle interfere with the CT-S1000V's portable nature.

 

 

As to getting Bluetooth working, once again Casio's documentation writers come through. But it's almost self-explanatory anyway. From the home screen, hit the Wireless button, press Pairing, and then select WU-B10 from your Bluetooth device's list of options.

 

 

In case you wondered, you clear a pairing with the Reg Clear function. This is also your trap door if you run into problems - unpair, then try to re-pair. I didn't have any issues, so I'll just assume that the unpair/re-pair shuffle works.

 

Playing music from my albums through the CT-S1000V was a good test for the onboard audio system, because it was music I've mixed over quality systems, and I know what it's supposed to sound like. I thought the audio system was good when playing the various internal sounds, but this was the acid test. Sure, it doesn't have subwoofer-level bass, but the clarity more than makes up for it. Furthermore, the sound isn't harsh, or have weird resonances. My guess is that Casio has put so much effort over the years into the sound systems for their home pianos, that they knew what would work with a portable keyboard.

 

Better yet, you can play the keyboard along with whatever you're streaming into the CT-S1000V. If you ever want to prepare for being a studio musician, feed a Spotify playlist of songs you've never heard before into the CT-S1000V, and fake your way along. Extra credit if you choose K-pop

 

Another application is using the CT-S1000V as a reality check in the studio. Play your final mixes through it, to get an idea of what they'll sound like through a decent (or maybe better than decent) consumer soundbar-type system. 

 

So far, so good. Next, let's see what Bluetooth does with MIDI.

[Dave Bryce]

19 hours ago, Anderton said:

Playing music from my albums through the CT-S1000V was a good test for the onboard audio system, because it was music I've mixed over quality systems, and I know what it's supposed to sound like. I thought the audio system was good when playing the various internal sounds, but this was the acid test. Sure, it doesn't have subwoofer-level bass, but the clarity more than makes up for it. Furthermore, the sound isn't harsh, or have weird resonances. My guess is that Casio has put so much effort over the years into the sound systems for their home pianos, that they knew what would work with a portable keyboard.

 

Better yet, you can play the keyboard along with whatever you're streaming into the CT-S1000V.

 

This is a great trick...and not just for streaming audio in so you can play along/learn songs.  It can also be used at gigs to play back interim music between sets, either via the onboard sound system or to feed the keyboard's audio outputs so you can easily route the playback through your PA. 

 

The built-in Volume-Sync EQ automatically adjusts the balance between higher frequency sounds and the low end, and the horizontal bass reflex system produces a surprising amount of bass, regardless of the volume of the instrument.  The sound system is mounted to the bottom of the instrument instead of the top, essentially formng a dedicated enclosure.

 

 

I'd also like to give Casio kudos for the surround mode.  As Craig noted above, the sound system itself delivers a surprising level of quality.  The surround mode provides a different level of fun, using the onboard system not only to widen the playback...but also to bounce the sound off adjacent walls, increasing the depth, realism and ambience of the onboard sound set as well as any external audio routed through it.  

 

dB

[Mike Martin]

👍 The speaker system is great. All the Casiotone models from the CT-S1 up to the CT-S1000V share this speaker system design. 

[jerrythek]

Splits and Layers

 

Any keyboard worth its weight (light as that might be) should be able to combine sounds into splits and layers, and the CT-S1000V doesn’t disappoint. By default there are buttons to do just that on the front screen: touching either invokes the desired mode, or both. Layering happens across the whole keyboard, and if you choose to have a split you can only layer across the upper range. It would be nice to be able to choose, as I sometimes like to layer two sounds to create a supportive pad while soloing in the right. Anyone else?

 

Parameters to adjust for either mode are found in different places in the operating system. To change the split point you just hold the SPLIT button a little longer and the unit goes into the edit mode/screens. The split point is freely adjustable; you use the dial or the +/- buttons to make your change.

 

Same things goes for layering, just press the button to turn it on. A long press brings you to Octave Shift, which can be changed for both parts by selecting Upper, or individually for either part of the layer or the left side of split.

 

There are more things you can work with, but they are found by pressing the Menu button to the left of the Tone Mode Select area. Scroll one screen to the right to find individual part balance (volume, or mix), octave shift (aha – that long press just brought us to here!), and sustain, which is an adjustable level of release after lifting your fingers, not the pedal function – we’ll get there in a moment. 

 

Portamento is available for both parts of a layer individually, but not for the lower split range. Sustain pedal can be assigned to* any or all of the three possible parts, as can pitch bend, knob functions, and the arpeggiator. More on that in a coming post. 

* Assigned to/filtered from, whatever language you like to use.

 

Remember that you can control the effects sends for each part by using a knob – I wish those send amounts were available in this part of the system like these other functions. It would be much easier to set up.

 

Tip: when you’re finished, don’t use the Exit button if you need to keep programming; it’ll take you back to the main play screen. Instead, press the Menu button again, and then scroll to what you need.

 

Registrations

 

When you’ve dialed in what you want for this performance setup you should save it to a Registration. There are 16 Banks of 4 Registrations each for a total of 64. And again, you can’t name them (cue boos and hisses). A Registration recalls the main sound parameters of the CT-S1000V. If you want to store and recall a complete setup of the whole unit, those are called Setups. 

 

Back to Registrations: a cool feature is called Freeze, which will hold the settings of certain parameters when changing Registrations if you wish. Imagine you wanted to keep a drum groove going (at the same tempo) while you switch around some varied sound setups (single sounds, to layers, to splits). Got it. Same thing with an arp pattern, or maybe all the knob assignments. The available parameters for Freeze are: 

• Rhythm

• Tempo

• Tone
- save the main sound parameters, plus any settings that can be made using the Knobs. That also means you, Active DSP (per Tone effects setups)

• Split Point

• Arpeggiator/Auto Harmonize

• Transpose

• Scale Tuning

• Touch Response

• Effect - this retains the System Effects choices and parameters. If you also want to change the Send amounts you also need to freeze the Controller and Tone settings

• Controller - assignments of the knobs and pedals, plus effects sends

 

Another helpful performance feature is called Auto-Exit: turn it on when you want to go back to the main sound page after you select a Registration. This gives you visual feedback of what Tone is currently being played.

 

 

All in all a reasonably capable implementation: you can get most things you need to do done here, albeit with a fair amount of scrolling around. But you’ll quickly get the hang of it, and I’m impressed that so much can be done in a keyboard at this price point. Casio sure has come a long way since my early days with the company!!

[Anderton]

16 hours ago, Mike Martin said:

👍 The speaker system is great. All the Casiotone models from the CT-S1 up to the CT-S1000V share this speaker system design. 

 

Well, when you get something right...you keep doing it!

[Anderton]

As fare as I can tell, it's not possible to send or receive MIDI over Bluetooth. I have an XKey 37 Air for testing MIDI Bluetooth. The number of programs that accept Bluetooth LE as MIDI input is minimal; the only DAW I know of that does so is Cakewalk. However, Cakewalk wouldn't list the Casio dongle as an option for MIDI, although it is listed as an audio output option if you use Windows audio. 

 

So, can someone confirm that the CT-S1000V does not communicate MIDI over Bluetooth? Or is it pilot/gear error?

[AnotherScott]

I've used the iPad's bluetooth function to wirelessly send MIDI Program Changes to the Casio's bluetooth dongle, that worked.

[pjd]

Probably don't get too many field reports like this one...

 

My colleague (pianist and partner in crime) borrowed my CT-S1000V. His daughter (about age 10 or so) needed to accompany two other youngsters on violin and the school piano is shot.

 

Well, I got her set up here at home to make things smoother at their mini-recital. She noticed the difference in the action right away and said, "Oh." She probably plays Dad's Yamaha Silent Grand at home... 

 

We left her playing while her dad and I checked out my studio. When we returned, she was already deep into the voice synthesis and was over the moon with enthusiasm. Kids and buttons. 😃 Good thing I backed everything up.

 

Anyway, the recital went fine. As I expected tho', she pretty much bagged shedding the accompaniment and spent most of her time exploring the CT. Their family may buy one, so it's still on loan while they wring it out.

 

It was uplifting to see her enthusiasm. Makes me miss teaching.

 

All the best -- pj

 

[Anderton]

4 hours ago, pjd said:

Probably don't get too many field reports like this one...

 

...but I wouldn't mind getting more! Very cool. Thanks for the post.

[Mike Martin]

16 hours ago, Anderton said:

 

So, can someone confirm that the CT-S1000V does not communicate MIDI over Bluetooth? Or is it pilot/gear error?

 

Craig,

I've never had any success on Windows 10, I've never tried Win11. The last I looked into it, it seemed that Windows does not directly support BT MIDI, that it required utilities like LoopMIDI and MIDIBerry to get it to work. I didn't have any luck with this either.

Works perfectly on Android, iOS or Mac based systems. I've sent a note to the team in Tokyo about the WU-BT10 adapter and Windows to our team in Tokyo for more info.

[DaveMcM]

On 1/15/2023 at 11:22 AM, jerrythek said:

Organ Sounds

 

 

But when I was playing them, I ran into some issues that are irritating in the studio, but graduate to problematic for playing live. When playing organ sounds I (and most organists) naturally want to go toggle the speed of the Leslie speaker. We may want to interact with the Chorus/Vibrato settings and the percussion, but this is not a clone-wheel, so I don’t assume that those controls will be readily accessible, as much as I might wish they were. But rotary speaker control is job #1, and as I mentioned earlier, a lot of the sounds don’t even use one. This is one of various design decisions that left me scratching my head.

 

My next issue is the way the CT-S1000V handles the use of its three assignable knobs. When you just play Tones from the main selection screen (press Instrument and turn the dial, or then use the next screen’s Category selection buttons, or the + and – next Tone selection buttons – see picture below), the knobs are all assigned in a Global fashion, affecting all Tones the same. That default for Knob 3 (above the pitch bend wheel) is LFO modulation, Knob 1 is Filter Cutoff, and Knob 2 is Filter Resonance.  So, for every sound I was playing, the knobs weren’t giving the kind of organ-centric controls I expected.

 

Having owned multiple B3's over the years (still have one) and many brands of clones (currently the GSi DMC122/Gemini which is extremely cool and a Roland VR-730) the thought of using a rompler for organ has never been an option I would choose. On the other hand, I am doing a little jazz quartet thing as of late (piano, bass, drums and sax) and decided it would be fun to have an organ sound every now and then. While enjoying some late night noodling on my Casio CT-S1000V I contemplated the idea of taking it along to these gigs. I created multiple registrations of different drawbar settings by layering and transposing Upper 2 to an appropriate interval and adjusting volume. Then I edited Upper 1 and 2 to use the Rotary effect with drive and assigned Knob 1 to Chorus/Vibrato, Knob 2 to Rotary Speed and Knob 3 to Drive level. I'm looking forward to giving the little guy a try at my next gig. I plan on using the nylon guitar as well as the organ registrations I've programmed. Should be fun.

[jerrythek]

24 minutes ago, DaveMcM said:

 

Having owned multiple B3's over the years (still have one) and many brands of clones (currently the GSi DMC122/Gemini which is extremely cool and a Roland VR-730) the thought of using a rompler for organ has never been an option I would choose. On the other hand, I am doing a little jazz quartet thing as of late (piano, bass, drums and sax) and decided it would be fun to have an organ sound every now and then. While enjoying some late night noodling on my Casio CT-S1000V I contemplated the idea of taking it along to these gigs. I created multiple registrations of different drawbar settings by layering and transposing Upper 2 to an appropriate interval and adjusting volume. Then I edited Upper 1 and 2 to use the Rotary effect with drive and assigned Knob 1 to Chorus/Vibrato, Knob 2 to Rotary Speed and Knob 3 to Drive level. I'm looking forward to giving the little guy a try at my next gig. I plan on using the nylon guitar as well as the organ registrations I've programmed. Should be fun.

 

You should be good - please report back and let us know how it worked out.

 

Nice to hear from you, my friend, it's been a long time...

[Anderton]

4 hours ago, Mike Martin said:

I've never had any success on Windows 10, I've never tried Win11. The last I looked into it, it seemed that Windows does not directly support BT MIDI, that it required utilities like LoopMIDI and MIDIBerry to get it to work. I didn't have any luck with this either.

 

The Mac is a different story, I was able to use the CT-1000V to provide MIDI input to Logic and Studio One. However, although the CT-S1000V's dongle shows up as an Unknown MIDI output under Audio MIDI Setup, I couldn't figure out how to send MIDI to the CT-S1000V from either program. I don't know if that's because of the programs, the CT-S1000V, or pilot error. Not that it matters all that much, what with USB being available.

 

As to Windows, I'm pretty sure Windows 10 supports BLE, because I'm able to use the CME XKey Air wirelessly with Cakewalk as a MIDI input. However, so far, Cakewalk is the only Windows program I've found that recognizes MIDI over Bluetooth. I asked Noel Borthwick at Cakewalk about this, and he said any DAW that supports UWP MIDI on Windows 10 should be able to support BLE MIDI, at least in theory. I can specify the CT-S1000V as an audio output in Cakewalk, but at least with my setup, the CT-S1000V doesn't send or receive MIDI with Windows.

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave Bryce]

1 hour ago, Anderton said:

 

The Mac is a different story, I was able to use the CT-1000V to provide MIDI input to Logic and Studio One. However, although the CT-S1000V's dongle shows up as an Unknown MIDI output under Audio MIDI Setup, I couldn't figure out how to send MIDI to the CT-S1000V from either program. I don't know if that's because of the programs, the CT-S1000V, or pilot error. Not that it matters all that much, what with USB being available.

 

 

 

Works for me.  I got it to control the GX-80 no problem.   Showed up in the MIDI sources menu under its correct name.

 

I had to connect , then go back and select...but it works great.

 

 

 

dB

 

 

[Anderton]

36 minutes ago, Dave Bryce said:

Works for me.  I got it tp control the GX-80 no problem.   Showed up in the MIDI sources menu under its correct name.

 

As mentioned, controlling while working within the Mac environment is not a problem. What I can't do is send MIDI wirelessly from the Mac to the CT-S1000V. Can you get that to work?

 

Someday I will obey Lord Apple's command to throw my loyal Cheese Grater into a landfill (and convert my pre-Apple silicon laptops to Windows machines to get a few more years of life out of them), and buy new hardware. I will also obey Lord Microsoft's command to join the unpaid beta testing team for Windows 11. Until then, I'm dealing with Intel Macs and Windows 10, so that might be an issue.

 

I realize sending MIDI wireless to the CT-S1000V is kind of a corner case. But you never know...I can just see someone expressing disappointment because he's creating an art installation called "Music is Going to the Dogs," where poodles walk over MIDI controllers, and he wants to send the data to a bank of CT-S1000Vs via Bluetooth so that the poodles play the Casios 😎

[AnotherScott]

I bet Windows would work fine if you just didn't use the built-in bluetooth, and put one of the CME WIDI devices on it instead.

 

When I was discussing some possible configurations with CME a while back (using their devices to wirelessly connect 5-pin devices to each other and to computers), they made me aware of some stuff that would work fine with the built-in BT of a Mac or iPad (though there were still advantages to using a CME widi device on them)... but would likely require a CME device on the computer if it were a PC.

[Anderton]

3 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

I bet Windows would work fine if you just didn't use the built-in bluetooth, and put one of the CME WIDI devices on it instead.

 

Perhaps, but I don't think the problem is the PC, because I can use the CME XKey Air with Windows 10 to input MIDI wirelessly into Cakewalk. I think it's more of a question about whether a DAW supports UWP MIDI on Windows 10. As to getting MIDI note data out of Windows wirelessly into the CT-S1000V, I couldn't do that with MacOS or Windows. Perhaps iOS is a different animal, or maybe I'm doing something wrong. That's why I wonder if others have successfully sent MIDI data wirelessly into the CT-S1000V from either MacOS or Windows 10 or 11. That would isolate whether the problem is with me or not.

[AnotherScott]

35 minutes ago, Anderton said:

 

Perhaps, but I don't think the problem is the PC, because I can use the CME XKey Air with Windows 10 to input MIDI wirelessly into Cakewalk.

To get that to work, did you have to install LoopMIDI and MIDIBerry, as Mike alluded to earlier?

 

35 minutes ago, Anderton said:

I think it's more of a question about whether a DAW supports UWP MIDI on Windows 10.

Since you got Cakewalk to work with the XKey Air, does that mean Cakewalk is supporting UWP MIDI? I guess where I'm going with this is, if Cakewalk has whatever it need to work with the XKey Air, I would wonder what's different that makes it not connect to the Casio.

 

Are you by any chance trying to use the BT connection to the XKey Air simultaneously with the BT connection to the Casio? If so, maybe the issue could be that Windows only supports one BT MIDI device at a time...?

 

 

[Anderton]

41 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

(1) To get that to work, did you have to install LoopMIDI and MIDIBerry, as Mike alluded to earlier?

 

(2) Since you got Cakewalk to work with the XKey Air, does that mean Cakewalk is supporting UWP MIDI? I guess where I'm going with this is, if Cakewalk has whatever it need to work with the XKey Air, I would wonder what's different that makes it not connect to the Casio.

 

(3) Are you by any chance trying to use the BT connection to the XKey Air simultaneously with the BT connection to the Casio? If so, maybe the issue could be that Windows only supports one BT MIDI device at a time...?

 

1. No, all I had to do was tell Windows to recognize the XKey as a Bluetooth device. Once Windows knew it was there, it showed up as an available MIDI input in Cakewalk

 

2. Cakewalk isn't cross-platform, so it's always been on top of Windows development, like Windows Pen and Windows BLE. So, it's perhaps not surprising that the cross-platform DAWs try to avoid features that are Windows-specific. For example, there's no reason for DAWs to drop ReWire support with Windows, but because it no longer works with Apple Silicon, they just drop it altogether. There may just be some weird little flag that the Casio is missing to tell Windows it exists...I don't know.

 

3. I removed whichever one I wasn't using from the roster of Bluetooth devices Windows recognized, and cleared the CT-S1000V, so only one was being used at any time.

 

Frankly, this is a pretty esoteric application - probably 99% of all CT-S1000V owners are going to use it as a self-contained keyboard, maybe as a controller via USB, and play audio through its cool sound system. But, these reviews exist to get into the weeds! We have to make sure that the guy with the poodle-based art installation has his questions answered

[Dave Bryce]

11 hours ago, Anderton said:

 

As mentioned, controlling while working within the Mac environment is not a problem.

 

I’m awake…I swear….  

 

 

11 hours ago, Anderton said:

What I can't do is send MIDI wirelessly from the Mac to the CT-S1000V. Can you get that to work?

 

I cannot.

 

dB

[AnotherScott]

This prompted me to check, and I was surprised to find that I cannot get my Mac to see the WU-BT10 device. With the Casio in its "Pairing..." mode, it never appears under the Mac's Bluetooth menu (including when option-clicking the menu icon which is supposed to address seeing some things it might not see otherwise), and if I go into the {shudder} Audio MIDI Setup program, it will occasionally come up for a couple of seconds and I can click "connect" but then it disappears. (It's a 2017 Mac running Sierra, but that's still new enough to support BLE.) Sending MIDI from the iPad is no problem, so the WU-BT10 itself is fine.

[Dave Bryce]

I also spent some time trying to get the WU-BT10 to connect to Digital Performer.  

 

Audio MIDI Setup did see it, and DP acknowledged 16 channels in the MIDI Input menu…but they were all designated as “missing” - usually means powered down in DP speak - until I lit up which channels I wanted to use in the Audi MIDI Setup menu; then, those channels disappeared entirely from the DP menu, leaving only the “missing” ones which I had not activated in Audio MIDI Setup.  

 

dB

[D. Gauss]

i can't confirm right now 'cause it's all taken apart and in multiple locations,  but i'm pretty sure i had no problem with bluetooth midi in either direction with an ipad mini 6.  rig was ct-s1000v, ipad mini 6, yammy reface cp and yc all controlled by camelot pro running on ipad with a usb C powered hub.  

[AnotherScott]

It is surprising that it all seems to work smoothly on iPad, but is problematic on Mac, considering that CoreMIDI should be the same on both platforms.

[Anderton]

It's time to get to the part we’ve all been waiting for – the speech synthesis! Note that this is not the kind of speech synthesis that's in web browsers or Acrobat when you choose to read text. Instead, it has a synthesized, robotic quality that’s necessary to be able to assign syllables to pitch. It's a sound that fits in with production techniques for genres like hip-hop and EDM (then again, there's always Mr. Roboto from Classic Rock World...).

 

First, you need download Casio's Lyric Creator program for iOS or Android. I’ll be testing with iOS. The app requires iOS 13.0 or higher, and Android 6.0 or higher that supports a USB connection. Here’s the app’s splash screen.

 

 

Then you need to connect the mobile device to the CT-S1000V, using an adapter that terminates in a USB Micro-B connector (the tiny one that was popular before USB-C started getting adopted). There’s a chart of options that shows various ways to hook up iPhone and Android devices. I read in a few places that iOS works best with the official Apple USB Camera Kit, not the knockoffs. So, I used the Apple Camera Kit, with a USB A male to USB Micro B male connector for connecting the Camera Kit to the CT-S1000V.

 

Next up is perusing the Lyric Creator manual. I couldn't find a way to download it, probably because the manual is interactive. It leads you step-by-step with bite-sized, clearly written (thank you!) sections that you can show and hide. Hyperlinks jump to sections of interest if you're looking for a specific topic. Unless there’s a way to download the manual, you need to be connected to the internet as you learn the app. I'd like to see Casio do a PDF with internal hyperlinks (like I do with my eBooks) but really, it's not that hard to figure out, because the app is good at prompting you for what you need to do.  

 

You can input lyrics in Japanese or English using the mobile device keyboard or voice, with up to 100 syllables. It’s also possible to use saved or shared data on your mobile device. Importing handles MusicXML (.xml or .musicxml extension) or LYJ (.lyj extension) file formats.

 

To get started, you click the + button (left screen below). See what I mean about the app prompting you? I chose to enter lyrics with the keyboard (I'll try voice later).

 

After entering the lyrics, hit Done (middle screen below). The app parses your lyrics into syllables (right screen below), for assignment to the keyboard. You can modify the separations if needed, but the app got it right the first time.

 

 

 

So, how do the lyrics get into the CT-S1000V, and make sounds? We’ll find out next.

[RandyFF]

 I’ve got the CT-S500, which is the same as the CT-S1000V minus the vocal capabilities.

 

Using BT MIDI, transmitted from the WU-BT10 adapter that came with the board, I’m noticing enough latency to use instead USB MIDI to my iPad.  

 

With other boards that have wireless MIDI, I’ve so far found little to no noticeable latency, so it’s surprising and disappointing that the Wireless MIDI from their adapter effectively doesn’t work.  The latency is not as bad as BT audio, I’d guess it’s 20-30 ms of latency, just bad enough to be annoying.

 

[RandyFF]

Good news!  Casio.com and other retailers have the S1000V discounted by 15%!  That means that in the US that the S1000V is only $30 more than the S500!  I definitely would have bought the S1000V, esp after watching the video below.

 

My initial reaction to the S1000V was to dismiss it out of hand, but after watching this overview video I could see that it had some unique and somewhat musical capabilities that I would haven’t guessed.

 

Famous Japanese reviewer gives overview of CT-S1000V voice capabilities

 

I hope this is OK Craig.  I figure for people like me who write it off automatically, this’ll give an overview of what it’s capable of, so there’ll be more interest in your review that goes in depth showing the steps and learning process in using this voice technology.

[Anderton]

44 minutes ago, RandyFF said:

I hope this is OK Craig.

 

Of course!!! This is an interactive, communty-based review. All comments and additions are welcome!

[RandyFF]

I appreciate these in-depth reviews.  Every time I get a new board I’m both excited and wary.  As someone who is not as tech-savvy/capable as many on this forum and has to work hard at it, I really appreciate people who can break it down in ways that make learning a board accessible!

 

So far I’ve found this board to be mostly user-friendly, it’s surprising to me that with such an abbreviated set of top panel controls that I’ve picked it up quickly.  It still doesn’t substitute for boards with a large touchscreen as well as 8-9 faders/buttons/knobs and a matrix, but still, it does a surprising job of being user-friendly.  

 

I am very disappointed though that they didn’t take the chance to optimize the knob assignments for each individual Tone.  It would have been super useful and educational if this board had come with factory settings using the 3 knobs for each individual sound.  I mean, how hard would that have been?  

 

The other disappointment has been that the 64 Registrations weren’t filled with excellent factory examples of Splits and Layers. 

 

As a good example, I’m thinking of the Korg EK-50, the budget arranger that came out a few years ago, with it’s 3 layers for the Upper voices (!) and a single Lower voice.  They came up with Keyboard Sets that optimized these 4 voices for each of the Styles/Rhythms- what a great starting point!  And it helps that the board itself is probably the most user-friendly arranger board ever made.  

 

Anyhoo, thanks for the in-depth review walking us through the process of getting up to speed with this board!