I used to play a Wurlitzer home organ. Simple! I just played. My new Casio keyboard scares me. Too complicated! Is there a way to simplify? I just want to play not sit studying the manual and getting confused and frustrated. Suggestions?
My new Casio CT-x700 seems too complicated
- Thread starter RCjazz
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Welcome.
Sorry if this seems harsh but the Casio is a beginners £200 keyboard not an organ centric device and it is in reality a beginners keyboards and these do tend to have a lot of menus to dive through.
Return it and get your cash back and buy a better keyboard, which may look complicated with all its sliders and buttons but with all the major selectors and adjustments at ones fingertips you play more and do less menu surfing.
Sorry if this seems harsh but the Casio is a beginners £200 keyboard not an organ centric device and it is in reality a beginners keyboards and these do tend to have a lot of menus to dive through.
Return it and get your cash back and buy a better keyboard, which may look complicated with all its sliders and buttons but with all the major selectors and adjustments at ones fingertips you play more and do less menu surfing.
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It's hard to make a suggestion without knowing things like what it is you want to be able to do, and/or what it was that you found too complicated. But if you just want an easy keyboard to sit and play, try the Casio CT-S1 instead. It doesn't do much, but what it does, it does easily, with decent sound and action for the money.
happyrat1
Destroyer of Eardrums!!!
Seriously man. If you're into old school home organs, check your local classified ads.
People can't get rid of them fast enough and are finding few takers.
Most people don't have room for those old monsters these days.
www.kijiji.ca
People can't get rid of them fast enough and are finding few takers.
Most people don't have room for those old monsters these days.
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Rayblewit
Love Music / Love Life
He just wants "SIMPLE"
No point in buying a better one.
The most simple way is just turn it on and it should default to piano style. Forget about the knobs and sliders. Just play it as you would your old organ. But you won't have the pedals. You already know that eh!
But if you need an organ sound, it is normally just a matter of scrolling though the voices. It is not that complicated. (However, I am not familiar with Casio. Others here could help you.)
Cheers
Ray
happyrat1
Destroyer of Eardrums!!!
If I had the room to spare I'd be snatching this one up by 11 PM tonight 
www.kijiji.ca
Sadly my spare room looks like a music store's back room these days.
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Sadly my spare room looks like a music store's back room these days.
They are not going to get simple in a Casio, the menu systems were designed by a Klingon and the effin manual written in the same language.
the mantra of the company is “Casio don’t do easy”.
A few years ago I sat at a CT S3000 and could not do anything with it.
They are not intuitive, RTFM is a Must Do action but even then you have to stand on one leg end on to the keyboard, have the upside down manual in your right hand, wearing a blindfold and a hat saying “Casio’s Suck” and then try to figure out how to play “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” without falling over.
They really are crap keyboards aimed at 8 year olds who have no fear and can just make anything work.
Seriously the S3000 just does not have an easy OS, the CTK5000 was even worst and when a manufacturer has “high grade keyboard” as part of its marketing you know it is anything but. Hence the Op is going to have to work through the manual but if that is how I expect it to be it is as easy as keeping clean whilst Bog Snorkling.
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Given the fact that the CT-X700 is fairly inexpensive, I'm going to assume that you chose it for that reason, and that anything more expensive wasn't in your budget. And if that was indeed the case, I'm going to assume that you'd like to try using it for now instead of simply writing it off as a loss and spending even more money on something else.
What I would suggest is getting a loose-leaf binder, some loose leaf notebook paper, and some tabbed dividers, then writing your own simplified instructions for how to do the things you want to do on the CT-X700. Stick to the basics at first and don't expand to more complex functions until you feel ready. You'll be able to go back and revise old pages or insert additional pages in given sections as the need arises.
What I would suggest is getting a loose-leaf binder, some loose leaf notebook paper, and some tabbed dividers, then writing your own simplified instructions for how to do the things you want to do on the CT-X700. Stick to the basics at first and don't expand to more complex functions until you feel ready. You'll be able to go back and revise old pages or insert additional pages in given sections as the need arises.
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It doesn't make sense to lump all the company's boards together like that. The Casio CT-S1 is super simple (yet also good sounding, with a nice action). The CT-S500 is not as easy as that, but still one of the easier boards to use.
I had some Casio keyboards, like CTK7000 and MZ-X300, now having Yamaha PSR-SX700. Switching to Yamaha was slightly complicated, because they have completely different menu system and way of setting parameters. My friend has Korg Pa600, which menu system seems terrible and not understandable. But only at first glance. If you learn how to do what you need, then it is „intuitive“. Until then it is terrible, if you don't know that particular system (Casio, Yamaha or Korg).
But you can really sit down and play on CT-X700, like Rayblewit wrote. Just if you WANT to use some new (for you) features, like changing or layering voices, changing rhythms, tempo, saving registrations, then you MUST learn it. Things don't go without any effort. It is so simple.
But you can really sit down and play on CT-X700, like Rayblewit wrote. Just if you WANT to use some new (for you) features, like changing or layering voices, changing rhythms, tempo, saving registrations, then you MUST learn it. Things don't go without any effort. It is so simple.
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When I was glancing at the PDF of the CT-X700's manual, it looked like many of the basic functions can be easily accessed by either pressing, or pressing and holding, one button, or occasionally two buttons in conjunction.
So it seems like it should be relatively easy to choose a tone, turn layering on and choose a second tone, turn the split on and choose the left tone, set the split point, choose a bank of registrations, save a registration in the selected bank, or recall a registration that's been saved.
The biggest difficulty is that-- as is often the case with manuals-- there is a lot of information presented, and much of it probably deals with functions that the OP can safely ignore until such time as they're pertinent to something the OP wants to do.
So if it were me, and I wanted to make some notes of my own, I'd start with the most basic function-- how to select a tone, including the page numbers which talk about that, and even make some notes about the tones themselves.
For instance, when you're selecting a tone it's possible to skip from one category to the next, and the tone list in the appendices shows the name of each category just before it lists the tones in a given category, so it might be helpful to write down all of the categories in order.
And then, after trying out the different tones in each category, it might be helpful to jot down the numbers and names of specific tones that sound particularly nice, including any comments such as "This organ might be good for" such-and-such a song.
This sort of thing could be helpful for any brand and model of keyboard, so even if the OP decides to return the keyboard and get something different they could still start making their own notes about how to use it.
But probably the best advice is to just forget about being mystified and frustrated with something new, and just start exploring and playing around with it to see what's what.
So it seems like it should be relatively easy to choose a tone, turn layering on and choose a second tone, turn the split on and choose the left tone, set the split point, choose a bank of registrations, save a registration in the selected bank, or recall a registration that's been saved.
The biggest difficulty is that-- as is often the case with manuals-- there is a lot of information presented, and much of it probably deals with functions that the OP can safely ignore until such time as they're pertinent to something the OP wants to do.
So if it were me, and I wanted to make some notes of my own, I'd start with the most basic function-- how to select a tone, including the page numbers which talk about that, and even make some notes about the tones themselves.
For instance, when you're selecting a tone it's possible to skip from one category to the next, and the tone list in the appendices shows the name of each category just before it lists the tones in a given category, so it might be helpful to write down all of the categories in order.
And then, after trying out the different tones in each category, it might be helpful to jot down the numbers and names of specific tones that sound particularly nice, including any comments such as "This organ might be good for" such-and-such a song.
This sort of thing could be helpful for any brand and model of keyboard, so even if the OP decides to return the keyboard and get something different they could still start making their own notes about how to use it.
But probably the best advice is to just forget about being mystified and frustrated with something new, and just start exploring and playing around with it to see what's what.
The Casio CT-X series aren't especially user-friendly. The screen is very small and makes use of symbols and abbreviations. As someone else mentioned, some functions operate by pressing and holding down a button. The Casio CAN be played like a single-manual organ by splitting the keyboard. It's just not very intuitive IMO.
Even though the Yamaha PSR-SX700 is MUCH more expensive and MORE complicated, it has a color touch screen, and in my opinion, the manual is better-written. You might find it easier to use, especially if someone from the keyboard store, or in you local community is willing to sit down and help you create a few "organ"-type registrations with a split keyboard, etc.
If you want to spend even more money, the PSR-SX700 will also support a MIDI pedalboard, which would make it even more like a '70s-'80s home organ. My $.02.
Even though the Yamaha PSR-SX700 is MUCH more expensive and MORE complicated, it has a color touch screen, and in my opinion, the manual is better-written. You might find it easier to use, especially if someone from the keyboard store, or in you local community is willing to sit down and help you create a few "organ"-type registrations with a split keyboard, etc.
If you want to spend even more money, the PSR-SX700 will also support a MIDI pedalboard, which would make it even more like a '70s-'80s home organ. My $.02.
Thanks to all. Very helpful advice. What I really want is a Yamaha Electone ELC-02 (826aska on YouTube). But NO. Not available in U.S. Oh well.
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and pricey, too. But yeah, the "home organ"market doesn't exist in the U.S. like it once did. You might want to keep an eye out on craigslist and facebook marketplace... sometimes the old models of those kinds of organs come up cheaply.
Based on these suggestions I am going to try a Casio CT-S1. Maybe I'll get a second tier rack and make a dual keyboard setup.
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At the most you need to learn how to switch between instruments. For basic playing there's not much else to know, so there's no reason to dive deep into the manual.
You want simple, you got it.
Buy a Numa Compact X SE
All the controls you are likely to ever need are right there, changing Instrument banks is via a button for each and there are many to easily select with each Bank.
Drawbars for Organ and easy rotary controls.
Buy a Numa Compact X SE
All the controls you are likely to ever need are right there, changing Instrument banks is via a button for each and there are many to easily select with each Bank.
Drawbars for Organ and easy rotary controls.
IMO, the closest thing to a portable, somewhat-affordable Electone in the US market, would be a PSR-SX700 with a MIDI pedalboard. Arrangers grew out of the home-organ feature set. The Numa organs are aimed at serious Jazz organists.
Casio's CT-S series, especially the CT-S500 is probably more user-friendly than the CT-X700. They used a full-dot LCD and redesigned the operating system to be more user-friendly so either way I think you're on the right track.
Casio's CT-S series, especially the CT-S500 is probably more user-friendly than the CT-X700. They used a full-dot LCD and redesigned the operating system to be more user-friendly so either way I think you're on the right track.