Casio XW-G1 Smooth Chords Live Jam with 808 Boom plus mini Review
http://blagmusic.blogspot.com
This keyboard is so close to perfect to what I've been looking for.
1. As a Boss RC 300 owner, I wanted to be able to add layers over custom beats without having to transfer the beats across using the USB cable (lazy). plus the custom beats would use up a track of the Boss (greedy).
2. As a hip hop beat lover, being able to create a custom 808 Boom within the keyboard is priceless. There is a pitch envelope as well as the expected amp envelope.
3. It's affordable and is one unit (Cheap). It can even run off batteries (Geeky).
What would make it closer to perfect?
1. When the groove sampler is set to "Stereo 42kHz" it needs to be able to record for a bit longer. (currently four seconds). I would like to create a two bar stereo hip hop groove at this quality.
2. The step sequencer currently has one track that can handle TRIADS. It would be great if it could handle four-note chords (Jazzy) and even greater if this could done on more than one track.
3. The step sequencer cannot play/trigger the "user synth tones" only the PCM tones (don't quote me, still researching this).
4. The 16 step sequencer can be chained but when working on the fly, the mixer settings reset after each 16 step loop. This makes drop-outs/mutes ineffective if the groove is longer than 16 steps.
5. When in performance mode, the zones can all be filtered at the same time using a knob that is assigned to be the cut off filter. It would be great to be able to keep one sound routed outside of the filter. (I know most people would be satisfied with connecting another keyboard to the rig for soloing - I'm just musing).
Edit - A particular zone's sound can be kept outside of the filter but you are restricted to the range of keys that you have selected for that zone.
Overall - great for the price.
Thanks for watching!
Peace!