Casio XW-P1 Performance Synthesizer (Sneak Preview)

Here’s a nicely done overview video for the new Casio XW-P1 synthesizer.

The video, via Sweetwater, features Mike Martin from Casio doing a fairly deep demo of the Casio XW-P1 Performance Synthesizer. Martin shows off a lot of sounds, the ability to mix oscillators on the fly, and the new Casio synth’s sequencing and arpeggiation capabilities.

The best aspect of the video, though, is that it includes a ton of audio demos of the keyboard’s sounds, without all the noise that comes with the overviews from this year’s NAMM Show.

Check it out and let us know what you think of the sound of the new synth, based on the demo!

You can find out more about the new synth from our previous Casio XW-P1 synthesizer coverage and from Casio.

via Toby

18 thoughts on “Casio XW-P1 Performance Synthesizer (Sneak Preview)

  1. Very nice. I’m still bummed we don’t have the CZ synth with knobs and sliders as I was hoping. But, this looks like a viable all-in-one device.

  2. …. a shame we didn’t get a lovely glitchy quirky machine….I used to love digging around in my CZ-5000… it always surprised me… I hope this isn’t an all things to all people synth and ends up with a reputation as bland

  3. Blah, assuming the annoying clipping is not the fault of the synth, I’d say the sound is much better than I expected.

    In HexLayer/polyphonic mode, does each oscillator have an independent filter and volume envelope? If so, this may be a much better polysynth than I had imagined, though of course it’s no CZ-1. 😉

    (Seems to be missing real-time modulation control in hex/poly mode though?)

  4. The step sequencer sold itself for me. I needed the organ and pianos, as well as new spices for my synth rack too, but the step sequencer was a tad too much to ignore it for this price…not that it wouldn’t have been anything else than absolute steal even without it.

    And they said, that this is only the beginning. Perhaps the CZ is next….or packed into a knobby and slidery module with HT’s analogue filters and all. Suddenly the synth world is interesting again, thanks to Casio!

  5. You guys and your vintage lusts, heh heh…. c’mon, the CZ waves are IN this thing and its brother. I owned a CZ-101 and appreciated what it brought to the table, but it was so flimsy in use, I controlled it from another synth, as a module. I encourage you to see this synth as a logical and potent extension. Heck, relatively speaking, its barely more expensive than the CZ line, but far more capable. If it has a decent, tight keyboard, I’ll call it a major winner.

    1. Its different, FM-ish, engine. You canno’t modulate another 5 oscillators with this one. This is VA. And I will buy it in a second, when this flyes to EU. And if Casio makes PD-synth after this, I will buy it too in a second.

    2. You’re right about the price – $400 in 1984-85 should be equivalent to more than $800 in 2012.

      However, something with CZ wave samples and a virtual analog filter section is a rather different beast compared with a CZ-style instrument that uses phase distortion to produce a filter-like effect. After all, the whole point of the “resonance” waveforms is to simulate filter resonance without an actual filter. And don’t forget those groovy 8-step envelopes! However, the XW-P1 does sound good – if it has filter modulation and envelopes for the HexLayer/PWM sounds I think it could be a fine hybrid synth.

    1. Why??? I’m no synth or keyboard expert, but it sounded pretty decent to me. I definitely wouldn’t look at using this as a stage piano, but I could see this filling in if I didn’t want to bring multiple instruments to a gig. Hard to complain given the price.

  6. Casio has been in the shadows of the pro market for a while now. The CTK and WK series got pretty strong in their later models, and this looks like a natural progression to round out the most-requested features – the sequencing workflow looks incredibly fluid, and from what’s demoed, they’ve further improved on their sound quality.

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