Casio WK-3000

Great DSP
Good pianos, even better is the software supplied by casio to make your own using velocity curves and have made a killer vc switched m1 piano.

Can import rythms from Roland and yamaha using third party software.

Importing wav files using the casio software must be in 16bit as won't recognize 24bit, but this is a home keyboard and is no detriment to the system, considering cds use 16bit 44.1khz sample rate so pointless in my opinion to use a higher bit rate.

Pitch bend wheel has a decent action without too much resistance.

Mod button, but if you have a dremel there is a solder point and screw mounts in the chassis to fit a mod wheel from the high models and it works. (or just take a lead from it, put a 1/4" jack on it and plug in an expression pedal again works great on drawbar mode)

Can also solder in line out sockets direct form the amplifier board as its the same one from the wk3500 so just get 2 sockets and drill out the blanks on the back panel.



UTILIZATION

Sound editing on the board itself is a bit cumbersome, but using the software supplied by casio and a decent usb to midi (do not use the cheap ebay ones they hate sys-ex and won't work). I use a eridol UM-2. And you can edit parameters on the fly with a click of a mouse or touchscreen even better.



OVERALL OPINION

For £55 this is a hell of a bargin for me.

Had a korg x3 and got rid of it for this, do I want the x3 back? NO.

Love it and if it dies I will buy another version of this whether is the 3000/3100/3200/35000/8000 of this range. Will not buy the newer ctk-7200 as it don't sound as warm as this does, and the drawbar sounds are more tinny too.

If you can get one for less than £80 rip their arm off, you won't be disappointed.

The Casio WK-3000 is a 76-key portable keyboard designed primarily for home/entertainment use, having rhythms, auto-accompaniment features and a built-in sound system. However, approached from quite a different viewpoint it also has a surprising amount to offer the gigging musician on a budget. More recent models offering near-identical facilities are the WK-3200 and WK-3300.

I am a self-taught keyboard player based very much in a blues style. Over the years I have adopted the stance of a 1960s/70s keyboardist - sticking to one or two sounds (the equivalent of what such a player would have been able to afford in terms of different instruments), and in my case concentrating on electric piano and organ.

For the past two years I have been playing in an 11-piece ska band, and have exclusively used Hammond/Leslie and Wurlitzer sounds. Although my band recently acquired a real Wurlitzer piano, I still use the Casio for its organ sounds, both live and in the studio.

I bought the WK-3000 second-hand on Ebay in 2006 for £150, about half the new retail price (the instrument is now discontinued). Although the seller stated that they would include the power supply, none was provided, and I bought one new for about £12. I also bought a piano-style sustain pedal for about £15.

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1. Very playable 76-note keyboard. Not weighted, but solid enough to be able to dig into piano sounds.

2. Drawbar organ feature. This is like a more limited version of Nord's 'drawbuttons', enabling the player to adjust the levels of 9 Hammond-style harmonics. It includes key-click, true Hammond-style harmonic percussion and an eerily good Leslie simulator, with speed change, optional reverb and overdrive. For the price there is nothing else like it.

3. Vintage electric pianos. Somewhere among the literally hundreds of sampled instrument voices are a very realistic Rhodes and Clavinet, plus a KILLER Wurlitzer. Don't believe me? Well, when my band got its real Wurly 200, I compared them, and the Casio was pretty damn close, apart from a noticeable velocity switch. You can edit all the sounds too, add or remove DSP effects, reverb and chorus and save them. I still use the Casio's Wurlitzer sound with delay from the DSP, for dub effects alongside the real Wurly.

4. Very affordable. £150, and if it goes wrong or gets stolen there are usually half a dozen more on Ebay!

1. No facility for an internal volume pedal. Doesn't matter too much as I'm using an external amp and an in-line pedal, but it would be nice to have the volume pedal BEFORE the DSP so an increase in volume actually overdrives the 'Leslie'.

2. The Leslie speed can only be changed by using the button to the left of the keyboard - not by using a foot switch or via MIDI from another keyboard's mod wheel. This is a real oversight, and limits the instrument's potential use as a MIDI-controlled drawbar organ. Shame.

3. No dedicated line-out, only a stereo headphone jack. Not really a problem, and if you DO want line-outs, just get the WK-3500/3700/3800 instead.

4. Not the instrument's fault this time, but some people have a negative opinion of Casio instruments, however good they sound. A Blues Brothers tribute band with which I did a few gigs got a bad write-up for reasons including my 'toy keyboard' and the fact that it had 'Casio' written on it! For the next gig I constructed a lightweight Korg CX-3 look-alike shell to disguise the Casio, and had no further complaints!

The instrument is built from tough plastic. The base is black and the main shell is painted silver. There are many buttons and a number pad, plus a master volume control. Centred above the keyboard is a clear, blue backlit LCD which can be adjusted for viewing angle. The keyboard itself is Casio's current mid-range design, using the resilience of the keys' own material rather than actual springs. I had my doubts, but four years on there have been no problems. To the left of the keyboard is a pitch-bend wheel and a button with an associated LED. The button has two modes - either momentary (which can only add vibrato to a sound) or latching (for use with the DSP and particularly Leslie speed). There is a fairly beefy sound system with two two-way speakers offering a fair amount of bass for home use.

Final comment? Well, I call the WK-3000 'the poor man's Nord Electro'. No, OF COURSE it isn't as good as a Nord, but for one-tenth the price it's way more than 75% there. What it does offer are highly playable Hammond/Leslie sounds, realistic combo organs if you're prepared to go in and tweak the parameters, plus some of the best vintage electric pianos under £1000, never mind £150. Or you could always use the drum machine, auto-chords and built-in speakers. Cue 'The Girl From Ipanema'...

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Machine-complte trs.
-76 Keys average quality.
Bender and button-modulation
-MIDI IN and OUT
No-output jack for amplifier or mixing desk, use the headphone output
Smartmedia-card reader.
TRS-TRS good speaker.
A nice step-legible
No after touch-
-Lots of good quality sounds trs
A-section "Organ" by rglage SPECIFICATIONS with zipper, which is an exceptional arranger of this award and the sounds of organ sounds superb. The rglages are great!
This machine-possde a DSP effects, really not bad at all
He is also a part synthse or all sounds are ditables whether the filter rsons or envelopes.

UTILIZATION

Super easy gnrale.

But ds that we enter the rglages individuals, one must understand the phylogeny of the device, otherwise you do not freelance. Once adopted, the mthode is not that complicated.

OVERALL OPINION

Trs great arranger, not even when heavy with a keyboard of 76 keys. Good amplification, using a touch, a piano sound terrible, the organ sounds superb and sound gnrals not bad at all. We must also see that it costs only 600 euro about nine. For that price, I think this is really a good machine.

Arranger keyboard - 76 keys - 6 octaves.
Keyboard quip a pitch bend wheel + A button "modulation".
Connection: Midi In - Midi Out - Jack to sustain pedals - Headphone Jack faade.
516 tones (300 tones + 200 sonnorits advances prrgles + 16 sonortis battery).
Add that 50 organ sounds with adjustable Drawbar rglage.
All these sounds are ditables thanks to the way synthtiseur included.
140 + 16 beats prrgls custom rhythms.
This keyboard possde an effect section: Reverb - Chorus - DSP (4 parts for the latest DSP Level, DSP Pan, DSP Reverb Sound, Sound Chorus DSP).
The squenceur: 6 tracks. Recording in real time or chelon.
Dtail recording tracks: Track 1 - Auto Accompaniment (rhythm, bass, chord 1/2/3, run the keyboard) track 2,3,4,5,6 (xcution the keyboard) . The mixer is rglage indpendant for each track.
The unit is equipped with a memory card reader (smart MDIA), which greatly facilitates the storage of midi files (it's really a plus!).

UTILIZATION

In any case, you will understand the phylosophy of the interface, having said that the record is clear and allows APRS queques exercises to better understand it.
The manual is well done, complete, trs enough.
It deals with the common type on keyboards WK 3000, WK 3200, WK 3500, and each spcifits.

OVERALL OPINION

- I use it for 2 months, I am far from having made the rounds of all the features and capabilities (if possible ...) because it is a bit of a gas plant for a small user like me.
What I like most: its price, its potential, its dlivr by this unit (I find the HP SERIES trs good, powerful bass), DSP effects, its size and supplmentaires made his octaves, its look.
- Before acqurir the "bte" I possdais a CASIO CTK 731, relying on knowledge of an interface "known", I said I m'tais bnficierai more functions without having to relearn all his phylosophy. There are some similarities but there's a lot of diffrence when same.
- The report qualitprix is ​​excellent, again in the music I did not commit the lgre, so I opt for that which I had read the MODEL Previous review this site.
- If c'tait again I would do the same choice, including the report qualitprix but there are other models attractive (WK 3200, WK 3500, the latter is essentially the reader disk makes all the diffrence in price!) because overall CHARACTERISTICS are identical.
- This device is relatively lightweight for its size, and therefore aisment transportable.
- It can be powered by batteries and also using a transformer adapter (optional gnral when buying).
- The battery power can be used in places dmunis power supply (even more!)

In conclusion: you can hear here and that Casio manufactures toys and should be content with that. A parent, owner of a Technics KN 2000 keyboard (another band, another manufacturing PERIOD) is happy to use both my 731 CTK that the new entrant the WK 3000. So you see that despite the prjugs of some, others find trs, trs well!
A word hello!