Casio WK-3500

This is a wonderful "bang for the buck" board for the advanced keyboard player, who wants to gig with an amateur band, play solo for friends/family/church/school, and for someone who wants a decent MIDI controller for his computer based soft-synths.
At relatively low price ranges, Casio has (IMHO) the best sound. This keyboard comes with 2-way internal bass reflex speakers and a line-out to hook up to external amps. The patches are of very high quality for the price-- excellent pianos, saxophones, flutes, brasses. The solo violins and cellos are excellent, but the preset string ensembles haven't captured my imagination. The preset "advanced" tones are comprised of patches with Digital Effects, chorus, and reverb. For each patch, one can tweak the synth parameters: ADSR envelopes, Frequency cut-offs, resonance, velocity sensitivity of the sound, etc. Then, one can tweak the amount of Chorus and Reverb that the patch is sent through, as well as the quality and quantity of Digital effect. The DSP (Digital signal processor) is an extremely modifiable box. . . effects like flanger, 3-tap delay, distortion, etc. can be loaded, downloaded, and modified. The combination of synth modification of patches, chorus, reverb, and DSP creates a pipeline that allows some pretty remarkable modifications of sound. In addition, using Casio's software one can take sampled wave files (the sampling has to be done using some other sound recording program) and imported into the WK-3500. . .creating potentially unlimited sonic potential.
There is also a pretty neat Hammond style drawbar organ. It sounds very classic. I found it more satisfying pulling the drawbars on the computer interface, than on the actual casio. . . (almost everything can be done through the computer. . .and I think the computer interface is nicer because you are not restricted to a somewhat limited LCD screen and multipurpose buttons).
The Casio site comes up with new sounds once in a while. I have also found a couple of websites where an user community is beginning to develop. . .that shares its patches. Since this keyboard features only about 2 Megs of user wav memory (that can be used to store both user drum kits, and sampled instruments) the files are typically small and can be easily e-mailed/shared.
The keyboard is fairly intuitive, but it does take some getting used to. The Manual is helpful, and does need to be read to learn how to use the keyboard efficiently. This is the kind of keyboard where it is very easy to start off playing, and at the same time, one that can grow with you, as you discover new stuff that can be done with it.

This keyboard has 32 note polyphony. This may become a limitation if all 16 MIDI channels are being used, and sounds are being layered. . . but for the amateur musician this should not be a big deal. The keyboard also features a floppy drive and a smart media drive, where one can store MIDI songs, registrations, user rhythms, user sampled instruments, user DSP effects, user sounds, and stuff. This is good for gigs where one can load up the registration of a song one is about to play for quick access. The keyboard can also communicate with the computer, and transfer sampled sounds (!) through its MIDI channels. So technically, the floppy/SmartCard drive is redundant except for gigs when you don't have the computer nearby to store stuff. The keyboard has velocity sensitivity, no after touch, and is 16 channel GM compatible. Each of the 16 channels can be individually changed, switched on and off, and assigned chorus, reverb, or DSP. The keyboard also features a (somewhat limited) onboard 6-channel sequencer, with a 5 song memory. I'd suggest. . .if you have a computer, do the sequencing there: it's more satisfying and less tedious that way.
The keyboard comes in built with 140 styles. There are three modes of chord recognition (single fingered, fingered within a chord section, and full keyboard chord recognition). . .and playing a chord gets the accompaniment to orchestrate based on it. Using a computer one can make up ones on styles, and store up to 15 of them in the user memory. The drums, base, and orchestration can be individually switched on and off at the touch of a button. There are two variations, 4 possible fill ins, and 2 endings for each style. This is very useful for the "one-man-band" style playing to impress your friends. Creating rhythms on the computer is fairly easy. . . but making good styles is hard, and requires musical inspiration.

The keyboard sounds great. It has a mod wheel and pitch bend wheel. . .to add the realistic touches to the saxophones, flutes, and guitars. I bought this keyboard for its sounds. I haven't gotten into tweaking the sounds too much. . .but I like to know that I can. That is where the on-board effects, and synthesizer functions open up the horizons for me.
The touch response is adjustable in 3 settings, and can be adjusted for each instrument.
I think the keyboard really shines when hooked up through MIDI to a computer. It opens up possibilities of all these new sounds, rhythms, etc.

It has been reliable so far. There are some weird buggy things that sometimes happens with the keyboard when its hooked up through MIDI. . . sometimes if you change instruments on some of the rhythm channels (5-10) it doesn't change back when you want to play an on board rhythm. And you have to go manually to the channel and change it. A good quick way out of many fixes is to press the Piano button. . . or to play a bunch of different rhythms each using different sound kits, so that the channels get reinitialized. The construction is fairly sturdy plastic. . .but I wouldn't want to throw the keyboard around. The pitch bend wheels feel most plasticy. The keys feel fairly substantive, as do the buttons. They can sometime give off a little sponge-foam mechanical sound. . .but that's not been a problem really. My previous Casio last me 15 years, and I intend to use this board for almost as long. . .and it looks like it will hold up.

Have not dealt with Casio directly. Their website has updates on new patches and stuff that one can download: http://www.casio-europe.com/euro/emi/cms/
And a user community is growing of Casio users. . . so I am looking forward to more shared resources. Check out http://www.originalz.com/casio/casio_bbs/index.php and http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~edmin/index.htm

Ok. After doing extensive research on the internet, I zeroed in on three keyboard models: The Triton 61-key LE (1000$), the Roland Juno-D (600$), and the Casio WK-3500 (400$). In my opinion, they were the best value for money in their class. I picked the Casio because (it seemed to me) the best value for money of all the three. Based on my needs, and budget.
I used to own a Casio CT-670, and was looking for something with good sound, general MIDI compatibility, touch response, and the ability to make my own sounds, rhythms, and effects. For a relatively low price, this keyboard gave me all of that. In addition, having the chord-rhythm accompaniment (which is often not available on high end boards) option is very nice for those solo performances. . .where you quickly want something to sound nice.
Right now, I wish it had a little more memory (without having to resort to smart card. . .). I also wish that registration locations could be named with song names, and there were more registration bank locations. In a typical performance, I'd be playing at least 15 songs, while the bank has only 8 places. . .which means, I'd have to load the remaining from the floppy.
What I love about the keyboard is that they have kept all these cool things possible. . .with the help of computers, and floppies. . .that perhaps more extensive keyboards have on board. . . While focussing on the basics: good sound, easy user interface, powerful editting features. Great value for money.

This board is very easy to use. The layout is done quite well. The sounds on this thing have come a long way since the Casio WK-1800. Casio took a big leap and used the sound source from the MZ-2000 on the WK-3500. The preset sounds are really good. The stereo pianos are really nice and sound very realistic. The saxes are mouth watering. Casio has done a great job with them. The bass guitars are pretty good. Organs are great (because of the drawbars). Brass is decent, drums are decent as well. Strings are so so.... The leads and pads are pretty good too. Editing patches is very easy. Nothing complicated about it. The manual is good for reading on the shitter:) You'll learn more playing with the board.

It has 32 poly, which isn't great, but still not bad. I haven't maxed it out yet. The action is way better than my former Yamaha PSR-550. Casio has (true) full size keys, and the action feels much better (in my opinion). It has a crap load of effects and they are FULLY editable too. You can edit parameters deep within the effects, and they sound great. It can be expanded.. My model the 3500 has a smart media card, and a floppy disk drive. You can expand it with new styles, sounds, registration, ect. One HUGE plus is that you can download totally new sound samples that aren't edited versions of the preset voices. Casio calls them "Tone With Wave". I haven't really explored the midi capabilites yet, I do have a drum machine midi synced to the Casio, and it works quite well. The keys have touch response, but not aftertouch. There is a basic 6 track sequencer (what really should be called a 6 track sketchpad). It's very easy to use, and allows basic editing per tracks such as panning, level, reverb, ect. The onboard memory is 10,000 notes. It's not a lot, but it's there:)

The sounds are a huge improvment compared to the previous models. The used the soundset from the MZ-2000. The acoustic pianos sound really good, and are very realistic. Basses are good. Guitars range from very good to so so or passable. Strings are ok. The drums are alright. The eletronic, hip hop, and techno kits are really good. Organs are great (drawbars). It works well for rock, classical, blues, jazz, and you can pull off a little bit of hip hop, techno, ambient, and dance. It reacts well to playing, and is adjustable.

I wouldn't gig with it. The 3500 has stereo outs, but if you're a hard performer, and your equipment takes a good beating, you may eventually break the casing on this keyboard... It has good construction, but I don't think Caiso intended this model for the gigging musician. When I used to perform I never gigged without a backup (regardless as to what keyborad I was using)... ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP! For home use and possibly light gigs here and there this model will hold up very well.

Dealt with them when I had a MZ-2000, and the CS department knew nothing about that keyboard. When I asked a question all they did was read to me from the manual (even though the answer to my questions weren't in the manual). So I can't really comment on the support for this item.. However there are several user sites out there where users exchange info on this board and many more.. Feel free to check out www.synthzone.com and look into the user forums. The arranger forum has a lot of info for users.

Overall it's one hell of a keyboard.. If it were lost or stolen I'd replace it without question. I compared mine to the only keyboard in competiton with it, the Yamaha PSR-550 (which I used to own). I love this board, there are some things I wish it had, but for the price and what you get, there is no sense in complaining. The best bang for the buck in its category. I got mine dirt cheap, but for $399 you cannot go wrong. If you can afford it you should have one of these in your home. Even if you have a Korg Triton, Yamaha Motif, Roland Fantom, Yamaha PSR-2000 and up, Korg PA series..., this Casio will make a great addition to any set up.....

I got this as a tool for my modest home recording studio, and am not a serious keyboard player. The presets sound pretty good, and the organ sounds are quite nice! Have not messed with creating my own patches. The manual is decent, but not great. As was mentioned before it tells you what the features are, but not really how to use them.

Others covered this already. For me the features are great, I like the modulation wheel and the dedicated line outs. I wasn't sure if it was worth the extra 100 for the 3500, or get the 3000 and save the money...now I'm glad I got the 3500. I think for the $$ this keyboard has a lot to offer.

As was mentioned....I heard the noisy saw and thought something was wrong...then realized that is how it is suppose to sound! Ha! All the presets/effects sound darned good...and record well. Very clean with no noticable noise using the line-outs. I have used the organ and piano settings a lot, and they sound ver good. Also like the strings, and horns...again a lot of bang for the buck.

So far, so good!

Don't know.

For $400 it has a lot to offer. Good tones that are usable, ease of use, feels well made, and some added features other companies aren't offering on keys in this price range. I have been happy with it so far, and would recommend it. Again, keep in mind that I do not use all the drum patterns and accompaniment features...I mainly use it for augmenting recordings...and it works well for that.

The split, layer and other features are pretty easy to use compared to many other more expensive keyboards. e.g. Split point setting is quick - hold the split key down, press the key for the split point. No need to mess with sliders and buttons.

Presets sound OK to quite nice.

Manual has some useful details except I haven't managed to find out the sampling rate + bits spec anywhere. Manual says never to turn on the keyboard power whilst the pitch bend wheel is rotated... Doesn't say why. I'd sure like to know before someone does it.

Takes minutes to transfer a 1MB instrument from floppy to the synth is not much faster if at all from using midi transfer. Casio's PC software often locks up after uploading samples (doesn't refresh successfully) and has to be terminated. PC software doesn't let you upload multiple samples - have to do one by one. PC software a bit basic - doesn't allow you to set loop points for instruments etc.

While it's a bit lighter (10kg?) than a Korg M1, it's bulkier and wider (could just about squeeze the box into my car).

I am unlikely to give 9-10s for ratings, until _decent_ brain controlled synths arrive.

32 note poly. Keyboard action good. 76 keys. Lots of buttons to make it easy to get to features. Can store 32 user setups in 8 banks x 4 buttons. You can use the 4 buttons to quickly retrieve a setup (e.g. in a performance) but there will be a brief interruption and possibly change in the sound if you're still playing depending on the type of sound (loop/one-shot)

Very many built in DSP effects, room for add on DSP effects too. The WK3500 has a modulation wheel (unlike the WK3000 - only a modulation button). You can tie the modulation wheel to the DSP parameters- control reverb time, tremolo speed etc - not sure how that ends up from the MIDI point of view. There's a pitch wheel, but you can't assign it to other stuff.

You can't assign different DSP effects to each split/layered instrument - you pick a single DSP effect, but you get to choose whether it is ON or OFF for each split/layered instrument

The split and layered instruments/notes are played on different midi channels - 1,2,3,4. Some other keyboards in same category lump them all in one channel, or worse don't send the split/layer stuff.

Expansion limited - accepts smart media card - I haven't got one - appears to be just a glorified floppy.

In practice you only have 1.5MB of space (out of 2MB) on the synth for _all_ your user instruments/stuff - including drums, songs. So a multi sampled instrument leaves you with very little room for other user instruments. This doesn't affect the built-in instruments, so it's not that bad. But there doesn't seem to be a way to increase it - it doesn't seem possible to play instruments from the smart media cards - you have to load them into the 2MB shared area.

Drawbar organ feature is nifty- can easily control the various drawbars (and the click sound etc) on the fly with the channel buttons.

On-board sequencers? There's one, but don't care - PCs are cheap get one.

Has headphone stereo jack AND L+R line out jacks. WK3000 only has headphone jack. Plugging stuff into headphone jacks cuts sound to built-in speakers.

Built in speakers are decent (and loud in small room). Piano is surprisingly good. Most sounds probably the same as the WK3000. Not very much variety - the standard GM sort of stuff - organs etc. I quite like the er-hu sound from the music.casio.com website.

The DSP effects save many of the sounds ;).

The noisy-saw sound has crackles and pops- worried me till I found out that's the way it's supposed to be :).

No aftertouch. No surprise.

So far it's new so I dunno. Haven't got a backup...

The distributor here Jebsen & Jessen (SEA) doesn't seem very supportive of the product - no answer to emails, prices are higher than US etc prices, accessories not as well stocked - needed to wait for pedal and was sold a proel pedal instead of casio.

Haven't needed repair yet.

Worth what I paid but if lost/stolen would still see if there's a better deal - technological advances etc. Plus would need to get more money first - I'm not a pro, far from it.

LOTS of features for the money. Decent sounds. Manual implies keyboard can be screwed up easily. Sample space only 1.5MB. Uploading from floppy slow. Would be good if PC software were better.

Compared with Yamaha keyboards of about same price range (DGX300/500)- they have no modulation wheel, no separate line outs, worse ease of use (e.g. split, layer). Sounds not as good, fewer DSP effects. The Yamaha manual doesn't show how to load user sounds into synth (maybe not possible?). Yamaha built-in speakers are a bit soft - the max is sad.

Couldn't find other 76 key synths in price range here. If you're looking for a keyboard in its price range, definitely check it out.

this board has a lot of features for a $400 keyboard/workstation, and the manual is very good about tell you what they all are. My only complaint is that the manual doesn't help you much figure out HOW to USE them as well as I would like. It does tell you about all of the features, but they're a little hard to master with out a bit of work.

The preset sound sound are actually pretty good. I'm lovin' the organ on this thing. That 90% of why I upgraded from my old casio to this one. (wk-1630 to the wk-3500), and the storage was the other 10% (3.5" disk or Smart Media).

It has 32 polphony, whish will soot most of my needs. Some of the tones will not aloow 32, but most will.

The built in effects are wonderful. But I really wish that this thing had a 16 track sequencer rather than 1/2 to a 1/3 of that. And it would be nice to see a usb port to conect to the computer for both tracking audio and midi, and for file transfer.

Even with out these fetures it's really a steel for under $400.

The sounds overall are pretty good. This is not a $2000+ synth, but for under $400 they're great.

I'm lovin' the organ sounds.

Haven't had it very long, but I never had problems with my last casio wk-1630.

Only called once, but very helpful.

Other than the missing features mentioned above this is the best sub $400 keyboard out there. Nothing at this price range can compare.