Casio brings out arranger workstations the MZ line

January 2016 – At the winter NAMM show in Anaheim, Casio introduced their new composer/arranger workstation designed as the flagship of their professional digital keyboard offering. The MZ-X300 and the MZ-X500 are similar products that are for arrangers that are workstation keyboards that have been outfitted with new sounds, innovative effects and new rhythm content that has been created & supplied by developers around the world.

The keyboards are standalone and powered. The MZ Series comes with dual 20-watt amplifiers driving the built-in speakers. On the two models, the all black MZ-X300 has 900 preset tone patches and 280 rhythm patterns, while the blue with black accent MZ-X500 features 1,100 preset tone patches and 330 rhythm patterns. This array of choices allows for being able to fit sounds and backing tracks to almost any performance style with a large range of musical instruments that are included in the keyboard. To simplify arrangement of pieces to new performances, it has many different rhythm patterns ranging from standard beats used in rock, jazz and pop music to rhythms from various regions of the world.

For maximal creativity and flexibility, the MZ-X300 and MZ-X500 are have 128-note polyphony and feature Digital Signal Processing (DSP) effects that have been programmed based on 20 types of algorithms. Advanced functionality includes a four-band parametric equalizer for precisely adjusting tone. The keyboard has a center console 5.2-inch (color touch enabled) LCD display that enables easier operation and more intuitive control for musicians and allows the creative energy to spent on the music rather than in the programming of the keyboard.

Finally the Casio MZ-X500 offers 16 touch-responsive multi-pads and the MZ-X300 offers 4 pads for broadening performance capabilities. The pads can be used to trigger preset patches and samples created by the user, as well as to play back musical phrases. Both keyboards will be available in march 2016 at through their existing dealer network.