Casio - Seems like a great deal

[Joe Muscara]

Guitar Centre

http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/mad/mad0228.gif

[Mark Schmieder]

Well, they're the only ones here who carry Casio, to my knowledge.

[Joe Muscara]

[Mike Martin]

Well, they're the only ones here who carry Casio, to my knowledge.

 

Mark,

I'll get back to you tomorrow with a list of other dealers in your area.

[Mark Schmieder]

Thanks, Mike.

[BlackandWhite]

Well, they're the only ones here who carry Casio, to my knowledge.

I think the post's emphasis on "Centre" speaks to your British spelling, which is more than any Texan can stand...

[AUSSIEKEYS]

oh he wants you to spell it phonetically...hee hee.

[kanker.]

oh he wants you to spell it phonetically...hee hee.

No, just spell the business' name correctly

[AUSSIEKEYS]

hee hee...yep knew that...but love a breakaway language,

it so much more subtle than driving on the opposite side of the road...

tongue planted firmly in cheek..hee hee. is there a smiley for that?

[Joe Muscara]

it so much more subtle than driving on the opposite side of the road...

I would think just about anything is more subtle than driving into oncoming traffic.

 

What do you mean by "breakaway language"?

[AUSSIEKEYS]

its "tongue planted firmly in cheek" humour as I took your "banging a head against the wall" to be...hee hee

[Joe Muscara]

k

[Mike Martin]

It looks like Bananas at Large, Guitar Showcase and Music Unlimited are all in your area and all have been ordering the PX-330.

 

-Mike Martin

Casio America, Inc.

[Mark Schmieder]

Yes, I was trying to ignore the bigotry which pervades this site. It's actually the universal spelling, with the US being the rare exception. We live in a larger world these days, with print media from the outside world no longer being tailored for the US audience. Canada uses a mixture, and that's my heritage. I can't even remember which tradition doubles consonants for endings anymore (e.g. "traveling" vs. "travelling") as I see so much material from all over the world, on-line, in print, and in forums.

[Mark Schmieder]

Mike, thanks for the info. A visit to Bananas at Large may be in order, as someone said they also have the Roland digital harpsichord on display (that's where I bought the earlier one).

 

It's been a few years since I've been up there. Glad they have returned to displaying more keyboards again.

[Dana.]

Yes, I was trying to ignore the bigotry which pervades this site. It's actually the universal spelling, with the US being the rare exception. We live in a larger world these days, with print media from the outside world no longer being tailored for the US audience. Canada uses a mixture, and that's my heritage. I can't even remember which tradition doubles consonants for endings anymore (e.g. "traveling" vs. "travelling") as I see so much material from all over the world, on-line, in print, and in forums.

Bigotry? Because people called you out on spelling Guitar Center wrong? Sorry, but that's not a prejudice. The spelling of a proper name supersedes "universal" spelling.

[Mark Schmieder]

And yet, when spellings in topic titles occur, to the point of it not being remotely clear what the topic is about, no one complains, so this doesn't hold much water.

[Mark Schmieder]

I had a chance to compare the Casio Privia PX-130, PX-330, all Yamaha models except the newest CP-1/CP-5/CP-50, and the Korg SV-1, at a nearby Guitar Center a week or so ago, close on the heels of playing the Kurzweil PC3X again at a pro audio shop.

 

To me, the new Privia models have the best escapement of any currently available digital piano (granted, the PC3X is a workstation and so its choice of action isn't fully piano-centric). I played all the models long enough and in enough styles to really feel confident of this comparison.

 

Comparing to the older Casio Privia models was night and day -- this new series represents the largest bump in keybed quality I can ever recall from a single manufacturer going from one model year to the next.

 

Thus, I am planning on ordering a Privia tomorrow, and then getting a PC3 vs. PC3X, which will give me more options for different sorts of gigs and also help decouple the longevity of the PC3 in my arsenal from satisfaction with the piano and action (the PC3 has excellent semi-weighted action that is arguably more appropriate for the majority of bread and butter sounds anyway, so this is a happy marriage).

 

I found a website that provides downloadable PDF's of the user manuals for all of the latest models, and compared them thoroughly. The PX-830 is basically the PX-130 with extra furniture, whereas the PX-330 is simultaneously more oriented towards the gigging (and perhaps studio) musician as well as throwing in some Arranger Keyboard features (a humongous and diverse pattern library that covers a lot of cultures than even Yamaha has bypassed).

 

In the end, I decided to go for the PX-330 at $200 extra, for better resale value, professional 1/4" stereo outputs (vs. cross-purposing the mini-jack for heaphones and then using a Y-splitter cable), and two standard 1/4" pedal inputs (this will allow me to use a Kurzsweil dual pedal for multiple devices and take that to gigs vs. being stranded without adequate pedal support if I eventually buy the separate stand and tri-pedal, which won't travel well and are meant more for home installation).

 

The PX-330 also has a huge sound palette that I didn't successfully access in the store but saw later in the manual, and it too covers a lot of rare ethnic instruments not found even in Yamaha keyboards, Kurzweil PC3's, or even on-line sound libraries. I don't know if they sound any good, but other factors put the PX-330 ahead of the PX-130 as a more flexible keyboard with better resale value. It also can hold more user songs, so might make a nice scratchpad composing tool (this is also true of the PC3 series though).

 

If I can stay awake long enough to place my order, I'll do it tonight, but the President's Day sale doesn't end until Monday night if I recall correctly.

 

Hopefully I won't be called into work yet again -- I've already missed a couple of other sales due to working so many hours.

[Mark Schmieder]

Oh, of course the PX-830 throws in the not-insignificant "ivory touch" to the keys, so it seems good value for anyone wanting a home-only digital piano. I think if it was otherwise featured like the PX-330 vs. the PX-130, I would be holding out for its availability (it only just now started shipping so is in short supply).

 

And of course the PX-830 also has more substantial speakers, so it may well provide a more satisfying playing experience in the home environment. I generally assume built-in speakers aren't very good on most digital pianos and that I will go through my own sound system, but I might get surprised by the Privias.

[Mark Schmieder]

I'm trying to figure out from earlier posts whether the Kurzweil dual pedal setup is compatible with the PX-330, but as it is just two TS plugs I see no reason why not.

 

My vague understanding of the earlier question is that it had to do with a combination of tri-state detection (such as my Yamaha FC-3 Dual Zone Sustain Pedal has) and whether the pedal is normally-open or normally-closed (I think Casio and Yamaha are opposite, and that Kurzweil and Yamaha are as well, but this is just from memory).

 

Hopefully I can resolve this ASAP so I can complete my order. I didn't see mention in the manuals whether the PX-330 requires one or the other (many modern keyboards detect polarity at startup, and some can even do so after hot-plugging).

[Mark Schmieder]

OK, a quick review of all of the posts thus far, does seem to indicate that the Kurzweil pedals work with the Casio Privia models, whether or not the Yamaha pedals do or not. And in the Yamaha FC-3 Dual Zone Sustain Pedal with the TRS plug, I'd bet that it doesn't just default to behaving like a standard on/off sustain pedal, even if the polarity isn't an issue.

 

Mike did confirm with me earlier in email that the Privia models do pass the sustain and other pedal info along as MIDI data, which I think was an issue that came up with certain other digital piano models of late (in terms of their effectivity as controller keyboards).

 

Oh, also, the PX-330 is the only model with MIDI in/out -- the other models only send/receive MIDI via USB, which is another reason the PX-330 is more gig-friendly (though many people do not bother connecting MIDI modules at gigs but just in the studio, so this feature is less universally relevant than the PX-330's dedicated standard 1/4" L/R main outputs).

[Mark Schmieder]

Rats; the Kurzweil KFP-2M Double Piano-Style Footswitch is out of stock at Musician's Friend until 26 March.

 

Guess I'll have to make do with the square footswitch that comes with the PX-330, for a few weeks.

 

Edit: Looks like the delay may have to do with a change in supply and manufacture, alluded to in an earlier post, as the out-of-stock version at Musician's Friend is cheaper and different from the one posted at Sweetwater and at Kurzweil's own site:

 

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Kurzweil-KFP2M-Double-PianoStyle-Footswitch-PC88K2000?sku=422802

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/KFP2M/?gclid=CIn3y-Ca9J8CFQoVawodXDbyWg

 

http://www.kurzweilmusicsystems.com/Product.php?id=97

 

The one with the plastic cover strikes me as being Fatar, with the other one being in-house or some other third-party supplier.

[MoodyBluesKeys]

I own four of the Kurzweil double pedal assemblies (two are the two 1/4" plug, the other two are the single TRS plug, and I fabricated adapters for them).

 

NONE of the four look like the picture in the Musician's Friend link. All four of them look like the one on the Sweetwater and Kurzweil sites - with a Kurzweil logo - except one where the logo was lost, but it is evident that it once was there. The other odd thing - it looks like the plastic pedal covers in the MF ad are tinted black - every Kurzweil pedal I've ever seen either had the clear heavy shaped plastic cover, or some single pedals that came with a cheap thin plastic cover that has a single snap holding it - and gets removed completely because it won't stay in place anyhow.

 

All four of the ones I have were made in Italy, presumably by Fatar. The newer Kurzweil single pedals have gone through at least two different styles, one being marked as made in Korea, the most recent not being marked at all. The newer ones use bubble contacts, the older Fatar assemblies used wire contacts. I have modified all four by cutting out the center area so that the older Fatar style single pedal could be placed in the middle, gives me a very piano-like triple-pedal assembly. You can see a pair of these pedal assemblies in my avatar.

 

All of the Kurzweil pedals are normally open; however MOST Kurzweil keyboards sense this during the boot process and adapt to whichever type pedal is used. Yamaha pedals are normally closed. I'm not sure about Casio pedals, I don't think that they are auto-sensing - from a recent post here by gangsu - she had to modify a pedal to get it to work.

 

There does seem to have been either a recent price increase, or a reduction in the discount given - this may have been connected with Kurzweil's change in US distributor. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find that the MF item changes prices when they have it back in stock. I bought two of mine new from SW, got the other used on EBay.

 

[Joe Muscara]

And yet, when spellings in topic titles occur, to the point of it not being remotely clear what the topic is about, no one complains, so this doesn't hold much water.

Actually, we do. It just depends. No, it's not done every time a thread title is munged.

 

Anyway, thanks for the comparison of the Casio models, particularly the older to the newer ones. It's too bad they removed MIDI Out on the 1xx level. I guess they figured USB MIDI was enough in that case, connect it to a computer or home studio use.

 

To me, the new Privia models have the best escapement of any currently available digital piano

Does that include the Roland RD-700GX?

 

Meanwhile, I'm wishing someone made a three-pedal unit that I could use with my Roland RD-700GX that supports continuous controlling/half pedaling on the damper.

[gangsu]

I'm not sure about Casio pedals, I don't think that they are auto-sensing - from a recent post here by gangsu - she had to modify a pedal to get it to work.

 

You just wont let me forget that, will you.

 

Breaking news: Casio Privia's are not auto-sensing. Normally-open switch pedals or nothing.

[jeff_g]

One thing about the Casio pedal's MIDI implementation: When you press the sustain pedal it sends out 3 sustain pedal MIDI messages simultaneously on MIDI channels 1, 2, and 3 respectively. There's no way to change this. For example, if you set the keyboard's MIDI channel to 8, the sustain pedal still transmits those 3 MIDI messages on channels 1, 2, and 3. (If you buy the SP-32, the sustenuto and soft pedals exhibit the same aberration). I have no idea why Casio did this. It makes no sense at all. But it wouldn't be a Casio without something like that. (Oh and the patch select buttons also are hardwired to transmit messages on channels 1, 2, and 3 simultaneously. Very bizarre).

 

I can say with absolute certainty that there are only 3 levels to the sustain: off, half-pedal, and full-pedal. It is not constantly variable.

[David Loving]

I brought home a PX-330 today from GC. Turned out they have a Presidents' Day sale, so I saved some money. Haven't had time to do much but check it out to see if everything works. So far so good. I am going to use it at a rehearsal tonight and a Mardi Gras gig tomorrow night and will report back. It looks very well designed and put together[even the little square sustain pedal is better made than I am used to], and I like the pianos and ep's. That's all I'll use. I love the weight - 25 lbs. - I have some physical issues right now - and the remedy hits next month, so I am real weight - centric. I figure I can get by with this and the Electro.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

daviel

 

I have been enjoying mine ever since buying it

 

gigging with it and it certainly pulls its weight

 

and my thought is to put a compact stage above it if i can find a 2nd hand one here in Aussie

 

as it is with it on its own all main sounds cut it.Sure everyone can be fussy about certain sounds but to me overal they work.

 

the GM sounds of those I have used are thin, fine in a midi mix, but too thin for leads...but mind you I have tried only a few live. But I imagine they were never intended as live instrumenta but as midifile instruments...of which they work well.

 

but the main sounds are cutting it very well for me, mind you I do seem far less fussy than most on this forum.

 

 

Finally put my PX 300 side by side with the PX 330.

 

330 kills it for sound but feel is only relatively better to what you are looking for, some will probably like the 300 feel better.The difference is not huge.Casio got it on their first shot.

 

the PX 300 is a slightly lighter feel but equally comfortable as the 330 to play...

 

have advertised my PX 300 but an wondering if I should still keep it for just carrying around in car as a stand up board...I still think it is a great board, and is it worth sacrificing it for a low price when it can be shot around as a busker?

 

 

I like using two keyboards on stage so will add one of my old synths on top soon, or keep an eye out for a compact.

[Mark Schmieder]

Lots of useful information here, thanks.

 

I think the older Casio at Guitar Center in El Cerrito was a 2xx model not PX-300, so maybe it was two generations back. It felt awful.

 

I forgot to mention that I am very impressed with how the acoustic piano SOUNDS on the PX-x30 series, as I was so focused on the technical side of things!

 

Of course the proof will be in the mix or at gigs, etc. But it seems somehow more fluid to me than most of what's out there, without any harshness in any register or at any velocity level.

 

I realized earlier today that I have come out ahead, as I got quite the President's Day discount and even at full price it is around what I sold my VMK188plus for.

 

The GM sounds don't interest me per se, but might help during quick song scratchpadding with the on-board sequencer. It's the non-GM extra sounds that intrigue me, as they represent instruments that I have never seen elsewhere or in libraries.

 

Oh, in case it wasn't clear from my earlier posts, the PX-830 also is MIDI-over-USB-only. The PX-330 is the only one that seems oriented towards gigging players with their connectivity needs (1/4" main stereo outs vs. mini-headphone outs, etc.).

 

Everything in this series is good value. I don't know how they manage to pull these in for such a low price, given the workmanship and overall attention to detail.

[David Loving]

I just got in from rehearsal with my Texas Rock Association group. We practice in a small recording studio at the drummer's house in Dallas. He's an EE and is in sound installation in business so the PA in there is real good. The Privia px-330 did just fine. I took the electro 2/61 also to try out what I want to take tomorrow night. The casio was better than I expected - I used the first grand piano and a rock piano patch. Both sounded good with the band. I don't want to get into details yet because I really haven't played it enough, but so far it's a keeper. I don't see how they get that sound out of 25 lbs. I am used to wrangling 50 lb. boards. It did very well in the band setting. Piano is all I really care about using with this one, and so far I am pleasantly surprised. It is a real difference from the Nord piano in the electro. I was just going to use the electro tomorrow because of a small stage, but I am going to wedge the casio in there now. more Wednesday.