Casio piano action

[Jazz+]

They do loosen up over time. They seem stiff when new.

[xKnuckles]

The problem is all in your keybed," he said to me

"The answer is easy if you take it logically

I'd like to help you in your struggle just be see

There must be ..... fifty grams to free your lever"

 

I said "it's really not my habit to intrude

Furthermore, I hope my meaning won't be lost or misconstrued

But I'll defeat myself ...if I must weigh out each etude

There must be ...better ways to fill your free time.

Fifty ways to be a nutter....

 

Just measure the cracks, Jack

Analyse screws, Sue

How hot are it"s legs, Peg?

Just listen to me.

Time all the knobs, Rob,

Don't need to take gloves off!

Find mass of the keys, Lee .....

Then weigh your B3.'

[RandyFF]

Jeesch, that was well done!

[xKnuckles]

Thank you Randelph.

[uhoh7]

Many great replies, and I think we now have a better idea where the 3K action fits in the wider world, thanks to all you guys.

 

James is fun to watch because he is so different from other DP and Piano reviewers. But, like myself, he is impulsive and prone to hyperbole. His conflict at NAMM in Hammond booth, and the extreme offence he took to a broken slider on a Nord are other examples.

 

His use of weights was not in any way "over-nerdy" to me, as this is pretty dang simple way to measure the force needed to depress a key, and I have read other posts over the years where wieghts were used to grade actions. I would hope QC at Fatar does so.

 

In fact this seems to me a fundamental specification, and one that should be done in any serious review. Of which there are very few in modern days when reviews don't really pay.

 

I would like to know length of my keys, how hard it is to press them, and what flexiblity I have in adjusting sensitivity....at the least. The other HUGE variable is the space between black keys, does anyone else notice this? This factor is all over the place.

 

As an old lazy male, I have a "laptop" keyboard, in addition to the other 5. It's just one you plop in your lap in a comfy chair to play around even while wacthing TV, or listening to podcasts. I was using the newer Nektar T4, which has short keys, long travel and softer springs---I like it. But my daughter needed something, and I just switched to a Roland A500-Pro for the lap.

 

The entire board build makes a 80's casio look like a bosendorfer. Not talking about the use of it, but just the build: excerable. Very short keys. Super plasticy. I bought it used because it can do Roland sysex. I have resisted actually playing it for several months.

 

Funny enough it plays decently. Springs are soft and travel seems about right for such light keys. I have not yet used the AT, but I will start pretty soon, and am aware that you may need to open it up and get to a little pot in there.

 

But back to James and his newtonian weights, technology which pre-dates the piano-forte by hundreds of years. "The black keys are lighter!!" ejaculates James with astonished disappointment.

 

But does "lighter" just mean the resistence? That's all the weight could measure: spring resistence. Or is he also talking about the actual weight of the key: another hidden specification which a real review should expose, and one which undoubtly effects the feel of playing.

 

In the context of the spring and a short hinge: a shorter key being lighter might be good. You have less leverage. The resistence varies hugely as you approach the hinge in a narrow DK or DP. It always has. We seem to adjust fast. So I believe Casio the resistence is by design....a declaration regarded with extreme scepticism by James and fans.

 

I think these critics are confusing the "ad-speak" of big companies with design intent, something into which must have gone considerable thought and late hours by engineers far from the marketing department. So I suspect Casio is fully aware of the problems of the short hinge and was trying to compensate.

 

The whole issue makes me think: is there no way to simulate a long hinge? We press stuff with NO HINGE, all day long.

 

It's a worthy quest, I'm reminded, every time I fire up the Hammond or play my AP. What luxury to push so easily at the top of any key!

[JDBlackhawk]

Have to weigh in...Jokeyman at the Casio user group...professional musician/teacher/court jester/dancing fool.. I have 3 Privias now, the 350, 560 and older 575, plus a slew of monster classics-and recently 2 Alesis Fusions (dont'say it, I know what you are thinking) with the TP40 Fatar. I majored in bass drum in college, so my touch might be a little different than some of you, and I practice Lizst etudes on my microKontrol 37-key mini keyboard-it's very challenging, having to switch octaves constantly keeps me awake. I like that. That way, when I play in some of the clubs I've played in, I'll hear the police outside before they come to close it down-don't laugh-it happened in 2 venues I played, one burned to the ground a month after we gigged there-to an empty club run by the mob, we knew something wasn't right, then he pulled out a .38 when we asked to get paid and told us to get out-No joke. Another-we had several return gigs there-place called the post office pub-net to the post office, I'm serious....until the police busted it for running drugs regularly. Keep in mind, I lived in NJ at the time. The club owners didn't even tell us, we showed up with our vans full of stuff and there was a notice on the door-but then maybe they didn't allow the owners' phone privileges from jail.

 

But seriously...training on Steinway pianos when I was younger-and playing Yamahas (the 8-footers were surprisingly nice) and 1-2 others I managed to play on over the years-until the sales people realized I wasn't going to buy any of them, being a poor musician, I had to stick with digitals for many years. all of them are as someone said-a compromise-even the best-I played every high end digital a few years back-took me all day, I thought the salespeople were going to pull out guns and start shooting each other just to not hear me play anymore-then i realized-all of these, even the best, are still an illusion-my ears can be fooled into thinking I'm hearing a real grand-(the PX560 and 350 have nice long throws, but are a little sluggish-the Fusion TP40 feels more like a real grand for the same reason, but slightly quicker action-keep in mind half the 88-key weighted action digital pianos I've discovered-have this TP40, 15 years after they put it in the Fusion except for some brands mentioned here already. The sensation of playing a good grand, with the top open, with those massive strings and harp in a good acoustic environment, hearing all the harmonics smashing around in there-I'd swear I heard Beethoven stuck in there yelling at me to stop playing, none of these digitals can do that. they all sound too compressed and the dynamic ranges are-good but still an illusion. I'm thinking of going back to my bass drum etudes, maybe adding a crash cymbal for dramatic effect. I heare there's an opening in the International Silver String Submarine Band. whenevr i take myself too seriously (every day) think about what they did, with so little to work with, incredible.

[SteveCoscia]

Here's my two cents.

 

I bought the PX560 when it first came out. It stays in my music room 90% of the time. The remaining 10% is local travel to senior care facilities for piano concerts. Regarding the keys, the action, sound and playability, the PX560 is the best piano axe I've ever owned (and I've owned many during the last 40+ years). Besides the playability, the PX560's feature set is pretty near perfect. The display is a dream and parameters are easy to access. The USB stores arrangements simply and easily. The speakers add versatility when playing out and they're loud enough to deliver a concert. The size/weight ratio is just right for loading and unloading. But, it's the keys and the payability that adds the most value.

 

At this stage of my life, the PX-560's PRESETs and Audio/MIDI Recording are my favorite features for creating musical arrangements which I can accompany. This activity delivers hours of programming and playing fun - I've creating prolonged Bossa Nova arrangements for tunes like Meditation, Ipanema, etc.

 

My one suggestion to Casio for the eventual PX560 replacement is to beef up the PRESETs features to include FILL-INs programming and/or footswitch control of FILL-Ins.

 

.

[AnotherScott]

I bought the PX560 when it first came out. It stays in my music room 90% of the time. The remaining 10% is local travel to senior care facilities for piano concerts. Regarding the keys, the action, sound and playability, the PX560 is the best piano axe I've ever owned (and I've owned many during the last 40+ years). Besides the playability, the PX560's feature set is pretty near perfect. The display is a dream and parameters are easy to access. The USB stores arrangements simply and easily. The speakers add versatility when playing out and they're loud enough to deliver a concert. The size/weight ratio is just right for loading and unloading. But, it's the keys and the payability that adds the most value.

 

At this stage of my life, the PX-560's PRESETs and Audio/MIDI Recording are my favorite features for creating musical arrangements which I can accompany. This activity delivers hours of programming and playing fun - I've creating prolonged Bossa Nova arrangements for tunes like Meditation, Ipanema, etc.

 

My one suggestion to Casio for the eventual PX560 replacement is to beef up the PRESETs features to include FILL-INs programming and/or footswitch control of FILL-Ins.

PX560 is a great board. I wish you could name registrations, and I wish it had the ability for a part (i.e. a stored custom sound) to include basic MIDI functions (e.g. enable MIDI transmission on MIDI channel x, and send it Program Change y).