Two Casio Piano Keyboards That Bring Out the Pianist in You
For as long as Casio has been in digital music and digital piano building,it certainly doesn't seem to be recognized as belonging up there with Yamaha or even Roland.
In the public's mind, those brands are for "professionals", while Casio is for the casual musician on a budget.
And of course, public perceptions as generalized as this one a rarely accurate.
Casio has been building some pretty wonderful pianos for quite a while now, and often, they offer better performance than anything for the price that the legendary Yamaha or Roland do.
Let us look at two Casio piano keyboards now that are taking the world by storm, both belonging to the company's Privia line.
The PX-130 is one is the least expensive desktop pianos (as opposed to cabinet pianos that are built to resemble upright acoustic pianos) Casio makes.
It sells for slightly more than $400 today.
For the money, you get a hefty 25 pound instrument that has features that only five years ago would have only been found on high-end instruments costing a couple thousand dollars.
An important part of what makes a digital piano believable as a real instrument, is usually the quality of its keyboard action.
A piano in't just a device that you press buttons on to hear sounds.
The playing experience is supposed to be interactive - the keys provide feedback, and expressive touch sensitivity.
At least, that is the way it is on a real piano.
For a digital piano to offer the same kind of playing experience, it needs to have the keyboard behave somewhat like the keyboard on a real piano.
The PX-130 comes with a graded action keyboard.
What this means is, that the keys on the lower end of of the register are noticeably stiffer than the ones at the very top.
This is as it would be a real piano, and it makes for a very pleasant playing experience.
Not only are the keys on this piano touch sensitive, the different levels of pressure you use playing, trigger different samples altogether.
This makes your playing call up in different kinds of original key recordings for every level of pressure.
It makes for an ultra-realistic piano sound.
As in other Casio piano keyboards, the PX-130 features 16 different sounds, inbuilt songs to help you learn, and a well-implemented USB interface.
Connect the piano to your computer, and it shows up as a connected USB device.
You can just drag and drop files from the piano to your computer.
For the price, you just couldn't go wrong with the PX-130.
For those on a more generous budget allowance (about $650), the PX-330 allows for even better features.
To begin with, it comes with a pitch wheel.
This should make it easy to use it as a real syth.
keyboard should you need to.
And the like on a real home keyboard comes with fills, intros and synchronized endings.
The accompaniment has a full complement of instruments, and can be really entertaining.
A really hysterical feature on the PX330 is the auto-harmonize.
Every chord you play, you get harmonies playing alongside.
It's a must-have function.
Other than this, it comes with a 16 track sequencer, a microphone input, and powerful speakers.
Should you wish to use external amplification, you'll find that the sound quality of the patches on board this instrument rival what you would find on pianos costing four times as much.
If you're in the market for a piano that may not look like a real upright but that performs like one, both these Casio piano keyboards deserve to be on your shortlist.
In the public's mind, those brands are for "professionals", while Casio is for the casual musician on a budget.
And of course, public perceptions as generalized as this one a rarely accurate.
Casio has been building some pretty wonderful pianos for quite a while now, and often, they offer better performance than anything for the price that the legendary Yamaha or Roland do.
Let us look at two Casio piano keyboards now that are taking the world by storm, both belonging to the company's Privia line.
The PX-130 is one is the least expensive desktop pianos (as opposed to cabinet pianos that are built to resemble upright acoustic pianos) Casio makes.
It sells for slightly more than $400 today.
For the money, you get a hefty 25 pound instrument that has features that only five years ago would have only been found on high-end instruments costing a couple thousand dollars.
An important part of what makes a digital piano believable as a real instrument, is usually the quality of its keyboard action.
A piano in't just a device that you press buttons on to hear sounds.
The playing experience is supposed to be interactive - the keys provide feedback, and expressive touch sensitivity.
At least, that is the way it is on a real piano.
For a digital piano to offer the same kind of playing experience, it needs to have the keyboard behave somewhat like the keyboard on a real piano.
The PX-130 comes with a graded action keyboard.
What this means is, that the keys on the lower end of of the register are noticeably stiffer than the ones at the very top.
This is as it would be a real piano, and it makes for a very pleasant playing experience.
Not only are the keys on this piano touch sensitive, the different levels of pressure you use playing, trigger different samples altogether.
This makes your playing call up in different kinds of original key recordings for every level of pressure.
It makes for an ultra-realistic piano sound.
As in other Casio piano keyboards, the PX-130 features 16 different sounds, inbuilt songs to help you learn, and a well-implemented USB interface.
Connect the piano to your computer, and it shows up as a connected USB device.
You can just drag and drop files from the piano to your computer.
For the price, you just couldn't go wrong with the PX-130.
For those on a more generous budget allowance (about $650), the PX-330 allows for even better features.
To begin with, it comes with a pitch wheel.
This should make it easy to use it as a real syth.
keyboard should you need to.
And the like on a real home keyboard comes with fills, intros and synchronized endings.
The accompaniment has a full complement of instruments, and can be really entertaining.
A really hysterical feature on the PX330 is the auto-harmonize.
Every chord you play, you get harmonies playing alongside.
It's a must-have function.
Other than this, it comes with a 16 track sequencer, a microphone input, and powerful speakers.
Should you wish to use external amplification, you'll find that the sound quality of the patches on board this instrument rival what you would find on pianos costing four times as much.
If you're in the market for a piano that may not look like a real upright but that performs like one, both these Casio piano keyboards deserve to be on your shortlist.
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