REVIEW & Comparison - Yamaha YDP144, YDP164, and YDP-S54 Arius digital pianos - Recommended - For many years Yamaha has had a popular line of digital pianos called the Arius series which are generally priced somewhere between $1000 to $2000. These pianos have been fairly consistent in their piano sound, key action, pedaling and features over the years with more subtle changes being found in later models rather than large changes. The Yamaha name certainly has built a reputation for many decades and they're well known for all of the great acoustic upright & grand pianos they produce along with many other music products including the higher priced Clavinova digital pianos, acoustic grand & upright pianos, band & orchestral instruments, guitars, etc. I actually have a high quality Yamaha acoustic upright piano in my studio along with some Yamaha guitars, Yamaha, flute, Yamaha clarinet, and even a couple of Yamaha keyboards, so I do have much personal experience with them and have used their products for years.

The new Yamaha Arius digital pianos for 2019/2020 under $1500 include these 3 new models YDP144 ($1099 price), YDPS54 ($1349 price), and the YDP164 ($1499 price). All of these models are designed to have nearly the same features and functions with the exception of the key action, a little bit of a difference in the piano sound chip, audio power output, and cabinet design. Since the key action, audio power output, and cabinet design are very important to piano shoppers along with price, then the differences among these 3 models is definitely important to talk about along with their similarities. It is good to know that all three models can be for beginners through more advanced players although there are certain advantages on one over another. Since these 3 pianos came out near the beginning of 2019, when it comes to Yamaha digital pianos these 3 Arius models should be around for at least 2-3 more years based on my past experience with the Yamaha Arius line over many years.

The first and most important thing to discuss on these Arius digital pianos in my opinion is the key actions. As with all pianos, whether they be digital or acoustic, it's the way the keys move up & down that is the center of attention as far as I am concerned as well as with most of my piano teacher friends. Having taught thousands of piano students over the years, I believe if the student does not have a good piano at home with a responsive, realistic key action then that student will likely build negative playing habits when practicing on their piano at home. When they are at a teacher's studio that amount of time is generally about 30 minutes per week for a lesson. All the rest of the time the student is practicing on their piano (or keyboard) at home to try to recreate a good piano playing experience. Assuming the piano teacher has a good piano then that teacher hopes the piano student will also have a good piano at home to practice the lesson properly. If the student does not have a good digital piano with a good, realistic key action then that can inhibit good piano playing progress along the way and also makes it a bit more difficult for the teacher to help the student with proper piano playing technique.

The key action in the YDP144 is Yamaha's "entry-level" key action called GHS. The GHS (graded hammer standard) has been around for many years and is also used in their lowest price P45 portable digital piano ($449 price) all the way up to this YDP144 piano. The feel of this piano "weighted" key action is relatively light as far as force needed to press down the keys (which is good) but the keys also have a noticeably firm pressure coming up against the fingers when the keys are coming back up, especially when you press the keys all the way down and feel a harder force pressing back up against your fingers than you would on a real acoustic piano or in a number of other digital pianos. This type of upward force is not at all what real acoustic key actions do and feel like and it's something I don't personally care for. It's not that the GHS isn't playable because it is...I just prefer to invest my money into a key action I can be happy with and use for years to comes as I grow in my skills, especially for a beginner student. The key action is graded (a bit heavier to a bit lighter key weight going up the keyboard left to right) and weighted as I just mentioned. The GHS action has 2 key sensors per key which are not "high definition" sensors as found in a couple of lower priced Casio models, but are standard sensors as have been in this GHS action for many years. The key action actually responds pretty well overall although it is certainly not a key action I would suggest on a long term basis, especially for more intermediate to advanced piano players, regardless of that person's age. The keys themselves have white plastic keytops and a matte black finish for the black keys which looks attractive and tries to simulate the "ebony" feel of regular black acoustic piano keys so their appearance and "feel" are good.

The key action in the YDPS54 and YDP164 are identical and that key action is called GH3 (graded weighted hammer with 3 key sensors per key). This key action in these two models have a much heavier/firmer key action touch when pressing down the keys. The force it takes to get the keys to go down is much heavier in the GH3 key action as opposed tom the GHS and heavier/firmer than all of the competition and in my opinion that is not necessarily a good thing. Too much down-weight (touch weight) when your fingers are pressing down on the keys can create fatigue in the fingers, hands, and wrists especially for young children, older people, and those people with issues with finger movement. The other brands and models in this general price range such as Kawai, Korg, Casio, and Roland have key actions with noticeably less downweight and more like a real acoustic piano and as a piano teacher I much prefer it that way because the transition from from playing a digital piano to playing a real acoustic piano will be much better and more natural if the touch weight force that is needed from your fingers to press down the keys is less rather than more. For instance, on Yamaha's best upright digital piano called the NU1X ($5999) utilizing an actual upright piano key action, the static touch-weight/down-weight on that model measured on middle C is approx 55 grams of force....which is almost a perfect weight and just like a good Yamaha grand piano. However, on the Yamaha YDP164 or YDPS54, the touch-weight/down-weight force needed measured on middle C is approx 85-90 grams of pressure. In other words, the Yamaha Arius pianos with the GH3 key actions are needing a lot more finger force to press down the keys as Yamaha's best digital upright piano NU1X based on my experience playing and measuring this pianos for key action. I am not saying you should spend $6000 on a piano to get a good key action! But what I am saying is that the Yamaha YDP164 and YDPS54 don't have key actions that I would recommend to my piano students given other options in the same price range, and there are definitely other options. In fact, I actually like the less expensive Yamaha GHS key action in the YDP144 better in terms of that downward key weight force which is approx 54 grams of force needed based on my measurements, so those keys are much more comfortable to press down. However, there is another issue concerning keys that I have not talked about. The amount of key return force pushing your fingers back up is quite a bit and if you have keys that are pushing back on your fingers with too much force then that can also make your playing unnatural and even uncomfortable. So it is really the opposite from the other one in terms of key movement. A good thing about key action movement in the YDPS54 and YDP164 is that it's also noticeably quieter than the GHS key action and that kind of thing is very helpful and appreciated when other people are in the home or near the piano and you are using headphones because what people around you can hear is noise of the moving keys. If that noise is loud it can be very distracting and irritating. If the keys are quiet when they move up & down then that's something you'll be glad your piano can do..

There are 3 key sensors per key in the GH3 key action (hence the "3" in the action model number) so that key action will have a better note repetition recognition than the GHS key action and this is a benefit to more intermediate to advanced players when they are able to play the keys faster and with more repetitive notes. The material used on the white and  black keytops of the GH3 key action is a proprietary synthetic ivory material to try to replicate old ivory and ebony keys on traditional acoustic pianos that were available many decades ago but are no longer available now. Ivory (and ebony) was a good organic material to help absorb sweat from the fingers, it made the key tops smoother, and it cuts down on the plastic glare coming from shiny white and black plastic keytops on some other digital pianos. It has a very nice look and feel to that material and is not on the GHS keys. The insides of the keys on both the GH3 and GHS key actions are plastic and the keys are a shorter length key so they definitely do not play at all like grand pianos but are close to upright pianos. You can certainly "adapt" to the GH3 key action, but it is not something I would personally choose...just too heavy in the touch-weight when the keys are going down...does not give me the comfort level I prefer and actually can become a bit fatiguing over time, especially when playing lighter and softer portions of a song on both the YDPS54 and YDP164. But don't get me wrong...the GH3 key action is built well built and should last for many years and a number of people seem to like it and adapt to it, but it does have its short comings. The lighter weight GHS entry level key action feels more enjoyable to me to play when the keys are being pressed down but unfortunately there is too much force pressing against my fingers pushing the key back up...somewhat like what a spring would feel like after pressing the spring down...you feel the spring forcing your fingers back up with a lot of force. The upweight force on the GHS action is not exactly like a spring, but it is the same idea. However, overall it's pretty good for an entry level key action and it's utilized on many Yamaha digital pianos for many years from the YDP144 on down the line to the P45 portable at $449 price. So you just cannot judge a key action by just looking at it and also if you have no experience playing piano or are only at beginning level then getting a good key action in a new digital piano can make or break your playing and technique. My favorite key action right now is on the Kawai ($1649) digital piano with plastic keys, Kawai CA48 ($2099) all wood white keys with much longer 12' long grand piano style keys, Korg C1 Air ($1399) digital piano with comfortable downweight movement, and Korg G1 Air ($1599) with comfortable downweight key movement

The piano sound realism in these Arius digital pianos over the last many years has been disappointing to me because it just sounded artificial, compressed, not natural, lacked dynamic tonal range and expression, and had relative short sustain-decay time when using the sustain pedal. I have never been a big fan of the Yamaha acoustic piano sound simulation specifically in the Arius models. However, I am happy to announce that for the first time Yamaha now has what I consider to be a very big upgrade in terms of the organic nature and realism of the piano sound in these new models. Unlike previous Arius models and the current new ones where Yamaha is still using the same key actions as before, the new Arius pianos YDP144, YDPS54, and YDP164 have a completely new piano sound chip that takes care of all of these previous issues I had complained about in terms of the quality of the acoustic piano sound. The piano sound dynamic tonal range is noticeably improved and offers many noticeably more expression than in past models and I was able to tell this instantly when playing these new models and I was really happy about that. The sustain-decay time for the sustained notes was noticeably longer and less choppy so that the piano sound was much more natural and full in that way. With this new "CFX" grand piano sound chip, Yamaha has put in more organic acoustic piano sound content to give the piano tone a more natural and less artificial flavor and this was also noticeable up and down the keyboard when I played them. The YDPS54/YDP164 is just slightly upgraded in piano sound content over the YDP144, but the YDP144 is close enough certainly for beginners and all 3 of them have the new CFX piano sound sampling technology and still has the previous 192-polyphony power in the piano sound which is how many notes can be played at one time along with sustain pedal and layering...in mono. 192-polyphony power is usually more than enough for most recreational piano players. For stereo piano sound samples such as the new CFX piano, the polyphony would be cut in half to 96 note polyphony, but this is true for most other digital pianos with stereo piano sound and is still more than the 88 notes on a piano. So when it comes to the piano sound realism in these 3 new models, Yamaha has done an very good job in finally getting to the point where these pianos are competitive with other brands in this price range between $1000 to $1500. Also, these 3 models have reverb special effects with 4 reverb variations which can add a some ambience/echo to the piano sound so that it will be a bit more "lively" and sound larger. Having reverb settings in a digital piano can be helpful to the overall piano and instrument sounds coming out of the piano and all major brands have this feature with some reverb effects being better than others.

The piano pedals on all 3 models provide a relative good pedal playing experience for students and piano players by offering all 3 pedal functions including the damper-sustain pedal, the middle sostenuto pedal which few people use anymore (it's really more decorative at this point), and the left soft pedal which reduces volume of the played notes instantly when using this pedal...some people do use that pedal depending on the complexity of the music. So when it comes to pedaling, all the pedals function well and are relatively robust and quiet. The damper-sustain pedal also triggers the half-damper effect which allows for a variable amount of sustain-decay time for the notes as opposed to a pedal that is only on & off as far as the sustain sound does, meaning that the sustain would otherwise be fully on or completely off and would not have a variable amount (lesser or a bit more) sustain time. This is an important aspect of correct and natural piano sustain pedaling and it is a good thing that Yamaha has that feature. But in reality this feature is available on many digital pianos now in these price ranges and also in much lower and higher price ranges too. I mentioned earlier, the sustain-decay time of the piano sound is much longer and more resonate than in previous models and this is a very big improvement and makes the overall piano sound more authentic when using the sustain pedal and this has been a past problem with previous Arius models along with other Yamaha digital pianos in a lower price range.

Overall the Yamaha Arius digital pianos are pretty basic in terms of what they can do. Each model has 10 instrument sounds including the main stereo CFX grand piano sound along with 2 additional piano sounds which include a mellow piano and also a bright piano. There is also 2 electric pianos, 1 harpsichord, 1 vibraphone, 2 organs including jazz and pipe organ, and 1 string symphony sound, The CFX piano sound is really the one to use most of the time because it it by far the most realistic of the 3 piano sounds. The other sounds are pretty good with some being more realistic than others, but the "naturally sustaining tones" don't react to a "pedal sustain hold" that other digital piano brands have including Roland, Casio, Kawai, and Korg. This means that when you hold down your sustain pedal then it will continually sustain the instrument sounds that normally would have continual sustain such as organ sounds and strings. The Yamaha does not have that capability but with the naturally decaying sounds such as electric pianos, harpsichords, etc, that type of function is not required. The instrument sounds can also be layered with any two sounds mixed together to be played simultaneously (ie: piano + strings or harpsichord + organ) which is a very cool thing to do. This type of functionality is also available on all other major brands in this price range. You can also use a feature called DUO which allows the 88-note keyboard to be electronically split into 2 44-note keyboards so that 2 people can play the same song and hearing it in the same octave. This feature is not exclusive to Yamaha and although it can be a useful feature, it also isn't used very often unless you have 2 people in the same home or a teacher-student in-home lesson or in a church, school, etc, with 2 people practicing the same song and they want to practice together at the same time hearing the same notes even though they are playing in different octaves.

Other features in these 3 pianos include the ability to digitally transpose the key up or down which can be useful if you are playing in one key but want to hear it in another key or you want the song in your vocal range but the key the song is written in is not in your vocal range. You can layer/mix any two instrument/piano sounds together and add reverb-echo to the sound along with being able to control the overall tone of the sound with adding more "brilliance" or brightness to the sound and reducing the amount of that effect to make the piano sound more mellow overall.The YDP series also has 2-track MIDI recording and song playback function so that you can record a left hand and right hand part independently and them play both parts together at the same time to hear both parts as one song. You can choose any of the 10 instrument sounds to do so and this can be a great teaching and piano practice tool as well as a lot of fun. Most digital pianos out there have 2-track MIDI recording although a few models still have 1 track, 1 sound recording and playback..Along with the recording feature all of these models have a digital metronome with a tempo, time signature, and volume control for help in learning your rhythm and timing for beginning students or when learning new music.A metronome is very useful and is a standard feature on almost every digital piano out there.

The internal speaker system in these pianos make a big difference in the piano sound that you hear because you can have a great piano sound chip but if you don't have a good internal speaker system to support that sound in a high fidelity way, then you might as well look for something else. With regard to the YDP144, it has two 4.72" speakers going through two 8 watt amplifiers (total 16 watts) using 9 watts of power, so it does have an efficient power usage. However, after trying this YDP144 many times I noticed that there is not a lot of volume when the master volume control is set from 0 volume up to about 60% volume. It's not until you get past about 60% volume that the YDP144 starts producing enough volume and depth to enjoy it. In other words, even though this model has gone up in wattage from the previous model YDP143 at 12 watts total to the YDP144 at 16 watts total, it is still not as impressive as I hoped it would be. With a low powered sound you also lose dynamic tonal range because the piano is not pumping out enough power at lower volume to hear a wider range of expression and tone as compared to what you get at full volume on the YDP144. At full volume you can hear the piano much better and it becomes more like a real piano in that way along with the dynamic tonal range and expression being very enjoyable as I had previously mentioned concerning the new CFX piano sound chip. But not everyone wants to play at the loudest volume to get a better quality sound. You should be able to play at 50% volume and still get a great quality sound with wide expression and the YDP144 just cannot do that in my opinion. For $1100 this piano out to be able to offer a much fuller, deeper, and richer tone, especially given that Yamaha produces some excellent audio technology. Even at a louder volume the YDP144 is on the tinny, less rich side of high quality tone. It does get loud enough to hear it in a medium to larger room in a typical home so that is good. But to really enjoy the piano sound chip technology you need to play this piano at a much louder volume in the YDP144 of at least 80% volume, especially if you want to hear the new organic elements of the piano sound chip better...but again the 16 watts going through small speakers just does not do it for me and I would instead go up to the YDPS54 or YDP164 for a bit more money. Those 2 models have the same two smaller speakers within the piano cabinet but the power amplifiers go up to two 20 watt amps for a total of 40 watts which is slightly more than 2 times the power of the YDP144, and that's a good thing.

When it comes to internal speaker systems in digital pianos, it's not only about the amount of speakers, speaker size, speaker quality, and audio power, but it's also about how the speakers are positioned within the piano. The 2 speakers in the YDPS54 and YDP164 which are the same size as what are in the YDP144 are built into the piano and positioned facing down to the floor within the inside bottom of the piano. This means that even though the power and piano sound is significantly improved making it better and richer than in the YDP144 along with the richness occurring even at reduced volume at 50% because there is more power pushing at lower volumes, the sound comes out towards the floor in the Arius models rather than towards the player and/or out of the top of the piano like some other brands and models do so the sound can be better heard by the ears and felt by your body, just like you might experience in a real acoustic piano. So for $1349 and $1499 respectively, the sound that comes out of the YDPS54 and YDP164 is much bigger, richer, bassier, and more enjoyable even at lower volume levels because there is more power involved. But for the prices on these pianos, there should be more power and more amplifiers in my opinion. As an example, for just $100 more than the YDP164, the popular Korg G1 Air home digital piano has 80 watts of power going through 4 speakers and 4 separate amplifiers rather than 2 amplifiers in the Yamaha pianos. Two of the speakers in the Korg G1 Air are positioned in a separate enclosed speaker box facing the player so you can instantly hear the sound better as well as "feel" the piano sound and bass response, just like in a real piano. The other 2 speakers are positioned inside to top of the piano facing upward so the high frequency sound filters out of the piano in a more natural way and it separates the lows from the highs and produces a much more natural piano sound experience. Yamaha could do the same thing, especially in the YDPS54 but they choose not to do it. As far as I am concerned for around $1100 up to $1500 you should be able to get a much more robust speaker system than what is in these pianos and if Yamaha had to raise the selling price a hundred dollars or so to do it, then I would highly recommend it. Unfortunately to make matters a bit worse, there are no audio outputs to connect external speakers/monitors to these pianos so you cannot add external speakers which would be a good (although somewhat costly) solution to the lack of a better internal speaker system, especially on the YDP144.

All of these models have 2 stereo headphone jacks and a USB connector to device such as computer, iPad, etc. There are no audio outputs, audio inputs, no Bluetooth wireless capability, no USB flashdrive input, etc. The USB/MIDI connector is a very necessary feature these days, especially given that Yamaha has a cool proprietary  iOS "controller" app called Smart Pianist" which allows you to control the various functions in these pianos from the color touch screen on an iPad which is extremely helpful and much more intuitive than using the piano control panel which is not intuitive at all considering the things these pianos can do. This Smart Pianist app lets you see colorful musical icons and a variety of settings that are clearly accessed from the color touch screen of your device so that you can access and control the Arius features in ways that allow you to use these functions and features that you otherwise may not use. Besides that, there are other very cool musical things this app allows you to do that are not already built into the pianos such as being able to display digital sheet music of songs in the piano and being able to play along with them along with being able to important MP3 files into the app to learn the chord accompaniments and play along.

All three of these cabinets are fairly attractive with the YDP144 and YDP164 having the more traditional furniture type pedestal cabinets with slide out key covers and the YDPS54 having a compact contemporary furniture cabinet with fold down key cover that is pretty cool because it folds down flat and gives the entire piano top a nice flat surface when closed up. The YDP164 has a more traditional look of a real piano along with a bit more height on it than does the YDP144 so it just looks more elgant and sturdy. The music holder racks on the 144 and 164 are traditional in design and support sheet music in the proper position along with built in music clips to hold the music in place whereas the YDPS54 has a fold down sheet music support in the middle of the key cover. When that cover is open the sheet music support is fairly good but not as robust and supportive as the other two models. The YDP144 and YDP164 come in 2 attractive cabinet colors each for the US market including matte black walnut and rosewood while the YDPS54 comes in black walnut and and attractive white walnut. The white color (along with an ash color) is available for the YDP144 and YDP164 but those colors are not imported into the US at this time. All three available colors come with a basic matching padded benches and all models have a good 3-year parts and labor factory warranty. So when it comes to these 3 new model home digital pianos, Yamaha is doing a much better job in having improved these pianos from prior models although they are still using the same 2 key actions that I previously discussed at length and although both actions work fine and have been in the Yamaha for many years, I personally prefer other brands for their key actions in this price range and above. But overall these 3 new Yamaha Arius models are good pianos, have had a substantial improvement in piano sound realism and tonal dynamic range with the new piano sound chip, and they are reliable and should be considered when you are shopping for a new home digital piano.

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

REVIEW - Kawai CA58 Digital Piano - Recommended - In the word of digital pianos, the Kawai piano company from Japan is a big "player." Kawai has made acoustic and digital pianos for decades and is known throughout the world for high quality concert and home grand pianos, upright pianos home digital pianos, and pro stage pianos. Kawai only makes pianos. The Kawai name comes from its founder Mr Kawai and has long been synonymous with high quality musical instruments. But one thing about the Kawai company, they are not as mainstream in terms of name recognition as is Yamaha, Roland, Casio, etc because Kawai only produces pianos and not all the other products such as guitars, clarinets, computer music products, synthesizers, watches, calculators, motorcycles, etc like the other companies do. They just concentrate on 2 things...acoustic pianos and digital pianos. But that level of product focus has propelled the Kawai company past its competition in many cases offering the best digital piano for the buck in a number of price ranges. The new CA58 ($2999 satin rosewood, $3099 satin black or satin white) is one of those digital piano models that has become very popular for Kawai in a short amount of time.

The CA58 digital piano (CA stands for "Concert Artist" series) is a perfect example of a category killer in my opinion for digital pianos under $3000 down to about $2000. There are several reasons for this but first and foremost is key action authenticity. I have played the CA58 a number of times and the proprietary key action that Kawai built for this model which they call "Grand Feel Compact," sets it apart from all other brands and models of digital pianos in this price range. Very few digital pianos under or around $3000 have wooden keys but Kawai made all of the white keys out of real spruce wood and those keys are "all wood" and not just wooden sides or limited to small portions of the keys. The bass octave keys also has "counter-weight" built into them to give the heavier bass keys a quicker movement to the action which helps the overall playability of the piano. Most white keys in other brands of digital pianos are relatively short in length and measure about 7" to 9" long but the Kawai CA58 wooden keys measure 12" in length which is quite long for digital piano keys. In real acoustic pianos, especially grand pianos, the keys are even longer and this is because the longer the key length is from front to back of the entire key (the part you can see and the part behind the key cover that you cannot see) the more evenly balanced the key movement becomes. An even key movement and touch weight from the front of the key to back of the key as well as from one key to the next is very important when it comes to playing technique and your ability to express yourself musically. So the 12" Kawai wooden keys are pretty amazing when it comes to key length, particularly when compared to the newest and best Roland upright digital piano models which sell for $6000 at discount price. Those keys are called "hybrid grand" keys but in reality they are not really hybrid nor are they grand. The white keys in these top of the line new Roland digital pianos are not quite 10.5" long and the only wood they use in the keys are small, thin slats of wood glued onto the sides of the plastic key. Those keys play fine but in my opinion do not come close to these all-wood longer keys in the Kawai CA58 in realism and movement. Kawai also has upgraded models above the CA58 called the CA78 (approx $4000 discount price) and CA98 (approx $5500 discount price) and those keys are nearly 14" in length which is about as good as it gets in reproducing a real grand piano key action "feel" for digital pianos in that price range.

So when it comes to key action movement and authenticity which is the most important thing in a digital piano and for that matter, any piano, for about $3000 discount price) the Kawai CA58 is a real winner because of its balanced movement up & down the keyboard and from the front of the key to the back on both the white and black keys. To add even more realism to the the key action movement, Kawai has regulated that 12' (white) wooden key action to have some very impressive and realistic down-weight (aka:static touchweight) as well as upweight key return. In other words, the amount of force needed from the fingers to press down the keys from key resting position and then the amount of force pressing against the fingers when the key is coming back up is critical for best piano playing technique whether you are a beginner and especially if you are an advanced player. Some piano keys are very "heavy" and require a lot of finger force to press down on the keys and if that force (measured in grams) is too high then your fingers, hands, and/or wrists can become fatigued after awhile and that's not good. You want a comfortable and enjoyable piano playing experience and the way the keys move up and down is very important and need to have the proper key weight measurement. In a real grand piano the middle C key typically has a touch-weight of approximately 55 grams and an up-weight (key return weight) of about half that much or maybe a little more. In fact the touchweight (keys going down are comfortable when the force measures somewhere between 50-60 grams of finger force pressure on the keys. As an example, there is a popular brand and model digital piano between $2500 -$3000 which a key action that not only has much shorter keys and all-plastic keys, but the touchweight in that piano at middle C key measures about 90 grams of force to get the key to go down and about 45 to 50 grams of key return force. However, in this Kawai CA58, the touch-weight (aka: down-weight) finger force needed is just 59 grams (much lighter and closer to a real acoustic grand piano) and the upweight (key return) force of of the keys coming back up is about 33 grams which is also very good because then the keys are not coming up too hard against your fingers. Based on my playing experience with the CA58 and my personally having taken key weight measurements, I can say that the way these keys feel to play will make even a seasoned piano player think that they are playing a high quality acoustic piano. This key action is also very quiet and sturdy when those keys are moving up & down. There are many digital pianos out there with noisy keys and that noise can be heard, especially when you turn down the piano volume coming out of the speakers...that's when you can really hear the key movement noise. All key actions make some noise including acoustic pianos, but the quieter the key action is the better off you will be. Also, when you use headphones and want to play privately so that you don't disturb other people in your home, then the quietness of the key action can be more important because you want that experience to be as pleasant as possible for other people nearby so they don't have to listen to keys making too much noise when those keys are going up & down. But in the Kawai CA58, the keys are noticeably quiet when they are moving up & down and for me that is very important, In my opinion this Grand Feel Compact key action gets 5 big stars or 10 out of 10 when it comes to producing a key action that is way out in front of everyone else.

Not to overdo my discussion on key action, but Kawai also a couple other things that make their key action more enjoyable to play and that is the key "let-off" (aka: escapement) feature and the synthetic ivory key tops and satin black key tops. The let-off feature is found in real grand pianos and the way that works is when you are playing grand piano keys very slowly, as the key goes down about 1/2 way or a bit further you will feel a slight hesitation, notch, or bump as the key moves downward. This "feeling" is something which occurs on all grand pianos but is generally not felt on upright acoustic pianos. That key movement escapement feeling can give you more control over your piano playing, especially if you are a more advanced player and are used to playing grand pianos. It feels fairly realistic on the Kawai CA58 with that Grand Feel Compact key action but at the end of the day it is just a simulation and not the real thing so for me is not a deal-breaker if it is not there...but it is nice to have. Under each key are key sensors to sense the key movement as you are playing the piano so that your piano sound comes out smoothly and correctly when the keys are repeating the notes slow or fast. Each key has 3 key sensors which is typical in this price range and it's a good thing because it more accurately senses the repeating note regardless of where the key is located in its key travel from resting position to fully depressed or in the middle and regardless of if the key is going down or coming back up. The proprietary material that Kawai uses on its white keys gives those keys the "feel" and "look" of real ivory from acoustic pianos of years ago when real, organic elephant ivory was actually used on the tops of the white keys. As for the black keys, those key tops used to be made out of ebony from real organic ebony trees from Africa, India, and other countries with ebony trees. Since it is illegal to harvest ebony trees, Kawai is using a matte black finish to give those black keys a better "feel" than the normal shiny black plastic finish on other key actions. The result of this synthetic ivory and matte black keys is a better "finger feel" while being able to absorb sweat from the fingers due to the material being more porous than pure plastic, and the look of those keys is classier and less bright & shiny. So Kawai has also done a great job in making the keys look good and feel good based on my experience playing this key action many times.

It seams that just about everyone who is shopping for digital piano mentions to me that they want a digital piano that actually "sounds like" a real acoustic piano...but that is easier said than done for a lot of these digital pianos. It takes special piano sound reproduction technology to really make you think your hearing a real piano when playing these digital pianos. The CA58 has 42 instrument sounds divided info 8 separate categories. There are a total of 10 piano sounds in that list with 8 of them being grand piano tones, one being an upright piano sounds, and the other somewhat more electric in tone. The other instrument sounds include strings, organs, vintage electric pianos, harpsichords, mallets, synths, choirs, guitars, and bass sounds. There are no horns, reeds, woodwinds, banjos, accordions, etc in the instrument sound library, just these primary sounds. But it's the grand piano sounds that most everybody is interested in and how "real" they are. Given that there are 8 usable acoustic grand piano sounds, that is actually quite a lot compared to other digital pianos in this price range where some of them have only 4 selections to choose from. But it is the quality of those piano sounds that really count and how organic and natural they are from when you first press down the key, to way the sound rings out, changes expression, and what it sounds like when using your sustain pedal and the natural sympathetic string vibrations, overtones, and/or resonances you hear when playing that piano sound.

In the CA58 Kawai uses sampled recording technology to capture a real grand piano tone and this particular piano sound chip in the CA58 is the same one they use in their most expensive upright model called the CS11. It is called the HI-XL stereo sampling piano sound chip with individual 88-key note reproduction and 256-not polyphony piano power. What that all means is that this chip has more memory content and capability than the Kawai digital pianos below this model and therefore the piano sound will have a higher definition resolution to the piano sound than other digital pianos also with plenty of polyphony power to play even more complex pieces of music without what is known as "note-dropout" which can occur when playing a lot of piano notes (in stereo) and not having enough polyphony power to handle those notes. For people who have experience playing real grand pianos or you know what a good grand piano actually sounds like, then you could likely tell the difference between the realism of the piano sound on CA58 as compared to other brands in this price range and also to some lower priced Kawai digital pianos such as the CN39 or CA48. The amount of dynamic piano tonal range variation from soft to loud and mellow to bright as you play the keys more softly and then play the keys with more force, is very impressive. There are also big differences in each of the acoustic sound selections with some being noticeably brighter, some being more mellow, some being being a combination of bright and mellow depending on how you are playing the music. The other part of the piano sounds that I enjoy when playing this model is that you don't get the impression that the piano sound is artificial as you would with some other brands and this was very apparent to me. Kawai has done a great job with their recorded sampling technology in capturing a lot of nuances and organic content of what real acoustic grand pianos actually sound like and it is apparent in the CA58 when you play it. It is expressive and natural all at the same time. It is true that the piano sound recordings are indeed "recordings or samples of the real thing and then when you play the keys you hear the sound through internal speakers in the cabinet. So in that way it is definitely artificial because it is being artificially amplified through speakers and there's nothing you can do about that. But this is true for all other digital pianos so it's no different for any other brand or model. For most people they will be more than satisfied with the result of the piano sound in the CA58 because Kawai has been able to optimize all of it to sound fairly natural as a real piano would sound and for me personally, I actually really enjoyed it and there are so many good acoustic piano variations that there is definitely something for everyone. That's the upside to having more piano sound choices in this model than in other brands and models that only have 3 or 4 of them because you can find a great piano sound for all kinds of styles of piano music including classical, jazz, pop, ballads, rock, pop, etc.

When it comes to the "other" instrument sounds in the CA58, I was impressed with almost all of them and that's something I was surprised about because usually I'll find just a small handful of sounds that I like in these digital pianos and the rest sound fake and artificial to me. Withe the CA58 I felt like just about all of them were very high quality and definitely musically satisfying. Whether the sounds were string symphonies, pop, jazz, or church organs, the vintage electric pianos from the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's, and other instrument tones, whether using them separately or mixing 2 of them together or splitting 2 of those sounds, they were really good and made the piano more fun to play...and its a good thing when these digital pianos can be more fun to play and own. I also like the fact that it's pretty easy to navigate the sounds in the display screen and select them as well as quickly and easily layer and split them with another sound. The user display screen and control panel to the left side of the keyboard has an operating system that's fairly intuitive to use once you play around with it a few times and press a few of the navigation buttons to select what you want to get. Some of these new digital pianos have a proprietary app to use on a tablet (iPad, etc) where you can control the piano functions from the color touch screen of your external device. The Kawai CA58 does not have an app so you will need to use the piano control panel buttons and interface user display screen. But as I said, once you use it for a short time then you'll get the "hang of it" and be able to easily navigate the functions and features to get what you want out of the piano. The screen is large enough to display good information and it is a back-lit screen to see the information more easily.

The 3 pedals on a piano are important and if you a beginner then the only pedal you'll likely be using for a long time if the right sustain pedal. The other 2 pedals is the center sostenuto pedal (a specialty piano rarely used anymore), and the left soft pedal which momentarily dampens or softens the  volume of the notes being played. The right sustain pedal is by far the most important pedal because it sustains (holds out) the piano notes for a certain amount of time until those piano sounds naturally fade out and disappear.  The amount of time it takes for those piano sounds to fade out on the CA58 is approx 35 seconds which is a very long time and close to what real acoustic pianos do when holding down the sustain pedal when playing a piano note in the middle to lower octaves and letting the notes sustain for as long as possible. The sustain pedal also triggers "half-damper" pedaling which means you can get a variable amount of sustain depending where the pedal is when pressing it down...in other words the pedal sustain is not just on & off. On some other digital pianos I have played the "decay sustain time" and decay volume level tend to be very short (sometimes less than 10 seconds of decay time) and sounds quite artificial and choppy. The CA58 in my opinion has a more natural pedal sustain response along with good "soft pedal" response and the normal sostenuto pedal functioning when needed. The pedals also feel good to press down with them not being too hard or too easy to press down. So the feel of those pedals is good along with being relatively quiet when those pedals move up & down. A lot of people don't really consider the pedals as something to think about when shopping for a digital piano but actually the pedals are very important to the authenticity and outcome of the piano sound when you play it. The 3 fundamental parts of any piano is key action, piano sound realism, and pedal movement and sustain control, and the CA58 pedals work very well so I am happy to see that.

There are some other cool digital features on the CA58 which can make the piano playing experience even more exciting which allows for editing the piano sounds to customize them in different ways along with digitally changing the touch sensitivity of the key action and all kinds of other things and the following list is just some of the other things this piano can do: Basic Settings, Headphone  Settings to adjust stereo sound position in your ears when wearing headphones, Key Transpose to change keys up or down, Song Transpose to change key of recorded songs playing back, Tone Control to change EQ settings of piano sound, Speaker Volume, SHS Mode, Phones Type, Phones Volume Line In Level, Tuning, Damper Hold, Split, Four Hands setting, Bluetooth MIDI, LCD Contrast, Startup Setting, Factory Reset, Auto Power Off , Virtual Technician Settings to edit and change piano sound parameters including Touch Curve (light+, light, normal, heavy, heavy+), Voicing: (mellow, right, dynamic), Damper Resonance, Damper Noise, String Resonance, Undamped String Resonance, Cabinet Resonance, Key-off Effect, Fallback Noise, Hammer Delay, Topboard Simulation, Pedal decay time adjustment, Minimum Touch, Stretch Tuning adjustments and on/off, Temperaments, Key Volume, Half-Pedal Adjust, Soft Pedal Depth, and lots of other things. Kawai also has a dedicated Virtual Technician app for iOS (iPad) where you can visually see all many of these functions and be able to use and trigger them from your color touch screen in a more intuitive way that helps with wanting to try out these functions. The CA58 also has 6 different types of reverb effects that allows you to enhance the piano sounds and overall instrument sounds in a positive way by adding some extra "richness and spaciousness" to the sounds that would not be there with out those effects. many digital pianos have "reverb effects" but many of those reverb./ambience selections are more toy-like in there sonic reproduction and not like pro recording studio effects. The CA58 reverbs are higher quality HD effects and sound very good.

Kawai also has ways to save your favorite set-ups so that you do not have to set them up all over again. There is a "registration" feature which stores 16 of your own customer setups including layers of 2 sounds, splits of two sounds together, added special effects such as reverbs, chorus, delays, etc, and other things that you nay have saved for a favorite setting. After saving your setup then you can instantly recall it whenever you want. If you happen to have a favorite piano sound out of the 10 total pianos sounds in the CA58 and you also have a favorite key to play it in that you want to electronically transpose it to, and you maybe want to layer a beautiful concert string symphony  sound with that stereo grand piano and you want to have the piano always come up that way when you power up the piano, then you can do that. Kawai has what is known as a "power-up" memory mode where you can save your most favorite setting, regardless of what sounds(s) you want it to be, and then every time you turn on the piano, that sound will come up. This great for people who have a favorite piano sound or just love to use a layered sound often and you prefer the piano to be that way each time it powers up. It's a cool feature and on that can definitely be useful.

The CA58 has some impressive recording functions for people who want to do recording of their music which can be useful if you are a beginner student and want to hear how you're doing on your piano practice independently for both left & right hand practice or if you are an advanced player and want to make a serious digital audio recording of your music or composition. There is a standard 2-track MIDI recorder for left & right hand recording and playback and uses MIDI instrument format to record the sounds in the piano to playback your song. You can record one sound or layer or spilt 2 sounds and that's the most you can do in the MIDI format. You cannot take that recording off the CA58 and play it on an external device and expect it to sound like it does in the CA58, because it won't do that. The more authentic sound recording and playback are audio files and the CA58 has both formats...uncompressed wav file recording and also compressed MP3 recording (iTune type audio files). Most digital pianos that have audio file recording and playback capabilities are limited to 1-track or just a one time recording with whatever sounds you choose from your digital piano. The CA58 also has "over-dub" recording capabilities for the audio file recording so that you can layer a new recording(s) with the same sound or another instrument sound on top of the first recording (and so on) to create your own personal arrangement or multi-track  recording. This is a really cool feature and one that can add additional authenticity to your music, and once you are done doing the recording you can save it to a USB thumb-drive for storage and later playback. Using the recording features is fairly intuitive and you can see what's going on within the user LCD display on the piano. Beyond the sounds that are in the CA58 for you to use in your recordings, you can also import other instrument sounds and effects from external devices through the stereo audio input of the CA58 and trigger those sounds while you play the CA58 keys and hear what is coming into the CA58 through the internal speaker system of the CA58. You can then record any of those "outside" sounds into your CA58 audio recording and make them a part of your song. That is pretty sophisticated technology and removes the limitations that many other digital pianos would have in terms of recording and playback flexibility. The CA58 does not have a full-blown 16-track MIDI recorder like a few other brands do, but the 16-track type of recorder is limited to only the sounds within that piano and those sounds and then when you have made that recording you cannot export it to another device and have it sound the same, because it won't. With audio song files you can play them on any audio wav or MP3 song player (computer, iPhone, iPad, Andoid, etc) and they will play and sound the same as they do on the CA58.

On Kawai certain digital piano models they have had included a special proprietary fun educational learning system for many years that has been great for beginner students and for people who may play the piano but just want to have some added musical enjoyment. This exclusive feature is called Concert Magicit is designed to let a person (even with no piano playing experience whatsoever) play along with familiar songs that are built into the CA58, but in a way which offers extensive rhythm and timing training while not having to play the "correct notes" for those songs to sound good. In other words...you can be a bad player but still sound good! In the basic learning mode of the Concert Magic system, a person can play any key on the keyboard and get the correct left hand chord and the correct right hand note of the chosen song...all by pressing one note at a time anywhere on the keyboard, sounds a bit silly but it works and helps non-players understand what timing and rhythm is all about. The point is to press the key(s) in a steady constant beat beat without having to worry about playing the right note or even at the right time. When you can play any note on the keyboard in a constant fashion and have the song sound correct and be recognizable (hearing both left and right hand notes come out in the one key you are pressing, then that encourages you to want to play more because it sounds so good! You can also learn to play the key in the correct rhythm time so that it (the beat) comes out correctly and still not have to know the actual notes of the song yet. This takes a bit of getting used to, but once you do its super fun and it makes even 2 year old children sound good and it's fun for the entire family. There are 176 different well known songs from different eras and music categories within the Concert Magic Music Library along with different modes of learning including Easy Beat, Melody Play, and Skillful.I have played with this Concert Magic feature a number of times on a variety of Kawai digital pianos and I always have fun doing it. So whether you are an adult or child beginner or a more advanced piano player like me, I guarantee you'll have great fun using the Concert Magic system and you'll be especially impressed in how interactive you can be with the song library in making creating a fun learning environment for your family while you learn the fundamentals of rhythm & timing in a way that no other digital piano brand can do. I know that not everyone will want to use this feature, especially if you are purchasing the piano to play in a regular way and you already know how to play. But for a lot of people, especially children, I believe you will enjoy this Concert Magic feature quite a bit. Also, when it comes to rhythm and timing and learning more about it (which as a long-time piano teacher I consider very important), most digital pianos like the CA58 have a digital metronome built in that helps you count out the beat and gives you a variety of beats/time signatures to choose from so that you can follow it and count more accurately. Digital metronomes are very useful and necessary in my opinion. However, drum rhythm patterns like real drummers would play also help with learning rhythm & timing in a more "real-world" way because drummers play actual musical style such as jazz, waltz, rock, pop, Latin, country, blues, big band, swing, ballad, march, etc. The CA58 not only has a variety of metronome settings but it also has 100 fairly realistic drum rhythm patterns/styles such as the ones I mentioned and variations of them that make playing your piano lessons (and songs in general) a lot more fun. You can control the volume and tempo of those drum rhythm styles so they fit in with your music better. They really do help you play "with the beat" so that you could eventually successfully play along with a real drummer...perhaps in a band or orchestra or just when playing the CA58.

In addition to those learning functions, Kawai also has built-in piano lesson songs in the CA58 which are derived from well known piano lesson curriculum that teachers use all over the country. So what you can do is purchase the actual lesson books at a music store for these piano lesson songs and then when you are learning to play piano, you can actually hear the songs live on the CA58 as well as slow down the tempo of those songs while you're learning and practicing them, and also listen to the left hand and right hand parts separately so you can better understand what is actually going on. It's a very cool feature and extends over to a number of lesson books that teacher's use and this system is found only in Kawai digital pianos. The lesson songbooks and curriculum included in the CA58 include the following: Burgmüller 25 (25 Etudes Faciles, Opus 100)Czerny 30 (Etudes de Mécanisme, Opus 849), Czerny 100 (Hundert Übungsstücke, Opus 139)Beyer 106 (Vorschule imKlavierspiel, Opus 101)J.S. Bach: Inventionen, Sonatinen Album 1, Chopin Walzer (Chopin waltzes series), Alfred’s Premier Piano Course Lesson 1A, Alfred’s Premier Piano Course Lesson 1B, Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Lesson Book Level 1A, Alfred’s Basic Piano Library Lesson Book Level 1B, Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course Lesson Book Level 1. I think that some people will take advantage of these hundreds of songs, especially if they are taking lessons from a teacher who uses some or all of these lesson and songbooks. But regardless, it's a cool feature that if taken advantage of can be a big help in hearing the song and playing along with it when you have that music as opposed to only having the music and books but not necessarily understanding what that song sounds like or the way it really moves.

The connectivity inputs and outputs of the CA58 is fairly extensive and definitely an upgrade from the lower price model Kawai CA48. The features include USB MIDI output, USB flashdrive input, Standard MIDI input and output, two 1/4" line out audio jacks with volume control knob, 1/8" stereo line input jack with volume control knob, 1/4" and 1/8" stereo headphone jacks, and Bluetooth MIDI wireless connectivity. There are different Bluetooth types of connectivity on digital pianos and the CA58 has Bluetooth MIDI and not Bluetooth audio. Bluetooth audio wireless is when you can stream songs from an external song library in your device (iPhone, iPad, Android, etc) to hear that music come through the speakers of the digital piano. The CA58 cannot do that but you could add that capability by purchasing an optional Bluetooth audio receiver and plugging it into the MIDI ports of the CA58 and then the piano will receive a Bluetooth audio signal from an external device. The Bluetooth MIDI wireless connectivity is so you can wirelessly connect with your iPad and use the Kawai proprietary apps called Virtual Technician and Sound Museum to control some aspects of the piano and control them from the color touch screen of your device. This a cool feature so that you would not need a special cable to do that connection. However, you could also get a special USB to device cable and plug in your external device to the piano USB port so that you could connect with your device and use those apps in that way...so you would not necessary have to use the Bluetooth MIDI if you did not want to or for some reason the Bluetooth wireless wasn't connecting properly. There are other USB apps available in the app store which lets you connect with some cool interactive piano lessons and other things these apps can let you do. So when it comes to how you can connect with this piano, overall it does a very good job and if you need more connectivity, as I mentioned, you can add it later.

Every digital piano out there should have an adequate internal speaker system and the CA58 is no exception. In this price range the audio power should be at least 100 watts and have 4 internal speakers. Sometimes there are 2 power amplifiers powering the speakers and sometimes there are 4 separate amplifiers, one for each speaker. The CA58 has a total of 100 watts of audio power powered by two 50 watt amplifiers all going through 4 speakers. Two of those four speakers are larger than most of the other digital pianos in this price range that have 4 speakers so coupled with the 100 watts of audio power and 4 higher quality larger speakers, there is plenty of volume that comes out of this model and very good bass response, even at lower volume levels. So in terms of the speaker system pushing out a healthy amount of sound, it does a good job although I would have preferred to see 4 amplifiers in this model instead of two, but it works fine and still sounds good. There is a speaker projection grill just to back of the piano top which allows the sound to come up and out of the top back of the piano. This is a cool feature which I have not seen on any other brand of piano in this price range. The sound coming through stereo headphones is also powerful and can be adjusted from the piano for the 'stereo field" of the headphones as far as how you hear it and the projection of that sound all around your ears. Kawai calls that feature "spatial headphone sound" and it can make a big (positive) difference in your piano playing experience when using a good pair of stereo headphones. I like the way Kawai implemented this virtual spatial technology in enhancing the headphone piano listening experience.

The Kawai CA58 cabinet is attractive and well designed with nice geometric lines and curves that give it a bit of subtle elegance without looking boxy and old. The cabinet finishes are well done and come in satin (matte) black, dark black rosewood, and satin white along with a standard size matching padded benches with music storage. The cabinet finishes have a bit of a "sheen" to them but they are not the glossy polished finishes available in other models. The key covers in this model work nicely sliding back and forth to cover up the keys and the music racks that support the sheet music are adjustable, can even lay flat if needed, and they work well. The measurements of the cabinet are 57" wide x 18" deep x 36" tall with the music rack folded down so it is overall fairly compact for what it is. The weight of the piano fully assembled is 161 lbs such there is some substantial weight to it without being too heavy. The piano is fairly easy to assemble and there are assembly videos on-line to show you how to do it. Personally after my own experience playing the Kawai CA58 for many hours, there is a lot to like about and very little to dislike. The piano sound chip is amazing given the price range of this piano, the pedals work and respond well, and most importantly the key action is absolutely superior in every way as compared to all the other major brands out there in this price range and even beyond this price range. When you put this all together and add a competent internal speaker system, some impressive and usable digital features, great connectivity all put into a very nice looking cabinet, this piano is a real winner. Kawai offers a 5-year parts and labor warranty with in home service on this model so it is well protected. In fact, I doubt you would ever need to use this warranty because judging from what I know so far, this model has had virtually no issues in terms of operation or cabinet and should last for many, many years. I certainly would recommend this piano over just about any other model out there to anyone wanting an "upscale" digital piano without moving up much over $3000 to the $4000 range and beyond that. These pianos are available in local Kawai piano stores in the US and also at a couple of on-line internet dealers as well. But before you buy anywhere please contact me as I can show you how you may be able to purchase for even less than internet or store price including free shipping, no tax, brand new, and this is true of many other brands and models of digital pianos.

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

Page 2- Roland 700 series Review Continued from page 1 - HP702, HP704, LX705, LX706, LX708, GP607, GP609. To go back to Page 1 of this review, please click the following link: Page 1 of Roland 700 series Review


This review is now continued below from Page 1:


With regard to the 4 acoustic piano sounds in each model, you can modify and edit them to supposedly make them sound better overall from their default factory settings. Roland has a piano sound "custom editing section" called "Piano Designer"
and that feature is built into all of these HP, LX, and GP pianos. This section has a huge amount of functions/parameters which can add more "realism" to the overall piano sound, especially if you are not already happy with the 4 preset acoustic type piano sounds in the piano. The"Piano Designer" section contains a number of piano performance editing settings along with separate designer functions called "Ambience," and "My Stage (LX models only) which I'll talk about a bit later. The general editing functions on all models include Brilliance, Touch Sensitivity, and then a list of additional individual piano editing functions such as Lid, Key Off Noise, Hammer Noise, Duplex Scale, Full Scale String Resonance, Damper Resonance, Key Off Resonance, Cabinet Resonance, Soundboard Type, Damper Noise, Single Note Tuning, Single Note Volume, and Single Note Character. Those individual piano sound elements are found in real acoustic pianos and the idea here is that you can go into these individual "Piano Designer" elements and edit them to make the default piano sounds more "personal" depending if you think any one of those editing functions can help "improve" the default acoustic pianos sounds  and this goes for all of these models. As an example, the "Cabinet Resonance" and "Soundboard Type" functions have a noticeable impact on the default piano sounds and the way they come out. In a real piano there is an actual large wood soundboard located on the inside of an acoustic grand piano and on the inside back of an upright acoustic piano. There are 5 different "virtual soundboards" available on all Roland piano models trying to emulate the sound coming out of real wood piano soundboard sand using that specific editing function can make the Roland pianos sound better or even worse depending on which one you choose. So that one little editing function can have a huge impact on the piano sound you're using. Same for the key touch sensitivity where there are 100 levels of adjustment which can have a big impact (positive or negative) on the overall sound and expression. There really are so many ways to modify the 4 acoustic type piano sounds in these models that is can be overwhelming to the point of confusion in my opinion. It would be great if Roland had a bunch of "preset" piano sounds set up by the Roland musicians where those piano sounds were all different but all good that you could quickly choose from. However, from what I can tell on these many models, you are left on your own to figure it all out for yourself without a large library of pre-done piano and instrument settings. You pretty much have to be a digital piano "rocket scientist" in my opinion to make up your own sound settings that will actually sound good, other than the regular 4 acoustic piano tones that come with each of these models. You may think that a real acoustic piano only has one piano sound so why should you be worried about needing more than one piano tone? It's because these piano sounds are produced by digital physical modeling technology and if do not like one or more of those 4 sounds then you likely want to get out your digital tool kit and edit those sounds...which, again, is not easy to do to get it to come out right. Having a large library of factory pre-set pianos sounds such as what Kawai offers in their competitive models (17 impressive separate factory pre-set acoustic piano sounds in the Kawai CA78 & CA98, not counting any editing functions) that Roland does not offer in their pianos from what I can see.

The Ambience section (which is different in the HP & GP as compared to the LX models) adds a type of echo to the piano sound by simulating the natural echo effects you would hear in various types of rooms and/or buildings, venues if a piano was played in that environment. The Ambience effects are upgraded on the LX models over the HP and GP models by offering 6 specifically designed reverb/ambience called "Pure Acoustic"including Studio, Lounge, Concert Hall, Wooden Hall, Stone Hall, and Cathedral with 11 levels of effect depth which you can adjust to further edit the effect to your needs. In the HP & GP models there is only 1 type of ambience effect for the piano sound and you can adjust the depth of that effect to increase or decrease it when you play any of the 4 piano sounds. The LX models have been upgraded over the other Roland models for this particular ambience feature as I just mentioned which allows even more tonal effects changes to the overall piano sound. The reverb/echo ambience can make a big difference to the piano sound you hear and in fact, if it's not set properly, all these Roland pianos can sound very artificial and not pleasing to the ear. So when it comes to adding extra special reverb type effects which Roland calls "ambience," there are many options in these pianos with more of them being offered in the LX models as opposed to the HP & GP models. However, most people just want good piano sounds "out of the box" and I find that the majority of people who get these pianos seldom change "effects" or try to modify what they have, that is of course they are very experienced in using these functions and features or don't care much for the factory default piano settings and want to try to improve upon them with the editing effects. There are some styles of music sound more realistic when you add certain special ambience effects to them and it can be fun to do. But the ambience effects can also make your piano tones sound worse instead of better so you need to be careful with how you use them. Again, if Roland had a bunch of "preset piano setups" with these different ambience effects built in to them so that you could just press one button and make simple but big changes without doing all of these special sound calculations with adding individual effects, depth of effects, type of effects, etc, then I believe this would be a much more practical way of handling it.

If that (Ambience) were not enough...and it definitely could be, Roland has come up with another new feature which also has a noticeably audible effect on the overall piano sound of the LX models only and this feature is called "My Stage." The "My Stage" function has 12 pre-set "environments" that can have a huge impact on the overall piano and make it "more realistic" for some people (depending on your ears) and also less realistic depending on which "stage/room environment" you choose. This feature is not the reverb/ambience echo that I was previously talking about. The "My Stage" is a physical modeling technology feature which "alters" the 4 preset pianos sounds and makes them sound different...sometimes noticeably better, other times noticeably worse. The names of these "My Stage" environment effects are called Piano Recital, At Hall Stage, Lakeside Studio, Impressionists, Heritage Hall, Lounge Concert, Church Concert, Jazz Club, Medieval Salon, Recording Studio, Trad Opera House, and East Coast Hall. I have tried them all and they do change the original 4 piano sounds (depending on which one you are using) and create a new piano sound and it's a feature worth trying out because a couple of those specific "stages" really do help bring the default pianos sounds to life in a more realistic way that is not already part of that original default piano sound. Does that sound confusing to you? It might given how many ways you can add to and change the original 4 default piano sounds in the LX models. Touch response, brilliance, soundboard type, cabinet resonance, lid, ambience types, Stage effect types, it seems endless. So what is the purpose of all these features? It's to give the player the most control possible over the 4 original piano sounds in these pianos. These features clearly do that but as I said, the people who purchase these pianos generally play them in their home, church, school, studio, and mostly just want a variety of great piano sounds to play that come out of the box perfectly suited for a variety of music. You can create your own piano sound and save it in any of 36 registration memories so that you can instantly recall your favorite settings...but you have to make and design those piano settings yourself and then save them. You don't just get a bank of 36 already perfectly designed pianos using all these effects editing features that I have talked about...and that's the missing link as far as I am concerned. Most people just want to "plug in, power up, and play" and have a variety of great piano sounds at your fingertips. The Roland pianos don't do that and that is a shortcoming in my opinion.

The pedaling on these pianos is very good with great response and pedal movement for all 3 types of pedaling including damper-sustain, sostenuto, and soft pedal. The LX708 has an "upgraded" pedaling feel over the other models that more closely recreates the sustain pedal feel on a grand piano as opposed to an upright piano. So for some of you out there who have played or currently play a real grand piano, you may notice the LX708 as having a slightly more realistic pedal feel when a different physical pedal response. The sustain time is very long and natural in all these models in terms of sustain decay time and volume decay time when using the pedal. The sustain pedaling includes a feature called continuous detection which gives you a variety of sustain levels from shorter sustain all the way up to full sustain. Other digital piano brands call this "half-damper" detection which is similar but the Roland continuous detection covers all sustain levels. The center center pedal defaults to the sostenuto function and the left pedal defaults to the soft pedal function. However, a lot of people either seldom use those pedals or never use them so Roland has designed those pedals to do other functions and features to allow you to trigger sounds, effects, and other functions within the piano that you would otherwise need to access with a button or through the menu display. When you setup the middle and/or the left pedal to trigger a function such as adding a layered sound or switching from one pre-set registration to another. Even the right damper pedal can be programmed to sustain instrument sounds differently depending on if you are playing one sound, playing two sounds in layer, or playing two sound in a spit mode. So when it comes to the pedaling on any of these Roland models they respond and move very well and also can give you flexibility in being able to trigger functions & features quickly and easily as opposed to taking your hands/fingers off the keys while you are playing to trigger those sounds or effects manually by pressing buttons.

Each model has 320 sampled instruments sounds and 4 physical modeled piano sounds in a sound library as I mentioned earlier. With this huge library of instrument sounds these Roland pianos have just about any sound you can think of including a big variety of woodwinds, reeds, horns, guitars, electric pianos, strings, choirs, organs, synths, special effects, and more. I will say that just because there are a lot of sounds does not mean they all sound realistic, and this is true for other digital piano brands as well. Some of those sounds are very impressive and some are not. It just depends which one you're using and also whether they are in a full mode, layered mode, or split mode. One of the benefits of a large sound library, especially from Roland, is the fact that this sound library is General MIDI (GS) compatible and therefore you can any General MIDI song file with these models using a USB flashdrive loaded with GM song files and the piano will play them and it sounds great. I have done this and the results are impressive. It's a fun feature to have on a digital piano because there are thousands of great GM MIDI song files out there on the internet (some free and some have a cost) and when you use these MIDI songs files to play songs you might like you can also transpose them up or down to in a different key to get them into your vocal range, or you can adjust tempo to slow down or speed up the song, and you can play along with the song "live" while it is playing. You can get every style and type of song so there really are no limits. Whether it's Frank Sinatra, Mozart, John Williams Orchestra playing Star Wars, The Beatles, whoever you can think of, their music is likely available as a General MIDI song file...although there will always be exceptions. There are a number of digital pianos that cannot play General MIDI/GS song files and although that should not be a "deal-breaker," having this capability is a nice bonus particularly if you want to play along to learn songs and have control over tempo and also the key in which it is playing. Also, these particular song files sound really good on Roland digital pianos because they actually set the industry standard for these types of song files to play correctly and have realism when the piano is playing those instrument sounds in "real-time" as opposed to a recorded wav or MP3 song file. So having General MIDI song play functionality is a very cool thing and can be a nice feature to have if you use it correctly.

The Roland pianos all have the basic fundamental features and functions that other brands and models have including layering 2 sounds together, electronically splitting the keyboard at any point in the 88 keys  with two sounds...one for right hand and the other sound for the left hand. There is a feature that allows two people to play piano at the same time, playing the same notes and hearing the same notes coming out in the same octaves which is called "twin piano." You can also change touch sensitivity setting on the piano sounds with 100 different levels of editing from very soft to very hard electronic touch curve. You can electronically transpose/modulate your music to any key up or down in half-steps which is useful and can be very practical, especially if trying to get your music into a better vocal range but you don't know how to play that song in another key. There is a "twin/duet" mode which can be practical if there are two people (students) learning the same song at the same time and they want to practice together or when a teacher and students are practicing at the same time. It's an interesting feature but I seldom see this feature used at home. One of the more useful digital functions on these models is something called "registrations" which allows you to save up to 36 of your favorite set-ups on the piano. When you have come up with a favorite setting including layering/mixing two specific sounds together or splitting two specific sounds together, setting up octave changes, transpose changes, and other things you might do to create a favorite sound setting that you'll use often, rather than try to recreate this setting every time you power up one of these models, you just save it to one the registration memories and lock it in so that you can simply call up that memory to immediately get your favorite setting you had previously put together. There are 36 digital memory slots to save 36 settings. This is very useful if you like to change sounds or other functions in real time while you are playing whether it be at home, church, school, or another venue where you want to make quick changes to your settings. With 36 memories you have stored in that function then you can just quickly recall them which really makes playing music simpler and more enjoyable. There are some other brands and models that do not have this registration memory feature and it's actually relatively new for Roland as compared to older Roland models from some years ago. Each one of these piano models has a digital metronome to help with rhythm and timing when you are learning a song or doing a recording and there are a number of time signatures to choose from. There are also many other standard features in these pianos that I won't go into here.

The internal speaker audio systems in these pianos are power rated in an unusual way as compared to all other major brands. If you notice in their most expensive top model 5' deep GP609 baby grand digital piano that sells for approx $11,000, the total power output of the speaker system is only 66 watts according to the specs that Roland provides for this model. Compare that 66 watt total with the Yamaha 4' deep smaller digital baby grand piano CLP695GP which comes in at a whopping 300 watts of power output according to Yamaha specs. So you would think that the smaller and less expensive Yamaha digital grand piano would blow away the larger and more expensive Roland digital grand piano...right? But power ratings can also include low power consumption, more "power efficient" speaker systems, and rating decibel sound (volume) pressure in terms of decibel ratings. So when you actually get to play and hear these Roland digital pianos, they are much louder than the specifications may otherwise suggest. Another comparison would be the new upright style LX708 Roland digital piano coming in at just 74 watts of total audio power as compared to the top of the line upright style Yamaha CLP685 digital piano coming in at a total of 300 watts of audio output power (same as the Yamaha CLP695 baby grand). So the Yamaha would be 4 times more powerful than the Roland if you compared only power output rating. But when you compare decibel ratings (dB) then that's where the loudness comes from. If you measure decibel ratings, if you add just 10 decibels to a previous lower number, you would perceive the loudness of what you are listening to as about twice as loud...just by adding 10 more decibels to the volume rating. Normal conversation is rated at about 60 dB (decibels), a lawn mover is about 90 dB, and a loud rock concert is at about 120dB decibel measurement. So when it comes to the "volume" and fullness you hear from a good digital piano, it also has to do with other elements such as the speakers themselves (size, construction, materials used), how those speakers are positioned in the piano, the efficiency of the power amps, and the dB rating. The chart to the left should give you a better idea of dB ratings and what they apply to and then you compare that against the dB rating of the Roland pianos and then you can pretty much figure out how loud they can get at maximum volume. Of course, few people play digital pianos at maximum volume so the dB loudness level would be much less if you turn the master volume down lower. Basically I am saying that all of the Roland digital pianos have good volume for what they do but certainly the lower priced vertical digital piano HP702 vs the larger top upright style Roland LX708 would be almost 1/2 the volume of the LX708 at 8dB less in loudness. The difference in the speakers themselves is also very noticeable with the LX702 having just two small 4.75" speakers vs the top LX708 with 8 total speakers inside the piano and two of them being large 10" woofer/sub bass speakers. The "quality" of the piano sound is not just dependent on the speaker size and audio power, but also the quality of those components. As I mentioned earlier, I am not impressed with the quality and realism of the piano sounds in the LX series as I heard them and this may have something to do with the internal speaker systems but it could also have to do with how these piano sounds were actually constructed using the physical modeling technology. However, I do like the sound coming out of the HP704 and GP607 & GP609. Although the entry level model HP702 can get loud enough even with only 28 watts of rated power, the quality and richness of the HP702 just is not there with only 2 small speakers inside and the low 28 watts of power going through just two amplifiers. In my opinion the Korg G1 Air priced at jst $1599 internet price has a far better speaker system in it with 80 watts of total pwer going through 4 speakers and 4 amplifiers which results in a huge, rich piano tone and that's what I would expect to hear in the HP702 at about $2000 store discount price, but unfortunately you have to go all the way up to the HP704 at about $3000 store discount price before you get a piano sound system with 4 speakers, 4 amps and 60 watts of total power output. I have also included a chart here showing what dB levels are all about and how much volume is generated when that volume (sound pressure) is measured in dB units. It's interesting to see what types of things that make sound compare to each other in terms of audible volume and how that volume might affect your ears.

As with all major brands of digital pianos these days, Roland has built-in recorder functions in each model including 3-track MIDI song recording and 1-track audio wav file recording. These types of recording features are fairly common among digital piano brands although some brands have 1-track MIDI recording, 2-track MIDI recording on up to 16-track/instrument MIDI recording for those people who want to produce and record more complex compositions. Audio wav file recording is becoming fairly standard in many digital piano brands and models all the way down to digital pianos under $1000. The Roland pianos can not only play back these types of recorded song files but they can also play back audio MP3 song files which is great because the way iTunes and other songs are recorded and saved...in the MP3 format. Roland pianos however cannot record MP3 song files, they can only play them back with the exception of the GP606 and GP609 digital grand pianos which cannot play back MP3 song files...they can only play back the MIDI files and the audio wav files. This is because the GP piano technology came out before the new HP and LX technology with has that MP3 file playback upgrade. All recorded and playback song files can be loaded onto a USB flash drive for storage and song retrieval for instant playback so you can play along with the recorded songs which is fun to do. I like the control panel round buttons that are fairly flush with the panel and function easily and intuitively overall.

All of these Roland digital piano models have Bluetooth wireless connectivity with external devices along with other types of connectivity. The Bluetooth functions include MIDI, audio, and pedal activated page-turning for digital sheet music. Most digital piano brands usually have one Bluetooth function but not necessarily all of them so Roland is definitely in the lead on those features. Bluetooth audio lets you connect your external audio device (iPad, iPhone, Android, Computer, etc) to the piano so that you can stream audio music, video audio, etc through the piano speaker system wirelessly. Bluetooth MIDI means you can connect to MIDI interactive apps on your device to use them for piano lessons, triggering new instrument sounds, etc without the need for a USB MIDI cable. The Bluetooth page turning feature allow you to use specific interactive apps which display sheet music that is available through that app and you can turn the "virtual pages" by pressing a piano pedal with your foot every-time you want the page to turn. It's a very cool concept and works well and there are companies out there who make separate Bluetooth page turning pedals to turn pages on PDF versions of sheet music...so this is a not a new thing but Roland is the only one of the major digital piano brands to do it using apps that can be triggered by the Bluetooth page turning technology. With regard to other connectivity, each of these Roland pianos have a number of very useful features accessed from the front left side of the piano mounted underneath the keyboard and these features include left & right 1/4" audio outputs, stereo min-jack audio input, 2 stereo headphone jacks including one 1/4" and one mini jack, USB to host external device output, and a USB flash drive input to store your recordings, play MIDI or audio song files, and to save and load registrations. The connectivity features allow you to connect to external devices, sound systems, and also be able to plug in an external audio source and run it through the piano speaker system if you choose to do it that way.

Another thing that Roland offers on their digital pianos are proprietary iOS apps called Piano Partner 2, Piano Every Day, and Piano Designer. Roland did a good job in creating these apps to add more piano playing enjoyment by allowing the user to more easily navigate some of the features on the Roland piano models as well as being able to access musical features that are not built-into the pianos themselves. The piano designer app is one that Roland has had for a number of years and it's very useful. This app allows you to edit and change the "piano designer" features that are in the piano but you get to do it through this Roland proprietary app on your tablet device which makes it way more intuitive to use especially when using an iPad operating system to navigate the features quickly and easily. Actually, it is much more enjoyable to edit the piano sound with the parameters in the app rather than editing through the piano itself. The Piano Designer app can be interfaced with all Roland piano models regardless of which one you get. Another app is a "controller" app called Piano Partner 2 and it is only available for the HP702, HP704, GP706, and GP609. This app was also available for the prior discontinued models and it lets you select any of the piano instrument sounds from the app in your color touch screen rather than do it from the piano itself. The Piano Partner 2 app also has features the pianos themselves do not have such as auto accompaniment arrangements to give you a "one man band" feature. This allows you to select any type of rhythm/drum music accompaniment style that is offered in the app and play chords on your Roland piano so that the music is creating a full band or orchestra background based on the chords you're playing and then you can play a melody along with the accompaniment and have your entire band following your chord progressions and making you sound great and probably much better than you really are. This is a fun feature and I enjoy using it and playing different styles of music in real time. Piano Partner 2 also has musical games, digital sheet music from songs in the piano so you can follow along with the notation, change tempo of the song while playing along, and even mute the left or right hand piano parts and/or accompaniment so that you can learn the song. It's a pretty cool feature and it is accessed through the app. The Piano Partner 2 app also does a few other things but the majority of the features in the app do not work unless connected from your tablet to the piano. The new "Piano Every Day" app the latest app for Roland pianos and actually replaces the older Piano Partner 2 app, even though the Piano Partner 2 app is still the one for the HP & GP models. The Piano Every Day app goes a bit further with a new layout and new updated features including improved accompaniments and access directly to an off-site popular sheet music web site where you can purchase and download music and songs to follow, learn, and play along with on your tablet. This new feature will allow you to interface with the virtual sheet music in a number of ways which helps with lesson practice, learning to play songs more efficiently, and using other built-in features in the Piano Every Day app. You can do the same things on this app as you can with the Piano Partner 2 app, but with newer updated features, content, and other things. There is a small down-side to this new app which is that the graphics and arrangement of the content isn't very stimulating or attractive as far as I am concerned when looking at it. It's fairly basic and it doesn't have the "feel or look" of other digital piano apps out there, especially the one from Yamaha called "Smart Pianist" which is so much cooler and visually appealing. Some of the content in the Piano Every day app is limited to a vertical page view rather than both horizontal and vertical. But overall Roland did a very good job with these apps providing users with a special music content experience that you would not otherwisw get on the piano itself. In other words, it's like the piano has more cool features but you access them from your tablet device using the Roland apps. All of these apps can help you go further with the piano, with your piano playing enjoyment, and with piano learning and practice.

Now that we're near the end of this long, detailed review, I will talk about some other aspects of these pianos including cabinet designs and styles offered as well as the control panel layout and operation. There is one thing for sure about these Roland pianos that I really like and that is the furniture cabinet construction, design, appearance, and color finish options. They are without a doubt the most attractive furniture cabinet designs that I have ever seen on Roland home digital pianos and surpass most of the other brands in this way, and I do know a number of piano shoppers looking for that kind of thing when shopping for a new digital piano. The control panel is especially attractive, easy to see, has big round, flush-mount buttons, and are overall quite intuitive to use. The layout of the features on the control makes sense and the placement of the buttons and knobs in front of you rather than to the left side of the keyboard makes those functions easier to reach and activate. Many people want nice looking cabinets that look like real acoustic pianos and have designer type music racks that are functional and adjustable, they want pianos that are are stylish, have appealing cabinet finishes in a variety of options which these pianos do, and those cabinet colors and finishes that are being offered now look great and many people appreciate when the piano is functionally intuitive (overall) to use which the Roland pianos are fairly good at doing. Also on these pianos, when the key cover is opened people generally want the piano electronic controls to be minimalistic with the buttons, knobs, and/or sliders to be subtle and yet clean and functional in the they look and don't make the piano look too electronic. Roland also has a new, brighter, easier to see OLED digital display screen and displays information in a contemporary and usable way with bright white characters and a black backgound as oppose the the previous back-lit blue type screens.. Plus...Roland has designed the key cover on most (but not all) of these models to have a 2-position key cover so that the first position can cover the control panel without covering the entire keyboard. This is great if you only want one setting for a song and don't want to see the control panel exposed or maybe you are not using the piano but don't want to cover the keys but just the control panel. It's a clever and useable feature and Roland did this with their previous models as well. Roland scores very big for these features as well in my opinion and these cabinets are just really difficult to beat, especially the LX708 with its very unusual and
impressive exterior design and extra cabinet height with the ability to actually prop open the lid to let the sound come out more towards the player through the opened lid.  The other Roland upright vertical models cannot do that. The LX708 is also the only piano in the line which is a fully built piano cabinet with full length sides and does not come apart and no assembly is needed. It comes as a fully built piano unlike the models below it which require the normal stand assembly that needs to be attached to the piano top which is the way most digital pianos work when it comes to assembly. The LX708 has a complete back on the piano so when you look behind it the piano back is not open like other digital piano cabinets, it does not come apart and looks fairly solid. It is not a "finished" back so you probably would not want to expose the back to the room so it's better to put it against a wall.

All of the Roland pianos (with the exception of the LX708) come with an upgraded "duet size" standard height bench that is longer than most of the competition and the bench also has music storage on the inside. It is unusual to find these larger duet size benches that have music storage in them because the other major brands usually have smaller benches with their pianos and some have no music storage on the inside. The LX708 has a special bench that comes with it that is not available on the other models which is a full size "height adjustable" matching bench with music storage inside. This is a really great bench to have but you can only get it on the top upright model LX708. The benches have the Roland logo on them and they look very attractive and are comfortable. So even the "little things" such as benches are nicely done in terms of cabinet/construction quality and makes the actual pianos look more impressive than they already are. Another thing about the cabinet construction is the way these pianos look with the key cover opened and closed. The Roland key covers slide out easily with the exception of the LX708 which folds downward with a slow-close cover. The aesthetics of the piano when that key cover is closed is really nice and adds another element of class to these cabinets.

All Roland Piano models come with an accessory package which includes a set of Roland stereo headphones, Roland music light, and  all the pianos have a 10 year parts & labor factory warranty to the original owner along with in-home service which is twice as long as their competitors. Roland is counting on the fact that their pianos are reliable and will last a long time and that's why they give such a long warranty...because they think they'll seldom need to repair these pianos. So when it comes to these pianos having good factory support and accessories to make the playing experience even better, Roland has done a great job in that area in my opinion. I have owned a number of Roland digital pianos in past years and they have been overall very reliable, although every digital piano manufacturer has an occasional issue with the electronics at some point, but Roland pianos are generally known to be reliable.

I did want to also highlight the 2 digital "grand" pianos which are the GP607 and GP609. Digital grand piano style cabinets are very popular these days because they generally provide a better, fuller sound that is less "directional" because the sound goes up into the air through speakers within the soundboard area of the piano and then through some bass speakers generally pointing down underneath the piano. Mini and full baby grand piano style cabinets are also very appealing because they have that "professional" piano look to them and many people really like that. The GP607 has been out for awhile and is very popular for Roland coming in a 3 foot deep cabinet available both in polished ebony and also polished white cabinets. The GP609 5' deep full baby grand piano is by far the most popular full size digital grand piano out there because it has the largest cabinet for a current model digital piano, sounds amazing through its huge internal speaker system and open lid, and comes in at a relatively low price as compared to other digital grand pianos such as the Yamaha AvantGrand N3X which is a 4' deep grand piano and is priced at about $17,000 discount store price as opposed to the Roland which comes in at about $11,000 store discount price. However, in my opinion he Roland GP609 does not come close to the Yamaha N3X in terms of key action, piano sound chip, and other functions, but for about $6,000 less and getting a cabinet that is 1-foot deeper and makes the cabinet larger with a bigger footprint, the Roland is still very popular because it is more affordable and for a lot of people it is more than enough in the way that it sounds and plays. A $6000 discount price for the 3' cabinet GP607 is still a bit much for a small digital grand piano in my opinion because you could just buy the new lower priced HP704 for about $3000 store discount price which is 1/2 the price and have the exact same piano with the exception of the cabinet design, control panel differences, app differences, and internal speaker system. So when it comes to the digital "grand piano" design, I do like what Roland is offering at the moment but there other digital grand pianos out there such as Yamaha CLP665GP and Samick SG500 which offer some compelling reasons to consider those models as well and they are quite a bit less money and have slightly larger cabinets which many people like. I think its also good to know that the GP607 and GP609 baby grands are a "generation" behind the other Roland pianos when it comes to the control panel, user interface, display screen technology, and overall design of the buttons, knobs, etc. The latest models HP702, HP704, LX705, LX706, and LX708 have a new operating system, new user interface, new and better OLED display screen, new sleeker and more intuitive control panel with round flush mounted light-up buttons instead of the much smaller and plainer looking rectangular buttons, along with an overall more contemporary design and layout. So even though the GP607 and GP609 are satisfying digital pianos to look at and play, their interface/control panel technology is already outdated as compared to these newer Roland models. I guess that's the "price you pay" for advancement in technology...wait long enough and the pianos will change and get even better.

In the final analysis, it is not the cabinet, connectivity, apps, or "bells & whistles" that should be the reasons you purchase a new digital piano, but it should be "how does the piano sound and feel when you play it?" Does it excite you and make you want to play often and inspire you to play better and become even more accomplished? Those are the reasons in my opinion that someone should purchase a particular digital piano...because it "musically moves you" and also if you can afford to pay for it. Since a piano is an "investment" and many people own them for years and years, spending a bit more money than you were planning on spending up front can yield better musical results which can justify the extra expenditure. Since I have already gone on record with my feelings about the LX series based on my experience playing all of them recently, I would be hesitant to purchase any of those LX models because I don't like the 4 preset piano sounds as they are now. It is true that you can possibly make the piano sound more realistic to "your ears" by changing and editing the many "Piano Designer"features within the piano. However, Roland does not provide, to my knowledge, any practical way to learn and understand how to use those many designer features in a way that makes sense so that you actually know what you are doing when you use them. The Roland owners manual tells you (barely) how to access the features and what they are supposed to do...but Roland does not explain how to do it and what it all actually means when you do it. There are literally hundreds of ways to change those features and hundreds of outcomes so that they hopefully work altogether to provide a better piano sound. But to understand which functions to use, why you'd want to use them, and how the piano will sound when you start changing all the parameters and functions, that is a difficult task for most people as far as I am concerned because I have personally used all those features and changed the settings in a variety of ways and the out-come can be bad or good depending on what you do. But my big response to all that would be..."why should anyone have to do all that to get the piano to sound good? The piano should sound its best right out of the box as soon as you power it up and start playing...and then all the other piano sounds should be equally as good and as authentic as one would expect from a great company like Roland. The Roland piano people would call those piano sounds in their LX piano models..."Sound Engines." The LX models have 2 distinct "sound engines called American and European with one variation of each of those 2 sound engines whereas the HP & GP pianos have only one "sound engine" with 3 variations. For me, the 3 pianos in this new piano line that I like best are the HP704, GP607 3' mini grand, and GP609 5' baby grand and this is because they have the "other" piano sound chip in them that don't have all the sound issues I have previously mentioned including having the issue with the "stretch tuning" note


If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

Black Friday Digital Piano Discounts Nov & Dec 2019 Announcement!

  Every year it seems that many US retail stores do special "Black Friday" sale prices in late November and early December that is typically lower than discount prices throughout the rest of the year. They do this because in some cases a retail store's overall yearly business depends on the last 4-5 weeks of the year and where buyers will spend their money on gifts and items for themselves. The "Black" in Black Friday means that stores make money overall as opposed to losing money. So with this in mind, it may be a good time to buy that special item you have been saving your money for.

When it comes to new digital pianos, how do you really know if the US ad price you are seeing is a good price, let alone the best ad price out there for that new piano you are hoping to buy? Well..that's where I can help you. I know what a great low discount price is, and I also know when an advertised price isn't very low and could be lower, especially based on what you can normally buy it for during the year. In many cases I can help you find a lowerprice than an advertised Black Friday discount price on new digital pianos regardless of brand and regardless of whether it's at internet stores, Amazon, eBay, local stores, etc. It's sometimes difficult to tell if Black Friday prices are actually lower or not, especially on digital pianos.

To be sure you are getting a great price in the US (regardless of where you saw it) and before you make a purchase, just email me the piano brand and model number of the new digital piano you would like to purchase along with the ad/quoted price you saw (including a link to the ad) with the name of the store. If you do not have access to an ad link, then that will be OK, as long as you provide me with the name of the internet or local store and your zip code. Just give me as much info as you have and that will help me to help you. I can tell you quickly whether you should buy it or not for the quoted price. Also, please let me know if there are any accessories included in that price or if you'll need to pay local sales tax? 

As soon as you email me this info I will respond to you usually within the hour between 9am-9pm Mountain time (one hour later than Pacific time). I will tell you if the price you are seeing is a great price or not. If it is not, then I can usually show you how and where you can buy for less and in most cases with Free Shipping and No sales Tax.

This is a free service I provide to help people in the US and there is no obligation to do anything. After many years of experience in knowing what pianos should sell for, I will give you free advice so you can save the most money on new pianos from Yamaha, Kawai, Roland, Casio, Korg, Kurzweil, Artesia, Samick, and others so you can give even more great presents to the people you love:). Christmas is a great time of year and saving a little extra money on big purchases like digital pianos can go a long way.
*Below are some recent examples of new digital pianos that I find to be very unique in their cabinet color, cabinet design, and/or playability that are part of a manufacturer Black Friday Special. Check out my reviews of these models by clicking on their picture as they could be great Christmas gifts for someone you love...or even for yourself! Ask me about Black Friday prices on these and other pianos.

New Samick SG310/SG450 Polished Red & Polished White 4' Digital Grand - Samick Digital Grand Piano Review

New Kawai ES8 Contemporary home piano with advanced playing technology 
- Kawai ES8 Review
If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

Cyber Monday Digital Piano Update - November 2019 -  

This year November 2019 many US retail stores along with Amazon.com will have special "Cyber Monday" sale prices that is typically lower than discount prices throughout the rest of the year. They do this because in some cases a retail store's overall yearly business depends on the last 4-5 weeks of the year and where buyers will spend their money on gifts and items for themselves. Cyber Monday (aka:Cyber Week) is really an extension of Black Friday which means that stores make more money overall as opposed to losing money. So with this in mind, it may be a good time to buy that special item you have been saving your money for.

When it comes to new digital pianos, how do you really know if the US ad price you are seeing is a good price, let alone the best ad price out there for that new piano you are hoping to buy? Well..that's where we can help you. I know what a great low discount price is, and I also know when an advertised price isn't very low and could be lower, especially based on what you can normally buy it for during the year. In many cases I can help you find a LOWER PRICE than an advertised Cyber Monday/Cyber Week discount price on new digital pianos regardless of brand and regardless of whether it's at internet stores, Amazon, eBay, etc. It's sometimes difficult to tell if Cyber Monday prices are actually lower or not, especially on digital pianos.

To be sure you are getting a great price in the US (regardless of where you saw it) and before you make a purchase, just email me the piano brand and model number of the new digital piano you would like to purchase along with the ad/quoted price you saw (including a link to the ad) with the name of the store. If you do not have access to an ad link, then that will be OK, as long as you provide me with the name of the internet or local store and your zip code. Just give me as much info as you have and that will help me to help you. I can tell you quickly whether you should buy it or not for the quoted price. Also, please let me know if there are any accessories included in that price or if you'll need to pay local sales tax?

As soon as you email me this info I will respond to you usually within the hour between 9am-9pm Mountain time (one hour later than Pacific time). I will tell you if the price you are seeing is a great price or not. If it is not, then I can usually show you how and where you can buy for less and in most cases with Free Shipping and No sales Tax.

This is a free service I provide to help people in the US and there is no obligation to do anything. After many years of experience in knowing what pianos should sell for, I will give you free advice so you can save the most money on new pianos from Yamaha, Kawai, Roland, Casio, Korg, Kurzweil, Artesia, Samick, and others so you can give even more great presents to the people you love:). Christmas is a great time of year and saving a little extra money on big purchases like digital pianos can go a long way.

*Below are some recent examples of new digital pianos that I find to be very unique in their cabinet color, cabinet design, and/or playability that are part of a manufacturer Cyber Monday/Week Special. Check out my reviews of these models by clicking on their picture as they could be great Christmas gifts for someone you love...or even for yourself! Ask me about Cyber Monday prices on these and other pianos.


New Samick SG120/SG550 Polished Digital Grand Pianos available in 3 polished cabinet colors. - Samick Digital Grand Piano Review

New Kawai ES8 Contemporary digital piano with advanced playing technology 
- Kawai ES8 Review


If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

* I recommend eMedia educational software. If you decide to make a purchase after clicking on link below, I have arranged a big discount for you direct with eMedia for their educational software and that discount price is displayed through this link only! I want to see everyone learn to play and enjoy piano!

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW - November 1, 2019 - Casio PX870 Digital Piano (internet discount price $999US). So...what does a top digital piano manufacturer do to improve their previously popular and now discontinued model called the PX860 that had been out for quite awhile? Well of course you try to make it even better, so the question is, did Casio do that with this newer PX870? In my opinion the answer is a definite...YES, and in this price range under $1000 Casio has now risen to the top of all new digital pianos including Yamaha, Kawai, and Roland. But that is really one of Casio's big strengths...focusing their attention on digital piano technology under $1000, and in my opinion they did a great job with this model.

🎹 Also, if after reading this review you would like to get one of these PX870's at a special lower price than the current Amazon or internet ad price incl free shipping, no tax, brand new with new warranty, then please contact me right away. 😀 
    
The 2019 Casio PX870, available in both matte black, matte brown, and matte white is normally sold at $999 internet discount price, has some big improvements over previous models but retains some of the popular features from the prior discontinued model PX860. Important features on the new model include a back privacy panel on the cabinet, sliding key cover and compact size. But the PX870 model now has an improved piano sound sample which has been upgraded in realism and piano dynamic range & expression along with the larger sustain pedal decay volume & decay time having been obviously improved and lengthened which is a welcome change, especially for those pianists who play at a more advanced skill level. On top of that the internal speaker system has also been upgraded in a way that projects the sound out of the piano in a more natural way which no other piano in this price range has done before. So for $999US this new PX870 is quite impressive to me and the winner in a furniture cabinet digital piano in this price range over any other brand or model as far as I am concerned, and I have played and examined them all including this one.

With regard to the Casio company, just about everyone knows that name for every day consumer electronic products such as calculators, watches, cash registers, projectors, electronic keyboards, and many other items for the last 60+ years. Casio of Japan is a large world-wide company which has the reputation for packing a lot of cutting edge technology into reliable low priced products that give you a "big bang" for the buck. With their home & pro digital pianos they do the same thing and it just keeps getting better every time they come out with a new model. Unlike Yamaha & Kawai, Casio does not produce regular acoustic pianos and unlike Roland they don't produce high priced electronic pro keyboards, guitars, drums, or other high end music gear. But what Casio does well in my opinion is make great innovative and competitive digital pianos for very low prices using the latest and greatest technology in a way that no other digital piano company has done so far under $1000. So when it comes to getting the most bang for your buck I can tell you right now that based on my playing experience with this model, everything I have seen & heard on the 2018 Casio PX870 in its compact furniture cabinet is very impressive. The PX860 may still be available at places on-line but with the price of the two models being just $100 apart right now I see very little reason to purchase a PX860 and instead I would definitely recommend the PX870 being the better option for sure.

Here are the top 7 differences between the previous PX860 and the new PX870:

1. The piano sound is better than the PX860 because the piano sound chip was upgraded to be even more natural like a real piano with better expression and more organic piano tonal elements than before. You can really tell the difference if listening to both models. Also there is one more acoustic piano sound added along with some of the non-piano instruments that have been re-voiced and improved for greater authenticity. The stereo strings, choirs, harpsichord, electric pianos, etc, really do sound good and are a joy to play especially as compared to other digital pianos in this price range.

2. The sustain pedal decay time has dramatically improved so that when you hold down the sustain-damper pedal you will hear more sustain volume and noticeably more sustain decay time than ever before and when that happens you get a more organic & natural piano sound particularly when playing legato and using more sustain pedaling. The notes of the piano sound mix together more evenly and produce a smoother and more balanced tonal expression across the entire 88 keys that was not able to be achieved on the previous PX860.

3. The speaker projection system has changed on the PX870. The former PX860 had a hinged lid where part of the lid could be propped up so the piano sound could come out of the piano top. That was a very good idea but the down-side was that with the lid propped open, you could not rest any music, music lamp, or any other items on the piano top because they would fall off. Casio designed a new speaker projection system that allows the piano sound to come up and out of the piano top without the need of a lid. There is a brand new speaker system in the piano that diverts part of the piano sound up and out through a long but narrow speaker grill that goes the length of the piano top and is inset and flush with the top. It's located more towards the back top of the piano. The piano sound is also projected forward through speakers in the piano. In this way there is better sound disbursement and top remains closed so it has a sleeker look, no more hinged lid like the previous model that could potentially break, and you can put things on the piano top without those items sliding off because of the previous models' partially raised and tilted lid. These are very well designed improvements that upgrades this new model in a noticeable way.

4. The synthetic ivory white keys have been re-textured with a new material that brings the touch/feel of the keys even closer to that of the popular natural ivory acoustic pianos of past years...a noticeable improvement with a smoother feel.

5. The headphone experience has been improved over the PX860 with new "headphone mode" with improved electronics that creates a more realistic stereo listening environment when using any good stereo headphones

6. A Volume Sync system has been added to the PX870 which allows the piano to have better low frequency response when playing the piano at lower volumes which is a good thing. This type of electronics has been available in digital pianos before but not in this price range.

7. The cabinet has been upgraded to look better with fewer seams in the case as compared with the previous model and the control panel buttons have been re-positioned to the left side of the keyboard to make the piano look simpler in design and less cluttered than before. Also the physical cabinet assembly process is more intuitive than on the previous model with cabinet parts able to be connected more easily.

8. Casio also has a new proprietary iOS/Android app for the PX870 called "Chordana" which allows the piano to be connected to the app on your iPad for further (and better) control of functions & features. The PX870 controller app makes using the PX870 a breezeas compared to using previous models and trying to figure out how to access many of the piano features. Now those functions can be accessed on the PX870 using your tablet color touch screen with a very intuitive app with many screen/page choices to control all of the major functions of the piano like never before in a Casio digital piano. Other digital piano brands have controller apps as well, but the Casio Chordana seems to be much more advanced and also includes some educational music games, song playing features, and PDF sheet music scores of the many built-in piano songs within the PX870. If you do not have a digital tablet (like iPad, etc) then the new PX870 would be a good excuse to get one!

As far as the the rest of the piano goes, and especially with the key action, Casio has kept their popular 3-sensor per key-weighted-graded piano style key action in the PX870 which was also in the former PX860. I believe they're doing this because so many people who owned the PX860 really liked the key weight, balance, and movement of that key action so it has not changed. When it comes to shopping for a new digital piano, the key action should be considered the most important part of the decision making process for most people including piano students. Personally I like the Casio key action better than most other cabinet piano under $1000US internet price and it feels like an acoustic piano in a number of ways. Be aware that no digital piano in this price range actually feels exactly like a real acoustic piano, but this one comes pretty close and for most people, including advanced players you can take your music pretty far on this new piano.

Another interesting feature Casio has created is their new reverb settings call Hall Simulation effects which gives the stereo acoustic piano sound more spacious effects such as you would hear in a large concert hall or church where there is natural echo that occurs when playing an instrument. There is a variety of different "Hall Effects" you can choose from and they really are impressive because you don't normally find this kind of feature on a digital piano in this price range. It adds to the sonic presence of the acoustic piano sounds and can make the piano more enjoyable to play. I have heard these kinds of effects before in other higher priced digital instruments and they can add to the realism of piano playing, but these effects are not always necessary or appropriate especially with some pop or jazz. But overall it does make a huge difference

A big advantage not offered on other digital pianos in this price range is the 256-note polyphony piano sound processing technology.  More polyphony note processing power helps to keep notes from electronically dropping out when playing difficult & musically complex passages along with being able to layer two sounds together and using the damper pedal without note dropout when playing multiple notes together at the same time. Also, like many name brand digital pianos including Yamaha, Kawai, and Roland, the PX870 offers the "half-damper" pedal sustain feature with pedal resonance effect which helps recreate the real acoustic piano pedaling  damper/sustain sound for more intermediate to advanced piano music. For those students and recreational players who are at a more beginner skill level, they will have something to grow into instead of grow out of, and because of this your piano teacher (assuming you have one) will be happy too.

The PX870 is upgraded in big noticeable ways over its competition such as Yamaha in this price range. Although no digital piano that I know of actually sounds exactly like a real acoustic grand piano (I play real acoustic grand pianos and know what I'm talking about), the new PX870 gives you the definite impression that you are playing a real acoustic piano more than other brands and models do in this price range in my opinion. The dynamic range tonal change when playing the keys softly or with greater force is noticeably wider than Yamaha and allows for a greater range of musical expression. This is especially important if you are taking lessons from a good teacher or you are at a higher playing skill level. The sonic quality of the Casio's new piano sound especially going through its new speaker projection system in the top of the piano is very impressive across the entire keyboard and is something which can be enjoyed no matter what type of music you play.  If you are able to spend more money and/or are at a higher playing skill level (or want to be), then there are certainly other digital pianos to consider in a higher price range

Casio has included in the new PX870 another popular feature from the prior model PX860 which is a music library that consists of 10 orchestra classical songs (plus more you can download from an internet site) which you can play along with using the piano sounds from the piano. The 10 songs are in an audio wav format (recorded from an actual live orchestra) and it sounds just like a real recording of the instruments as you would have on a regular CD. The 10 songs are standard classical music and although they are fun to play along with and do sound good, you would need to be able to read music (or play by ear) and play along at the song skill level so that you could interact with the music properly. You can slow down the songs a bit which is helpful for learning, mute either right or left hand sound to play-along with and also do a few other things with the orchestra accompaniment which are helpful for learning. It's a very cool feature and sounds good but there are only the 10 built-in songs available which are all in the classical category. The PX870 also has 60 built-in well known classical piano songs that you can play along with using the new Chordana app and also displays the sheet music to those songs. You pretty much have to know how to read music at a bit more advanced sight reading level for those songs to play them accurately, but you can also just play along by ear and have some fun doing it that way.

Another impressive feature that Casio has included in the PX870 is "wav file" audio recording like they had in the previous model. This features allows you to record yourself as an audio recording (CD quality) and save it to a USB flashdrive in the piano. Then you can take that recording in the flashdrive and play it back on the piano and also plug the flash drive into your computer and play it back there. You can also email that song to your friends and relatives so they can hear it on their computer just as you played it. Nice feature to impress your friends and relatives and you can convert that file to MP3 on your computer for posting on social media sites. Beyond that, you can import that music into computer music programs for music education, composing, song arranging, etc for further musical interaction. Another very useful recording and playback feature is the 2-track left & right hand MIDI recorder. This feature enables the student of player to record their left and right hand parts independently from each other and then you can play either part back and play the other part live along with it. This is just like a teacher would do it playing one hand while the student plays the other hand. Now you can do the same thing all by yourself and slow down playback tempo while practicing your parts...very cool.

As I mentioned earlier, the new Casio PX870 "piano top" audio projection system is a very innovative feature not found on any digital piano I know of under $1000 (see pic on left). The piano sounds can rise out of the top of the piano at all times through a special top speaker system with sound coming through a speaker grill at the top back portion of the cabinet going the length of the piano top (see left pic)  rather than be on a hinged lid like the previous model. This allows for a continual projection of the piano coming out of the piano like a grand piano would do through its open lid. The downside of the previous model hinged lid is that you needed to prop it open on an angle and then could not rest anything on the top of the piano like a music lamp, sheet music, or other objects because they would fall off. Also the extra sound could only be heard by the "player" and not coming up into the room. In my opinion this new sound projection speaker system gives the player and listener a more realistic piano playing and listening experience. The internal 40 watt 4-speaker sound system is heard more like a baby grand would be with the top opened up. The overall sound on this model can be quite loud and resonate so there is no need to attach external speakers to this piano in my opinion and the volume and quality of sound from the piano will easily fill up a big room.

Other features of this new piano include split & layering of instrument tones, an adjustable digital metronome for rhythm & timing training, key touch sensitivity adjustments to personalize your playing, duet keyboard function allowing for two people to play at the same time, and other useful features including two stereo headphone jacks for two pairs of headphones so you and another person can have private practice. One thing I was a bit disappointed about on the PX870 is that it does not have something that the former PX860 did have and that feature is the audio line output jacks. This type of connectivity can be important if you want to connect your piano to an external sound system through dual mono outputs to send the stereo signal out that way. On the PX870 you instead can connect from the piano to an external sound system via one of the stereo output jacks so it can work that way. On most digital pianos if you connect in that fashion then once you are plugged into the headphone jack then the internal speakers of the piano shut off which is very inconvenient. However, Casio has wisely included a special speaker output mode on the PX870 that you can activate which will keep the internal speakers on even if a headphone jack is being used...and that's pretty cool.

It is important to note that the PX870 (like the former PX860) piano does not have built-in drum rhythms, automatic chords, music styles, hundreds of instrument sounds, multi-track General MIDI song playback, LCD display screen, or other so-called "bells & whistles) that can be useful to some people (such as is on the Casio PX780 $899US internet price), but it was not designed to be that way. The PX870 is focused primarily on the piano playing experience and is a very impressive piano for its price, especially as compared to any other digital piano brand or model near this price range whether you are a beginner student or more advanced player. If you want some additional interactive features for the PX870 you can easily connect to an iPad (iOS device) and experience some very cool interactive piano educational & fun technology that way which both adults and children will enjoy. I use that feature (iPad apps) all the time in my teaching studio and my students love it and it helps motivates them to want to "practice" more often and that's normally a challenge for many students to do:).

Speaking of educational apps, as I mentioned earlier, Casio has just come out with their own extensive iOS and Android app for the PX870 digital piano called Chordana Play which, for the first time in the Casio company history, allows users of their newest digital pianos, including the PX870, to control many of the most popular features in their new digital piano directly from a mobile or tablet device connected to the USB output of their digital piano. Until now on Casio digital pianos, controlling the sounds, built-in songs, and digital features such as layering, recording, etc had to be done from the piano control panel. Although this is a fairly intuitive process on Casio pianos overall for many of their functions, there are some features that are not as as intuitive to use and this is true for the other digital piano brands as well. So Casio has PX870 features that can be directly and remotely controlled from your tablet or mobile device using the app's very cool user interface from your device color touch screen along with other features in the app such as educational games, sheet music, and a number of other things that exist in Chordana Play. Having this new controller app along with what you can do on the piano without the app makes this new PX870 fairly unbeatable in my opinion, especially given its lower price under $1000.

This digital piano has a big, loud, bold piano sound which can replace a regular upright piano along with enough digital features to make the learning and piano playing experience fun and gratifying for most people seeking a quality instrument in a low price range. Speaking of low prices, in the distant past I would have also recommended that people consider buying a good used acoustic or digital piano instead of a new one. However, the digital pianos out now like the Casio PX870 are so improved and relatively inexpensive that it makes buying a used acoustic or digital piano almost a non-issue in my opinion, and I play & own acoustic pianos in my studio. Plus, you take a risk when you buy a used piano because it is purchased "as is" and you get no factory warranty. There are always risks buying anything used because there are no guarantees they will work properly or stay in tune for very long assuming it's an acoustic piano (yearly tunings are expensive). So do yourself a favor, if you are looking to keep the price near or below $1000US price range, other than cabinet design which is always a subjective choice, as far as piano playing goes, in my experienced opinion the new Casio PX870 is a clear winner in this price range for a furniture cabinet piano that is reliable and comes with a long 3 year factory warranty and also has vibrant piano sound, very nice piano key action, good pedaling functions, and enough extra features to keep you busy for many years.

* I also recommend the Casio PX780 digital piano ($899 internet price and yes it has a noticeably similar model number to the new PX870) as I believe it's one that should be considered in the under $1000 price range for a digital piano which has many more "bells & whistles." This is because it has the same key action movement and internal 40 watt audio power as the PX870 (but not the same speakers or speaker projection system), and also as I said, it has many more useful features (some people call them "bells & whistles") for educational purposes and fun. Instead of 256-note upgraded polyphony memory chip found in the PX870 which certainly offers a great piano sound with more organic acoustic elements than the PX780 along with the sound projection system, the PX780 instead has a 128-note polyphony piano memory chip which is normally sufficient for many people, but with many more useful digital features and functions. It just depends on what your musical goal is. I recommend you read my review of the PX780 at the following link to find out more about it: Casio PX780 Review

If you want more info on new digital pianos and even LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

REVIEW - Nov 2019 - Korg B2 Digital Piano - First time ever "Portable" Grand Piano Under $500! The Korg B2 ($499 price) portable digital piano just came out on the market and not many people know about this new digital piano yet or have actually played it. Well...I have played it many times already and know a lot about it and here's what I have discovered...it is the very first portable digital piano under $500 that I have ever played in my 40 years of doing this that I can truly say sounds like an actual grand piano. Normally any digital piano under $500 sounds like a toy in comparison to any acoustic piano much less a grand piano. They all sound very artificial for their piano sound, have little expression or dynamic range, and have weak frequency range, especially in the bass frequencies. Beyond that the pedal sustain/decay time on all digital pianos under $500 is normally very short and weak because the piano technology in those digital pianos simply is not up to the task of reproducing the piano sound elements that you may otherwise get if you spent a lot more money on a more expensive digital piano. Beyond that, the internal speaker systems on these other digital pianos under $500 are usually very weak and they just can't handle a big piano sound coming through those small speakers and amplifiers. 


The Korg B2 at $499 just about left me speechless (and that's really hard to do:) after I got through playing it for the very first time. The rich, full tone and long, deep sustained tones when using the damper pedal system was just more than I ever expected from an instrument like this, especially Korg. Korg has never been known for good digital pianos under $500 in terms of something that sounds realistic and plays great. They have had stuff out before in this price range but I have never liked them, especially compared to the other top brands under $500 including Yamaha, Casio, and Roland. I have liked other Korg home digital pianos around or above $1000 and they have some great models in that price range out now which I have reviewed here on this blog.  Korg is also famous in having incredible digital piano technology in their pro stage pianos which can easily cost in excess of $2000 to $3000 or more and this is the secret of the B2...the digital piano technology in this new model comes directly from their pro stage digital piano called the "Grandstage" which sells for $2199 on-line price. The Grandstage has a brand new "super chip" that has some absolutely amazing piano sound technology in it that comes from 5 distinct famous 9' acoustic concert grand pianos including an American Steinway, Austrian Bosendorfer, Japanese Yamaha, German Bechstein, and Italian Fazioli. These grand pianos are not only sampled in a very sophisticated way, but there are no discernible sample loop points which typically would make the piano sound fake and processed. This technology is being used in the new Korg B2 and the way it sounds is absolutely amazing. You would never guess that the B2 only costs $499 by the way it plays and sounds.  The tonal dynamic range and expression is so wide from very soft tone to bright and everything in between that it's the first piano under $500 I have played that sounds so expressive which is something that has been otherwise impossible to find in this price range. The sound is also even and resonate across all 88-keys and balanced nicely so that all the octaves resonate evenly unlike other digital pianos with very uneven volumes and piano sounds in different parts of the keyboard in different octaves. In other words, this sounds like a real piano, the others don't. With 120 note polyphony sound chip there is plenty of polyphony piano power and there was no note dropout even when I was playing complex pieces of music because Korg has a proprietary way of handling their polyphony chip which then causes no note drop-out at all even with the stereo grand piano sounds....very impressive.

The key action in the B2 is also impressive in that it is responsive, quick, has nice even weighted, graded touch, and is noticeably quiet whereas some of these key action make a lot of noise as the keys are moving up and down. It is a proprietary key action designed by Korg and they also use it in some of their popular stage digital pianos. I didn't think I would necessarily like the key action in this model because some of the past Korg key actions were unimpressive to me but in this case the key action really matches the stereo grand piano sound chip in how they respond together in a seamless way. One of the more surprising things about this piano sound is the sustain time (aka:decay time) and how long it holds out along with how powerful it is in terms of volume. It's really like playing an actual acoustic grand piano in that way because acoustic grands have that same characteristic because you hear long, lush tone when the notes are being held while using your sustain/damper pedal. A single pedal comes with the B2 but you can also get the triple pedal unit which then provides the more advanced half-damper pedal which gives you a variable amount of sustain control rather than just having it be on or off.


Basically, if all this piano had were these 5 different grand piano sounds and it only played piano that would be enough for me at the low $499 price. There are a lot of people who just want great piano sound and nothing else, but the B2 does have more features and functions in it too. It has a number of other instrument tones (12 total including the acoustic piano sounds) with some excellent vintage electric pianos, organs, strings, and baroque harpsichord. One thing this model is not able to do is layer/mix or split the instrument sounds which most other digital pianos can do. This is a disappointment to me because I personally enjoy doing those kind of things to the sounds but I do understand Korg's thinking here which is in an effort to keep down cost to $499, they had to make some decisions on what their focus was in designing and producing this piano and it was obviously focused on the piano playing experience and not really for much else. So even though you cannot mix 2 sounds together on this model nor is there a recording feature on this model, there are ways around it like connecting an iPad by the USB/MIDI connection and then using Garage Band or some other sound app which you can send (stream) that extra additional through the piano and then overlay that sound on top of any Korg sound in the piano and have those two sounds playing together every time you play the B2 keys. The USB/MID connection in the B2 takes care of the B2 triggering the sounds in the app while that connection also takes care of automatic audio streaming from the external device into the Korg speaker system so that you can hear your iPad sound come directly through the B2. Few other digital pianos can do "audio streaming" through a USB MIDI connection so this is a very cool feature in the B2 and enables you to do some musical things many other digital pianos cannot do. 

One of the other things I really like about this digital piano is the internal speaker system. In all the other digital pianos under $500 the internal speaker systems are OK, but very basic and can make the piano sound weak, tinny, anemic, and/or very artificial with little resonance or richness. But that's what people have come to expect with digital pianos in this price range...except in the new B2. The B2 has a huge internal 30 watt stereo sound system housed in a built-in sound chamber which really makes the entire spectrum of frequency range come through from the low bass tones, to the mid-range tones, and also generating clear higher frequency tones without being tinny, weak, or shrill. Putting Korg's upscale grand piano sound-chip through this massive internal speaker system in this compact $499 portable digital piano was something I really did not expect and this was also a surprise to me and way beyond what any other digital piano company has done in their products in this price range.


The Korg B2 does have a few useful digital features like a digital metronome for rhythm & timing training which is nice, a digital transpose function so that you can instantly electronically change the key you are in so that when you play you can play the song in the key it's written but you can hear it come out in a different key to perhaps get it into your vocal range better. The piano also has digital reverb & chorus effects which helps some of the instruments sound even more realistic as well as touch sensitivity control for your finger touch depending if you want the piano sound to come in quicker or less quickly with a hard, medium, or easy touch. So Korg does offer some basic but useful features that rounds out the B2 with just enough things in it to serve most music needs. The B2 also has a stereo headphone jack output and a stereo mini jack audio input so you can run external audio devices through the B2 30-watt stereo speaker system and this a very cool feature with most other digital pianos do not have in this price range.

The control panel on the B2 is easy to use, the buttons have very nice tactile feel to them and you access the basic features of the piano through these buttons. A few of the features have to be accessed through the function button and then pressing a specific white or black key to trigger that function so you need to find that feature and the way to access it out of a chart in the owners manual so it's really no evident on the piano itself. There is no LED or LCD user display screen so it's less intuitive that way. However, as I mentioned earlier, Korg is obviously trying to keep the costs down on this model so they could include this awesome piano playing experience and so to that end...this definitely did that. The B2 only weighs a mere 25 lbs so it is super lightweight but appears to be well built and well designed in terms of cabinet, elegant looks, the large music rack included, and just the fit and finish of body parts and components. You get your choice of either a matte black finish or matte white finish and for another $100 more you can get the entire piano-furniture stand-triple pedal combo package which is a cheap price for all those extras in our opinion.

The bottom line is...when you play and hear this new portable digital piano with its extremely impressive grand piano sound with all those resonances and natural sounding string vibrations and other organic grand piano content and you feel how quick and responsive this Korg key action is along with that key action being very quiet in key movement (no clicking, clacking, or noisy keys), what most people are saying who have had an opportunity to play and/or hear this new Korg B2 piano is..."sign me up!" By the way, we are not suggesting the B2 is as good as some of the digital pianos in the higher price ranges near or above $1000, because those pianos offer a more upgraded, more natural piano playing experience. But what we are saying is there is no good reason I can think of why anyone would want to buy any other brand or model digital piano under $500 unless they want a "toy" or they just cannot afford the $500 bucks. But if you're going to spend $300 or $400, then we advise you "stretch yourself" financially or save your pennies until you can get a new Korg B2 rather than spending it on something inferior and then wishing you would have spent the extra money. Oh and one more thing. All major digital piano manufacturers have announced a 10% price increase on their digital pianos between now and January 1st because of price increase to to the international tariffs going into place. Yamaha has already started putting their 10% price increases into place right now as we speak. So whatever digital piano you want to buy, do it now to get it at the current lower price (if it has not gone up already) and while these piano manufacturers have them in stock because people are already buying them up for the holiday season!

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW - November 2, 2019 -  Yamaha YDP-S34 Digital Piano - Recommended for 2019 - The Yamaha piano company is certainly in the top three of the most well known digital piano brands in the world and that company continues to come out with impressive and innovative digital pianos and the new Arius series YDPS34 ($999US internet discount price) is no exception. This is the first digital piano model in their Arius series for under $1000 that Yamaha has come out with in a compact contemporary "flat-top" furniture cabinet which can more easily fit into smaller spaces, and although the cabinet takes up a small footprint, it can still put out a loud volume. I call it a "flat-top" because when the key cover is closed up, the keyboard area is flat unlike a traditional furniture cabinet digital piano which is typically not flat on top when the key cover is closed. Actually the piano top from front to back is not completely flat because there is a small portion of the piano (on top) towards the back of the piano that is slightly raised about 1/2" directly behind the silver trim. The YDPS34 (I call this model the S34 to be more concise) digital piano is simplistic in design and function, but don't let that fool you because it does offer a lot of cool features "under the hood" which I'll talk more about later. But for now I will focus on the main attributes of this piano which include key action feel, piano sound quality, and pedaling response. These three main features is what playing a piano is all about and what piano shoppers should be most concerned with. All the other stuff on digital pianos these days are nice to have but it is the actual piano playing experience that really counts and why you should ultimately purchase a digital piano. *Please click on pics for larger views



The piano style key action in this model is their "entry level" GHS model key action which Yamaha has used for many years in a number of popular models in the lower price ranges including the current models YDP144, YDP103, P45, DGX660, and the P125 all under $1100US internet discount price. So now there are six models of Yamaha digital pianos in the lower price range using this same key action. Although the GHS key action is a fairly good one overall in this price range, it really does not feel like an acoustic piano key action. In a real acoustic grand piano when you press down the keys, you should not feel a big amount of upward pressure or upward resistance to pressing any keys down. In other words, when holding down a key and then letting it back up (commonly called "key return"), the amount of pressure (upweight) from the key pushing your fingers back up should not feel like your fingers are being forced back up too hard & quickly like a spring would do. Acoustic upright pianos can have a firmer touch than grand pianos so this upward feeling is more pronounced on a real upright piano. So actually the S34 is more like an upright piano in that way. The GHS key action has a noticeably more forceful pressure for the key going up after a key is depressed than some other digital pianos I have played. A piano key action should have less pressure pushing up but still go up quickly, should be more subtle, and less forceful than what is found in the S34 digital piano. The upward pressure is most apparent when trying to play softly and lightly on the keys as opposed to playing the keys hard with more force. Generally speaking, younger children with seldom used little finger muscles will notice the upward pressure of the keys much more than older kids or adults, especially people who have been playing piano for a long time. That's why a good piano player playing on a great piano key action will sometimes say "that key action plays like butter." What that piano player means is that when he or she is playing lightly, the keys move up & down so easily without much effort...smooth and light with lighter upward key pressure...flowing like melted butter. However, when that same player is playing the keys of a great key action forcefully with a lot of velocity, then that key action still responds in a way which allows full dynamic tonal expression but does not work against the player, but works with them.

With regard to this key action overall, if you are a student learning to play piano then the GHS key action is fine until you start progressing in your skills and move up to the next level. Being a long time piano teacher having taught thousands of students over my career, I can tell you first hand that when a student continues to practice and then develops a real love for playing music on a piano, they will build up playing habits and muscle memory in their fingers when they play on one instrument for a long time. Then if they progress to a better, more realistic digital piano (or acoustic piano) later on, they may need to "re-train" their fingers to play on that new instrument because it will likely be different in key action and sound than what their used to. The Yamaha GHS key action is also known to be a bit noisier when the keys move as opposed to the higher priced Yamaha digital pianos with the GH and NWX key actions, but overall the GHS action is still quiet as compared to other digital piano key actions I have heard. But having said all of this about the GHS key action, overall it should be fine for many people if just playing recreationally or for beginner piano students and the key action is also durable based on my long time experience with it. The feel of the keytops is good with the white keys being gloss white plastic and the black keys having a matte black feel to them. As I said before, the GHS key action in this YDPS34 still does a good job in offering a satisfactory piano playing experience in this price range, even for people like me who play at an advanced skill level. However, the S34 is not a piano I would personally choose if there were other good choices in or around this price or I was willing to spend more money on a more advanced model, and there definitely are other choices out there which I will briefly discuss later.

When it comes to the piano sound itself, Yamaha has an all new piano sound chip in this new model and that piano sound is called "CFX sampling" which derives the actual piano sound sample from a real Yamaha acoustic grand piano called the CFX series grand. Unlike previous Yamaha digital piano models in the Arius series such as the YDP102 and YDP143, the piano sound sample in this new S34 is improved in terms of adding more realistic tonal elements to the piano sound such as not only damper resonance, but also string resonance and key-off samples and the damper-sustain decay time when holding down a key or holding down the sustain pedal is noticeably longer in duration and more natural in decay, which is a nice improvement as compared to the older Yamaha sound sample technology. The piano sound chip is also 192-note polyphonic piano processing power which is the power of the sound chip to sustain many notes together at one time when playing more complex music and layering two sounds together or using the digital recorder extensively. This is more than enough polyphony power to play more advanced complex music in terms of sustained notes when playing music and also using the damper-sustain pedal at the same time. Most digital pianos go from about 120-note polyphony to 256-note polyphony all of which is generally enough for most people playing at recreational levels and even at advanced levels. The number of polyphonic notes is not the only indicator of the piano quality but also the way the piano sampling process is done.

What I expected when I first played this piano was to not only hear some good piano sound, but to also "feel it" especially in the bass range like you would in a good acoustic piano. However, for some reason when playing any of the 3 different acoustic piano sounds that are offered on this model including the CFX grand (the fullest stereo piano sound offered in this model), Mellow grand (quite muted and mellow with low dynamic range), or Pop grand (very bright and sharp as pop piano sound usually is), the piano sound coming through the internal speakers of this piano is somewhat boxy, muffled, mid-rangy in tone without much distinction in the higher frequencies and the lower bass frequencies and definitely does not have good bass response like I have heard in other digital pianos in or around this price range. In other words, the piano sound coming through the internal speakers is somewhat artificial in flavor and not full and rich in tone like I was expecting, especially with Yamaha touting their CFX grand piano sampled sound. The volume of the S34 is definitely loud enough when the master volume is turned up, but it's the tone of the piano sound which is not what I expected, especially from an improved piano sound chip over other Yamaha models. Actually the piano tone in this model is better and not as artificial when playing with much lower volume, but it has harsher tone when playing with more volume because of the way it comes through the internal speaker system at higher volumes...and when I am talking about higher volume, I am not talking about "blasting out your windows" type of volume...but I am talking about a normal volume to hear the piano sound in a way that would be more like a real piano. I guess the best way to put it is that the the S34 sounds like a little old acoustic spinet piano to me instead of a new full sounding taller upright or grand piano. That is not necessary a bad thing but in my opinion all that Yamaha grand piano sampling technology is certainly not being utilized in this model as it should have been.

As far as the internal speaker system and how the piano tone comes out of it or is disbursed, the two power amplifiers have 16 watts of total power going through two 4 3/4" speakers which is slightly more powerful than the higher priced Yamaha YDP144 ($1099US internet price) with a total of 12 watts of power. However, the YDP144 sounds better to me in terms of tonal clarity than the new S34 and the YDP144 sounds loud enough as well. The newer Casio PX870 digital piano at $999US internet discount price is far better in my opinion with regard to tonal clarity and bass response through its internal speaker system. The Casio PX870 has four speakers going through 40 watts of power instead of just 16 watts of power through two speakers in the Arius S34. The speakers in the S34 are housed in 2 plastic rectangular enclosures situated underneath the piano on either side and pointing downward to the floor with the sound coming through small grill openings in the plastic enclosures. I don't know if it's the speakers themselves and lack of quality of those speakers, the plastic boxes in which the speakers are in, or the fact that the sound is pointing towards the ground under the piano, or perhaps all of those reasons. But whatever the actual case may be, the piano samples don't sound that great coming through the the internal speaker system and in fact the lower octave bass piano tones come out somewhat tinny and harsh in my opinion and just not full & rich at all. When I talk about the piano sound in the S34, I am comparing it to a real acoustic console or upright piano (not a grand piano) so in that sense as compared to a real piano, the S34 is lacking in the ways I have described as far as the tone goes. But for a lot of people this may not be an issue because on its own the S34 is fun to play, does have adequate volume and expression (although that tone is somewhat grating to my ears at times, especially in the treble and bass range) and the dynamic tonal range for most people who don't play piano or don't play well will likely be more than enough, at least in the beginning. The master volume control is a knob on the right side of the keyboard and above it is the power button. I will add that the quality of the piano sound is much better when listening to it through a good pair of stereo headphones although the CFX grand piano sample is still somewhat shallow with little bass response as you would otherwise expect to get from that kind of piano sound on a real piano.

So now let's talk about the 3rd most important thing in a piano and that is the pedals. Every digital furniture cabinet piano comes with 3 pedals...the sustain/damper pedal (the right side), the sostenuto pedal (in the middle), and the soft pedal (the left side). The most important and most used pedal is the right side sustain/damper pedal. This is the pedal that holds and sustains the piano sound when you play a key and then let go of the key while holding down that pedal. Sustain is what makes the piano tone sound beautiful as that tone lingers out and then fades away. Regular acoustic pianos have a variable amount of sustain/decay depending how far you press that sustain pedal down and that function in digital pianos is referred to as half-damper. Without the half-damper pedal function then the sustained tone would just be on or off and nothing in-between so that S34 does have this sustain pedal function which is a very good thing, especially as a student improves in their playing skills. The 3 pedals pedals move well and have good response over all with a nice feel to them. The pedals are chrome plated which gives it a nice contemporary finish and contrast to the cabinet. I will say that when playing the piano and using the sustain damper pedal, I did notice that the pedal movement was noticeably noisy and clunky when the pedal comes back up to resting position after pressing down the pedal. This is because like many triple pedal units those pedals are spring-loaded so that when you release the pedal after having pushed it down with your foot, the pedal comes back up quick and hard and makes a cluck noise when coming to rest. Other well known digital pianos in this price range have triple pedal units and I have not heard that kind of loud clunk noise on them. I would suggest that Yamaha needs to physically do something to remove the pedaling noise on the S34 with a different type of felt padding or at least more of it where the pedal is resting so that the noise would be more muted. With a sustain-damper pedal, that pedal is continuously moving throughout the song so if you are not very careful in how you are pressing down that pedal, then you will hear a loud clunky pedal return noise when you release the pedal which can be distracting not only to you but to other people nearby who may be listening. This noise also occurs on the other two pedals including the sostenuto and soft pedals. This noise is particularly evident when playing at a low volume but especially when using headphones when no piano sound can be heard and then all you can hear is the pedal clunking when going up and down. Other than that, the pedals seem to work just fine.

When it comes to the control panel of the S34 and the internal digital functions and features, the buttons and controls are very basic but for some people may be all they need. The S34 has 10 instrument sound which can be selected by pressing and +/- buttons to select those sounds. There are 3 acoustic piano tones, 2 electric pianos, 1 harpsichord, 1 vibraphone, 2 organs (jazz, church), and stereo strings. I do like all of those sounds quite a bit except for the strings which sound more like a string synthesizer than real strings. The basic control panel is on the left side of the keyboard which is nice for some people because it makes the piano look more minimalistic in appearance. You can also play a piano sound or any other of the 10 instrument sounds live along with the recorded parts...also fun to do. The recorder/player can also do a few other things but that takes a little more skill to use those features if accessing from the piano alone. The downside to the simplistic tone selection and minimal appearance is that you cannot know the sound you have selected because there are no digital display screens, names, or other ways to know what you have selected so you have to guess what sound you have on and where the next sound is located on the +/- buttons that you want to select...definitely not user friendly. However, regardless of what sound you have selected, there is a default piano button which always takes you back to the #1 acoustic piano sound in this model so in that way you can easily get back to the main piano sound. Also on the control panel there is a 2-track digital MIDI recorder so that you can easily and quickly record what you are playing and then play it back.You can record left hand piano playing and right hand piano playing separately and then play them back simultaneously to see who you are doing with your practice or you can be more creative and (as an example) record a piano sound on the right hand and a string sound on the left hand separately or together and then play both parts back simultaneously and see how your musical creation sounds which can be a lot of fun.

The S34 also has some other cool digital features such as reverb to add some "echo to the sound, dual/layer function to mix 2 sounds together, a Duo function that allows for electronically splitting the 88-note keyboard into two 44-note keyboards so that two people can play the same song at the same time using the same octaves and notes for practice. I don't find that this feature is sued very often but in some cases can be helpful. There is also a touch sensitivity control so you can change the electronic touch on the S34 to light, medium, or hard depending on the kind of touch you have or want. This feature can be useful for some people. A built in adjustable speed digital metronome is included to help with learning rhythm & timing and is great for keeping on the beat when playing along with a song. A transpose feature is also included which is great if you need or want to play the song in another key without having to relearn to play in that key. You hear the sound come out in the higher or lower key (range) that you want but you are still playing the same notes as before. It's especially helpful if you want to sing along with the song but need to be in a higher or lower vocal range than the key of that song...so you just electronically modulate into the key you want and presto...it's instantly in your vocal range. Most other digital pianos can do these things as well but it's nice that the S34 has them. There are a few other less important features in this piano but these ones I mentioned are the main ones, but accessing them from the front control panel can be a very frustrating experience because you have to press a function button and then memorize a key on the keyboard itself that will activate that feature. You almost always need to go into the owners manual to do that including knowing what instrument sound you are selecting and that's not something most people want to do.

However, in this day and age of advanced interactive digital technology, Yamaha has pretty much solved the dilemma of unintuitive control panels on digital pianos with the advent of a proprietary app they have created call "Smart Pianist." With this new app (for iPad, Android) you can connect your tablet device to this YDPS34 with a USB cable and then use the interactive color touch screen to control all the features in the S34 plus other features that are only accessed using the Smart Pianist app and not inside the piano itself. I had previously mentioned how unintuitive, overall, the S34 control panel and functions are, but with the new Yamaha app all that grief is gone. This Smart Pianist controller app is so nice, so easy, so intuitive, and so interactive that nearly anyone can now quickly and easily access the functions and features of the S34 that you otherwise could probably never do or at the very least have a difficult time doing just using the piano itself. The app is based on a colorful and intuitive organization of the S34 functions so that you can find them in the app and then use them to enjoy your piano playing experience even more. The app does not make the piano sound any better, but it does take what the piano has in it and just makes the experience of using the piano more enjoyable. Things like finding instrument sounds, changing instrument sounds, layering instrument sounds, changing touch sensitivity settings, reverb, duo setup, using the recorder and song playback, playing songs from the internal song library, volume balance controls for sounds and recording, etc...it's all so easy to use that it puts the operation of the S34 on a new level which few other digital pianos have. The only other digital piano in this price range (under $1000US) to have a proprietary controller app is Casio with their Chordana app which is similar to the Yamaha app but not as clever or as colorful with regard to using big iOS style icons. I do like the Casio app and how it works with the popular Casio PX870 digital piano ($999US internet discount price) so that piano is certainly another option in the same price range. When it comes to the 10 internal instrument sounds of the piano and being able to access them more intuitively, the Smart Pianist app does not give you more instrument sounds or allow you to layer or set up more combinations for live play but what it does do is allow you to select what you want to hear quickly and easily without having to guess where things are and that is just part of the reason the Smart Pianist  app is so useful. This is especially true when layering/mixing two sounds together at the same time which is extra easy on the app but not at all easy just using the piano control panel. The only down side to the app is having to rely on it and needing a iPad/tablet in front of you all the time. For some people that's not a problem at all because they don't mind the investment and  dedicating a tablet device to their digital piano. But for other people who just want to use the piano and the buttons on the control panel, then the S34 is definitely lacking in that area where other digital pianos are not. Just depends on what works better for you.

The Yamaha Smart Pianist app however has a few features that no other digital piano controller app has and that is being able to playback audio files from iTunes on an iPad and being able to see an instant chord chart of that song so you can see and know the chords as they are moving with the song. This is a very cool feature although it does translate or play all iTunes songs depending how they are actually saved in your iTunes iOS music library. The iTunes audio files also allow for speeding up and slowing down the song you have chosen as well as transposing that song to a different key...instantly...so that you can get it into a different vocal range or be able to get the chord chart to show chords in a key that may be easier for you to read and play. However when transposing or reducing/increasing tempo for audio song files, the songs get distorted a bit and there is live recorded singing in the iTunes then if you transpose the key a bit too much then the song and vocals sound like chipmunks or bassy ghosts...it's actually pretty funny to hear and not very practical to use. It's important to note that audio and MIDI song files are not always correct in the way the chords and/or music notation is displayed and the Smart Pianist app does not always get it right a percentage of the time. But overall it works and does what it was designed to do which is make it easier to interact and play along with some of your favorite music. Plus...you can hear your iTunes music from your iPad come directly through the internal speaker system of the S34 which is a pretty cool feature and not found on many digital pianos. With regard to the MIDI song file library in the piano, there are also popular classical songs, etc inside the S34 that Yamaha has provided in the app which display actual full notation sheet music for both right and left hand and you can slow down or speed up those songs to play along with them while reading the digitized sheet music. But with MIDI song files, even though MIDI song files have no vocal parts as they are all instrumental, the good thing about MIDI song files is that you can change tempo to any speed or transpose to any key and there is no degradation of that song at all...and that is typical of MIDI song files in that format.

So when it comes to songs in the S34 song libraries, Yamaha has included a large supply of popular classical pieces in the MIDI format with full notation for treble and bass clef to play along with as well as you being able to upload your own iTune library to play along with instant chord charts (no sheet music with notation for audio files), and you can even see instant sheet music for recorded MIDI song files that you have personally recorded on the S34. So when it comes to playing music and connected to and interacting with an iPad using the Smart Pianist app, there is no other piano which does offers similar features with the exception of the Roland F140R flat-top digital piano ($1199US internet price) which has a proprietary app called Piano Partner 2 which also offers MIDI format instrumental songs (primarily classical music) that you can play along with and change tempo and there is a big library of those songs also accessed from the F140R itself. The Roland iOS/Android app also allows for interactive drum rhythm and chord accompaniment styles of music called "easy-play" accompaniments which play along while you play and change chords on the piano. You can also select instrument sounds from the Roland app which is much more intuitive than trying to do that directly on the piano. Besides a few of the things I mentioned earlier on the Casio Chordana app for the PX870, the Casio Chordana app also allows for uploading of PDF music files so you can electronically store your own music it it and to play along with streaming light songs of some very popular music which allows for quicker reproduction of the song in training the eyes and ears for note recognition. So when it comes to making it easier to play a digital piano these days, a few of these digital piano companies have produced or are working on producing some impressive interactive apps for tablets and iPhones, etc, to be able to control piano functions and interact with music in new, engaging ways and the Yamaha Smart Pianist app is certainly on the top of the list at the moment for a cool app with some very cool features.

The S34 does have a couple connectivity features such as USB output to device (iPad, computer, etc) along with having two stereo headphone jacks. Having the USB output is a great feature and of course having headphone jacks is useful for private practice without other people hearing you play. With regard to the headphone jacks, they are 1/4" and not mini jacks, which is fine, but the 1/4" jack inputs on the S34 are in a very inconvenient place a bit further back under the piano on the left side. I found that it was somewhat difficult to reach into a very small tight area under the piano and try to insert a pair of headphones in those jacks. It was not easy to do and you also cannot see where those jacks are located unless you just feel around for them or get under the piano yourself. Yamaha could have done a much better job in positioning those input jacks in a different place in the S34 such as on or near the very front of the piano in a place where you can more easily see and use those headphone jacks to plug in your headphones. Other digital pianos such as Korg and Casio make it much easier to use headphones on their digital pianos so Yamaha needs to improve upon that.

I do like the compact cabinet and design of the S34 and it does look attractive in it's small case with slow-close key cover (with silver trim) that slowly covers the keyboard when the key cover is released and allowed to drop down over the keys. A slow-close key cover is a very good solution to saving little or big fingers from being hurt if the cover would otherwise come down and close up to hard and too fast. With a slow-close cover you do not have to worry about that. The music rack holder, which is a larger size than most other flat-top pianos like this, is positioned in a good, convenient place attached to the front of the key cover when opened. The music rest can flip open to support your music and/or iPad/tablet or closed up when not using music or when you want to close up the piano entirely when done using it. The S34 also has a partial half-size privacy panel in the back of the piano which is a nice feature that make the S34 look a bit more like a piano. The dimensions of the S34 are approx 53" wide x12" deep (15" depth with anti-tip brackets attached to back of piano feet) x 38" high with key cover opened. The weight of the piano is 79 lbs so when you consider those compact measurements and relatively lighter weight, the S34 is fairly easy to move, and be easily assembled and disassembled, and can fit into compact places. The S34 comes in both an attractive matte black walnut (with imitation graining in the finish) and matte white with imitation white grain, depending on what works best for you. A small matching bench is optional and would be an extra cost.

So here is the bottom line...for $999 this new Yamaha YDPS34 is an impressive piano with all the features and functions that are offered in a slim, contemporary furniture style cabinet in this price range. There are some outstanding upsides to owning this piano as I mentioned earlier, but there are also some downsides with the playability short-comings I have with it, most notably the piano sound coming through the internal speakers and the key action as it compares to a real piano. I also don't like how unintuitive it is to access most features in the piano without having a tablet to connect with. For some people the things that bother me about this piano may not bother them because ultimately touch and tone and operation in a piano is a bit subjective. But when you hear and play a really good digital piano or a real acoustic piano and then you hear and play the S34, it's somewhat of a disappointment, at least it is to me. There is just very little depth to the acoustic piano sound in the S34 and the key action is just not that satisfying to me and to others that I know who have played this piano. So it really boils down to what and/or who you are buying this piano for; to be able to mainly have a great piano playing experience in the $1000 price range or to focus more on the bells & whistles of the features and accessing them from an iPad or Android device although you can only access the iTunes feature through an iOS device. For me, even though I do like some of those "bells & whistles" that the Smart Pianist app provides, I don't want to have all that at the expense of a better, more natural piano playing experience in another digital piano around the same price range. I believe a lot of people will be quite happy owning the Yamaha YDP-34 but at the end of the day, at least for me, it's mainly about getting the best piano playing experience I can for the price range I am in and that's the path I recommend for everyone shopping for a digital piano.

For me I prefer the best piano playing experience I can get out of a digital piano in a particular price range. So when it comes to good digital pianos in and around the $1000US price range, as far as smaller more compact digital pianos go, I like the Casio PX870 ($999US price), Roland F140R ($1199US price), and Korg C1 Air ($1399US price) better than I do the S34 when it comes to piano playing realism and a more natural key action, piano sound, and pedaling response as compared to the Yamaha YDPS34. In fact, if given the choice and if I could go the extra distance in price but still wanted that more compact flat-top kind of cabinet with clean lines and contemporary appearance while offering an outstanding piano playing experience, I would choose the new Korg C1 Air ($1399US internet discount price). The Korg C1 Air has a really amazing piano sound coming out of it and the internal speaker system of that piano actually makes it sound like you have a real baby grand piano in your room because the fullness and rich sound that the C1 Air projects. Even at low volume you can really hear and feel the rich piano tones coming out of that piano. Also, the control panel is way more intuitive to use and an app is not needed in that way...although the Korg does not have all those cool notation and iTune features that Yamaha has. However, the Korg does have a Bluetooth audio feature which Yamaha does not have, and the Korg C1 Air Bluetooth feature allows you to play any of your iTunes or other digital music directly through the Korg C1 Air wirelessly anywhere you are in the room without need of connecting with a cable so that you can still play your music through the piano and play along with it. You can stand anywhere in the room and play your songs from your tablet or phone device using Bluetooth so that the Korg piano acts as a stereo speaker system for your music without having to be right next to the piano. So if you want a real good looking flat-top digital piano available in a choice of 3 different color finishes with an upgraded key action response, way better, bigger, bassier piano tone coming through the speaker system or through headphones, and you want upgraded pedaling response which is noticeably quieter to play, then the Korg C1 Air should be an option to consider in your search for a good digital piano in a very reasonable price range. I also know that Korg currently has an unadvertised instant rebate going on that which brings the price down even further on the C1 Air so that it is closer in price to the Yamaha S34. Go to the following link to read my updated review on the Korg C1 Air digital piano: Korg C1 Air Review. But whatever you decide upon when it comes to owning a new digital piano, please do your homework and then contact me directly for more questions and to find out how you can get new top name brands of digital pianos for even less money.

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

DP150e

UPDATED REVIEW - November 15, 2019 - Artesia DP150e, AG30, AG50 Digital pianos- Semi Recommended - The Artesia digital pianos at Costco include the vertical upright style DP150e ($999US normal discount price) at 34" tall and 20" deep and 121 lbs, the 32" deep micro grand AG30 ($1499US normal discount price, and the 48" deep mini grand AG50 ($2399US normal discount price). These 3 specific Artesia digital pianos are only sold at Costco in the US and only available as an on-line purchase. The Artesia brand is part of the "Virgin Musical Instrument" company in the US and the pianos themselves are designed and made by another manufacturer for the Artesia brand...as are other some other piano brands. Artesia themselves is not a piano manufacturer, unlike Casio, Kawai, Roland, Yamaha, and a few others who are digital piano designers and/or manufacturers.

AG30

These Artesia digital piano models have been out for over 3 years and will likely be replaced one day soon but for now are still being sold by Costco. I have not been favorable to past Artesia digital pianos because simply put, they have not been good. The key actions, piano sound, and pedaling were a poor excuse for a piano. They suffered from toy-like sound, unrealistic, clunky key action, as well poor pedaling response. The secondary digital features and functions were OK but certainly no substitute for poor piano performance even at the beginning level. The good news about these models of Artesia is that they have gotten better and are almost acceptable...almost:) Again, when it comes to digital pianos, for me it's not what the outside cabinet looks like nor is it any of the extra "bells & whistles." It's all about the piano playing experience and whether or not a particular digital piano can replicate or come close to being like a real acoustic piano. Although these new models have definitely been improved in some ways, the DP150e, AG30, and AG50 are just not there yet, although the manufacturer who makes these pianos for Artesia is getting closer, so I do appreciate the fact they are trying to make that effort.

So where do these pianos fall terribly short? Well it has to do with key action, key sensors under the keys which control the repetition response, piano sound realism and response, and pedaling. One of the first things I noticed was even though the weight of the piano keys was better than past Artesia key actions, the physical action movement was much too light as compared to real pianos or better digital pianos. That does not mean it's bad but it does mean that it really does not feel and play at all like a real piano although it is better as compared to poor playing digital pianos such as the Williams brand at Guitar Center. The key action is also VERY noisy when the black & white keys were moving, and if you are a better, more enthusiastic player and playing with some force in the fingers, the keys made a noticeable and annoying knocking sound when they went down and hit bottom, almost like there wasn't padding below the keys (in the key bed). Past models of Artesia pianos have had this issue and it is especially noticeable when playing at low volumes or when wearing headphones where other people in the room can hear the knocking sound when the keys go down. So that's a definitely an issue for me personally, but maybe you will be OK with it.

When it comes to the electronic key sensors under the keys and the piano sound generating electronics in general, these are things you cannot see but do make a big difference in the way the piano sound behaves. As an example, when you are playing a real piano or a good digital piano, when you press down a key it makes a piano sound and that sound sustains naturally until you let go of the key. As soon as you let go of the key the piano sound should immediately stop, assuming you are not using the sustain pedal. In other words, if you play a key quickly, when the key is coming back up the piano sound is supposed to immediately stop playing (being heard) on any key that is being played that way. This kind of piano playing is called "staccato" piano playing and it is very important that the piano can do this so you can replicate the music as it should be when you are playing. Unfortunately on these new Artesia models, the piano sound does not stop immediately when the key is let go and then coming back up, and the sound lingers on for about a second or so after the key is released. This is something that is not acceptable in my book and there is no way that I can find to change it on these pianos. This has nothing to do with reverb or any special effects because this happens by itself without any effects or sustain pedal. It is simply a problem with the piano and its inability to behave normally with regard to staccato playing. I don't think it is something any beginner would notice, but as you progress in your playing ability it will become an important aspect of your music.

Another piano sound issue for me on these models is when you play a key and it goes about half-way down, you can hear the piano sound come in softly which is not supposed to happen. In other words, the piano sound volume is triggered (although its at a low volume) when you press a key down half-way, whereas on a real piano and good digital pianos you should not hear any sound triggered at all until the key is all the way down and touches bottom. For a beginner this will likely not be an issue, but as you progress in your playing ability you'll want the piano sound to come in like it does in a real piano, and these Artesia models will not do that and there's no way to change it. Another thing I noticed about playing the keys was the dynamic volume and tonal response. What I mean by this is that is when the keys go up and down the tonal dynamics (piano sound) are mellow when pressing the key down softly and slowly and the piano sound is supposed to brighten up when you play the keys harder. The volume response also should work the same way at the same time with the tonal dynamic range with less volume when playing the keys lightly and more volume when playing the keys harder and it needs to be even and gradual for best response. On these Artesia pianos, the volume response and tonal control (expression) is noticeably uneven and jumpy to me going from one key (note) to the other. So while you are playing a song, there may be one key you are playing that has a much brighter piano sound and the next key over has a more mellow sound...or you may hear one key/note be louder and the key next to it may be quieter using the same finger pressure. Also, when playing one key softer to harder, the dynamics also tend to be a bit jumpy. These kind of piano sound anomalies generally do not happen on good acoustic and digital pianos because the tone, volume, and overall dynamics (expression) are even from one key to the next up & down or on the same key whether playing softly or harder. This kind of uneven tone/volume and lack of tonal "color" out of the key action and cheaper quality key sensors is quite annoying to me and definitely does not inspire me to want to play on these pianos. But for beginners and non-players, it won't matter and they should be fine for awhile.

With regard to the piano sound itself, it definitely sounds mostly digital to me and not organic or natural, especially if you know what a real acoustic piano sounds like or a good digital piano with a more realistic piano sound chip. These Artesia models do sound more realistic than previous models so that is good, but in real pianos there are natural, organic, resonate elements of the piano sound that a person can hear and that kind of thing gives a piano its character and personality with many expressive "colors" of music. The DP150e, AG30, and AG50 have none of the natural, organic qualities of an acoustic piano other than some uneven tonal dynamics which Artesia calls "3-layer and 3-D instrument sound samples." Yes there are definitely 3 layers of piano tone per note (mellow, medium, and bright when playing softer to harder) but as I said, that sound is very uneven & somewhat jumpy and not at all like a real piano. The so-called "3-D" sound samples are not really "3-D" as far as I am concerned. The classic definition of the name 3-D is "an object that has height, width and depth, like any object in the real world." The piano sound in the Artesia's has no actual sonic height and no depth. It just has width because the piano sound uses stereo sound samples which is nice, but nothing out of the ordinary as far as digital pianos are concerned.

AG50

Sonically, for a lot of uninitiated people who don't play piano, the Artesia piano sound is OK and in fact, you may even like it and it is noticeably better than previous models of Artesia. But to equate it with a real acoustic piano or a good digital piano by famous brands such as Kawai, Yamaha, Casio, Korg, or Roland, is like saying a McDonalds hamburger tastes as good as a quality cut of prime rib...it's just not possible...and so it is with the Artesia DP150e, AG30, and AG50. They "look good & smell good" and they may even fill you up for a short time, but these pianos are definitely not "pianos" in the sense of playing and sounding like any high quality acoustic upright, grand, or digital piano I have ever played. When it comes to Artesia pianos, that company states the following in their advertisement for these pianos: "Its (their) advanced hammer action design offers excellent response and smooth playability that will satisfy even the most demanding teacher or performer." There is no way that I know of for a "demanding teacher or performer" (I am one of them) to be interested in playing these Artesia pianos to perform or teach on unless, for some reason, there are no other options available to them, which is unlikely. Most of these digital piano companies exaggerate the reality of their pianos (they almost all do that) so that you will buy it, and that is not unusual. So don't be sold on something just because the maker of the product says you should be, because it's all about sales for them. Just understand that you get what you pay for and that is true with these Artesia pianos. Just because it looks good does not mean it's near as good on the inside.

As far as the pedaling goes, it is OK and just average, not great but acceptable. The pedals are full size and nice looking, but do make a noticeable amount of knocking noise each time when they come back up after pushing them down with your foot. That can be a somewhat annoying especially if you have played acoustic pianos or some good digital pianos with a quieter pedal movement. The pedals work appropriately and the sustain decay time is actually good so I do like that. However the piano sound when sustaining it with the damper pedal sounds very artificial and does not have any organic, natural character to it. This is due again to the fact that the piano sound elements of pedal and string resonance are not present in the piano sound chip so all that is heard is a linear digital type of piano sound when being sustained. But for the average person who knows little about piano sound and what it is really supposed to be like, they may not notice this issue. But for me, it is not at all something that I would personally enjoy and it just sounds like sustained noise. But hey, many of you out there are just at a beginner level of piano playing nor have you likely been playing real pianos for any length of time (or at all), so again, you may not notice the sound being as unnatural as it is when using the damper sustain pedal.

OK...on to the fun stuff, and this piano has plenty of it. These pianos have lots of instrument sounds, interactive accompaniment styles, along with a variety of rhythm patterns. Rock, Latin, jazz, waltz, march, country, and so on. Electric pianos, harpsichords, strings, bells, brass, woodwinds, horns, reeds, special effect sounds, etc with some that sound good and some not very good. Some of these overall features are useful and some not very useful, but that is to be expected, especially in these price ranges for an Artesia piano. However overall the functions are plentiful, useful, and fun to use and I enjoyed them. There's no doubt that many families will also enjoy many of these features which includes 136 instrument sounds, 99 accompaniment patterns and drum rhythms with variation, intro, and ending on each one along with being able to easily control tempo faster/slower, auto harmonize, and layer & split any two instrument sounds. There are adjustable special effects such as reverb & chorus for the piano and other instrument sounds along with a duet feature which digitally splits the 88 notes into two 44 note keyboards so that 2 people can play the same notes at the same time with the lower part of the keyboard being electronically converted to the same octave piano sound as the upper portion of the keyboard. useful for 2 people playing the same notes in the same music at the same time. I must admit that does not happen too often but it is useful when needed. Many other digital pianos have these fun and educational features as well so Artesia is not the only one.

It is important to note that there are only 2 acoustic piano type sound selections on these pianos with only the first one called "grand piano" and sounding more like an acoustic piano, although to me not a grand piano sound as claimed, even though they may have sampled the sound from a grand. The 2nd piano sound selection called "bright piano" is, in my opinion, a very poor sound sample which has some noticeably poor stretch tuning problems that causes the piano to be noticeably "out-of-tune" sometimes when using that piano sound and playing a variety of chords on the piano. There's also some noticeably poor tonal/volume dynamics as well and I would never use the bright piano sound because of these issues. What's interesting is that I don't hear any of the stretch tuning issues on the 1st piano sound like I do on the 2nd piano sound, although there are still erratic dynamic tonal and volume issues when playing the keys using either piano sound, as I have previously discussed. Many other digital pianos in this price range have more variety of acoustic piano sound samples which are noticeably better and also not out of tune. The piano sounds are the main reasons people buy pianos and everything else is secondary. So when it comes to acoustic piano variety and quality using preset buttons or through the menu on these pianos, there are only two of them and the 1st one is the only one worth playing at all when it comes to a piano sound. But some of the other non piano instrument sounds are nice and can be fun to play.

To access the many functions on these pianos there are direct access buttons on the control panel above the keyboard for the instrument sounds in groups and the instrument sounds in groups, as well as a small but useful LCD display screen to see what you're doing, which I like. There is also a small knob called a "data wheel" on the right side of the display screen, which you can turn to move through the selections at a quicker rate or you can move through them with +/- buttons one at a time, so when it comes to controlling the features such as accompaniment or keyboard volumes, etc, overall I do like what these pianos have to offer. There is also 3 large knobs on the left side of the control panel which give you instant access to the master volume of the piano including bass and treble control of the sound. All digital pianos have a master volume control but not necessarily treble and bass control knobs although they may have treble and bass adjustments in the functions of the display screen. So I do like the quick access knobs for these volume and frequency adjustments and they have been on past Artesia piano models and are useful to have to make the adjustments to master volume along with the bass & treble tone of the piano.

With regard to the digital features there are also other ones including adjustable digital metronome, 16 track recording & playback, transpose, octave shift, tuning, 36 registration memories to store your own favorite settings that you created, and many more. One of my favorite things to do on a digital piano is to be able to play General MIDI song files on the piano through a USB flash drive and play or sing along with them. These Artesia pianos can do that and some of the song data (title, etc) is taken from the USB flash drive and displayed in the blue LCD piano display screen. So when it comes to playing along with and listening to favorite songs, this piano can do that very well assuming you have the necessary MIDI song files that you like It is also useful for learning new songs because you can adjust tempo with the tempo control on the piano along with muting out different tracks. As I mentioned before, the Artesia pianos do have some useful fun features but unfortunately at the expense of the piano key action and overall piano playability. To get a better playing key action piano and better and more realistic piano sound, you can still do that along with having these fun features for about the same price, but you'll need to give up the nicer cabinet to do that or spend more money...and that's because you don't get something for nothing:).

Underneath the left side of these Artesia pianos is a connector box which includes two 1/4" headphone jacks, a MIDI output, USB output to external device, stereo audio in and out RCA jacks, a volume knob to control line level volume, and a Bluetooth connector for a Bluetooth adapter provided with these pianos. Basically the connector box has everything you would need to connect just about anything you want including being able to stream audio files from your external Bluetooth device (phone, iPad, etc) through the piano speaker system.Most pianos in this price range do not have all those connectors so the Artesia pianos do a very good job in this area and I wish more companies would have this kind of connector variety.

The internal speaker system of these pianos are more than adequate with the vertical style DP150e having four speakers (2 larger/2 small) going through 80 watts of power (although each of the 2 larger speakers is only rated at 20 watts/6 ohms so it is really not 80 watts), the AP30 micro grand having 6 speakers with a total of 120 watts of power, and the AG50 mini grand having 6 speakers at 150 watts of total power. So when it comes to volume in these pianos, there is plenty of that, however volume does not necessarily equate to quality tone and the speakers and amps in these pianos could be a little better in that way, especially on the DP150e. The sound on the DP150e is a bit muddy (dark) and muffled to me and makes the piano sound have a much more digital (fake) tone and not near as good as listening to it through a good set of stereo headphones. If the internal speaker/amp sound was as good as listening through a good pair of headphones, then that would be better, but the frequency response and dynamic range of the internal speakers/amps have a lot to be desired and I would not recommend it if you are looking for a quality sound, but for the average person they may be fine. The DP150e is not a lower price for no reason...when you use cheap parts you get a cheap sound...and...you can reduce cost. What you see on the outside does not necessarily reflect what you get on the inside and that's why I call these types of pianos a "PSO," aka: Piano Shaped Object.

The best thing about these pianos is the way they look. There is no question that they are attractive in their polished ebony cabinets, sliding key covers, with matching benches, and that's something many people like to have. Speaking of the benches, although they are nice looking and comfortable, they definitely are not wide enough to be considered real "duet" size benches. Duet size benches are typically about 30" wide and the Artesia benches are 24" wide...definitely not enough room for 2 average size people or one adult and one child to sit on comfortably together so they are really single size benches. The factory warranty on the Artesia pianos is only one year whereas other digital piano brands in these price ranges are anywhere from 3 years to 5 years in length. So if you are wanting a good, long warranty, Artesia pianos don't have them like other brands do.

In the final analysis, these Artesia models DP150e, AG30, and AG50 are fun to play, look good, and have many fun features built in, but as pianos go they are just barely average (or below average as the case may be) as far as piano playing authenticity goes compared to any of the more well known piano brands. You definitely do get what you pay for and with that in mind, I do semi-recommend these pianos (just barely) because they are OK   and better than previous models which I did not recommend at all, as well as looking good and doing a lot of fun things. If you are a beginner and don't know how real pianos play including the more authentic digital piano brands and how they behave musically, then you could likely be happy with your purchase of any one of these Artesia models because you just aren't at a skill or experience level to notice it yet. That is really the issue...what is most important to you and how much money are you willing to invest to get it? Once you make a purchase you will probably be keeping it for a very long time so be sure you make the right decision because once the fun of the drums, automatic chords, recording, and song play start wearing off and getting a bit old (and it can do that after awhile), what you will have remaining is the piano and the way it acts and behaves as a piano, and I believe that is the most important thing to consider when spending your hard earned money:). There are other (better) brands and models to consider as well, and if you have questions about what else is available out there, please contact me for more info. We just don't want you to purchase a "PSO" (Piano Shaped Object) for the sake of the way the digital piano looks instead of the way it actually plays.

Samick Digital Grand Piano

By the way, There is another brand of digital piano that I do recommend called the Samick piano company which has some very nice models of digital and acoustic pianos. The Samick Grand Piano company is famous throughout the US and the world for making a variety of acoustic and digital pianos for well over 50 years. They have two 2019 model digital grand pianos called SG500 and SG120 which I do recommend although they are quite a bit more money than Artesia. They are much better and more authentic for key action touch and stereo piano sound and other things in a number of ways and worth the extra expense. They come in 3 attractive cabinet finishes including polished ebony, polished white, and polished red. Also, as of November 1st 2019 the Samick company is having a "private warehouse sale" while supplies last on these 2 models and the savings over normal selling prices is substantial and they include free shipping, no tax, brand new with factory warranty. Please read my review of the Samick digital grand piano at the following link and if you have questions or want to know more about them then please let me know: Samick SG500/SG120 Digital Grand Piano Review

*** SPECIAL DEAL! Thinking about purchasing the Artesia DP150e? We can show you how to purchase a much better newer model digital piano called the Casio AP470 (which is normally discount priced on-line at $1499) for $300 less with an INSTANT REBATE which makes the price just $1199! This special deal would include free shipping and no tax along with a 5 year factory warranty for parts & labor with in-home service and the AP470 comes with a proprietary controller/educational interactive app called "Chordana Play for Piano" for iPad and Android tablet users to be able to interface with the AP470 in many exciting ways that are not possible with the Artesia DP150e. The Casio AP470 sounds amazing in our opinion and has a real piano key action "feel" and this piano never has has an instant rebate before. Please read our detailed review of the Casio at the following link and then contact us and we can help you with this model while they last at that limited time low price. Casio AP470 Review



When you consider the sales tax on top of the $999 price for the DP150e the total price would make the Casio just slightly more money than the Arteisa DP150e and the difference in that cost is definitely worth it, especially if you want to get a quality piano in that price range. Oh...and good luck trying to get an Artesia piano repaired if you ever need that...just read the user reviews of that model on the Costco website and you'll see what we mean, plus their warranty is only 1 year. Also, based on our personal playing experience with this Artesia model we would agree with those assessments With the Casio company they have been in business for over 60 years, have a very good reputation for service should you ever need it (which is rare) whereas the Artesia company is relatively new and very small as compared to the big Japanese companies like Casio, Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Kawai, etc who have great reputations worldwide with piano teachers, universities, churches, and piano students. Don't get a PSO! get a better Piano!

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW - November 20, 2019 - Casio PX160 portable digital piano - RECOMMENDED - When it comes to new 88-key digital pianos priced at under$500 internet discount price, there are a few choices from the top name manufacturers including Yamaha, Casio, Korg, Roland, and some others. In this price range the PX160 is still at the top for digital pianos under $500. 

There are 4 companies worth considering when it comes to digital pianos in this low price range and those companies are Casio, Korg, Yamaha, and Roland. All the others (off-brands) pale in comparison in my opinion with some of those other brands being of very poor quality. In my opinion one of the best digital pianos under $500 is the lightweight (weighs only 26lbs) Casio Privia PX160 at $499US internet discount price not including optional stand or triple pedalbar. The PX160 is the first PX model in a large lineup of the popular Privia series digital pianos which Casio has been making for a number of years. If you are looking for something special in this lower price range and you want an instrument with attractive looks (offered in a satin black and also a champagne gold color) which can give you a satisfying key action, piano sound recreation, pedaling realism, a very good internal speaker system to hear the music coming out, then I definitely recommend this model if you want to stay under $500US.

The Casio company is well known for a lot of high quality products including watches, keyboards, calculators, computer products, cameras, commercial electronics, etc, but they are also well known for their home and pro digital pianos. In my opinion the PX160 portable digital piano is the first Casio portable digital piano that has finally risen to the rest of the brands and models under or near $500US when it comes to offering a very good piano playing experience. In fact, it really does not make sense to me for someone to purchase a lower priced digital piano because this one is much better for $499 discount price than the pianos below it in price. However, if you are low on money but may be able to beg, borrow (not steal), or save up for a little while longer, then I would recommend you do so and look into purchasing the PX160 as it will be a better longer term purchase.

First, this piano has the only key action in this price range with 3 sensors under each key as opposed to two key sensors in the other brands. Three key sensors allow for better sensing of the key movement for repetition. Also the tonal dynamic range of the stereo grand piano sound is noticeably wider and more expressive than any other model or brand in this price range and the piano sound now includes hammer response, damper noise, and damper resonance sound reproduction which adds to the authenticity of the piano sound by introducing these natural organic piano elements. The key tops have a synthetic ivory and ebony material on them in trying to recreate the original acoustic piano feel that was once available on real acoustic pianos. The look and feel of the the PX160 keys are more substantial and realistic because of this and the synthetic ivory/ebony material helps absorb sweat from the fingers when playing for longer periods of time. So when it comes to the actual piano sound and key movement, the Casio PX160 is noticeably more authentic than anything else under or near $500US. With regard to the weight and physical movement of the keys, they are graded in weighting from left to right getting incrementally lighter as you move up the keyboard. I personally find the key movement more satisfying to play than the other Casio pianos below this price range as well as many of the Yamaha portable digital pianos under $1000. Key action movement is the number one most important aspect of any piano and is something which cannot be altered or changed. Some key actions are noisier than others depending on brand, models, and price range. The Casio key action has fairly quiet keys when going down but are somewhat noisier when coming back up. When the volume of the piano is at low levels you can hear this key movement noise more easily but key noise is "relative" and I have heard much noisier key actions on other digital piano brands. This "key up" noise on the Casio pianos is typically not an issue for most people and also not an issue for me, and in fact I have played regular acoustic pianos with much more noise than that, but acoustic pianos are always so loud that you cannot hear the key noise as easily:). So overall I like the Casio key actions for what they do and how they allow me to express myself musically.

Most every new and older digital piano has additional instrument sounds including extra acoustic piano tones, strings, choir, harpsichord, organs, brass, woodwinds, guitars, etc. Some digital pianos have over one hundred or more different instruments, but most digital pianos in this price range have approx 20 or less. It's really not the number of instrument sounds that count but it's the realism of that instrument which is most important because it costs more money to produce higher quality instrument authenticity. The new PX160 has upgraded new sound samples beyond what previous models have had and it's especially noticeable with the more traditional instruments such as strings, organs, choirs harpsichords, electric pianos, etc. Those sounds are the best they have ever been and far outshine the other brands and models in this sub $500 price range. You can play the sounds by themselves, layered along with another instrument tone, or splitting two sounds on either side of the keyboard. With 128-note polyphony it's very difficult to run out of notes when playing solo or with two sounds combined together.

As far as the sustain pedal of the piano goes, Casio includes one small plastic pedal with the piano which allows you to control the sustain on & off. Like many of these low priced portable pianos, the small plastic pedal can slide a bit on the floor because it is so light in weight, so if you are using the pedal, it works fine but it can have a difficult time staying in one place. Also, the plastic sustain pedal does not trigger half-damper effect which is what real acoustic pianos actually allow you to do with the right pedal and the half-damper feature allows for a middle amount of sustain instead of just on & off. So the down side of the pedal (and this is true for Yamaha as well) is that it's small and light in weight and that it also does not trigger half-damper effect. However, Casio has a couple of pedal options and one of those options is a heavier, larger and more authentic metal piano pedal which sells for about $30 and it stays in place on the floor better but still does not trigger half-damper. The other option is the triple pedal pedalboard unit at approx $75 which attaches to the PX160 optional furniture stand. The advantage of the optional triple pedalboard is that it has all three pedals built in and it attaches to the Casio furniture stand and permanently stays in place. The right sustain pedal also triggers half-damper sustain effect which is useful for students and players who can play at a higher skill level. The downside of that triple pedalboard is that it cannot be used apart from attaching to the furniture stand, so if you need the PX160 to be portable and want to take it with you or don't need a permanently attached pedalboard, then the triple pedalboard may not work for you.

PX160 champagne gold - speaker port

The internal sound system in a digital piano is very important because not only do you want to hear the sound come out through the speakers, but you want that sound to have good power and volume along with a quality sound with good resonance and bass response. The PX160 is a big step up from the previous model and I am happy to say that I liked what I heard when playing it. One of the big downsides of the previous model as compared to other models and brands was the lack of a good, powerful resonant sound with adequate bass response, but the PX160 has definitely been upgraded in this way sounds great. The stereo acoustic piano sound coming through a good pair of headphones also sounds good on this model, but the sound coming through speakers is very satisfying for a self-contained portable instrument without the need for connecting to other speakers. The upgraded internal speaker components including 2 new redesigned speakers going through 18 watts of power gives the piano enough volume and fullness for most rooms, although as with any regular portable piano in the price range, the bass response is a smaller, but that's expected on these portable pianos.

Speaking of connecting to other speakers, one of the downsides to the external audio connectivity in the previous Casio PX model was that there was no separate audio outputs...you had to connect using one of the headphone jacks and that does not always translate well to external speakers and it cuts off the internal piano speakers, and when you do that so you cannot monitor your sound through the piano speakers. That issue has been taken care of on the PX160 with the addition of separate right & left channel audio outputs built into the back of the piano. Now the connectivity to other sound systems is easy and works correctly and that's the way it should be. Another connectivity upgrade are the stereo headphone jacks. In the previous model the headphone jacks (which were 1/4" connectors) were on the back of the piano and were difficult to find, difficult to use, and made for the headphone cord having to be stretched out over or under the back and front of the piano...very inconvenient. On this new model, Casio put in two standard mini stereo jacks on the front of the piano where it should be for convenient headphone connection. This is a welcome and needed improvement which shows that Casio was "listening" to people about their prior connectivity issues. Casio continues to include a USB/MIDI "plug & play" output for instant connection to computer, iPad/Android tablet, etc for use with software programs and useful educational and music apps, which I have had much experience with and use them to teach students in my studio.

The PX160 has a very impressive array of digital features for this low price range including being able to layer any two of the 18 different instrument sounds together, split two different sounds with one on the left hand and one on the right hand, record two parts one at a time (left & right hand) and well as two different sounds and then play them back simultaneously, transposing the key up or down into a different key for singing or play-along purposes, change the octave up or down, access a duet mode so that two people can play and/or practice a song at the same time while playing in identical octaves, being able to modify and change the brilliance control for a more overall mellow or brighter sound coming through the speakers, selecting from a variable digital metronome for adjustable follow along to help with timing & rhythm training (great for students), as well as selecting from 17 scale temperaments. One of the newest digital features the PX piano has which previous models did not is to include some impressive Concert Hall reverb/echo effects to reproduce the large natural echo sound you get from an acoustic concert grand piano when playing in a concert hall. The reverb sound effects are quite convincing and definitely adds to making the stereo piano sound more life-like than found in other digital pianos. If that's not enough there is also two different song libraries built into the piano including 60 classical solo piano songs along with another ten fully orchestrated classical music songs in CD quality reproduction, although all of the songs are on a bit more advanced playing level so some people may not actually be able to play along with the songs from the included music...but the songs are certainly beautiful to listen to and play along with if you can:). The control panel of this piano is fairly simple and intuitive and allows for direct button access to the main piano sounds, recording features, and metronome along with a a power button and big master volume knob instead of a small button or slider. Accessing the other sounds, effects, and digital features is also fairly easy using a function button and specified key on the keyboard. Other digital pianos work the same way although some models have more or less direct push buttons than others. But overall, this model is pretty easy to use.

In the final analysis, for some people even the low price of $499 for this PX160 piano (not including adding stand, 3-pedal unit, or bench) may be a bit of a financial stretch. However, if there is any way for you to move up in price to the PX160, you would find a tremendous difference and improvement in your piano playing experience compared to anything below it whether you are a beginner or more advanced player. The key action and piano sound differences in this upgraded model are vastly superior to the lower priced options so I would encourage anyone to try to stretch to this new PX160 if at all possible because it's definitely worth the difference, even if you cannot discern the difference yourself  right away because you are a beginner. You will be glad you made the choice for the PX160 and it will likely last you well into the future.

Casio PX770

One other final consideration that I recommend for digital piano shoppers who are considering the PX160, is to also consider the Casio PX770 deluxe "furniture style" digital piano at $699US internet discount price. With the PX160, when you add a basic Casio furniture stand and triple pedals to the PX160 price, that additional cost brings the PX160 price to approx $650US. The PX770  already comes with a furniture stand and triple pedal unit and it sounds and functions more like a real piano including having a built-in sliding key cover to protect the keys. The PX770 piano sound sampling chip, key action, ivory-key feel, and pedaling sound response is highly upgraded over the PX160 and is something piano students and recreational playing would enjoy for many more years than the PX160 in my opinion and worth the slightly higher price. It also comes in your choice of three cabinet colors including matte black, brown walnut, or snow white. I would recommend you do you homework and research before making any purchase and then contact me for free personal assistance and even lower prices on new digital pianos.

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW & Report - November 20, 2019 - Korg G1 Air digital piano - Recommended - The Korg G1 Air ($1599US internet discount price - bench optional) is Korg's first serious entry into the home digital piano market over $1000 in many years. The Korg company is based in Japan and they were founded way back in 1962 and ever since then they have been designing and producing some of the most popular professional stage digital pianos for many years along with a myriad of keyboards, synths, pro guitar effects products, portable organs, digital percussion, and many other pro music gear products. I have personally played on Korg pro digital pianos including the latest Kronos models and going all the way back to the T1, Triton, and M1 years ago. Back in the early 1990's Korg was actually a leader in the digital piano home market producing some of the best home furniture cabinet digital pianos in the business and I use to play many of those pianos including the popular C3500 & C5000. However, some years later Korg basically got out of the home furniture cabinet digital piano business (I really don't know why) and instead focused on their pro keyboard division while also offering some very basic low priced Korg consumer digital pianos under $1000, some of which I did not like so much. So I had pretty much given up on Korg to come out with anything "serious" when it came to a high quality, higher priced home style digital piano in the $1000-$2000 price range....that is until now. See bottom of this review for special lower discount pricing. *Please click on pics for larger view.



The G1 Air is really Korg's first attempt at trying to come back into the home digital piano market in the $1000 - $2000US price range in many years with a piano that can keep up with and surpass its formidable competitors in that same price range, and the question is...did they do it? I must confess that I had my doubts that Korg could offer a home digital piano which could compete with the likes of Yamaha, Roland, Casio, and Kawai that are the other top Japanese piano companies. But at the same time, Korg produces such awesome professional stage digital pianos with amazing piano & instrumental sounds and features that I thought how hard could it be for them to put some of that impressive sound technology along with great key action, great sound system, and other features into a home furniture cabinet model and sell it for a relatively low price? Well, I am happy to tell you in this review that after personally playing and analyzing this new G1 Air, in my opinion Korg has managed to even surpass some of the other top name brands in this price range for a home digital piano (around $1500-$1600 and more) including Roland and Yamaha. So instead of only having 4 very popular Japanese brands with competitive quality products selling for between $1000-$2000, I can now add Korg to the mix as they definitely deserve it this time.

OK...so what makes the Korg G1 Air so good and why do I like it? First of all the piano key action is amazing in my opinion but that should come as no surprise to me because it is the same key action that Korg uses for their top of the line professional Kronos stage digital pianos and I have played those instruments many times. A key action needs to be properly weighted, graded, and responsive not only in touch but how it triggers the piano sound from a light gentle touch to a hard touch, and for a fast movement of your fingers across the keys. As I have talked about in my other reviews, the quality and movement of the key action is 1st and foremost when shopping for and considering a digital piano. The Korg RH3 key action is outstanding in just about every way, but especially in this price range, and the RH3 key action does not feel like any other brand of home digital piano under $2000. It's very unique in that it has a natural, organic piano feel to it and in my opinion it is very responsive regardless of the type of music you are playing or whether you are a beginner or very advanced player. You can really pound on this key action or play it lightly with subtle finger movements and the G3 Air responds accordingly like a real quality acoustic piano does offering lots of expression and great balanced weight on each each key so that you can really connect the keys you are playing to the music you are wanting to make. In other words you can put a lot of feeling into your music and this RH3 key action will keep up with you and not disappoint. I would consider the touch weight on this key action to be "medium" meaning not too firm and definitely not light. When you press down on the keys it feels like you are pressing down on acoustic piano keys in terms of key weight whether they be white or black keys. Also, just like on regular acoustic upright and grand pianos, the white key tops are made of a synthetic gloss white acrylic and the black keytops have a matte black finish on them which is nice so that you could more easily transition from this digital piano to a real acoustic piano without noticing much of a difference at all, especially when comparing the G1 Air to a fine upright acoustic piano.

I will also mention that when shopping for a new digital piano there are a couple other things that you'll want to consider with regard to key action. You will notice that many of the other brands have key actions with "synthetic" ivory and ebony keytops. What that means is that the feel of the keytops are trying to simulate what real ivory and ebony feels like to the fingers because many decades ago older pianos were able to use real organic elephant ivory and African ebony wood to make their key tops. Within the last 10 years or so a few digital piano manufacturers thought it would be a good idea to try to create a synthetic version of those organic materials and put it on their digital piano keys. Depending on the proprietary chemical makeup of this "synthetic" material, the result in the beginning was pretty bad and the synthetic material did not hold up well at all. Although it has gotten much better, it is still synthetic and in reality real piano keys on acoustic pianos don't feel that way. So when it comes to the keytops of the Korg G1 Air, the keys look and feel like real acoustic piano keys and are not synthetic versions of keys that were out decades ago. In reality, you can play on any of the keys of the major brands and be fine, but the synthetic nature of the keytops is ultimately a mute point in my opinion when it comes to playing a piano. Some people may say that they think slick white keytops are "plasticky feeling." But then you need to consider the fact that is how real acoustic piano keytops feel...the same way as the Korg RH3 key action. It really just depends on what's important to you.The final thing I will mention about key action, and in this case I mean any key action on any digital piano, is the build quality and the noise level of the keys when they move. The Korg RH3 key action has been out for many years and is nearly "bullet proof" as far as durability based on all my experience with this particular RH3 action. It is solid with very little lateral movement or wiggle, all 88 keys are well aligned and mechanically move up and down uniformly, and just as importantly, this is a (relatively) quiet key action when it comes to the keys moving up and down. On every digital piano brand and model there is mechanical key noise and depending on the brand and model and that key movement noise can be very loud and irritating. This can be especially noticeable when playing the piano while wearing stereo headphones when the only thing a person can hear (other than the player wearing the headphones), is the sound of the keys going up and down. Sometimes the noise happens when the keys go down and sometimes it's when the keys come back up. I can tell you from experience that the G1 Air key action has quieter keys regardless of what direction they are moving or how hard you are playing the keys. However, there will always be some key noise because keys are mechanical just as they are in real pianos. But it's really all about how the key action is made with as much key noise reduction as possible in this piano, and the developers at Korg knew what they were doing because this is right at the top when it comes to quieter key actions in the digital piano business. My hat is definitely off to Korg on this one🎩😃

The next important thing that people are looking for is accurate, natural piano sound...but what does that mean? Piano sound can vary in a number of way from one piano to another, one brand to another, and one model to another when it comes to real acoustic pianos and how they sound. They can have a bright, medium bright, more mellow, very mellow or delicate tone with dynamic tonal expression, or without dynamic tonal expression. The main aspect and goal of a great piano sound is...can it play music in a very delicate and mellow way all the way to big, bold, and dynamic tone while offering a great amount of musical color and expression all in one piano? The answer is "YES" but as long as it is a great grand piano such as the ones played in symphony concert halls of by famous jazz or pop piano players such as Billy Joel, Elton John, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, etc. Ultimately, music is about passion & expression and the piano sound being able to come out of (in this case) a digital piano with a wide range of musical colors depending on how hard you strike the key, how many keys are being played simultaneously, coupled with using the damper-sustain pedal and how all that interacts together. At the internet discount price of just $1599US right now, the Korg G1 Air really surprised me with all of the musical colors and dynamic tonal range that it has. It's one thing to have a really good key action but it's an entirely different thing to also have a satisfying acoustic piano sound experience and the G1 Air delivers on that point too.

Almost all of the digital piano companies out there claim to copy or sample a full grand piano sound and put it into their digital pianos...but that is easier said than done. Copying or sampling a piano sound is just the first step of the process, but then that digital piano company needs to have copied that sound from a quality grand piano with the proper microphones, the proper technology, and then put all that into their digital system which can then hopefully correctly translate it into the digital piano so when you play it then that sound comes out sounding real and natural rather than fake and artificial. In my opinion the Korg G1 Air gets extremely close to sounding like it is not a digital piano but instead a real acoustic piano, and that is really hard to do, especially in this price range under $2000. The G1 Air has 7 acoustic multi-sampled piano sounds which are accessed on the control panel with a row of three buttons. The first button accesses what Korg calls "G" grand piano sounds and the "G" stands for a German Steinway grand piano. Each button has 3 variations of piano so every time you press that button the sound advances to the next piano sound in that sound bank. The next Button is the "A" grand piano sounds which stand for an Austrian Grand Piano otherwise known as Bosendorfer and there are variations within that button of the Bosendorfer grand piano sound that are different from each other. The next and last piano button is the "J" grand piano sounds with the "J" standing for Japanese grand piano and in this case is a Yamaha concert grand piano. Since Korg does not build acoustic pianos then they were free to choose any of the famous grand pianos out there to be included in the G1 Air instead of being limited like other digital piano companies are because they may not want a competitive acoustic piano sound in their digital piano. For instance, you would never see a Yamaha grand piano sound in a Kawai digital piano because those two companies are fierce competitors in the acoustic piano world. Likewise, you would never see a Steinway grand piano sound in a Yamaha digital piano because those two companies are fierce competitors in the acoustic piano world. Korg does not have that issue because as I said, they don't build acoustic pianos so they have more freedom to use different high quality acoustic piano samples in their digital pianos.

Since Korg does not build real acoustic pianos then how come their piano sounds in the G1 Air is so realistic with so much tonal color and expression which all great pianists seek when shopping for a piano? We'll, just because you don't build real acoustic pianos does not mean you don't know how they work and what goes into them. Korg has a big staff of professional pianists along with outside professional tech support from top rated concert piano technicians/tuners who are advisers to Korg piano division. Beyond that, Korg has digital music technology that is so advanced that they have won many awards throughout the world over the years from big name industry leaders for their advanced proprietary sound technology. Given Korg's expertise in this area and my long time experience playing many of their previous stage and home digital pianos, I still was blown away by how much "presence" the G1 Air had when playing it. I have played it in a small room, a big, room, and a really big room and it did a excellent job in all venues. But when you put it in a regular size room in your home, studio, etc, then you can really hear it come alive when playing on it. The stereo tonal expression of those grand piano sounds are all so different with the German Steinway stereo sound being mellow when playing more lightly but also big & bold when really putting some force into the keys (Billy Joel plays Steinway grand pianos). The Austrian Bosendorfer stereo sound is more delicate but at the same time the bass frequencies really come through to make it a big resonate tone when putting some energy into your playing...really a beautiful sound (great for classical music). Finally, the Japanese Yamaha concert grand stereo sound is brighter and more distinct and the clarity cuts through with a more metallic tone just like Yamaha grand pianos can be (a great pop piano sound - Elton John is famous for being a Yamaha grand piano artist), but there is still a nice bold, bassy tone as well. Then when you mix two different stereo acoustic piano tones together which you can do on this piano, then you can have the best of both worlds in terms of the personality and character of that mixed stereo piano sound. As an example you can combine Austrian Bosendorfer with German Steinway or Japanese Yamaha with Austrian Bosendorfer and you can select which version of each piano to combine with the other one. When you make those combinations it really is like hearing both pianos playing at the same time mixing their unique stereo tonal qualities qualities together in a way I have not heard before on any digital piano in this price range. I can tell you by experience as a long time piano teacher and pro musician that different people like the sound of different pianos. A piano sound that I may like, another person may not personally like that sound as much...and that's OK because we all have different ears. The point is that at least on this Korg G1 Air piano you have 7 different acoustic piano tones coming from 3 distinct grand pianos to choose from plus all the combinations you can get when mixing them so you are likely to find one or more piano sounds that really speak to you. When it comes to a natural, organic acoustic piano sound with lots of dynamic tonal color in this price range, this G1 Air is pretty amazing and if it impresses me (which it does), it should also impress you. 👍😊

One thing that is especially important for me to mention here is the polyphony specification of the G1 Air. Polyphony is a number that a lot of digital piano shoppers don't really understand at all or maybe they think they understand it but they really don't. Either way, the polyphony number (amount of maximum notes that can be heard playing simultaneously) of a digital piano can play an important part in the ability of the piano to play the piano and instrument sounds in a way that sound good and natural. A few decades ago it was not uncommon to see digital pianos have 12-note polyphony, then 24 note, 32-note, and then as the years went by and digital piano technology got better you would 48-note, 64-note, 92-note, 128-note, and now today it is not uncommon to see 256-note polyphony. However, here's where it gets complicated; polyphony is rated in mono, not stereo. Piano sounds in older digital pianos could only be heard in mono, not stereo. But for last last number of years piano sounds in most good digital pianos are recorded and heard in stereo which is great because they sound better that way. However, just because they are in stereo does not mean that's the only thing which has changed. Some of those stereo piano (and instrumental sounds such as string symphonies, etc) are so complex that they include more organic elements in the piano sound which makes them sound more natural such as string resonance, sympathetic vibrations, overtones, and other natural sound recreations through new digital piano technology. Some of the non-acoustic piano sounds such as electric pianos, guitars, etc are normally recorded in mono, not stereo. Then there is something called "dynamic voice allocation" which allows the computer chip to allocate certain notes that you are playing to remain being heard even when you are supposedly over the maximum notes of polyphony. Are you getting confused yet? Don't worry....you should be.

Here's the bottom line concerning polyphony; the way I judge a digital piano's ability to have enough polyphony is to play the best stereo piano sound in that digital piano using complex classical music playing as many notes as I can while using the damper-sustain pedal. Trying this method will quickly tell you if you can hear any detectable "note drop-out" while playing the digital piano. With a low polyphony number in other digital piano brands & models, when you play complex music with lots of notes using lots of damper-sustain pedal, you normally and eventually will hear sustained notes abruptly stop playing even if you have those keys pressed down..you just won't hear them anymore because you have out-played the polyphony. The computer chip just won't play any more notes until you release most of the other notes being played along with releasing the damper pedal (which resets the polyphony) so that you can play new notes and hear them. Yikes...sounds crazy but that's the way it works!

So why am I going into so much detail about polyphony here? It's because the Korg G1 Air polyphony specification says 120-note maximum polyphony which seems low by today's standards compared with other digital piano manufacturers having 128-note polyphony, 192-note polyphony, and 256-note polyphony. So people would normally think more is better and less could cause playing problems, right? No, actually not in the case of this G1 Air. The bottom line is this; if you play the piano well and try to out-play the polyphony like I did to the G1 Air and you cannot hear any note-drop-out even while playing full glissandos (when all keys are played fast by running the keys from low end to high end) and/or arpeggios on any instrument sound while holding down the damper/sustain pedal, then the polyphony number is irrelevant. It's really all about what you actually hear and not what the polyphony specification might suggest. The Korg G1 Air sounds like is has almost unlimited polyphony because of how good the sound sample and electronic technology is without note any drop-out interruptions no matter how I played it. When I layered (mixed) a stereo symphony strings on top of the piano sound then occasionally I would hear a few notes drop out when I was playing a many notes while holding the damper pedal, but they were the string sounds dropping out and it was quite subtle due to the dynamic voice allocation system that Korg employs. Plus there are few people, other than myself, who would drive a digital piano that hard to try to get note drop-out. So under normal playing situations, even when layering two sounds together (piano + ?) and using sustin pedal, you won't hear note drop-out and that's what polyphony is really all about. So just don't get hung up on polyphony specs...it's really all about what it's like in "real life" and I can tell you by experience the G1 Air can keep up with any of its competition, even in much higher price ranges for actual piano playing when it comes to the polyphony issue.

OK...so what is next?  It's got to be the pedals. There are 3 pedals that come with the G1 Air and they play like a real piano. All 3 pedals will do what they are designed to do including soft, sostentuto, and damper-sustain. Since the damper-sustain pedal (the right pedal) is by far the most important pedal as it is used probably 99% of the time, then that's the one I want to talk about. On the Korg G1 Air, all of the pedals including the damper-sustain pedal have a good amount of resistance when pressing down the pedals and the pedaling mechanism overall is very quiet unlike some other digital pianos which have noisy pedal movement. In other words they don't feel like cheap keyboard pedals and  other digital pianos that have pedals that are much too light and noisy and offer little resistance when you press them down which is not good. So the G1 Air pedals definitely feel more realistic. The damper-sustain pedal part of the 3-pedals is important because it controls how much sustain is coming from the notes you are playing. The damper pedal needs to offer the half-damper mode which allows for a variable amount of sustain instead of just on & off. Fortunately the G1 Air does offer this feature and it works fine and allows you to do your pedaling as you would on a grand piano. Speaking of grand piano, when you press down your damper-sustain pedal while playing some notes in the middle of the keyboard for example, the notes should sustain over a period of time before they naturally fade out until you cannot hear them. On a regular grand or tall upright piano when playing notes in the middle of the keyboard and using your sustain pedal, the amount of time a note takes to fully fade away with natural  volume decay time as well is about 25 seconds or more depending on the size of the acoustic piano. The bigger the acoustic piano, the longer the strings and the longer the decay/sustain time will be. That's why when you hear a ginormous 9' grand piano sound, it's so beautiful because there is so much tone and sustain going on in the piano. Long decay/sustain time is very important in creating beautiful, resonate music with the piano strings vibrating and resonating together over time.

OK, now that you know all of this detail about pedal decay/sustain time and sustained note volume, here's why I brought it up; many digital pianos have very little pedal decay-sustain time for their piano sounds. In fact some digital pianos fade out in less than 6 seconds of time, which is terrible. One of the big reasons for such poor pedal sustain is because they use a cheaper piano sound chip with a small amount memory that cannot hold a note for more than a few seconds. Other digital piano are much better and can go up to 10-15 seconds of time which is fine if you are a beginner or low intermediate player. But if you are a better player or even very an advanced player you definitely want the digital piano to have the sustained piano sound like a real piano where it's long and beautifully resonate. The Korg G1 Air has an incredible amount of pedal decay/sustain time across all 88 notes and way more than I thought it could have. In fact in the middle of the keyboard the decay/sustain time with sustained note volume was a whopping 25 seconds until it fully faded away. It was even a higher amount of time on the bass notes (as it should be) and a slighter lower amount of time on the treble notes (as it should be). In other words, with regard to piano decay/sustain time, this G1 Air outperforms any other furniture cabinet digital piano under $2000 that I know of in this way. I was very impressed that it could keep up with the demands I put on it when it came to sounding beautiful regardless of whether I wanted quick staccato notes or long resonate sustained notes over time. I am impressed with the Korg company for being able to accomplish this task particularly in this price range.

The Korg G1 has 32 total instrument sounds which are located inside of 4 instrument sound buttons on the front control panel with 7 of those instruments being the acoustic piano sounds from the 3 piano sound buttons as I mentioned before. All sounds are displayed in the small LED display screen in red letters. The non-acoustic piano sounds such as electric pianos, organs, strings, choirs, harpsichord, bass, and other tones are found inside the "others" button and are exceptionally realistic as compared to many other digital pianos in this price range including Yamaha, Roland, etc. Those instrument sounds I mentioned are very dynamic which means they change tonal character as you play the keys softly or play the keys with more velocity and more force. The sounds really come alive as you put more expression into your music and those sounds are not just static like they are on other digital pianos. There are some digital pianos whose instrumental sounds really come out sounding like toy instruments and it's easy to hear that as compared to this Korg G1 Air. These extra instrument sounds in the G1 Air that I mentioned really are at a pro level in quality and realism especially the electric piano sounds, strings, and the organs including pop, jazz, classical, and church. Korg did a great job including quality sounds instead of just quantity with low quality. However, there are no brass, woodwind, synthesizer, and or other similar sounds in this model so if  you think you want those tones for some reason then the G1 Air does not have them. For the majority of piano shoppers out there I don't think this is an issue at all. The control/button panel itself is a polished black piece of Plexiglas with smaller all matte black buttons which have a built-in red light when the button is selected (very useful) and also a simple, easy-to-use master volume knob on the left side of that panel which all help give the the G1 Air a bit of class along with it being more minimalist in appearance without having too many buttons. I did want to mention something that bothered me just a bit. When you press any button or function on the piano, if you were playing a previous sound and wanted to switch sounds in mid-stream or use an editing function to make a change to the sound, the previous sound immediately cuts off and stops playing. In other words, you cannot manipulate sounds in real time as your are playing your song. You basically have to set up the instrument sound the way you want and then play your song. I am definitely not fond of this system and in fact most digital pianos don't have this limitation. The only other brand I know that does is Roland on all their new digital pianos over $2000, but that limitation is only on their piano sounds and not on every button and every sound. So I am disappointed in the G1 Air concerning this limitation and hope that Korg can improve upon this in the near future. Perhaps it is an issue because of this new piano technology they are using to get their new piano sounds...I don't know. If you can be happy picking your sound, function, feature, etc and just playing your song and then change settings in-between songs then the G1 Air can do that well and I think that's what most people tend to do and won't be bothered by this limitation at all. But if you want a digital piano with quick real-time performance changes and sound manipulation capabilities while you are playing, the G1 Air would not be for you. Keep this in mind when considering this model.

Within the front control panel which is conveniently placed up and behind the keyboard just below the sheet music holder, there are a few other useful buttons, two of which are called function and select. They allow you to quickly access some of the other useful features in this digital piano including changing the reverb effects, chorus effects, brightness control (which can bright or soften the overall piano sound), transpose key for automatically playing or singing in a different key, touch sensitivity of the keyboard to adjust for the way you play the keys, relative volume controls for sounds, layer controls, and many other features. On the control panel there are 2 more buttons next to the instrument sound buttons called favorite and split. The split button allows you to put one bass instrument sound on the left hand and one on the right hand to be played independently but simultaneously, such as a string bass player on the left and a piano on the right like a jazz trio might do, minus any drums because the G1 Air does not have any percussion/drum patterns in it other than a preset bass/cymbal sound which is nice. You can determine where the left and right hand separate by holding down the key on the keyboard where you want the separation to happen...easy to do. Also, unlike other digital pianos including the Korg C1 model below the G1 where the right hand is always the piano sound in the split function and can never change, on the G1 you can assign any instrument sound of the G1 (electric piano, strings, etc) to the right hand melody while having the bass sound (bass guitar or string bass) assigned to the left hand. Within the "others" button there are a lot of sounds that you need to scroll through to find in that button so it does take time to do that. It's not the best way to find sounds as I would have preferred more sound buttons for direct access. But, you can save your favorite sound in the others button (strings, organ, electric piano, etc) by actually loading it into the favorites button for instant recall. That works good and if you have a favorite "layered or mixed"combination of two sounds that you use often then you can choose to save that "layered" sounds as well for instant recall. When it comes to the internal sound library in the G1, if you want to layer (mix) any two sounds together to play at the same time, you just press two sound buttons together at the same time and you'll get an instant layer. One quick comment worth mentioning is that the function button features are not convenient to use as well as being somewhat cryptic to find. You have to scroll through the function button and the editing features inside to find what you are looking for based on a chart in the owners manual. There is no direct access button or easier way of selecting the function. For instance, if you want to to transpose the key you need to go into the function button and then scroll through a few settings until the the transpose mode comes up and then you can select a key you want to be in. A couple other digital pianos, particularly the new Casio AP470 now offers an iPad/Android app so that you can easily and intuitively control these features with a proprietary control app from your device color touch screen...it makes the whole thing so much easier, assuming you have an external device to do that. Otherwise you need to rely on the piano operating system to get around and through the functions which is always a bit more challenging but certainly doable on the G1 Air. I am hoping that Korg can come out with a device controller app one day for the G1 Air which would make things so much easier to navigate, especially in the editing section.

With regard to using the editing features & setups that is worth mentioning, Korg implemented a function in the editing mode that saves the last set-up that you used just before you turn off the piano. Then when you power up the piano next time you want to play, that sound/function previous set-up comes back on which can be a good thing if you want to use that setting often when you play the G1 Air. So for instance, if you want the "Viennese Bosendorfer" 9' concert grand piano sound along with your own reverb, brilliance, and touch settings to come on instantly the next time you power up the piano instead of the factory default piano sound and setup, then you just make sure your save function for your setups is on (in the piano menu) and then the G1 Air will remember what you last were using, and when you go to power up the piano again, your previous setup will come up instantly so you don't have to set it all up again. That's a very cool feature and somewhat takes care of the unintutive setup & editing features that I previously mentioned because most people will typically want to play piano on the G1 Air and will have found a favorite setting that they want to come up all the time when they power up the piano so in this way you can have what you want without having to set it up all over again when you power up the G1 Air.

On the right side of the control panel there are some other buttons which control the digital metronome and the 2-track (2-part) MIDI recorder. The MIDI recorder is useful, especially for students because it allows you record your left and right hand independent of each other and then play them back that way so you can hear how your right and left hand parts are doing by listening to them apart from each other. Then when you have done that you can play back both recorded parts at the same time to hear how the song is doing and to see if you need to make improvements. You can use the digital metronome and set it to any time signature and tempo you want which helps with rhythm and timing training while you are learning your songs. In the recorder section you are able to play and save up to whopping 99 individual songs in the the piano including 999 measures (or 45,000 notes) in each song. This is way more internal song memory than most digital pianos in this price range which may have the capacity of 1, 2 or 3, or 10 songs at most. The G1 Air does not have audio wav or MP3 recording as a few other pianos have not does the piano have a USB flash drive input to load or save songs. But I have found that most people just want a capable 2-track MIDI recorder-player on the piano to learn songs and have fun. Plus, if you record 2 separate parts with 2 different instruments and play them back together you can even play "live" on top of that with any other instrument you choose. So basically you can play along with your own recorded song and set the playback speed at any tempo you like...pretty cool. Beyond that, when playing back a practice song you recorded, you can set up a specific passage or part in the music where you may be having a few playing problems and just have that part play over and over at a slow speed or while you play along with it (either right hand, left hand, or both) so that you can focus on just that set of measures rather than the entire song. The G1 Air is capable of doing that too and it does help in a number of ways and you will become better more quickly. As a long time teacher I know this works because I've used this technology many times with students.

Speaking of lesson practice, the G1 Air also has a Piano Partner mode which allows 2 people (siblings, friends, parent-child, teacher student) to practice the same song at the same time using the same notes in the same octaves. This is by the piano electronically dividing the 88 keys into two 44-note keyboards so that one person plays 2-hands on one side of the middle C and the other person plays 2 hands on the other side of middle C. The piano automatically adjusts the left part of the keyboard to sound identical to the right side of the keyboard. Other digital pianos have this mode too and it can be called duet mode, 4-hand mode, twin mode, etc. It's a cool practice feature but only useful under the conditions I mentioned...same song, same notes with same sound, at the same time for 2 people using one or both hands depending on whether you're practicing treble, bass, or both clefs.

The connectivity available for this piano is pretty much what most people are looking for which includes separate line audio output jacks, MIDI in & out connectors, USB to device connector, and 2 stereo headphone jacks. The only thing missing that I would have preferred to see is an audio stereo line input jack to connect outside audio to go through the G1 Air speaker system. This would be useful to hear your music coming from your external personal device and being fed directly through the piano speaker system is that device did not have Bluetooth connectivity.. I say that especially because the G1 Air speaker system is by far the most powerful speaker system of any major brand or model under $2000 that I know of. The G1 Air has 4 speakers, 4 amplifiers putting out 80 watts of total power being dispersed and diffused through a very impressive system of a fully enclosed boxed speaker system with 2 woofer speakers facing the player (just below the keyboard) and then 2 high frequency top speakers dispersing the sound upward into the air and deflecting towards the player just below the music rack pointing upward. When I played this piano for the first time I was impressed with how full and yet clear the piano sound was coming out of this internal speaker system. For a minute I thought I was playing a real piano piano. I experienced very little if any distortion on full power and the dynamic tonal range and expression of the stereo concert grand piano sound was very good. It's one thing to have an impressive key action and piano sound chip in or around the $1500 range but it's another thing entirely to have a powerful internal speaker system to play it through. In the G1 Air you can even feel the bass notes bring out the bottom end of the piano sound. Also, being able to clearly hear the higher frequency range without the overall sound being mid-rangy or muddy is no easy task in a small compact digital piano but in my opinion Korg has really nailed it. In other words, whether you play this piano at low volume levels, medium volume, or you turn up the master volume all the way, in my opinion the G1 Air sounds natural like a real piano and even at low volumes it doesn't sound "tinny." It doesn't loose that low end bass sound that real pianos have whereas on most digital pianos in this price range when you turn down the volume then the bass frequency tones just pretty much disappear and the piano tends to sound like a toy. That's why a lot of people who demonstrate digital pianos do so at loud volumes because anything loud will generally sound big. But it's at the lower volumes where quality piano sound reproduction gets much more difficult to achieve through a typical digital piano internal speaker system. I also do not recommend anyone needing an additional speaker or sub woofer system for this piano...it's got plenty of power and bass response for most rooms all by itself. Anyone who says otherwise is trying to sell you extra stuff. Oh, and when you play it through stereo headphones for private practice, the internal stereo headphone amp is so good and powerful, it will also sound like you're playing a ginormous grand piano through your headphones, assuming you have a decent pair of stereo headphones. In terms of the headphone listening experience, I have heard a few digital pianos in the $4000-$5000 range that cannot keep up with this Korg G1 Air in that way.

So, given that Korg has such an impressive internal speaker system in this model, what else can Korg do to follow that act? OK...here's something very cool (and useful) that no other major digital piano brand in this price range can do. The Korg G1 Air has built-in Bluetooth wireless audio. In other words, you can take your Bluetooth device such as an iPhone, iPad, etc (I use iPad a lot) and play your favorite MP3 song files on your device (iTunes) through the G1 Air speaker system. This is a very special bonus you get with the G1 Air because now your piano can become your in-home high definition, high quality speaker system to play your songs through. You can be quite a distance from the G1 Air in another part of your home from where the piano is and control the song volume and the songs that you are hearing right from your device without cables or any other wired connection. So even through the piano does not offer an audio input jack, it really has something better...a full Bluetooth audio connection and it's so easy to use. As soon as you power up the piano the Bluetooth function automatically switches on and the G1 Air shows up on your device. Just touch the G1 Air name in your device Bluetooth list in settings and the piano and your device instantly connect (pair). That's all there is to it. Then you play your favorite song on your small device and hear it through the awesome G1 Air powerful internal speaker system your song will sound just as good through the piano speaker system as your live piano playing does. It's a win-win situation. On top of that feature, you can also play the piano live with your songs coming through the speaker system and learn to play your favorite songs on the piano while listening to your songs. If you want to that in privacy then just plug in your stereo headphones and hear your iTune, Google Play, etc songs and your piano playing all together through your headphones without disturbing any one else. There is no other name brand digital piano under $2000 that has this built-in capability. I have personally tried this feature many times on the G1 Air and it's really awesome, especially because if you want to be in another part of the room or house you can still control your songs (within reason as far as distance goes) and the lack of an audio input is also not an issue. Now don''t get this confused with Bluetooth MIDI. Bluetooth MIDI is completely different and you will find that feature in this price range on Kawai and Roland digital pianos. However, Bluetooth MIDI controls only Bluetooth wireless apps on your iPad/iPhone device and you don't really need it because you would need to be sitting at the piano to use those apps anyway so that the educational or instrument app can respond to the keyboard when you're playing it. You can otherwise easily get that MIDI connectivity feature connecting a USB cable to the G1 Air instead of Bluetooth and then you can use all the MIDI apps on your tablet that you want. But that's not audio and not playing music through your piano wirelessly from another place in the room which is what most people are looking for. Bluetooth audio is the cool feature which only this piano has under $2000.

Now we're near the end of this report...finally! I did want to talk about the G1 Air Furniture CABINET because it's impressive. For a small compact furniture cabinet digital piano, it actually has a nice designer look to it with its curved side panel legs, attached front support legs for extra front support and stability, and raised front header console where the control panel is placed. The piano cabinet is an "open-air" style so it may not appeal to some buyers, and that's OK....different strokes for different folks. If you want something more traditional looking with a full privacy panel in back then in this price range the new Casio Celviano AP470 would be a good option which you can check out here: Casio AP470 Review. Most compact open-air cabinets are just flat on the top with controls facing up from the flat surface and the music rack being on that flush flat surface in a limited space up against the key cover when the key cover is folded opened backwards. On the G1 Air, the higher raised surface and top of the entire front panel will support the sheet music so that you can put three times as much music on the G1 as you can on the typical digital piano in this price range and the piano will support it and has a long groove for the music to sit in. Not only that but the music itself is at the correct height for the proper eye position unlike some other compact digital pianos that don't have this extra height. The key cover on this piano is very special in my opinion because it's a "slower-close" key cover so when you drop the cover from its tallest open position, the cover has a slow-down breaking system in it so the cover more slowly falls to the bottom and closes up...it doesn't just slam down. So it you are a child in your home lets go of the cover while closing it, they won't get their fingers cut off and the cover won't slam down. Also, the key cover has a slow-open process with a break system in it. This means that when the cover is opened and you let it fall backwards to stop, the cover won't just fall backwards and bang off the cabinet. It actually slows way down and softly settles backwards where it stops at its designated point. I don't know of any digital piano in this price range with such a nice cover that also works so well and is practical in these ways. When a company pays attention to cabinet details and offers more for the money, I am always impressed. The G1 Air also comes in three really nice looking colors including matte black, matte white, and a very attractive custom wood grain dark brown matte finish which no other piano manufacturer offers. The measurements of the piano is approximately 53"x 15"x 32" without key cover opened and with key cover fully opened the height measurement is 39" and the weight of the piano is only 90 lbs so it's relatively easy to move. The G1 Air has low power consumption, has automatic power shut off in case you forget to turn it off when you're through playing it, and Korg products are known to last not just years, but decades. The factory warranty is currently 5 years parts and 5 years labor after you register the piano on-line with Korg.That warranty time is huge and larger than most of the other digital piano companies out there incl Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, etc for instruments under $2000

- There are 4 unusual but very practical things the special design of the G1 Air cabinet allows to happen that many other digital pianos cannot do, even in much higher price ranges and I already briefly discussed a couple of those things above. Here are those 4 things described below. Click on pics to see larger view.

1.The height position of the music rest above the keyboard is more in the line-of-sight of someone reading sheet music than many other contemporary compact digital pianos can do because those other digital pianos typically have the music rest on the same level as the keyboard just behind the keyboard. Having the music sitting up at a higher position (like a real piano) can reduce neck strain, eye strain, and it allows the player/student to experience reading the sheet music in a more normal way.
2.  There is a smaller groove built into the front top of the piano (see above pictures in previous cabinet info/comments) that spans the entire width of the piano which not only allows extra piano sound to project up & out of the piano (like what a grand piano does when the lid is open), but this groove can be use to physically hold sheet music and books for the entire width of the piano top and that music then has back support from the key-cover which acts as a natural backing for the music to stand up and be supported. Utilizing the entire width of the piano top allows the use of a lot more sheet music and books at the same time that most other digital pianos cannot do because those pianos just have a smaller designated music rack instead of being able to spread your music out across the entire piano. This is very cool, especially for someone playing a more complex piece of music with multiple pages of music or for someone who wants more than one music book on their music stand at the same time. The Korg G1 Air does this in a way that few other digital pianos can.
3. The depth of the music rack from the player sitting on a bench is where it should be...closer to the player so that you can see the music better. There are many digital pianos where the music rack is set much further back from the person playing the piano so that you would have to look at the music much further away than would be normal on a real piano. So in this way the G1 Air is designed to make reading music more comfortable and normal.
4. The design of the key-cover when it is up and being used as the backing rack for the sheet music also allows for a music light to be clamped to the cover over the top of it. In other words, unlike many other (but not all) digital pianos without a secure, sturdy music rack (key-cover back) built like the G1 Air, this model let's you clamp on one of those handy and durable small and compact LED "goose-neck"adjustable music lights that you can buy separately from places like Amazon so that you can read your music in darker places in your room, or at night when you don't want other lights in the room to be on. The LED music lights with the secure clamps on them are the perfect solution for a music light on the Korg G1 Air and those lights are relatively inexpensive and can work on batteries or by being plugged in. Most of those lamps also have 2 light levels including bright and less-bright.

One more thing that I nearly forgot because it is so rare to find on any digital piano at any price. Most of the Japanese brands including Yamaha, Casio, Kawai, and Roland design their digital piano products in Japan but have them built and assembled in other countries such as China, Indonesia, and Malaysia. That's fine as long as the manufacturer owns and runs the factory in that other country. Quality control in products is extremely important and all the strong, respected digital piano companies want their products to turn out good. However, having them build their products in Japan itself can be quite costly because costs of living and wages are so high as compared to many other countries such as China so that's why the actual manufacturing for these digital piano companies don't happen in Japan anymore, they just cannot afford it. But the upside in making things in Japan is that it is a well known over the years that the quality and longevity of the products built in Japan by Japanese people has been much higher than in other countries such as the ones I mentioned. Having them made in the US isn't going to happen because of distance, costs, and business restrictions, but having them made in Japan is the next best thing. Well, believe it or not, the Korg company makes their G1 Air in a Korg owned and operated plant in Japan. In fact the entire Korg G1 key action, pedal system, piano sound chips, speaker system, and cabinet is completely designed, engineered, produced and shipped from Japan to end users. I was very surprised to learn this and Korg even labels this info on their boxes and on the piano itself. So when it comes to being ahead of the crowd, I think Korg is showing they can do it even with where they make it and who designs it. No wonder their products seem to last forever...at least that's been my experience with them, although no one is 100% perfect.

I believe that at the end of the day, if you cannot find something to like about this new digital piano model then you are not trying very hard! If you want a piano to primarily play piano on with fewer bells & whistles (but still a few cool ones like I described), and you're also wanting uncompromising grand piano playing sound quality and an exciting piano playing experience, then in my opinion you cannot miss with the new Korg G1 Air. I am also personally happy that Korg has re-entered the higher quality home furniture cabinet digital piano market in such a strong way. I have always liked the Korg company and I felt it was just a matter of time until they decided to get serious about the home furniture cabinet digital piano market like they have in their pro piano division for so many years. The Korg company offers the G1 Air in 3 attractive cabinet colors including matte black, matte white, and a brown-rosewood finish. None of the cabinets are made of real wood which is true for ALL other digital pianos that I know of even going up to the 10,000 price range. The brown rosewood finish is actually very attractive and I have a number of photos of that cabinet in this review. The brown rosewood is somewhat of a medium to darker tone but if you are going to want that finish be sure that you are confident that it will likely fit in with your other room colors because there are hundreds of shades of brown that are out there in people's rooms and not all brown shades go together, so either a black or white color is much easier to predict if it will work with your other room colors or not. No matter which color you choose, at $1599US internet discount price (matching bench optional) the G1 Air is an impressive piano for what it offers in my opinion, especially as compared to its competition. Please contact me before you buy anything anywhere and I will help you save even more money than internet and Amazon discount prices incl free shipping, no tax, brand new.

* Please take a look at a couple of nicely done video demos below of the G1 Air in action:





If you want more info on these pianos and lower prices than internet, Amazon, bundles, or store discounts in the USA including helping you with credit and no interest if paid in full in 6 months on purchases over $100, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW - November 23, 2019 - Casio PX770 Digital Piano - Recommended - PX770 Privia Piano ($699US internet discount price) comes in its own piano cabinet and is offered in satin black, satin white, and satin brown walnut.  

What is it that makes this Casio PX770 Privia digital furniture cabinet piano so special? First and foremost the Casio PX770 is the only new digital piano out of the 5 major digital piano manufacturers (Casio, Yamaha, Roland, Korg, and Kawai) that comes as a complete sturdy cabinet piano for the lowest price of all the major brands at $699US internet price. This includes the full sleek compact furniture stand, triple pedal furniture attachment, full piano with built-in sliding key cover (which portable digital pianos do not have), included full music rack, and a piano control panel that is built-in to the piano left side panel to give it a less cluttered look. So if you are looking for a more traditional piano style with a distinctively more natural piano appearance than other pianos in this price range (especially the portables), then this model certainly is more upgraded in that way than any other good digital pianos out there and it's not much more money than the lower priced portable digital pianos such as the Casio PX160. I always recommend that people should plan for the future if possible and get something slightly better now instead of compromising just to save a bit of money and then wishing you had invested in something longer term for just a bit more money.

OK, so how about the piano playing experience a person can have on this new model...what is that like? This is the main thing that people ask me all the time is...how does the Casio piano play & sound? For 2019 Casio has definitely improved the piano playing authenticity of this newer model over the former model (PX760) and the portable Casio PX160 in a few very nice ways and kept a some of  the popular features from the former model that most people enjoyed. For those of you who don't know, Casio is headquartered in Tokyo Japan and has been making digital pianos for well over 30 years. They produce their own proprietary digital technology that no one else has and they design and manufacture their own parts with high quality control based on my experience with their products over the years. The Casio company is obviously well known for advanced technology watches, calculators, keyboard, cash registers, etc, but their music instrument division produces some very impressive digital pianos and the PX770 is one of them

Here are the 5 main improvements on the new PX770 over the previous model PX760:

1. The PX770 has an upgraded cabinet over the previous PX760 model with less seams in the cabinet and smoother design with easier, quicker assembly. The built-in speakers are also sleeker and more minimized allowing the cabinet to have a less digital look.

2. The synthetic ivory/ebony material used on the keytops has been reformulated giving the keys a smoother and more natural textured feel as compared to the previous PX760 keytops and current portable PX160 version, which I believe people will like much better.

3. Although the key action movement is the same as the previous model, the piano sound chip has been improved with a more realistic acoustic piano sound allowing for more natural resonance and longer pedal sustain times. This is very nice especially if you are an intermediate through advanced player where these improvements would be most recognized and welcome. However this is helpful for beginner students so they can get into good playing habits.

4. There is an additional acoustic piano tone along with some re-voiced improved instrument sounds for a total of 19 sounds which add to the realism of what you hear coming out of this new model. This allows for more variety and better instrument sounds which is always good and helps inspire your music.

5. The piano control panel buttons on the piano has now been moved over to the left side of the keyboard which makes the piano look less cluttered and less digital looking and more like a real smaller piano.

Additional features on the PX770 include special reverb Hall effects which simulates a big concert hall where there is lots of natural reverb/echo giving the piano sound a bigger feeling like you get when listening to a regular piano in a big room with natural reverb acoustic. The PX770 also has the popular song feature called "Concert Play" which offers 10 popular classical songs recorded by an actual symphony orchestra in CD quality and then those songs are able to be played back on this piano. When playing back the songs you can also reduce the tempo so that you can play along with the PX770 acoustic piano sound and interact with that fabulous backup orchestra at a slower speed while learning that piece. This is lots of fun and it makes you sound much better than you are, especially if you do not play well.

When it comes to practicing your songs a great way to do that is to use the PX770 2-track MIDI recorder-player system which allows for independent practice and recording of your left & right hand. In this way you can isolate each part while you are learning your lesson or piece of music. Then you can play back the recorded left hand while playing live with the right hand against it, or you can play and record the right hand and then play it back while playing the left hand live along with the recorded right hand. It's just like having a teacher sitting next to you playing one part while you play the other, only you are doing it all yourself. You can then playback both recorded left & right hand parts simultaneously to hear how you actually did and what you sound like. Beyond that you can play an instrument sound live (such as a harpsichord, organ, electric piano, etc on top of both recorded parts so it's like having 3 tracks going at one time.

The quality of the piano sound and key action along with pedaling realism are ultimately what most people are primarily looking for in a new digital piano and the new PX770 does not disappoint, even though it has a low price. Lower price does not necessarily mean that the low price equates to a low quality outcome. This negative outcome can be true of some generally poor brands in my opinion such as Williams, Suzuki, Artesia, etc, but this is almost never the case with the good reliable brands such as Casio, Yamaha, Kawai, and Roland. The PX770 has Casio's triple key sensor 128-note polyphony weighted graded key action that moves very nicely up & down with a piano-like feel. I like the weight and smooth movement of the keys better than some of the other brands in this price range but since this Casio PX770 is the only furniture cabinet model under $700 of the major brands, it really has no competition in that way.

The stereo recorded grand piano sound is quite resonate for a small piano even though it only has 2 smaller speakers rated at only 16 watts total power. For a small piano it has enough volume for a good size room but the newer Casio PX870 model at $999 internet discount price has an upgraded 256-note polyphony piano sound chip with organic tonal elements and a 4-speaker sound projection system which makes it sound more like a big upright piano as compared to the PX770 which sounds like a smaller shorter piano...so you do get what you pay for. However the PX770 does hold its own with the added features of pedal resonance, damper noise, and hammer response simulation so that the overall stereo piano sound is better than any of the other digital pianos priced at under $700 in my opinion.

The PX770 has some standard features found on other digital pianos including the ability to layer and play 2 different instrument sounds at the same or split any 2 sounds with one sound being on the left hand and the other located for the right had. The PX770 also offers a "duet mode" also known as Duo or twin piano which allows two people to play the same sound using the same octave sound so they can practice the same exact parts even though one person is sitting on the left side of the keyboard and the other person is sitting on the right side of the keyboard. I find that many people never use this feature unless it was a teacher student situation or two students in the same family playing and practicing the same music at the same time. It's fun to use but it just depends on what you want to do. Also this piano has an industry standard USB to device connector which allows you to interface with iPad, iPhone, Android, laptop, etc so that you can enhance your piano learning and playing experience. I have personally used many iPad educational music apps to help my students learn piano playing fundamentals in a more engaging way which kids and adults really enjoy. There are other features on this new model that I have not mentioned but they are secondary to the main point of this piano which is an instrument for people who are on a restricted budget but still want good piano performance.

In the final analysis, for just $699US internet price not including a bench, the new PX770 is a piano that I do recommend as being a great buy for someone who wants a smaller, compact furniture style digital piano at a low price without having too many built in "bells & whistles." At just 70 lbs weight and measuring 55" wide x 12" deep x 31" high, the new PX770 may be the perfect instrument for you at its low price. Yes there are other piano options from the competitive companies such as Kawai, Yamaha, and Roland in this price range but those instruments are portables and not an all-in-one cabinet with sliding key cover. Also, Casio does offer other furniture cabinet instruments including the popular PX780 ($899US internet price) and the PX870 ($999US internet discount price). Casio also produces a more traditional cabinet piano model at a lower price called the Casio Celviano AP270 ($1049 internet price) which is a new 2019 model that I like very much and it comes with a nice Casio piano bench at no extra charge. Casio's manufacturer warranty on all of their Privia digital pianos is 3 years parts and 3 years labor which is a very long time compared to many other digital pianos companies offering products in this price range. If you want more info on the new PX770 then please call or email me and I will be happy to help you along with being able to offer you even lower pricing than internet and amazon discount prices:).

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW & Comparison - November 25, 2019 - Casio CGP700 & Casio PX360 digital pianos - RECOMMENDED - Casio's latest  portable digital pianos are called the CGP700 ($799 internet selling price including furniture speaker stand) and the new PX360 ($899 internet selling price, optional CS67 stand not included). Please read my comparison review below. Click on pics for larger view

The Casio CGP700 and PX360 share many of the same features and functions but they are also different from each other in a number of notable and important ways.The first and biggest thing that both models share but what also sets them apart from the previous portable Casio models (and every other portable brand in this price range), is the new 5.3" all color touch screen using proprietary Casio touch App software with instant feature recognition along with a color screen which operates very much like a mini tablet including swipeable screens. I really should not get overly excited about this technology because many consumer products from educational kids electronic toys to family electronics have color touch screens now and instant feature recognition with swipeable screens, so having this technology in a digital piano should be no big deal...right? Well...actually it is a big deal because, at least for new digital pianos in the lower price range under $2000, these piano companies are way behind consumer and commercial electronics when it comes to user interfaces and built-in color touch screens. There are some piano manufacturers who are writing their own proprietary Apps to use on iPad and Android tablets so you can control a limited number of functions on your piano from your tablet connected by WiFi, Bluetooth, or USB cable connection. That's good but it only covers a relatively small portion of what those pianos can do and the screen is the external tablet and not a touch screen in the piano. It is also important to point out that the new Casio color touch screen is not set into the piano control panel completely flat. The screen is slightly raised and slanted for a good viewing experience which is much better than being flat, which I have seen in other brands that have any kind of display screen at all. So I do appreciate that extra "touch" of usability.

However, in the world of digital pianos, this would be the first time ever that a top name well known digital piano manufacturer has designed and produced a digital piano selling for under $1000that has a very user friendly, intuitive, large (as digital pianos go) 5.3" color touch screen with familiar settings and the ability to use the functions in a much faster and deeper way, without much effort. So I must give credit where credit is due...and that's to the Casio designers and engineers for coming up with an unexpected and impressive color touch screen feature which will allow digital piano owners to get the most out of their new Casio portable digital pianos which no other major digital piano brand can compete with at this point in this price range. Casio is, after all, a computer company that produces a variety of in demand consumer and business technology items such as digital cameras, watches, TV's, small color touch screen cash registers, language translators, calculators, and of course...keyboards & digital pianos. Casio has had a music/piano division for many decades and that division is able to take advantage of the technology that Casio uses in their other product areas, including the color touch screens which they now incorporate in these new digital pianos at a low price...pretty cool.

Along with the color touch screen and the features it has, Casio has included a round infinity (alpha) data wheel dial on the control panel to the right of the display screen which allows you to scroll through the functions in the touch screen.As an example, if you wanted to find a particular sound like a specific trumpet or piano sound, normally you would go through the library of sound groups and tones to get to the sound you want using buttons. The data dial on the control panel allows you quickly turn it in either direction which moves through the sound library or any other function quickly so that you can land on the sound or feature you want to. There is also an individual up and down button so that you can advance the features in the touch screen one at a time without using the data dial or touch screen. These functions are just other useful ways of  selecting the feature (sound, rhythm, song, etc) you want once you have gone into the touch screen mode. Yamaha and Roland have had a data wheel (dial) in a few of their keyboard products for many years on a variety of their digital pianos, but this is the first time that Casio has included the data (alpha) dial function into their digital pianos, so that's a big bonus in terms of how the piano operates for both the CGP700 and PX360.

Beyond the data wheel controller, Casio has also has some helpful buttons on the control panel itself which will take you directly to the most popular functions of the piano in the color screen including instrument sounds, rhythms,recording, transpose, etc.In other words, let's say you want to transpose the key you are in which is a very popular feature on digital pianos. Rather than go into the color screen and look for the transpose function which you can also access that way, you can just press the transpose button on the control panel and instantly it will transpose the key up or down a 1/2 step at a time. There's no guess work as to where the transpose feature will be in the color touch screen or where to find it because the transpose button on the control panel accesses that feature instantly. You can also adjust the transpose function in the touch screen by touching the appropriate selection and using the data wheel or up/down buttons to select the key. Then once you get to that function you wanted, via the buttons, you can then use the color touch screen to continue your search and/or use the data wheel to speed up your selection. There's just so many intuitive ways to access features on theses pianos that it makes using these two new models lots of fun...and if it's fun & easy, you'll enjoy it more and get more use out of it too.

As far as the piano playing fundamentals of the Casio CGP700 and PX360 or any digital piano go, this would include key action, the piano sound, and pedaling authenticity.Of course, digital pianos need to have an internal speaker system to hear the sound, so the quality of that speaker system needs to be good too and I will discuss that later in this review. The key action piano keyboard is the most important thing to consider when shopping for any digital piano and the CGP700 ad PX360 are no exceptions. In the price range under $1000, there are four major brands worth considering at this point and that's Casio,Yamaha, Kawai, and Korg. There are other digital piano brands which offer one or more models under or around $1000 such as Kurzweil, & Roland and a couple of others. But as of now, those brands don't offer anything which competes well with Casio, Yamaha, & Kawai in this price range with regard to key action in my opinion. Korg has one model for $999 but it lags behind the other 3 major brands for these kinds of portable pianos. The CGP700 and PX360 key action are identical and the newer PX160, PX770, and PX870 are the same so there won't be any confusion there, unlike other brands that offer multiple models of different key actions. The Casio key action is, in my opinion, superior to most other brands in this price range for a number of reasons including having a triple sensor keyboard for more accurate key repetition sensing and expression, more authentic piano key weight and movement in the keys, a better balance with graded weighted keys and better connection with the fingers, and having the addition of both ivory & ebony synthetic key tops which try to simulate the feel of real ivory and ebony acoustic piano keys from years ago. Today, real acoustic piano keys have mostly plain plastic top keys so synthetic ivory and ebony feel is quite nice because it offers a more textured feel along with being able to absorb sweat from the fingers which makes for a smoother playing surface. So when it comes to the Casio keyboard and realism in movement, in this price range they are very impressive, although I would not classify the key action as functioning and moving like a grand piano, especially on the black keys, because it does not. It is much more like a good upright piano and there isn't any other brand or model in this price range that would have a key action that functions like a grand piano either...so don't expect it. Casio, along with other manufacturers likes to add some "hype" to their marketing and promotion efforts, so with that in mind these people tend to exaggerate sometimes...especially in getting you to believe that their product is exactly like a concert grand in key action and/or sound. Really? Then why buy another piano for more money or even a regular grand piano for that matter if their inexpensive digital piano supposedly gave you everything you could ever ask for? It's a ridiculous statement when they make it, but I have come to expect these things...because they are trying to get you to buy their piano, You just have to look beyond the hype and play the piano to know for sure, which I have. If you want something at a higher playing level, then you'll need to spend more money to get it.

A good, realistic piano sound is also obviously important, especially to those who will be primarily interested in playing piano although the other instrument sounds can be enjoyable as well.But it's really all about the acoustic piano sound recreation and if it can be expressive with a large dynamic tonal range (which it definitely has), good organic piano sound elements like virtual vibrating strings, resonance, accurate legato and staccato piano sound, smooth key sensitivity volume and fast repetition sound reproduction, then that is something you want to look for. These things are not easy to get right, but Casio has done an excellent job of it in this price range. There are some "off-brands," as I call them, such as Williams (a Guitar Center brand) which does a very poor job of this in both areas and I don't recommend that brand (and a few others) at all for these and some other reasons. All of these piano sound elements and functions make for a more enjoyable piano playing experience and is necessary to have in a good digital piano. Dynamic tonal range means the range of tone from mellow to bright as you play the keys softly and then push the keys harder and quicker. Key sensitivity volume is when you press softly and get a low volume and then as you press the keys harder you get a louder volume. You are not supposed to notice any hesitation or jumpiness in volume and the volume range is supposed to be smooth and large. In these new Casio pianos that type of response is quite good.

The CGP700 and PX360 both have 128-notes of polyphony processing power which is usually more than enough for most players when playing multiple notes and pedal sustain, even with a layered sound,Some digital pianos out there have 192 or 256 notes of polyphony processing power but I have personally found the extra polyphony to be unnecessary for playing a full song with lots of notes or to do recording properly. However, both new models are somewhat different with regard to the actual piano sound chip because even though the piano sound on these models are sampled or recorded from a high quality acoustic grand piano, the PX360 is more advanced in terms of the extra organic piano sound elements and nuances that are available in some higher priced digital pianos these days. If you listen to the CGP700 and the PX360 separately through a good pair of headphones, you'll be able to tell the difference in piano sound realism assuming you know what you're listening for or you have some piano playing experience. The PX360 has what's known as string resonance (aka: sympathetic string vibrations) as well as key release velocity (the sustained tone when you release a key depending on the speed of the release) both of which simply make for a more realistic piano sound experience, where the CGP700 does not have these features. The PX360 also has adjustable hammer response which simulates the percussive nature of the actual piano felt hammer although the CGP700 also has a very good percussive feel to the piano sound. When you listen to the both models through the piano internal speakers, it's a bit more difficult to tell the difference especially because the CGP700 speaker system is louder and fuller than the PX360, but it's certainly still there. In the PX (Privia) line of instruments, the basic Casio piano sampled sound is the same but it's all these other organic parts of the sound that make the difference, and when you leave any of these extra organic parts out, it reduces the need for more piano processing memory and therefore reduces cost. But the bottom line is...can you tell the difference in one from another and if you really can not, then it doesn't matter what the specifications say, it just matters what you like and can be happy with. It's true the PX360 will piano sound will sound more lively and expressive because of the increased piano processing memory and organic elements, but you can probably enjoy either model for its piano sound, and both of them are more expressive in my opinion than the competing models from Yamaha at this point, including the Yamaha DGX660 and P125. It's also worth noting that for the first time, Casio has introduced a special control panel button (upper left pic) called "Grand Piano" that instantly resets the piano keyboard to a grand piano sound. It's similar to a panic button when you have features and functions selected but you want to return to the main piano sound only. Although Casio has never had this feature before, Yamaha has had it for a long time in some of its models and it was always a function that I really liked, so it's definitely a welcome improvement on these new Casio pianos.

CGP700 on stand with music rack

When it comes to the pedaling experience, this is another important aspect to consider when shopping for a new digital piano. The CGP700 and PX360 both have pedal damper resonance and damper noise which is the resonance of the tone and physical movement of the damper rail in an acoustic piano.These two elements add a depth of realism to the piano sound when using the damper/sustain pedal. The pedaling also includes a half-damper effect which adds more incremental sustain times to the damper pedaling, but only if you are using the optional 3-pedal unit ($75 internet price). Pedal resonance, damper noise, and especially half-damper effect are very good features to have as you progress in your playing ability or already play well. A person can certainly live without it but it's better if you can access it. However, as I mentioned, you'll need the optional triple pedal unit to access the half-damper sustain effect on the Casio's. Kawai also has half-damper function on their brand new popular ES110 portable piano ($729 internet price) and that feature can be accessed with the included full size single piano pedal, unlike the Casio's. I was hoping Casio would have updated their half-damper access from previous models, but they did not. So that's a negative (although a smaller one) in my book. As far as pedal decay time which is how long a note will sustain after letting go of the key and holding down the sustain pedal, the CGP & PX do a fairly good job. The sustain time is fairly long on sustained notes but I have heard other digital pianos with even better (longer) decay times, especially on the higher notes, but those digital pianos would cost quite a bit more money. So in this price range the Casio pedaling experience is, overall, a very good one.

OK...now on to the fun stuff. The new PX360 and CGP700 both have a whopping 550 built-in instrument tones and 200 built-in rhythms & ensemble chord arrangements. When using the variation feature on the rhythm arrangements, you then get another 200 selections which gives you a total of 400 rhythms/ensemble arrangements. So when it comes to having a variety of enjoyable instrument sound and rhythm patterns and musical arrangements (aka:one man band), it's difficult to need more than that. Casio has increased and advanced the realism of many instrument sounds from previous models as well as the musicality and voicing of the rhythms & arrangements. The increase in realism on some of these selections was quite noticeable to me and made for a more expressive playing experience with all styles of music including classical, jazz, rock, big band, oldies, Latin, country, modern, world music, and everything in-between, and most of them sound great considering how little these pianos cost. The intros and endings as well as drum fill-ins and accompaniment patterns were surprisingly good and far better than on previous models. All of it was expressive, musically realistic, and plentiful. Casio also inserted some very cool, very realistic musical ritardandos, crescendos, decrescendos, and syncopation into the intros and endings making the music sound more natural instead of digital and robotic, and it's done in full stereo with stereo panning as well. The Casio sound and accompaniment designers/programmers really have done an outstanding job upgrading these particular features as compared to past models, although there are a few auto accompaniment styles that do sound toy-like and amateurish, so they are not all great...but I  expected that. When using the auto-accompaniment feature you can play simple 1-finger left hand chords, 3-finger chords, or full professional chording playing both left and right hand together with multiple fingers over the accompaniment and the accompaniment will follow you. As far as the solo instruments go, many (but certainly not all) do sound noticeably more authentic than in previous models, as I mentioned earlier.  Beyond offering a variety of acoustic piano sounds, these instrument sounds would include much better electric pianos, brass, organs, woodwinds, strings, etc, and the variety has increased from the previous 250 selections on previous models to the updated 550 selections, which is a very big jump in the amount of available instruments for Casio, but some of the instrument sounds have not been upgraded much or at all from previous models. As an example, the guitar sounds, whether they be electric, classical, or steel string, are mostly just average and not as convincing as I had hoped for in these new models. But they are still fun to have and are certainly better than other digital pianos I have played in this price range under $1000, and if you are not too critical, you may like them just fine. Also, the trumpet instrument sounds (and a few others) aren't that good in my opinion, but it's really not often I need a trumpet sound in a digital piano:). However, they are all quickly accessible through the color touch screen and there are picture icons for each sound group so you just touch it and that group of sounds or rhythms instantly comes up.

When it comes to these 2 new models and their ability to make you sound better than you are which the previous features definitely do (and that can be a good thing:), Casio has a very cool feature called "Auto-Harmonize."One of the goals of any student or musician is to play a song so it sounds as full as possible with multiple notes being played by both the left and right hand. Most of the time students and recreational players know how to play accompaniment chords with their left hand, but playing multiple note chords simultaneously with your right hand takes many years of learning and practice to accomplish this. Some people get to that point but most people do not. They can play chords with their left hand with a one (or maybe 2) note melody with their right hand. So wouldn't it be special if you could play one note melodies with your right hand as your left hand is playing the full 3 or 4 finger chords and have your right hand one note melody sound like 3 or 4 notes playing correctly every time you play one key on the right hand?
Well...that's what the "auto-harmonize" feature does for you. It automatically harmonizes the right hand melody with your left hand chords and makes it sound like you are playing multiple notes on your right hand even though you are only playing one key! The harmonize function also works when playing simple 1-finger chords on the left hand so that a complete beginner can sound like they have been playing for years:). The right hand harmonize feature includes 12 harmonizer variations for your melody accessible from the touch screen and it really does make your right hand sound like you've been playing multiple fingers for years...even though you're just playing one key at a time. This feature can be selected on or off directly from the master main screen in the touch display so it's easy to use. Whatever chord your left hand is playing and whatever song style you are playing in, the auto-harmonizer automatically adjusts the right hand melody to sound big and full in any number of musical styles while using the accompaniment section. OK...I know that some people will call this harmonizer feature a waste of time and an unnecessary toy. But when you try it, it will definitely bring a smile to your face because it makes your music sound fantastic, and if you don't play well, then I say that you should use all the help you can get:). It's great to learn how to play properly and manually...but as a long time piano teacher I always encourage my students to have fun and do whatever it takes to keep playing and enjoy the music....and that's what this feature does.

Along with the instrument sounds and automatic features, there are also some impressive new drum kit sounds in the instrument sound library of these new models for playing individual percussion on different keys.This is not a new function but what is new is the noticeably higher quality of the stereo percussion samples and the fact that the drum sounds are velocity sensitive for tonal changes. On a normal drum kit as you play the drum harder you not only get a louder volume, but the tone of the drum changes from mellow to bright or a loose sound to tight sounding percussion. Previously only the volume changed when you played a key harder or softer on the percussive sounds (cymbals, tom, snare, etc). Now the actual percussive tone changes as well, which is a big leap in technology and I don't know of another digital piano that can do this in the price range under $1000. This may not be important to some people, but to others this is very cool because you can make percussion recordings as well as play live and it sounds very realistic. Because of the easy to use large color touch screen, all of these features are now much more accessible so chances are you'll want to use these sounds because you can get to them so easily.

Some extra useful features that many people like to have include instrument sounds which can be layered two at a time to play the sounds simultaneously, split two at a time with one on the left and right sides of the keyboard, have special effects added to the sounds including reverb, chorus, delay, adjusting EQ/brilliance, and using special DSP digital processing effects for further sound enhancement. The previous model Casio's had 4 levels of reverb, 4 levels of chorus effect, and 3 levels of brilliance control. These new models have 4 times as many selections and variations so that's a huge jump in instrument sound control along with the additional effects offered, and they are all selectable in the color touch screen along with using the data wheel if you prefer to scroll through the various option that way.

The CGP700 and PX360 also have a feature rich built-in recording studio system including a full 16-track (16 instrument multi-track) MIDI recorder and playback system along with a 1-track wav file (CD quality) audio recorder and playback control with 100 song recording and playback capacity.The length of time of recording for the MIDI recorder is 50,000 notes and the CD quality audio recorder time per song is a huge 74 minutes long. So when it comes to recording features in this lower price range, nothing beats or comes close to these two new models. There's a number of recording editing features that allows the process to become more detailed than just a simple digital recorder would offer. But what really sets the recording system apart from all other new digital pianos under $1000 is the user interface controls in the color touch screen. Typically, recorders in digital pianos are not very easy to use, especially multi-track recorders such as what's in these two new pianos. So...when features are more difficult to use, then people may not use them very often or at all, especially some of the more complex features like these recorders. The recording functions are nicely laid out in the color touch screen and are easy to access and you can even get into the recorder screen from a button on the control panel which makes it quick and easy to record. When you touch a recorder function on the color touch screen, then you can access a variety of features in that screen without too much guess work. Rather than go into all the recorder functions and features, you'll just have to take my word for it when I say that creating, making, and playing your own music in the CGP700 and PX360 is super fun and allows you to express yourself in ways that many digital pianos cannot do. The closest competitor to these new Casio pianos when it comes to recording is the the Yamaha DGX660 ($799 internet price). The DGX660 only has a 5-track multi-track recorder which is good, but nowhere near the Casio recording system in my opinion. Also, the Yamaha display screen is a bit smaller monochrome (non color) display that is not a touch screen, so using the Yamaha recording features is not as easy or as fun to use as what's in these two new Casio models. The Yamaha display screen was the obvious winner prior to these two new Casio pianos coming out, but for now Casio has caught up to and surpassed Yamaha in this way.

Speaking of MIDI recording & playback, the CGP700 and PX360 can playback General MIDI song files which allows you to hear and play along with your favorite songs which you can download off the internet on a variety of sites, assuming you don't already have your own MIDI song files. Also, two of the most popular lesson curriculum's available today and used by piano teachers all over the US and the world are by Alfred and Faber & Faber. Both of those lesson book series have option General MIDI songs which you can purchase and then play back in these Casio pianos through a USB flash drive. This function with available songs allows you to hear the lesson song in the book you're using and get a better feel for the rhythm & timing of that song along with being able to slow down the song to any tempo while learning that piece. There are literally thousands of General MIDI songs available on the internet and through these two publishers which makes the learning and practice experience at home much more fun and enjoyable. I have been using the MIDI song play along method for years and find it to be very stimulating because it's like playing along with the orchestra or band. So regardless of your playing skill level whether it be beginner or very advanced, you can definitely have a lot of fun taking advantage of what these two pianos can do with regard to playing back General MIDI songs files...and the fact is, they make you sound better than you already are and if you don't play at all, then it just makes learning a more enjoyable experience. If you have questions about the General MIDI format, how to use it, and what it can actually do for you on these pianos, just ask me.

The CGP700 and PX360 have an interesting and fun feature called Music Presets which is a library of left hand chord progressions & arrangements from famous songs. Specifically what this function does is play a well known portion (aka:chord progression) of a famous song from a variety of songs in the Casio Music Presets song library and then loops that part of the song so it will play over and over without stopping. When you select a song and start it up, the color touch display screen shows you the name of the tune and displays the actual chord symbols of the left hand chords of that chord progression loop. The idea is for you to be able to "jam"along with your right hand and play melody notes along with the playback of the left hand chords in that chord progression. Basically it's like playing the piano along with the band only this band just plays a famous portion of the song (not the whole song) and does it over and over until you want to stop. This system allow you to learn to play by ear, to improvise, and to have fun while you do it all the while looking at the chord symbols in the display screen so you know what notes will fit depending on the chord playback progression. The more you hear the chord progression loop and the more you see the chord symbols in the display screen, the easier it will be for you to follow along, "jam out," improvise, and feel like you are in the middle of the band or orchestra. You can actually play with both left and right hand during the playback of the Music Presets library which includes 305 different selections. I used this feature many times and it's definitely lots of fun and quite musically stimulating and something that few other digital pianos have.

For people who have taken their time to setup the instrument sounds, rhythms, and functions in a variety of ways, and you want to return to those settings later on without to re-create them, then these new models offer 96 registration memories for that very purpose. In other words, you can store your setup in a memory slot and recall it any time you want...and 96 memory slots is a huge amount of memory storage for your favorite settings. This is great if you are playing live somewhere and your need a variety of different functions to come up quickly and you don't have time to manually set them up. You don't need to be a pro to want and use registrations memories. You may be a beginner having never used a sophisticated digital piano like the CGP700 or PX360 before and maybe you just were fooling around with all the settings and you came up with something that sounded great to you and you did not want to lose it...so you just save it and then you just recall any of the 96 memory settings and it quickly puts you back into that original setup you did...that's very cool and quite useful too.

Other features I really like is the ability to quickly and independently balance the volumes on all of the settings including the lower keyboard sounds, upper sounds, accompaniment, master volume, MIDI volume, audio volume, metronome volume, touch sensitivity velocity, and even using a digital mixer to adjust the individual volume of each of the 16 MIDI recording & playback tracks.You can change the speaker output  in the system menu to either on or off independently for both internal speakers or external speakers (stand speaker system in the CGP700). You can even change the piano tuning using different tuning temperaments along with piano stretch tuning. You can setup the 88 keys to play in a Duet Mode so that two people can play at the same time, each with 44 notes where both keyboards produce the same notes in the same octave. You can change the octave of any instrument sound whether playing solo or combining with another sound with the octave changing feature in the touch screen. There are just so many features and functions on these new models that you will likely not use them all...but it's nice to know they are there in case you need it...and these two new pianos definitely have more features that I ever expected. Casio even put in a digital/virtual typing keyboard as a touch screen software feature so you can enter typing characters (as you would on your cell phone for texting, etc) to locate and save songs and other data you need to find.

The built-in speaker system in both pianos (in the piano keyboard itself) is the same with 4 speakers (2 larger, 2 smaller) going into 16 watts of power producing a reasonably loud volume for a smaller portable piano.However, the PX360 is optimized to be even louder and sound better than the CGP700 because it does not have a speaker stand like the CGP700 does and is dependent on its own internal speaker system. The speakers and design of the internal sound system inside the PX360 piano has been completely redesigned from previous models so they do sound better than before. The CGP700 has an additional speaker system built into the included furniture stand (included with the CGP700 and not sold separately) whereas the PX360 does not have this feature. The additional "speaker stand" gives the CGP700 a huge boost with regard to volume and sound quality coming through those speakers interacting with the the top piano speakers and the result is far more bass response and double the volume output to 40 watts of power with the speaker stand system connected to the piano top. This would make the CGP700 one of the best sounding, most powerful digital pianos under $1000 with a 3-way, 6-speaker sound system with included speaker stand. I can tell you first-hand that I thought the sound coming out of the CGP700 was amazing and easily out performs any and all of the other portable digital pianos on the market in terms of internal speaker system sound quality and richness and can easily fill a large room. But the CGP700 must be connected to its furniture stand to make this happen. The PX360 does not have the option of a "speaker stand" to add to the sound like the CGP700, and it is not meant to have it because Casio designed the PX360 to be an instrument to also be taken places and be connected to external speaker systems and serve a slightly different purpose. However, when playing the PX360 in your home, you can connect it to any home stereo system or monitors using the 1/4" audio output jacks on the piano to increase the sound quality and bass response of the piano in that way if you feel it necessary.

The PX360 is $100 more than the CGP700 so you would expect to get a bit more on the PX360...right? In fact, you do get more in some specific ways. In addition to all of the the identical features between the two models, which is just about everything they do, the PX360 looks a bit different with additional sportier graphics on the top of the keyboard control panel, more editing and music creation functions including the ability to create 10 user rhythm arrangements in which you can use the rhythm editor to modify a built-in Accompaniment and create an original rhythm of your own, have 100 user songs for song expansion, and setting up "one touch presets" which gives you one-touch access to tone, tempo, and other useful settings that go well with the currently selected Auto Accompaniment rhythm patterns. On the PX360 you can also edit the Music Presets that I talked about earlier which allows you to have a "jam session" of your own with preset chord pattern progressions of famous songs. You can create your own customized Music Preset  patterns and edit them in a variety of ways with 50 user memories of Music Preset storage. The PX360 also has an Audio Line In volume control in the touch screen system setting which allows you to independently control the input volume of an external device coming in through the piano such as a microphone, audio recorder, mixer, electric guitar, computer, tablet, or any audio device in which you need separate volume control apart from the master volume control on the piano. This is a very cool feature and not found on the CGP700. Of course, as I talked about earlier in the review, the PX360 has a more realistic acoustic piano sound (as compared with the CGP700) with the added organic sound elements of string resonance, key release velocity, and hammer response. In fact, the PX360 touch screen allows you to go in and individually & incrementally customize the string resonance depth and hammer response to your particular taste. The PX360 has an extra assignable pedal input when the optional triple pedal unit is not being used and that assignable pedal is selectable in the PX360 touch screen.

As for the piano connectivity, both models have a variety of connectivity for other devices with of the inclusion of 2 mini stereo headphone jacks in front, on the back of the piano two 1/4" audio output jacks to connect to external speakers, an audio-in stereo mini jack with separate volume control (for iPods, iPads, mics, and other devices), and a damper pedal jack using an included plastic sustain pedal which is small, but basically OK (at least Casio includes it for free rather than it being an extra cost). Both models also have a high speed USB output to computer or tablet device with is "plug & play" class compliant. They also have an input for a USB flash drive on the front of the piano to load audio and MIDI song files as well as save them from the piano after you have created your own song. The PX360 also has two full size 1/4" line-input jacks and the internal piano effects such as reverb, brilliance, etc will apply to the connected devices (mics, etc) going through those input jacks...and that's a very useful feature and not something that Casio has ever offered before. The PX360 also includes standard MIDI cable connections for both MIDI in and out ports. There's still quite a few people who have MIDI products (sound modules, keyboards, etc) that only use MIDI connections and not USB. So the built-in MIDI connectors on the PX360 is a very big thing for some people and many digital pianos in this price range don't have this feature. Those are the differences between the two models as far as I can tell, although there could be a couple more that I missed:). Whether or not you think the differences are important one way or the other depends totally on your musical needs and desires. It is important to mention that both new models may need an additional external speaker system if you need to play for a larger group of people in a noisy room such as at an event, depending on the situation. As I said before, that's why both models have two 1/4" audio outputs for that very purpose.

In the final analysis, a person can enjoy either of these new Casio portable digital pianos whether it be the CGP700 with included speaker stand, or the more editable and professional PX360 at $100 more, but not including a furniture stand and extra built-in speaker system. It actually may sound like the lower priced CGP700 would be the better option because of the built-in speaker stand giving a big boost to the sound quality and also not having to shell out approximately $100 for the optional CS67 furniture stand on the PX360 which would then make that model nearly $200 more than the CGP700. However, there is a value in having an upgraded acoustic piano sound in the PX360 which the CGP700 does not have and that's something you cannot add to the CGP700. It just depends on your musical experience level if you can recognize the upgraded piano sound difference? Regardless of that, these lightweight (26lbs) portable digital pianos offer a 3-key sensor synthetic ivory & ebony large dynamic range key action, smooth tonality and key volume response with excellent touch sensitivity, a more accurate (in my opinion) graded weighted key action than comparable Yamaha or Roland models in this price range, and a user interface color touch screen operating system that no other brand can touch. But with all digital pianos in this price range there will always be things in these models that could be better but then you would need to pay quite a bit more money for those pianos, just like anything else you would buy. However in my opinion there is little if any reason to look at any other brand at the moment when it comes to this price range for a full featured ensemble auto-accompaniment portable digital piano. If you think you will seldom want to use the various and plentiful features in the CGP700 and PX360, then you should invest your hard earned money in a different model that will better fit your needs, such as the full size Casio PX770 or slightly higher priced PX870 which is the top of the line Casio Privia internet furniture cabinet model right now. It just depends on your musical goals and how much of a "fun factor" you want for your music when it comes to selecting any new digital piano. Just like any consumer product you can buy, there are always better models and that's true in digital pianos with more authentic key actions, piano tone, pedaling, etc, along with improved internal speaker systems on higher priced models from Casio, Roland, Yamaha, Kawai, and a couple of others. However, as I said, they will all cost you more money so if you want to stay under $1000 and like what these pianos can do and you like lots of digital features, then buy one of these new Casio's because you will most likely not be disappointed whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advance player looking to keep the price low. The new CGP700 and PX360 pianos may look like "toys" to some people, but they definitely are not. Before you do anything or buy anything from anybody, do your homework and your research and then please contact me first because music is my passion and I can help you make the best buying decision for your needs.

*By the way, Casio also offers a top of the line Privia portable piano called the PX560. This piano combines many of the features from the PX360 and adds synthesizer, programming, additional useful functions and features for people who like that kind of stuff ,along with and extra acoustic piano capabilities to the instrument for just $300 more at $1199US internet selling price. Go the the following link to read my review of the new PX560: Casio PX560 Review

If you want more piano info and LOWER PRICES than internet or store discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW - November 25, 2019 - Casio AP270 Ceviano Digital Piano - Recommended - Casio is a well known world wide company which produces millions of great electronic products and they have been designing and building digital pianos for well over 40 years. The new AP270 is part of a traditional furniture cabinet line of digital pianos called Celviano. It is the lowest price digital piano in the Celviano line at just $1049US discount internet price. It is available in 3 different matte finishes including matte black, simulated matte walnut, and matte white. All finishes include a matching piano style padded bench. The new AP270 has some very distinct upgrades over the previous old model AP260 in a number of ways and yet the AP270 is the same price as the previous AP260 so it did not go up which is a very good thing. In this lower price range Casio has really outdone themselves in my opinion in producing a piano that offers a more natural and realistic piano playing experience than many other brands or models in this price range and that's really what Casio does well...give one of the the best bang for the buck digital pianos in a lower price range that many people can afford who are looking for a quality instrument which can be a good fit for beginners up to more advanced players.


So what makes this AP270 model so good as compared to the previous model and other comparatively priced digital pianos? The list below are my top 7 reasons why this new model is so good for its low price.

1.Redesigned cabinet with less seams, smoother installation, more piano-like in appearance. Even the speakers under the piano have been resigned to be more "invisible" and less obvious to give the cabinet a more realistic look. Also, the AP270 is not only available in an attractive satin black color but also medium simulated walnut finish which no other brand in this price range has in a furniture style cabinet.

2. The piano sound chip has been noticeably improved along with an exclusive stereo piano sound sample from a handmade $150,000 New York Steinway 9' grand piano. Up until now Casio and others have used sound samples from a variety of pianos including from Europe, but never from a real New York custom 9' concert grand. The new AP270 is the only Casio piano made out of all models with this new Steinway piano sound and I can tell you first hand that it is the best piano sound for a traditional piano cabinet digital piano in this price range that I have ever heard. In my opinion this new piano sound sample beats the competitive Roland RP500 and RP501R which sells for more more than this Casio. This custom New York Steinway sound is also much more authentic than the competitive Yamaha YDP143 ($1099US internet price) with a fuller more resonate tone. Beyond that the New York Steinway sound has a a couple of variations to it which also sound great. I was very impressed when I played and heard this new piano sound and did not expect the AP270 to sound as good as it did. Also when you use a good pair of stereo headphones the stereo Steinway piano sound is even better because you get to hear all the tonal nuances coming directly into your ears.

3.The sustain pedal and its ability to hold the piano sound out over time and then to have that sound decay and fade out fully and normally as compared to a real acoustic piano is very important to any intermediate to advanced pianist and that's where many of these digital pianos fall short. The previous Casio 200 series models were not capable of longer sustained piano tones because they did not have a memory chip that would allow that to happen. This time the new model has more than twice the realism in sustain/decay time of the piano tone along with the volume of the sustained piano sound to hold a more realistic level before fading out. I noticed this change from the previous model right away and for people that play piano at a higher level than beginner, this new upgrade will simply make your music sound better with a more organic natural tone like a real piano. With the half-damper pedaling for more natural piano sustain at different pedal depths and the improved damper resonance which gives the piano sound a more organic natural reverb (echo) response especially when playing on the high octave keys, the Casio AP270 is much more advanced in these important ways

4.The Polyphony in this new piano has been increased from the previous 128-note polyphony to the new 192-note polyphony. This is considered piano processing power which enables the piano sound to be larger, fuller, and more resonate along with being able to play more complex music without notes dropping out or sustain time being too short. A number of cabinet digital pianos in this price range still have 128-note polyphony including all Roland digital pianos under $1500.

5.The AP270 now has 22 separate instrument sounds which is an increase from the previous model and all of those sounds have been improved to be even more like the real thing including the electric pianos, harpsichords, organs, choirs, etc and as I mentioned earlier also the acoustic piano tones. It is interesting note there are now a total of 7 distinct acoustic piano sounds using a New York Steinway grand piano sound and a European grand piano sound which far more than the other brands in this price range. The main piano sounds are also easily accessible with buttons on the control panel. Most people want a variety of actual acoustic piano sounds rather than the non-piano sounds so this new Casio AP270 delivers on this point.

6.The control panel of the new model has changed from having the buttons above the keys to having them on the left side of the keyboard. Casio did this to make the piano look more minimalist and give it a cleaner appearance with a bit less clutter. Fortunately Casio placed the names of the the sounds and additional functions above the keyboard so they are easy to find and this is done through with pressing one button and then using a specific key to trigger the feature. It's fairly easy to do and much easier than similar control panels in other brands because the features (sounds, effects, metronome, etc), are labeled on the new AP270.

7.The tops of the keys are made of a synthetic ebony & ivory material to replicate the older real acoustic pianos from many years ago when ivory and ebony were legal to be made into piano keytops. Casio has been using this material on their keys for a number of years now but in this model Casio has redesigned and upgraded the "feel" of those key tops by changing and smoothing out the texture so that it feels more like actual ivory and ebony and I noticed this change right away when playing the keyboard. When you touch those keys the surface now feels better and is more natural to play. This is a relatively minor change for piano shoppers but a good one and shows that Casio is paying attention to the details as well as the big things.

The Casio AP270 really does have many significant advantages in all aspects of this piano, but at the same time Casio has kept some nicer previous features and functions of the AP260. This would include layering of two sounds together for simultaneous play such as string symphony and Steinway grand piano, as well as a split sound function allowing for an instrument sound on the left hand and a different instrument sound on the right hand. Other useful functions and features carried over to this model include transpose, an adjustable metronome for rhythm and timing training, and last but not least a 2-track MIDI recorder for left and right hand piano practice and playback. This 2-part recording system is something other digital pianos in this price range do not have and being able to record and playback your left and right hand separately is really useful for students. Most students need to practice and hear each hand one at a time, and for more advanced players, they are wanting to analyse their performance by listening to how each hand is doing one at a time and then played back together. You can also speed up or slow down the playback portion so that you can record the song at a slow speed and playback at normal speed or you can record at a normal speed but playback at a slower speed so you can better hear how you played and identify your mistakes better that way. The recorder does not have a way to offload songs onto something like a USB flashdrive like some other digital pianos can do. However the digital pianos that can do this either don't sound as good as the AP270 or are pianos that focus on having more "bells & whistles" and less focus on a more authentic piano playing experience. But for most people the recorder system on the AP270 is sufficient.

Key action movement and response is critically important n any digital piano and this where many brands and models fall short, especially in this lower price range. The AP270 rises to the occasion offering a convincing graded and piano weighted key action playing experience with a good balanced key weight along with very nice key movement response. The key action is called "tri-sensor" which simply means that Casio has 3 electronic sensors under each key rather than 2 key sensors as found in the Yamaha YDP143 which is competitively priced. The 3rd key sensor normally allows for more accurate key repetition recognition when playing at faster speeds especially when repeating the same notes or doing trills, etc. At this price having a tri-sensor electronics under each key is a good thing and something that adds value to this model.

Piano tonal and volume dynamics is where piano playing "expression" comes in. When you are able to express yourself musically with many different tonal colors, then your musical comes alive and sounds more inspiring. This is only accomplished when the piano sound has a smooth wide range of tonal change as you play the key softly and then press on the key harder and harder and play more quickly or more slowly and you hear a variety of tonal and volume changes in the piano sound from more mellow all the way up to very bright with vibrating virtual strings depending on how expressive you want to be.

The Casio AP270 has a unique song playalong feature called "Concert Play" which offers a library of classical music in the piano which were originally recorded as CD wav file audio recordings in a "live" session with actual real orchestra instruments. You can select from any song in the concert library and then you can play along with those songs using the AP270 Steinway Concert Piano for the live sound. When you are playing back any of these orchestral songs you can also slow down the song playback speed so that it is easier to ply along, especially if you not know the song. The songs actually do sound very impressive and playing along with them is fun and it makes you sound better than you actually are:).

With a total of 22 individual natural instrument sounds, the AP270 furniture cabinet model offers more than twice as many instrument sounds as its nearest competitor including 7 different individual acoustic piano sounds which is what most people are looking for. Accessing those sounds is pretty easy as they are listed right above the keys as opposed to other pianos that don't list them at all and you have to guess at what you are getting. The two main grand pianos sounds have their own dedicated buttons on the left side control panel for quick easy access. Adding to that advantage is the fact that Casio offers a 16 watt 2-speaker stereo sound system as compared to Yamaha in this price range only offering a 12 watt speaker system. The Casio has significantly more audio power and can fill a good size room with more than enough volume although there are digital pianos for closer to $1500US with 40 watts of power going into 4 speakers which offer better bass response and more easily fill a large room, especially if you like to play really loud! One such piano is the Casio AP470 at $1499US internet price and it definitely has a bigger better internal sound system but at a higher cost. So it just depends what you need and what you can afford to spend. As I mentioned earlier, when you use good stereo headphones then the Steinway piano sound sample is even more realistic because you hear all the tonal nuances coming directly into your ears. But even through its internal speaker system the piano sounds very nice in my opinion.

There are many more features in this AP270 that I have not covered but they are less important although can be fun and useful depending on the playing skill level you are at and the type of music you will be playing. One of the more requested features these days is to have a USB output to an external device such as an iPad. The AP270 is USB equipped and I use iPad in my teaching studio quite often and some of those iPad apps are really amazing. They can teach kids and adults some important musical fundamentals in an exciting visually pleasing way which helps people to learn to play more easily and many times more quickly while learning important aspects of music theory and live play. Combined with a good piano learning curriculum the iPad apps can be a great source of music education and enjoyment in a way that can stimulate you and or family members to want to play piano more often and with less resistance...especially fro kids who generally do not like to practice:). The Casio AP270 can also work with Andoid apps, but iOS apps tend to offer some things you cannot get on Android products in terms of apps. If you want information on good useful apps that can work well for you, then please ask me.

Speaking of educational apps, Casio has just come out with their own extensive iOS and Android app for the AP270 digital piano called Chordana Play which will, for the first time in the Casio company history, allow users of their newest digital pianos, including the AP270, to control many of the most popular features in their new digital piano directly from a mobile or tablet device connected to the USB output of their digital piano. Until now on Casio digital pianos, controlling the sounds, built-in songs, and digital features such as layering, recording, etc had to be done from the piano control panel. Although this is a fairly intuitive process on Casio pianos overall for many of their functions, there are some features that are not as as intuitive to use and this is true for the other digital piano brands as well. So Casio has AP270 features directly from your tablet or mobile device using the app's very cool user interface from your device touch screen along with other features in the app such as educational games, sheet music, and a number of other things that exist in Chordana Play. Having this new controller app along with what you can do on the piano without the app makes this new AP270 fairly unbeatable in my opinion, especially given it's lower price under $1100.

So here's the bottom line; The AP270 is a lower priced digital piano with higher priced features in an attractive smaller traditional furniture style cabinet with matching piano bench, sliding key cover, and full privacy panel with features that  focuses on the best piano playing experience possible in its price range. Dimensions and weight for this model are 56" wide x 17" deep x 32" tall and weighing in a just 81 lbs. The AP270 does not have a lot of unnecessary bells & whistles so is great for families or players who mainly just want to play the piano and have the necessary elements in a piano to do so. With the improvements that Casio has made to this Celviano model as compared to the previous model and the current competition out there, there really is no other digital piano that comes close for near the $1000US price range in my opinion. On top of all that Casio offers by far the longest factory warranty of any brand out there in this price range (most are 3 years or less) so they must feel confident the AP270 will be sturdy and reliable for many years. The warranty includes 5 full years of parts & labor with in-home service...something that no other brand comes close to in this price range. The warranty alone makes this piano stand out among its competition.

So is there anything wrong with this instrument? No, not that I can find, especially considering its lower price and generous number of quality features which most people will enjoy. Yes, based on all my personal playing and teaching experience in the pro music world, I can always want a stronger, larger internal speaker system, USB flash drive input, audio inputs & outputs, audio recording, wireless capability, digital display screen, and/or other features, but then I would likely be paying more money too. Given that this new Casio AP270 seems to have a lot of the things people are looking for in a traditional piano cabinet model in this lower price range at just $1049US, I believe this will be a very popular model in the months and years ahead.
 
If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW & COMPARISON - November 25, 2019 - Casio GP500, GP400, GP300 Celviano Grand Hybird Digital Pianos - Recommended - 

*Casio is just going to be coming out with the new GP510 and GP310 digital pianos for 2020 which will be the replacements for the current model GP500 and GP300. There will be a few nice upgrades including better piano sound samples, key action sensitivity, and longer pedaling sustain/decay time. The GP400 is officially discontinued and no announcement has been given suggesting any new replacement piano to take its place.

I try to play every new digital piano that comes out on the market regardless of whether I already like that brand or not. There are some brands known for poorly designed digital pianos, others are known for cheap price digital pianos, and still other brands are known for being pro quality instruments that top pianists, music teachers, and other advanced players (like me) enjoy playing. So when it came to trying out and playing the new Casio Grand Hybrid series, especially the GP500BP with a retail price of $5999US (the BP stands for polished ebony), I was very skeptical that it really could be a good piano, and in reality I thought there was no way the GP series, in particular the GP500, could be taken seriously, especially at its $5999US price. Casio? $5999? I figured there is just no way those two things could possibly work together, especially given the huge competition in quality digital pianos from big well known names like Kawai, Roland, and Yamaha The name Casio has had a reputation for producing low priced but high quality consumer digital pianos as opposed to the much higher price Grand Hybrid pro series pianos. I like the consumer Casio piano products very much such as Privia and the lower price Celviano pianos and have done many reviews on those models under $2000 and they're a leader in that price range. But a Casio well over $3000?...and upwards to $6000?...there is just no way I thought...but wow, was I ever wrong.

As you keep reading this review do not miss watching the two videos I have posted at the bottom of this review. Also you can click on any pictures for larger views.

The Grand Hybrid GP500, GP400, and GP300 are called "Hybrid" for mainly one reason...the key/hammer action. These days it seems as if all the major digital piano companies want to do whatever it takes in getting as close as possible to reproducing a real acoustic "grand" piano. So the GP series key action and piano sound chip is Casio's way of doing this, especially in replicating the touch action of a real grand piano. The question is...did they do it? Actually, I believe they did a remarkable job and the result is a fairly life-like key movement and weight unlike other digital piano brands, but it was not Casio who designed and built this Grand Hybrid key actions, it was the C. Bechstein grand piano company in Berlin, Germany. The C. Bechstein piano factory was founded in October of 1853 by Carl Bechstein in Berlin, Germany. Carl Bechstein wanted to manufacture an acoustic piano able to withstand the great demands put on the instrument by the virtuosos of the time, such as Franz Liszt. List was a phenomenal pianist and was very hard on pianos (he played like a monster) when it came to key action. In 1857, Hans von Bülow (Liszt's son-in-law) gave the first public performance on a Bechstein grand piano by performing Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor in Berlin. By 1870, with endorsements from Franz Liszt and Hans von Bülow, Bechstein pianos had become the norm in many concert halls and private mansions.

By that time three piano makers, all of which were founded in 1853, became established as the industry leaders across the world and they were Bechstein, Blüthner and Steinway & Sons. So the Bechstein brand was in very good company:). In 1881 Bechstein began supplying pianos to Queen Victoria and a gilded art-case piano was delivered to Buckingham Palace followed by several more Bechstein pianos to Windsor Castle and other royal residences. By January 1886 they were among the piano manufacturers holding was called "a Royal Warrant" as a supplier to the Queen. Several British embassies across the world acquired Bechstein pianos and they are still popular across the world today and used by professional pianists in concert. However, that brand is not as well known in America as they are in Europe and other parts of the world.

What this all means is that the wood key action movement in the Casio Grand Hybrid pianos is directly from the Bechstein piano company and built for the new Casio GP piano series and the keys themselves are authentic full size grand piano keys made from real sprucewood from individual spruce trees in Austria (wow, that's pretty cool!). From what I have learned, the natural wood is precision cut and aged slowly over the time so that the keys in the key action can remain solid, aligned, and playable over years of practice and performance. Attached to the wood key action inside these Grand Hybrid models is a moving hammer mechanism designed to imitate real hammers in an acoustic grand piano. This moving hammer mechanism is made from resin and synthetic compounds, etc that can withstand weather and humidity changes so that the hammers will last almost indefinitely without the need for adjustment or maintenance as you would otherwise have in a real acoustic piano. When the hammers move as you are pressing a key, you can actually feel the weight of those keys under your fingers and direct connection of the moving hammer mechanism inside the piano to the keys which gives the player a feeling of natural expression and being directly connected to the music in a way that digital pianos without moving full length hammers cannot really do. The hammers in the Grand Hybrid pianos don't actually strike any strings in the piano because there are no strings...and that's one of the positive points of a digital piano...no strings to tune and maintain.

When I played the GP500 for long periods of time, it was like I was actually playing a real grand piano in many ways and the feeling was pretty amazing for a digital piano. The weight of the keys are also unique in that they are like no other top name brand digital piano that I have ever played in this price range in the way the keys move and feel under your fingers. Although the key action is a bit firmer in my opinion when pressing the keys down than the some of the other higher price digital brands, the touch-weight (amount of finger pressure/force your fingers need to push the keys) is still relatively smooth, easy, and quick so that the overall experience playing the keys is more like playing a naturalgrand piano than many of the other digital piano brands in this price range, and I have had other piano players tell me that as well. The GP key action does not have the escapement/letoff feel that you would normally experience playing a real grand piano but there is a reason for this. I was told that the Bechstein company wanted the fastest responding acoustic piano style action that was possible to get in a digital piano. To make this happen Bechstein's only recourse was to leave out the escapement "simulation" because otherwise that feature would have prevented a faster key movement for those players who perform at very high skill levels. In reality for most pianists, the escapement function on digital pianos is somewhat irrelevant because it's not the near same thing as in a real grand piano and is only simulated in a small way. With this in mind, the importance of key movement and faster triggering of the piano sound took priority over having a "simulated" escapement feature. I believe that Casio/Bechstein made the right choice because this Grand key action is lightning fast when it comes to playing authentic piano pieces and if giving up a simulated escapement/let-off function allows for a better moving, better responding action and sound then I am all for it. As I mentioned earlier, the key weight when pressing down on the keys is firmer and a bit heavier than other digital piano key actions I have played but the movement is still smooth, responsive, with excellent touch-weight and if you are looking for piano playing authenticity that is not available on other digital pianos, then I believe you will be impressed with this GP key action. As far as the material used to produce the key tops, the white key-tops are made from the latest technology in plastics and are identical to the keytops of the Bechstein European concert grand pianos. Many of the new name brand digital pianos are using synthetic ivory feel white key tops with the purpose of trying to recreate the feel of older grand pianos from the 1960's and earlier years when real ivory was the material used to create the key tops. However, for many years now, real acoustic grand pianos have not had real or synthetic ivory on their keys so the key feel of the new Casio GP500 is identical to what current day acoustic grand pianos feel like. In this way you can transition from a real acoustic grand or upright piano to a Casio/Bechstein Celviano Hybrid GP500 digital piano (or vice-versa) with no differences at all in the key "feel" and materials used on the keys. The black keys are a natural satin finish made of phenol so that feel will also be the same as an acoustic grand piano. *Take a look at the video at the bottom of the page showing the key action hammer movement. It's pretty cool:)

As a reference and comparison, the only other top name pianos with actual moving piano hammers in a digital piano is the Yamaha Avant Grand series of digital pianos including the NU1X, N1X, N2, and N3X. However, these pianos all use wood hammers, wood hammer shanks, and organic connective parts which are very good and just like an acoustic piano but will likely require more maintenance over time. The Yamaha NU1X (left pic - see-through front is for display purposes only) upright style piano sells for approximately $6000US at local store discount price and it has an upright console hammer key action but not a grand piano key action, and there is a very big difference between the two types. Beyond that, the NU1X has very few sounds and very few digital options and features so it's a very, basic digital piano in that way, although the cabinet is attractive in its polished ebony finish. The higher priced Yamaha N1X ($10,000US retail price) has a grand piano style action with all wood parts, but would likely require more maintenance over time as I mentioned earlier. The Yamaha N1X AvantGrand is an exceptionally nice digital piano, but even at discount price it sells for approx $9000US in Yamaha piano stores and the functionality and features are also very basic, The N2 and N3X go up in price quite a bit from the N1X and all have the same key actions as the N1X and pretty much the same basic features with a few exceptions. So when it comes to a key action mechanism in a digital piano, this new Casio Celviano Grand Hybrid GP500 (above left pic) in my opinion is ahead of the lower priced Yamaha upright NU1X in a few ways and somewhat competitive to the higher priced Yamaha Avant Grand N1X, N2, and N3X pianos, although the Yamaha N series Grand Key actions are the "real deal" and much more organic and natural as compared to the Casio's...but they should be given their prices.
 
The GP500, 400, and 300 have the industry standard 256-note polyphony processing power which is important in helping to give the player enough power to play more complex pieces of music without the loss of notes or damper sustain. As far as piano sound authenticity goes, all of the major digital piano companies would claim to have the best piano sound in their digital pianos and certainly Casio is no exception. What else would you expect them to say?! Casio wants you to believe they have the best piano sound found in these new hybrid digital pianos and overall I believe they have done a very good job and I was impressed. Casio has developed a new proprietary piano sound chip and electronics key sensing system not found in some of the other digital pianos and I thought these new acoustic piano sound samples to be very impressive in the GP series, especially the GP500. All of the digital piano companies use fancy words and phrases to describe how they get their piano sound along with the natural organic nuances they try to capture from real acoustic grand pianos to enhance the piano sound of their digital pianos. I won't bore you with all the terminology except to say that Casio records/samples 3 distinct well known European acoustic grand pianos which includes the Bechstein (Berlin) German Concert Grand, the Steinway (Hamburg) German Concert Grand, and the Bosendorfer (Vienna) Viennese Concert Grand. These three famous piano brands are the standard by which all other acoustic and digital piano companies try to emulate. Since the Casio GP series is designed in cooperation with the Bechstein piano company of Germany, it is easy to understand why the three main piano sounds in the GP series are so good. I found each piano sound sample to be unique with their own qualities of tone and dynamic range, but yet they were all enjoyable to play. What did impress me most about the piano sounds were their dynamic range of tone and the ability to really express yourself across all tonal ranges depending on your touch and finger movement. The Viennese Bosendorfer sound was also impressive to me and much more natural and realistic than the Bosendorfer sound sample offered on the new Yamaha Clavinova CLP models. With 256-note polyphony processing power along with good pedal sustain and dynamic expression, even advanced classical music can be played well including the layering of two instrument sounds together.

Pedaling is always important to the piano playing experience and the Grand Hybrids will likely not disappoint you since it is done the traditional way with damper pedal including continuous detection pedaling along with adjustable half-damper control, sostenuto pedal, and soft pedal. The pedals seem to move naturally and they have a type of grand feel movement to the pedals unlike some other digital pianos I have played that have lightweight movement or no half-damper pedal control. Casio also added pedal resonance and damper noise to simulate what real acoustic pianos do when using the damper pedal for sustaining the piano tones. So the pedaling portion of this model is convincing, at least it is to me and I played it quite a bit.

As far as the operating system goes, Casio incorporated a side panel control unit with LCD display which is very similar to what Kawai and Yamaha are currently using in their digital pianos. Although this is a simple and elegant design created to reduce the "digital look" of the buttons and controls of the piano and make it more minimalistic, I would prefer an attached lid or cover on that panel so you wouldn't see it at all when the piano is not in use or you just don't want to change controls while playing and don't want to see the panel. Kawai offers this design on its top of the line digital piano called the CS11, but that model retails for more than $8000. The Samick piano company offers a beautiful upright style digital piano called the NEO with a side control panel and it has an attached cover that closes up over the buttons and display screen, and that piano is less than $4500US retail price. Regardless, the control panel still looks good, is minimal in design, and I found that using the controls was fairly easy to do (although there is still a small learning curve) and the display screen was, overall, easy to read and buttons were easy to use. However, in additional to the LCD control panel, I would also like an iPad/Android app to connect to the piano which could display all internal controls and features on an app so that you could access all functions that way. There is only one brand of digital piano that can do that and that's the Yamaha Clavinova and NU1X line of digital pianos and having that intuitive connectivity and control over the functions & features is pretty cool The Casio GP's are designed primarily for a person to play piano with a few other extra features added along with some basic but good instrument sounds, MIDI & audio recording, and some editing features, so the display screen & navigation is generally satisfactory for those purposes.

The feature set and sound library in the GP500 & 400 pianos include 35 instrument sounds (the GP300 has 28 sounds) which include acoustic pianos, strings, choirs, organs, harpsichords, etc. Theses sounds can be layered 2 at a time, split with 2 different instruments one on the left side and one on the right side, duet piano mode for 2-person simultaneous play, registration preset "scene" mode for saving your own setups or using preset factory setups for instant play, lots of different hall/reverb settings which really adds to the realism of the piano sound along with adjustable touch sensitivity, brilliance, and DSP which helps the user/player create a customizable piano sound and action response. There are a number of specific organic piano sound elements which Casio/Bechstein incorporates into the GP500 & GP400 which allows the piano sounds to be even more natural and organic. This feature is called the "Acoustic Simulator" and would include things like adjustable Hammer Response, Damper Resonance, String Resonance, Aliquot Resonance (this feature is found in fine grand pianos and adds to the harmonic richness of the piano sound), Open String Resonance, Lid Simulator, Key Off Simulator, Damper Noise, Key On Action Noise, and Key Off Action Noise all of which are adjustable so that you can micro -customize the piano tones the way it would sound best to you. The GP's also have a variety of tuning temperaments as well as a variety of piano stretch tunings including being able to shut off the stretch tuning depending on what sounds best to you. But for many people the factory default preset acoustic piano sounds may likely be enough to give you an outstanding piano playing experience.

When it comes to adding some "fun" to this model, Casio has a new feature called  "Concert Play" which means that you can select from up to 15 songs that are full orchestral CD quality renditions of famous classical music that you can listen to and play along with. You can even slow down the concert song while you try to learn it as well as rewind, fast forward, and loop a set of measures together for repeat play. You can also download new Concert Play songs from a Casio internet site, save them on a USB flashdrive, and then play them on the Grand Hybrid's. The Concert Play songs sound absolutely authentic just like listening to a full, live orchestra right in your home coming through the internal piano speakers. You can also play MIDI piano performances along with education piano song lessons by downloading those files on the internet and saving them to a USB flashdrive for playback on the piano.

Speaking of speakers, the internal speaker system is unique in that the top of the piano has a movable lid which can be propped up to allow more sound to come out towards the player which gives you the feeling of a grand piano sound experience with the lid open. You can even see the hammers move by looking through the inside top of the piano while you or someone else is playing. The only other digital piano that has a lid that opens in this general price range is the Roland LX17 but that piano retails for $1200 more at $7299 and has no moving hammers like the Grand Hybrid's. These new pianos have 6 speakers, 4 amplifiers, and 100 watts of power each which is actually plenty for these models, but they pull only 38 watts of power from your electricity, so the amplifiers are fairly energy efficient. The 2 main, larger speakers of the piano are housed in separate acoustic boxes mounted underneath the piano with the speakers facing downward rather than forward as on some other digital pianos, so that the GP piano sound is coming both towards the player on the top and the bigger speakers towards the floor like a grand piano soundboard would do. In my opinion this makes for a more natural piano sound experience and I did like it very much.

The piano also has 2 headphone jacks for private play along with USB output to device for iPad and computer connectivity and USB flashdrive input for song play and recording, and also two regular MIDI connectors for those people who have MIDI music gear that they want to connect to the piano. Casio included 1/4" input and output audio jacks for connecting external devices to enhance the piano sound even further through external speakers or use the internal speaker system to amplify other sound devices such as computers, tablets, MP3 players, etc.

There are other functions and features on the GP500, GP400, and GP300 but those are secondary things as compared with what I believe it this digital piano's primary purpose and goal...to offer an impressive grand piano playing experience in a beautiful polished ebony cabinet with folding key cover, full size music rack, opening lid and matching bench along with a complete 5 year factory warranty on manufacturer defects if they should ever occur. The GP500 is only available in polished ebony finish, so if you want a non-polished ebony color, the GP300 & GP400 come in satin black. Based on what I have seen for many years on all of the other digital pianos that Casio has produced and the overall quality and "bang for the buck" they have brought to the table, I believe Casio has a great future in this premium category for higher priced digital pianos with the advent of their Grand Hybrid series in cooperation with the Bechstein Piano Company. For some people the Casio name has a negative connotation because over the years people have wrongly equated the Casio name with low price and low expectations simply because Casio has focused on the lower price range with many of its electronic products. But nothing could really be further from the truth as in reality all that means is that they offer a lot of product and features for less money than you would otherwise expect and the same seems to be true for the GP300, GP400, and GP500 pianos.

Casio has not, in the past, had the prestige or gravitas of a digital piano name like Yamaha, Kawai, or Roland. I know that, they know that, and many shoppers know that. But a name means somewhat less these days considering how much great technology is being developed by companies who were not as well known before with having higher priced technology products, such as these Grand Hybrid pianos. There are many examples of these kinds of consumer electronics companies in the computer, cell phone, and TV industries, and even though Casio is very well known in the lower priced digital piano keyboard world, they are definitely not known for having digital pianos which compete with the highest price Kawai, Yamaha, or Roland digital pianos...but now they do. With the help of the Bechstein acoustic piano company along with new piano sound technology developed by Casio, I believe this is just the beginning of their successful partnership and they should be able to continue to develop even more impressive digital pianos in the future. I would not be surprised if they came out with a mini-grand piano shaped product in the future as that would be a logical next step for these two companies working together. But for now in my opinion the GP series certainly is up there with the best digital upright style pianos that Yamaha, Kawai, and Roland have to offer in this price range, and in fact the GP400 & GP500 is even more realistic than the competition in a few different ways, as I have already talked about, such as its special all-sprucewood European hammer action key movement and dynamic range of expressiveness.

GP300 satin black

As for the other Casio-Bechstein models like the GP300 ($3999US retail price), the piano sound is not quite as realistic as the GP500 although it is still very competitive with other digital pianos in its price range. In addition to this, Casio is recently came out with their GP400 which has the same features of the GP500 but with a new cabinet design available in a lower priced satin black simulated woodgrain finish priced at $4999US retail. After putting the GP's through their paces, I agree that these models would make an excellent addition to anyone's home, church, school, or studio as long as they understand that the Grand Hybrid digital pianos are primarily designed to be purchased in place of an acoustic piano and are not heavy on additional features such as wireless, Bluetooth, lots of extra instrument sounds, has no drum patterns, no automatic interactive chords, no General MIDI recording or playback, no multitrack sequencer, and no proprietary iPad apps like some other digital pianos do. However, with USB to device connectivity you can plug in a USB cable and use many MIDI iPad apps with full MIDI/USB interaction from a Grand Hybrid to the iPad along with Bluetooth audio connectivity using a 3rd party Bluetooth adapter plugged into the piano audio input so that music from your iPad/Android device can stream directly through the GP500 speaker system. Also, it has been my experience that direct connectivity using a USB cable is more stable than with internal Bluetooth or WiFi connectivity.

GP500 polished ebony

As far as I am concerned, at 170 lbs in weight with cabinet dimensions of approximately 56" x 19"x 38", the very attractive polished ebony GP500 is a piano I would definitely own if I wanted to focus squarely on the best possible grand piano playing experience that Casio-Bechstein has to offer along with being a more minimalistic looking instrument which adds to the overall elegance of this piano. The Bechstein key action hammer system is not available in any brand of digital piano and you won't get a moving grand piano hammer mechanism until you get to the Yamaha Avantgrand N1 which has a retail price of $9999US. The appearance of the GP500 is also impressive in that when you prop open the lid of the piano to let the sound come out more, you see an attractive red material covering the inside piano top and you can actually see the moving piano hammers through two long rectangular windows in the top of the piano while you are playing the keys. It's a very cool visual experience along with having a beautiful piece of furniture. The GP300 and GP400 have this feature as well.

There is one thing I find to be a bit odd when it comes to the GP500 and that is the height adjustable black bench included with the piano does not match the high gloss black piano finish. The bench is a single size satin black (non-gloss) finish and even though an adjustable height bench is very nice to have, I am a bit baffled by the lack of a matching high gloss finish on the bench. Is this an oversight on the part of Casio or what? I just don't understand the reason for this but it's something which can be easily corrected if Casio chooses to do that which I recommend that they do. The satin black bench is fine for their satin (matte) black pianos, but not for the polished ebony finishes in my opinion. It's also important to note that some very nice high gloss polished ebony benches are available on-line at Amazon.com for low prices anywhere from about $50-$75, and some of those benches look to be as nice or nicer than the Casio bench included with the GP500. So the bench is a solvable problem and the extra cost for a polished ebony bench is a small price to pay, but it still should not be the responsibility of the owner to do that in my opinion. The bench issue is definitely not a deal breaker and is a very small thing as compared with all of the great things this piano can do. Another thing I noticed about these pianos is that when you plug in headphones, the output volume of the headphone jack is a bit weak on most stereo headphones, at least it is for my ears. For many people it will be just fine, but for others, like me, I like the piano volume in my ears to be louder when I want it to be and the maximum headphone volume could be better. Along the same lines, the maximum volume output through the internal speakers could also be a bit louder just like in the headphones, I prefer to get a big volume because I like to be able to play loud when I want to and the GP series could be better in this way in my opinion. Since the GP500 costs more money than the other GP models, I was hoping that the GP500 speaker system would also have an upgraded internal sound system, but it is identical to the lower priced GP models. I would prefer to spend a bit more money on the GP500 to get a more powerful internal sound system, but for many people it will be more than adequate the way it is.

AP700

By the way, Casio has a lower price Celviano model called the AP700 priced at $2999US retail price and selling at discount in stores for approx $2500US. The AP700 piano has the identical digital technology as is in the Grand Hybrid GP300 with all the high quality grand piano sounds and functions that people like in the GP300. The difference is that the AP700 has a differently designed cabinet and control panel which is still very attractive, it has 60 watts of stereo power instead of 100 watts but 60 watts is still very loud, bur most significantly the AP700 has the standard Casio plastic key action found in their lower priced Celviano pianos. The Grand Hybrid all-wood concert key actions by Bechstein is the main reason why the GP300 costs significantly more money than the AP700. However the AP700 key action is still impressive with regard to its triple sensor key movement and piano graded-weighted action with ivory/ebony keytops. If you think this model may be a better choice for you based on specs and price range, then read my AP700 review at the following link and let me know what you think: Casio AP700 Review

Based on my personal experience I am pretty sure the $6000US retail price of the GP500 and the retail prices of the other two models should be discounted a bit in US piano stores that carry this model, as most stores do discount their piano prices. The GP pianos cannot be purchased on-line from a US shopping cart piano dealer and the Grand Hybrid models are not available everywhere in the US at local dealers due to limited distribution. However it is definitely worth the effort and if you want more info on where these models are located or what their competitive pricing would be, please email me and I can give you more info and advice. This is Casio's first attempt to enter this premium digital piano category and I am sure we will see even more models come out in the future having their continued partnership with Bechstein piano company of Germany. As for the the lower priced satin black GP300 and GP400 models, if the GP500 seems to be out of your price range and/or you want a satin black finish, then you should consider those lower priced Grand Hybrid pianos instead of the GP500. You can still be very happy with the GP300 or GP400 and they stack up extremely well against their competition. Below is a comparison chart of the 3 models so that you can visually see and know the primary differences among them.

Features	GP300	GP400	GP500
Polyphony	256	256	256
Total sounds	26 incl strings, organs, harpsichord, etc	35 incl strings, organs, harpsichord, etc	35 incl strings, organs, harpsichord, etc
Main piano sounds	Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna	Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna	Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna
Total grand pianos	12	14	14
Grand hammer action	Yes – individual keys	Yes – individual keys	Yes – individual keys
Full length grand keys	Acoustic grand keys	Acoustic grand keys	Acoustic grand keys
Graded-weighted keys	Yes, medium firm	Yes, medium firm	Yes, medium firm
Austrian wooden keys	Aged organic spruce	Aged organic Spruce	Aged organic Spruce
Grand fulcrum point	Yes	Yes	Yes
Acrylic white keytops	Yes - grand style	Yes - grand style	Yes - grand style
Phenol black keytops	Yes - grand style	Yes - grand style	Yes - grand style
Key Center Pin	Yes - grand style	Yes - grand style	Yes - grand style
Grand hammers	Resin - full movement	Resin - full movement	Resin - full movement
Hardware resonator	No	Yes - affects each key	Yes - affects each key
Triple key sensor	Yes	Yes	Yes
Key force detection	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hammer response	Yes	Yes	Yes
String resonance	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lid simulator system	Yes	Yes	Yes
Open string resonance	No	Yes	Yes
Aliquot resonance	No	Yes	Yes
Key on action noise	No	Yes	Yes
Key off action noise	No	Yes	Yes
Brilliance control	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hall-reverb simulator	Yes - 12 types	Yes - 12 types	Yes - 12 types
DSP & chorus effects	Yes	Yes	Yes
Headphone Mode	Yes - surround sound	Yes - surround sound	Yes - surround sound
Touch response	Yes - 5 levels	Yes - 5 levels	Yes - 5 levels
Tuning	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stretch tuning effects	Yes - 5 types, off	Yes - 5 types, off	Yes - 5 types, off
Temperaments	Yes - 17 types	Yes - 17 types	Yes - 17 types
Grand pedal system	Yes - weighted	Yes - weighted	Yes - weighted
Pedaling	Continuous detection	Continuous detection	Continuous detection
Adjustable half-damp	Yes	Yes	Yes
Damper resonance	Yes	Yes	Yes
Damper noise	Yes	Yes	Yes
Transpose	Yes - 2 octaves	Yes - 2 octaves	Yes - 2 octaves
Duet mode	Yes - adjust 2 octaves	Yes - adjust 2 octaves	Yes - adjust 2 octaves
Octave shift	Yes - adjust 4 octaves	Yes - adjust 4 octaves	Yes - adjust 4 octaves
Concert play mode	Yes - 15 songs + user	Yes - 15 songs + user	Yes - 15 songs + user
Music Library	Yes - 60 + 10 user	Yes - 60 + 10 user	Yes - 60 + 10 user
MIDI & audio recorder	Yes - 2 track, 1 track	Yes - 2 track, 1 track	Yes - 2 track, 1 track
Scene registrations	No	Yes - 15 preset, 10 usr	Yes - 15 preset, 10 usr
Metronome	Yes	Yes	Yes
Layer/Split 2 sounds	Yes	Yes	Yes
Backlit LCD display	Yes	Yes	Yes
USB Flash drive input	Yes	Yes	Yes
USB output to device	Yes - plug & play	Yes - plug & play	Yes - plug & play
MIDI input/output	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dual audio ins/outs	Yes	Yes	Yes
Headphone jacks	Yes - 2	Yes - 2	Yes - 2
Volume sync EQ	Yes - 3 types, off	Yes - 3 types, off	Yes - 3 types, off
Speakers	2 x 6.3"+ 2 x 4" + 2 x 2"	2 x 6.3"+ 2 x 4" + 2 x 2"	2 x 6.3"+ 2 x 4" + 2 x 2"
Amplifiers	30w x 2 + 20w x 2	30w x 2 + 20w x 2	30w x 2 + 20w x 2
Cabinet dimensions	57" x 19" x 38"	58" x 19" x 39.5"	57" x 19" x 38"
Cabinet weight	171 lbs	188.5 lbs	171 lbs
Bench	Yes - height adjustable	Yes - height adjustable	Yes - height adjustable

*correction: GP400 cabinet weight is the same as GP300/GP500....171 lbs

This video below is showing the Grand Hybrid GP500 being played on-stage in a live classical concert from Berlin, Germany. The language is mostly in German but there are English subtitles. I was impressed by this video because I never see upright digital pianos (particularly Casio) being played in professional Philharmonic Concerts...pianists just won't normally do that.



The video below is showing the Casio-Bechstein key action hammer movement. Watch how the moving hammers behave like real acoustic grand piano hammers. No other digital piano brand in this price range (under $10,000) has anything like it. To me that's pretty impressive.



If you want more info on new digital pianos & pricing, including info on the new Grand Hybrids, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.comor call direct at 602-571-1864.

UPDATED REVIEW - November 25, 2019 - Kawai Digital Pianos for 2019 Review & Consumer Report - All Kawai Digital Pianos including CA29, CA39, CA58, CA78, CA98, etc. The Kawai piano company was founded nearly 100 years ago in 1927 and its international headquarters is in Hamamatsu, Japan which is where its founder, Koichi Kawai was born back in 1886. Kawai's US headquarters is in the city of Rancho Dominguez, Southern California. Mr Kawai got his start in the piano industry by working for the Yamaha piano company back in the early 20th century and was quite famous for his inventions and designs in the piano industry in Japan and was the first person to build a complete, quality piano action there. In 1927 Koichi Kawai left the Yamaha company to start his own piano manufacturing company under the name Kawai Musical Instrument Company. Kawai is a relatively small company in the manufacturing world as compared to other companies like Yamaha, Casio, and Roland because Kawai only makes pianos whereas Yamaha and Casio and Roland are more mainstream because they make so many consumer items like audio equipment, calculators, watches , and keyboards (Casio), guitar products, recording gear, keyboards, motorcycles & snowmobiles (Yamaha). But I think it goes without saying that even though the Kawai piano company may not be quite as familiar to people outside of the piano world, the Kawai piano company has a long, impressive history in the piano business and continues to this day to build not only some impressive acoustic upright & grand pianos, but also has a big selection of high quality digital pianos. - Click on pics for larger views 



Currently the Kawai piano company has 23 distinct digital piano models (20 of them are for the US market only) which cover a huge span of digital piano technologies, price ranges, and sizes. From a low discount price of $729 ($1049 retail price) for the ES110 portable digital piano all the way up to about $10,000 price for the Novus Hybrid grand action piano. Kawai has a digital piano that can fit the musical needs of most piano shoppers and in the lower price range in the US market Kawai has 2 portable digital pianos with built-in speakers which includes the ES110 ($699US discount price) and ES8 ($1649US discount price). Kawai also has 3 models of portable digital pianos (usually referred to as stage pianos) which include the MP7SE ($1799US discount price), MP11SE ($2799US discount price), and VPC1 controller piano $1849US discount price. The VPC1 is especially unique because it has no internal sounds or functions and no buttons, sliders, knobs, or display screens of any kind on the cabinet. It's designed to be a dedicated "controller" digital piano so that you would connect the VPC1 to your iPad or computer to "control" external piano sounds (software by other digital piano sound companies) that you can buy so your external device with the external piano sounds in it is "played by" the VPC1 piano keyboard. You would connect an external audio system to your computer or iPad to hear those pianos sounds you are playing. Some people may prefer this configuration who are comfortable with computers and are OK with always needing to use a dedicated computer with added sounds for their VPC1 piano rather than have the convenience of built-in Kawai digital piano sounds already in the digital piano such as the Kawai MP11SE. I especially like the MP11SE home studio/stage pro portable digital piano because it's a great combination of solid grand piano type key action, natural, organic piano tone, and enough extra features that many people are looking for. In fact for people who own full size acoustic grand pianos and want a digital piano that gives them a great piano playing experience and one they can do privately using headphones, the MP11SE tends to be very popular with that crowd and I have had number of people (both advanced pianists and recreational players) order this model through me for those very reasons. Also, since the MP11SE is only $2799 then its price is very affordable for many people looking for a high quality digital piano in a more portable form with a relatively small footprint. The MP11SE has no built in speakers but is otherwise completely self contained with its own sounds, controls, and easy to use features. All you would need to do is to connect a pair of smaller high quality powered monitors and depending on the room size you are trying to fill with sound, good monitors may only cost you and extra $300 or so and they make the MP11SE piano sound as good if  not better than many furniture cabinet pianos that cost a lot more money than the MP11SE plus the external monitors.

Next in line of the Kawai US digital pianos are their home furniture cabinet models under $2000US which can be purchased on the internet and they include the starter models KDP70 ($899 price) andthe KDP110 ($1199US internet discount price).  With the exception of the KDP110, CA48, and CA58, none of the other Kawai home digital pianos are available for purchase at on-line US internet dealers or Amazon because those models are only available at local Kawai authorized piano stores. This type of limitation in not being able to purchase the other furniture cabinet models through on-line dealers is typically designed to give local piano store dealers an advantage where they do not have to compete with those same models on-line that may be sold at lower prices than they would want to do. This is not only true for Kawai digital pianos but also for many Roland, Yamaha, and Casio digital pianos. So if you don't see the Kawai digital piano you are looking for on-line at a US internet store, this is done deliberately to drive you into a local factory authorized Kawai piano store and it is there you will likely see these other models.

Kawai has 4 newer home cabinet models for 2019 called the CN29 ($1959 price), CA48 ($2099US price), CN39 ($2699 price), and the CA58  ($2999US price) that recently came out and are available at some on-line US Kawai dealers but also available at all local Kawai store dealers. All of the other home furniture cabinet models are ONLY found at local Kawai stores (as I mentioned earlier) which include the CL26 (1099US store discount price), CN29 ($1959US store discount price), CN39 ($2699US store discount price), CA78 ($3999US store discount price), CA98 ($5399US store discount price), CS11 ($8499US RETAIL price), and Novus NV10 hybrid digital piano ($15,999US RETAIL price). The current CS11 piano is in an actual acoustic piano cabinet offered in polished ebony finish only which makes it unique for Kawai digital pianos because none of the other models look as authentic as far as the piano cabinet designs are concerned. However, because of the increased costs of producing the real polished ebony acoustic cabinet, Kawai does charge quite a bit more money for them so you would need to decide if that is worth it to you or would prefer to save a bit of money and look at the Concert Artist series which have attractive piano cabinets and also come in a polished ebony finish.

When it comes to the prices I have just mentioned, it is important to note that some of them have already been discounted by Kawai and are indicated by the word "discount." Other models are listed as RETAIL prices and Kawai does not provide info on the discounts for those models on their web site. However based on the approximate discount percentage Kawai offers on their other models I think it's fairly safe to assume a 15% - 20% discount (approximate) off retail price would be a good guess as to the actual selling price, although you would need to go into a Kawai store to actually get that information. Another thing to know about discount prices is that the discounts quoted are for the Rosewood cabinet color only for all models that offer "matte" Rosewood as a cabinet finish. For all other matte cabinet finishes such as black or white finishes you could pay another $100 for those models although not always. Kawai has a few models that automatically come in a more elegant polished ebony finish only the that upgraded finish is already figured into the retail or discount price.

Most piano digital manufacturers have different piano sound chips depending on the price of the piano. As you go up in price the quality and authenticity of the piano sound (generally speaking) gets more realistic. The Kawai piano company has 4 different piano sound chips for their digital piano line. The way I categorize them is "good,""better," and "best," and then the fourth one which is at the top I refer to as "best plus." All of the piano sound chips are actually quite enjoyable to hear, but as you go up the piano sound chip ladder you get a higher degree of authenticity, and for more discerning players that extra realism translates to more sonic expression and enjoyment so that your piano playing experience can be even more satisfying. In terms of piano processing power, otherwise known a polyphony, Kawai offers in their US digital pianos either 192-note maximum polyphony or 256-note polyphony which is generally plenty of polyphony piano processing power to handle even the most sophisticated piano music without hearing notes abruptly drop out. Kawai does have an older model digital piano called the CL26 (and CL36 in Europe) with only 96-note polyphony which is fine for some situations but I would instead recommend you get at least 120 notes polyphony or above with full stereo piano sampled sounds as opposed to older digital pianos with 96-note polyphony or less which also may not have full stereo sampled sounds and therefore not near as authentic in tone as newer models. My favorite piano sound chip in the Kawai piano line which reproduces the most authentic piano sound is found in their lower priced compact ES8 digital piano. Kawai uses that same sound chip in higher priced models which is good, but the ES8 is the lowest priced self-contained digital piano which offers this more authentic piano sound reproduction. I have done a review of that model so if you want more info on it please read my review at the following link: Kawai ES8 Review

For those people concerned with having good key action in their piano, Kawai currently offers 7 key actions (which is a lot) in their digital pianos including their newest and best which is an actual grand piano key action built into their all new hybrid digital piano called Novus (NV10). The Novus key action is called the Millennium III and is taken out of a top Kawai acoustic grand piano so that when you play the Novus the key action will be the same as a fine Kawai acoustic grand piano selling for $15,000 or more because the Novus key action is a fully acoustic grand key action movement whereas all the other Kawai digital piano key actions are specifically made for digital pianos only and lack most of the actual parts of a real acoustic piano key action. Kawai has 3 different all-plastic keys that help control the key movements and 5 different all-wood key actions that help control the key movement. In my opinion all of the key movements are fairly satisfying to play depending on what your musical ability and budget is. Also, just because the key has wood in it does not necessarily make it better or cost more money. For instance in my opinion the ES8 portable with stand & triple pedal at $2077 and CN39 black at $2699 has a more authentic key movement as compared to some other pianos that have plastic keys. Ultimately when it comes to key action and the way they feel and move...the key to picking out the right one for you should be based on your playing skill level, type of music you want to primarily play, your expectations and desires for the way the key action actually responds and moves, and your budget.

Pedaling with the triple pedal system on Kawai pianos also varies depending on which model you choose. The primary pedal called the damper-sustain pedal can be lighter and firmer to press down depending on the model you choose and the sustain/decay time of the piano sound can be longer or shorter depending on the piano your choose. So even in the pedal mechanism there can be a difference among different Kawai models with some being more responsive than others and that is true as you go up the line. They all offer half-damper pedaling with controllable pedal sustain amounts to come out closer to what a real acoustic piano sustain pedal offers. The color finish of the pedals can also be different depending on the model with some pedals coming in a chrome plated finish and others in a golden brass. That kind of thing just boils down to appearance and whether you really prefer one over the other just as in cabinet colors and finishes.

Some Kawai digital pianos like the ES110, CN29 and KDP110 with all three under $2000US just focus mostly on piano playing with only a few "extra "bells & whistles" while other models such as the CN39, MP11SE, and ES8 have a few more "bells & whistles" but still primarily focus on the piano playing experience. The there are other Kawai models which are in-between or have even more extra interactive functions & features such as the CP series. Whether it's wireless Bluetooth connectivity, MP3/wav file song recording, 50 or more instrument sounds, 8-16 track multitrack recording, color display screens, or interactive accompaniment styles, the Kawai pianos cover a lot of ground and depending on what you want to do with your music and with your time, you can probably find what you want within the lineup of new Kawai digital pianos. Kawai also just came out with new color touch screens in their new model CA series and Novus digital pianos which is very cool. I have tried out these new touch screens already and although they are quite nice and the only digital pianos to have this type of user interface

My suggestion for deciding on what model digital piano will best fit your piano needs is to decide how much the person playing the piano really likes music, how much they like being around music, and if they (or you) would actually like to play a piano along with what you are willing to spend to get the "right" piano for you and/or your family. If you already play the piano then you should decide, based on your available budget, how real of a piano playing experience do you really want to get? How natural and organic do you want the piano to be as compared to a real acoustic piano, and also how much volume and richness do you want out of the internal digital piano speaker system for the room, home, or building that the piano is going into? Also, a lot of people have different needs when it comes to the actual cabinet, cabinet design, cabinet color, moveability, and portability of the instrument itself. These are all important questions when deciding on the best piano for your needs and for your budget and the Kawai company with its 20 available current models for the US market should be able to cover most bases for most piano shoppers. However, one of the things about a single company offering so many models (Kawai is not the only one) is that it can definitely get confusing for the shopper (you) after a while because sometimes there is more than one model in the same price range and perhaps even 3 or 4 models in a similar price range from the same brand and you are left to figure out which one would be best for you...and that's not counting digital pianos in a much higher or lower price range that you might also like to consider. My favorite Kawai digital pianos under $2500 selling price, which is where most shoppers want to be in terms of price, is the Kawai ES8 portable digital piano with optional furniture stand and triple pedal lyre and the newer Kawai CA48 at $2199 matte black finish with an new all-actual wood baby grand style key action with triple sensor system including escapement/letoff function and an impressive piano sound reproduction in this lower price range. Two new models that just came out are the "plastic key action" models CN29 and CN39 as I mentioned earlier. The CN29 has just replaced the CN27 and the improvements are in the speaker system sounding better and the user interface control panel has been improved to be much more intuitive to use than before with new easier to read & understand OLED display screens replacing the older style technology. At $1959 for a CN29 and $2699 for a CN39, that puts these two pianos in the more popular price range along with the popular "wood key action" models CA48 at $2099 and CA58 at $2999 all being under $3000. Those digital pianos along with the ES8 would be the "bread & butter" of the Kawai digital piano lineup. The CA78 & CA98 have the upgraded, even more realistic "wood key actions" in them along with a 2nd and different upgraded piano sound chip along with color touch display screen for both of those models for easier navigation. The CA98 even has a small size "wood soundboard" in the back of the piano (see above left pic) to further enhance the piano sound with attached transducer microphones attached to that soundboard. Read our recent review of the popular CA58 advanced key action model at the following link: Kawai CA58 Review.

At the end of the day it is still true that one digital piano company cannot cover all of the bases when it comes to musical needs and budget of the digital piano shopper. If that were the case then there would only be one car manufacturer, one truck manufacturer, one refrigerator manufacturer, one computer maker, one cell phone maker, etc. In reality one company cannot satisfy all the needs of everyone shopping for that type or product. That's why there are other top name digital piano manufacturers like Yamaha, Casio, Roland, Korg, Samick, and others out there who offer something different than Kawai which may or may not fit your needs better. There are also piano makers who make very poor playing and sounding product that I do not recommend and although they may look good on the outside, they are not necessarily good on the inside and can create more playing problems than a person realizes. I call that kind of a digital piano a "Piano Shaped Object" (PSO) and I advise people to stay away from them if at all possible. They are pianos which have made-up names that are really just cheap technology and construction in a cabinet that appears to be attractive but can cause long term headaches with regard to the playing experience...names like Artesia, Susuki, Williams, and others. I have seen that happen quite often so I recommend you go with the name brands that I mentioned above and you will likely be very happy for a long long time. The Kawai piano brand is definitely worthy of your attention and it is something that I recommend. If you want more info on Kawai pianos or even lower prices than Amazon, Internet, local store, etc, then please contact me before you buy anything from anyone...you'll be glad you did.

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

UPDATED REVIEW- November 25, 2019 - Casio AP700 Celviano Digital Piano - Recommended - The Casio company produces a line of digital pianos under $3000 called the Celviano Series traditional digital pianos. The top of the line in this series is called the AP700 ($2499US store discount price) and under this model is the AP650, AP470, and AP270. The AP700 is not available for sale on the internet in the US and only found at "selected" Casio piano dealers. That just means it is not widely available. The AP700 is a "crossover" piano in the sense that the piano sound chip and digital features in this model are taken from their higher priced professional home series Grand Hybrid digital pianos and then combined with a few of the important features of their lower price AP650 Celviano piano. The features in the AP700 that are from the Ceviano AP650 include the triple sensor synthetic ivory & ebony key action, the identical upgraded satin black furniture cabinet with adjustable opening lid, the LCD display screen, control panel button placement, and adjustable matching bench. The internal speaker system in the AP700 is also the upgraded from the AP650 which includes 6 speakers going through a total of 60 watts of stereo power.

At $2499US internet selling price, the Casio AP700's biggest competitor is the Yamaha Clavinova CL635 which has an internet discount price of $2699 based on the Yamaha advertised web site price.I mention this because the Yamaha company certainly has a great name in pianos as they are famous for acoustic upright and grand pianos as well as digital pianos. In fact, the Yamaha name would be more popular than Casio for that reason alone...that they make real pianos and have done so for years. However, Casio is also a famous company for the millions of high quality digital products that it makes including watches, calculators, cameras, professional and home keyboards, and large line of digital pianos which they've been producing for well over 30 years. So when it comes to digital pianos, Casio knows what they are doing and based on my experience with them I believe they offer at least the same if not more overall "bang for the buck" in the their digital pianos in similar price ranges under $3000 than does Yamaha and some of the other brands out there right now.

The Casio AP700 has a custom piano sound chip built in with over 12 different acoustic piano sounds including the same high quality sound samples from their more expensive Grand Hybrid digital pianos which start at $3999 price. Those piano sounds come from 3 distinct grand pianos which include the German Steinway Hamberg Concert Grand Piano, the Bosendorfer Viennese Austrian concert grand Piano, and the Bechstein Berlin concert grand Piano. The Bechstein piano company in Germany in conjunction with the Casio company produced all of the new piano sound samples in the AP700.

The competitive Yamaha Clavinova CLP635 offers 2 distinct piano samples from the Japanese Yamaha Concert Grand and the Bosendorfer Austrian concert grand both of which are great pianos. Although I do like the Yamaha acoustic concert grand  and Bosendorfer sampled grand quite a bit, the Casio Celviano AP700 Steinway and Bosendorfer samples are just as pleasing and realistic to my ears and I like them a lot as well. The Steinway piano sample in the Casio AP700 is excellent and very expressive and my favorite piano sound. Yamaha does not use a Steinway sample and instead has their own Yamaha grand sampled sound which I like. So when it comes to the ever important grand piano sound, I like both the Yamaha and Casio pianos for their stereo grand piano tones. The Casio AP700 has a lot more to offer in terms of a realistic piano playing experience over all of the Casio pianos below this model and the unique piano sound samples in the AP700 are the same sound samples as are in the much higher priced Casio Grand Hybrid GP300 as opposed to the piano sounds in the lower priced Casio AP650 which are not as authentic, although still enjoyable to play.

The Casio AP700 has 256 notes of polyphony processing power as does the Yamaha CLP635 and a few other piano brands and models, which is the most polyphony power offered in a sampled sound digital piano. the 256-note polyphony sound chip is more than enough to handle complex musical scores and passages and also allows the player to combine 2 sounds layered together such as piano &strings, etc for an even more beautiful piano playing sound experience. Other similarities between the Casio AP700 and Yamaha CVP635 include both having a 60 watt audio power sound system although Casio has 6 speakers and Yamaha has 4 speakers, power consumption under 30 watts for both models, both models have USB audio wav file recording and playback, both have USB flashdrive input for saving and playing songs, both have good connectivity with audio input, audio output, USB output to external device, dual headphone jacks, string resonance and damper resonance, and a few other features.

But one of the things that really separate the Casio AP700 from the Yamaha CLP635 and all other vertical cabinet style digital pianos in this price range is the adjustable open top lid. If you look closely at the pictures of the AP700, you'll notice that the lid can open and be propped up to allow the piano sound to also come up and out towards the player as opposed to the sound staying inside the piano like in the Yamaha CLP635. In fact, the Yamaha internal speaker system only has 2 speakers, although they are slightly larger than the main speakers in the AP700. But the AP700 has 6 total speakers (4 mains and 2 tweeters) along with the lid opening system like a little mini grand piano, so the sound disbursement in the AP700 is very impressive in its price range and I like it. If you do not want the top lid to be opened then it can remain flat like it would be regular digital pianos. Of course none of these piano cabinets in this price range or even in higher price ranges for all of the top brands are actual solid core wood or have actual wood veneers. All cabinet surfaces are imitation wood grain over MDF board but this is not a bad thing because the cabinets look attractive and are sturdy with no chance of warping over time and this is true of a lot of home furniture these days. I have not heard of any negative issues with any digital piano cabinets on any brand and they are very nice, especially given my personal experience with them.

Key action is very important in a digital piano and in fact is the most important feature in any digital piano in my opinion, followed by piano sound and pedaling. The key action in the AP700 is the same key action that's in the lower priced AP650 which allows for a more natural piano playing experience with regard to key weight, resistance, response, and overall key movement. I like the AP700 key action very much and it has the synthetic ivory & ebony keytops which try to simulate the old grand piano key feel when the keys were made from real elephant ivory and real ebony wood many years ago before those materials were banned from being used on consumer products like pianos. Although the Yamaha key action is a bit quieter than the Casio key action in terms of noise when the keys move up and down (all piano actions have some mechanical noise), real acoustic piano key actions are fairly noisy when they move up and down except you just cannot hear the key noise because acoustic pianos are always so loud all the time and that volume covers up the key noise that you might otherwise hear. However, I like the key weight and key movement much better on the Casio AP700 as it takes less effort to press the keys down as compared to Yamaha CLP635 key action with the GH3 key action system. When I play the Yamaha CLP635 key action, it feels a bit fatiguing to me after awhile and the down-weight (aka: static touch weight) of the keys is too firm (heavy) as compared to a good grand piano down-weight based on my experience playing these pianos. The Casio AP700 just feels better when the keys move and allows for quick key action movement and more accurate repetition with Casio's triple sensor electronics under each key. The key action expression is very good, especially for a plastic key action, which most of these pianos have in this price range.

Piano pedaling is also an important aspect of any good piano and the Casio AP700 is no exception. The pedaling offers half-damper control for variable sustain amount and duration of time. The piano pedaling also triggers damper resonance which is when the dampers in a real piano are off the strings and there is natural resonation of the strings occurring along with the note that is played. Casio has recreated this experience in the Celviano AP460 and it certainly is nice to have for those that are used to a real piano. The middle sostenuto pedal and left soft pedal also work like a real piano and give people the added benefit of reproducing the functionality of those pedals as well, although the right damper sustain pedal is the primary pedal used more than 90% of the time for most recreational piano players.

The Casio company has its worldwide headquarters in Tokyo, Japan (left pic) and has been producing digital pianos for over 30 years. They also produce keyboards, pro synthesizers, as well as being famous for calculators, advanced digital cameras, sports & consumer watches, advanced digital technology for communication devices, and some very impressive new digital computer technology. Casio produces their own computer chips and proprietary micro technology and is able to do it at a fraction of the cost of some of it's biggest competitors and that is why Casio tends to have lower prices than many competitors. Some people equate lower prices with lower quality and think you need to spend a lot more money or get a "name brand" in pianos to get something really good. However, in my opinion, this latest model Casio AP700 is very impressive for its lower price and easily competes with the other popular digital piano brands including Yamaha (as I mentioned), Roland, and Kawai for features, cabinet construction & style, and overall piano playing experience realism.

Another impressive feature to me is the fact that Casio has included "wav file" audio recording in this model. What that means is that you can record yourself as an audio recording (CD quality) and save it to a USB flashdrive in the piano. Then you can take that recording in the flashdrive and plug it into your computer and email that song to your friends and relatives to let them hear it on their computer just as you played it! Beyond that, you can import that music into computer music programs for music education, composing, song arranging, etc for further musical interaction and even turn the wav file recording into an MP3 to play as an iTune on your iPad or iPod. The other major brands such as Roland, Kawai, or Yamaha does not have this feature in this price range. Another recording feature that is very useful and I use it in my teaching studio, is the ability to record right and left hand playing independently on 2 separate MIDI recording tracks and then play back both hands simultaneously. This feature is very helpful in allowing piano students to practice and record one hand and then play that recording back while they play the other hand "live" along with the recording. It's like having your teacher there playing along with you to give you help in understanding your rhythm and timing better and it's also more fun to practice this way. You can also save this recording and other song recordings you have done to a USB flashdrive for storage so you can come back later and work on and play along with those pieces again.

The Bechstein-Casio Grand Hybrid pianos are quite a bit more money and they start at $3999 with the GP300 model, but those pianos offer an actual wood grand piano hammer action with real moving hammers using a synthetic resin to construct the hammers. The AP700 offers the identical digital features as the higher priced GP300 with the exception of the GP300 having a larger display screen, more audio power, the wood key action (very expensive to produce) and a different cabinet. Speaking of LCD display screen, I personally like the control panel and display screen of the Casio AP700 over the Yamaha CLP635. If you notice the pictures, the Yamaha display screen is over to the left side of the keyboard and is a bit more difficult to use because of that because to have to reach over the keys to get to the buttons. The AP700 control panel and display screen is above the keys in front of the player for easy use, easy to see position of the display screen, and intuitive buttons which better access the piano sounds and functions of the AP700.

A few other very cool features of the AP700 include a new music library that consists of 10 full orchestra classical songs (plus more you can download from an internet site) which you can play along with using the piano sounds in the piano. The 10 orchestral songs are in an audio wav format (recorded from live orchestra) and sounds just like a real recording of the instruments as you would find on a regular CD recording of an orchestra. These new songs are independent in their sounds and format (the piano itself does not have these sounds) but you can interact with them by playing along live with the music. The 10 songs are standard classical music and although they are fun to play along with and do sound good, you would need to be able to read music (or play by ear) and play along at the song skill level so that you could interact with the music properly. You can slow down the songs, mute either right or left hand playback sound for live playalong and do a few other things with the orchestra accompaniment which are all quite fun to do, sound great, and helpful for learning. It's a nice feature and certainly sounds good but they're all in the classical category which is certainly good, but I also like other styles of music too. At the very least, you can pretend that you know what you are doing and that's OK:).

It is important to note that the AP700 piano does not have built-in drum rhythms, automatic chords, music styles, hundreds of instrument sounds, multi-track General MIDI recording & composing, etc that can be useful to some people (such as is on the Casio AP650), but it was not designed to be that way. The AP700 is focused primarily on piano playing and is a very satisfying instrument for its price that can handle many playing skill levels. However, it does have some useful "fun features" that I like but if you want even more additional interactive fun and educational functions/features, then you can easily connect to an iPad and experience some very cool interactive piano technology which both adults and children will enjoy. I use many iPad music/piano educational apps in my music studio to teach from and enhance the piano learning experience for both kids and adults. But as far as piano playing goes, this digital piano has a big, loud, bold piano sound which can replace a regular upright piano along with enough digital features to make the learning and piano playing experience fun and gratifying for most people seeking a quality instrument in a lower price range under $3000.

Speaking of fun features, you can connect an external device directly like an iPad or laptop computer using the AP700 high speed class compliant USB MIDI connection which allows for instant connection with external computer devices without the need of downloading drivers or having to convert a MIDI signal to USB. Since kids are growing up in the "iPad world" I recommend to all piano students that they utilize the exciting Apps available for tablets (and iPad in particular) to enhance their playing and practice experience which will make them better students and better musicians overall. Besides that, it's super cool to do this and when you've experienced the interaction of the Casio AP700 with an iPad (or Android) tablet and what it can musically and educationally do for you and your family, you'll be amazed at all the possibilities!

Other features of the AP700 worth mentioning is more realistic instrument sounds (26 of them) which are taken from the higher priced Casio GP300 Hybrid digital piano including noticeably improved strings, harpsichord, organs, and electric pianos which can be split into two parts on the piano, layered together, and you can also use the "duet" function that allows 2 people to play piano at the same time. Another interesting feature is call Hall Simulation which gives the stereo acoustic piano sound a more spacious effect such as you would hear in a large concert hall or church where there is natural echo that occurs when playing an instrument. There are a variety of "hall" simulations and it adds to the sonic presence of the acoustic piano sounds and makes the piano more enjoyable to play depending on the kind of music you like. I have heard these kinds of effects before in other higher priced digital instruments and they can add to the realism of piano playing which is always a good thing.

The bottom line is...this top of the line Casio Celviano AP700 is a piano for people who want to focus on the piano playing experience in a medium price range (under $2500) without too many "bells & whistles" to get in the way. With a very nice cabinet design that looks great and has a full back privacy panel, sounds big through its impressive internal speaker system, and uses a proprietary piano sound chip designed in part by the Bechstein grand piano company in Germany, the AP700 would be one of my top recommendations in its price range especially given the fact that it out performs many of its competitors in my opinion. Along with a big factory warranty of 5 years parts & labor with in-home service and a matching Casio height adjustable bench, it's a complete package that would be quite good for anyone looking for a more upgraded digital piano at a very reasonable price.

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

UPDATED REVIEW - November 23, 2019 - Casio PX560 Digital Piano - Recommended - Low Price Privia Portable Pro Piano & Synthesizer Workstation. The Casio company is known for a lot of things including keyboards, Synths, Digital Pianos, Watches, Calculators, Cameras, and so much more, and they have been in business for over 60 years. They have carved out a niche of being the low priced leader in many product categories while offering upgraded digital features that people want. Casio produces a line of digital pianos called Privia, and under the Privia name Casio has 7 different models of portable and furniture digital pianos. The most impressive model of all when it comes to biggest bang for the dollar for a portable digital piano between $1000 - $1500 in my opinion is the PX560 at just $1199US internet discount price. The PX560 really breaks all barriers in providing their best piano key action and best piano sound chip, in lightweight portable cabinet with an impressive built-in speaker system. It has the most intuitive user interface available in this price range and also the ability to do musical things that no other self contained portable digital piano can do for under $2000

As a long time musician and composer, I happen to love digital pianos & keyboards that allow me to be creative with my music in a variety of ways including using built-in instrument sounds and functions on the piano. Unlike many other digital pianos under $2000 including both cabinet models and portables, the Casio PX560 is a great instrument for almost anyone wanting to enjoy playing music including the professional piano player, the beginner piano player, the music arranger, the gigging musician, the studio recording musician, and the composer who loves to compose  all style of music including using big thick movie type synthesizer and orchestral sounds that you might hear in science fiction movies such as Star Trek, Star Wars, etc. The Casio PX560 is really pretty amazing and as good as it is in recreating an impressive stereo acoustic piano sound and impressive key action response in its price range, it goes so much further than that which is why I like it so much. If it wasn't so easy to use this piano, then I would say that all the extra features could be for nothing because in many digital pianos that have extra features, the user controls are not intuitive and are difficult to figure out. This is not the case with the PX560 as getting to and using these very cool and interesting functions on the piano is so easy to do that it allows me to make music and enjoy myself rather than wasting my time trying to figure out how it all works.

In reality the Casio PX560 really is much like its lower priced little brother called the PX360...but the PX560 is on digital steroids and very pumped up! The lower price PX360 is internet priced at $899US and I reviewed that model on this blog already and it does a number of the things the PX560 does, but the PX360 does not go to the next level of tonal and effects editing, sound creation, and overall fun. The PX560 has the same keyboard action and internal speaker as the lower priced PX360, along with having many of the same instrument and interactive chord arrangement styles. However, what the PX560 offers is well beyond the PX360 which includes the ability for you to customize the piano, instrument, and synth sounds into what Casio refers to as Hex Layers. A Hex layer is really 6 individual keyboard sounds layered together as one preset sound layer. Having 6 independent sounds playing together (layered) simultaneously every time you press a key gives the player an amazing full sound that cannot be found on any other self contained portable instrument in this price range. Beyond having a whopping total of 6 sounds blended together, those 6 sounds can be individually manipulated and changed in a variety of ways so that the outcome of the entire 6-layer sound can be completely changed in character and performance to suit your own personal tastes. In fact there are so many ways to change the 6 layer sound combination that there are literally millions of tonal possibilities to choose from.

The PX560 offers 100 preset Hex layer preset combinations which include acoustic piano layers, electric piano layers, string layers, brass layers, movie synthesizer layers, environmental sound layers, and many more including mixing 6 of your own together such as percussion, strings, brass, choir, woodwinds, and synth.When you come up with a great 6-layer combination, then you can save up to 100 of your personal creations in memory slots accessible on the color touch screen. Each sound within the 6 layer combination acts independently in the way you hear it and how each sound behaves, and when you play a note or chord, each of the six sounds in the Hex layer can be heard distinctly and each sound can be triggered to be heard at different times depending on how hard you strike the key. This feature is called adjustable sound trigger points and can be modified to your own desires for each sound in the 6 layer combinations. All parameters are adjustable independently including effects, key velocity, panning, and many other customizable ways of changing the sound. You can even substitute any instrument sound in the piano for any of the 6 layered sounds in a preset Hex layer to create your own custom Hex layers. There really is no limit to what you can do with these features. The cool thing is that all of the sound layer and editable features are selectable on a large 5.3" color touch screen which Casio also has on two lower priced Casio portable models below the PX560.

On top of having 100 preset 6-layer Hex sounds available at the touch of a virtual button, Casio allows a second Hex layer of your choice to be combined with the first Hex layer that you choose.In other words, you can combine two 6-layer Hex sounds together at one time giving you a whopping 12 layer sound per key that you play. This would be like combing twelve separate instrument sounds together at one time which no other self-contained digital piano can do in or near this price range. This is not counting adding in two left hand sounds (in the split mode) that are available on top of that which would give you at least 14 sounds at one time. I tried doing this to a number of Hex sounds on the PX560 and the outcome was  incredibly impressive...it really was. Twelve (Hex) sounds together making spectacular music when I just played one note, simple chords, or series of notes. It's like being in a movie theater hearing a huge movie sound track (assuming you're playing the sounds through a good external sound system. It's important to note that the PX560 has 96 memory registrations where you can store your own personal control panel setups for just about any feature(s) on the PX560 so you don't have to recreate them every time you power up the piano. Saving your personal customized sound layers (especially with the multi-layered Hex sounds), splits, edited sound combinations, rhythm accompaniments, effects, and other controls into the memories is very intuitive and easy and then accessing them later on is equally easy...because it's all done from the front panel buttons. It's one thing to be able to make changes and do things on a digital piano, but it's an entirely different thing to easily be able to save and access them quickly...so I was impressed with how this model was able to function in this way.

In my opinion the best way to hear all of the sound nuances of the hex layers and the other full and complex tones in the piano is through a good sound system, as I just mentioned.Although the PX560 has an impressive built-in internal speaker system with 4 quality speakers going through 16 watts of total power in stereo and does sound pretty good and actually very loud for its compact size and weight, using a great pair of stereo headphones or a good pair of external (powered) monitors gives you a more impressive sonic experience listening to these full Hex layers. The fullness of sound along with bigger bass response using external sound devices is much improved in this way. But this would be true of most any portable digital piano with internal speakers so it's good to be aware that you can definitely get that humongous stereo sound when connected to a pair of good external speakers or to stereo headphones. In fact when you connect to external speakers you can hear both the internal and external speakers at the same time, or you have the option of shutting off the internal speakers and only hearing the external speakers, so there is a lot of flexibility in hearing the sounds coming from the PX560.

Now that I have pointed out a few of the distinctive features of the new PX560 that sets it apart from all other Casio pianos and all other brands and models in this price range, it's time to talk about some impressive fundamental features of this model. One of the most obvious new features is the 5.3" full color touch screen using proprietary Casio touch software with instant feature recognition. I really should not get overly excited about this technology because many consumer products from educational kids electronic toys to family electronics have color touch screens now and instant feature recognition with swipeable screens, so having this technology in a digital piano should be no big deal...right? Well...actually it is a big deal because, at least for new digital pianos in the lower price range under $2000, these piano companies are way behind consumer and commercial electronics when it comes to user interfaces and built-in color touch screens. There are some piano manufacturers who are writing their own proprietary Apps to use on iPad and Android tablets so you can control a limited number of functions on your piano from your tablet connected by WiFi, Bluetooth, or USB cable connection. That's good but it only covers a relatively small portion of what those pianos can do and the screen is the external tablet and not a touch screen in the piano. It is also important to point out that the new Casio color touch screen is not set into the piano control panel completely flat. The screen is slightly raised and slanted for a good viewing experience which is much better than being flat, which I have seen in other brands that have any kind of display screen at all. So I do appreciate that extra "touch" of usability.

Along with the color touch screen and the features it has, Casio has included a round infinity (alpha) data wheel dial on the control panel to the right of the display screen which allows you to scroll/move through the functions in the touch screen. As an example, if you wanted to find a particular sound like a specific trumpet or piano sound, normally you would go through the library of sound groups and tones to get to the sound you want using buttons. The data dial on the control panel allows you quickly turn it in either direction which moves through the sound library or any other function so that you can land on the sound or feature you want to. There is also an individual up and down button so that you can advance the features in the touch screen one at a time without using the data dial or touch screen. These functions are just other useful ways of selecting the feature (sound, rhythm, song, etc) you want once you have gone into the touch screen mode. Yamaha and Roland have had a data wheel (dial) in a few of their keyboard products for many years on a variety of their digital pianos, but this is the first time that Casio has included the data (alpha) dial function into their digital pianos, so that's a big bonus in terms of how the piano operates.

Beyond the data wheel controller, Casio has also has some helpful buttons on the control panel itself which will take you directly to the most popular functions of the piano in the color screen including instrument sounds, rhythms,recording, transpose up & down, etc. In other words, let's say you want to transpose the key you are in which is a very popular feature on digital pianos. Rather than go into the color screen and look for the transpose function which you can also access that way, you can just press the transpose button on the control panel and instantly it will transpose the key up or down a 1/2 step at a time. There's no guess work as to where the transpose feature will be in the color touch screen or where to find it because the transpose button on the control panel accesses that feature instantly. You can also adjust the transpose function in the touch screen by touching the appropriate selection and using the data wheel or up/down buttons to select the key. Then once you get to that function you wanted, via the buttons, you can then use the color touch screen to continue your search and/or use the data wheel to speed up your selection. There's just so many intuitive ways to access features on theses pianos that it makes using these two new models lots of fun...and if it's fun & easy, you'll enjoy it more and get more use out of it too.

The key action piano keyboard is the most important thing to consider when shopping for any digital piano and the PX560 is no exception.In the price range under $1500 for a portable digital piano, there are five major brands worth considering at this point in my opinion and that's Casio,Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, and Korg. There are other digital piano brands which offer one or more models under $1500 such as Kurzweil and a couple of others, but as of now those brands don't offer anything which competes well with Casio, Yamaha, Roland, & Kawai in this price range with regard to key action. Korg has one model for $1499US but it lags behind the 4 major brands as a digital piano with internal speakers. The PX560 key action is the same as the current model Casio PX160, PX770, PX780, and PX870 as far as key movement goes. All Casio key actions in all Privia models share the same realistic key movements so there won't be any confusion there, unlike other brands which offer multiple models of different key actions. The Casio key action is, in my opinion, superior to many other brands in this price range for a number of reasons including having a triple sensor keyboard for more accurate key repetition sensing and expression, more authentic piano key weight and movement in the keys, a better balance with graded weighted keys and along with having the addition of both ivory & ebony synthetic key tops which try to simulate the feel of real ivory and ebony acoustic piano keys from years ago. Today, real acoustic piano keys have mostly plain plastic top white keys so synthetic ivory and ebony feel can be nice because as it offers a more tactile feel along with being able to absorb sweat from the fingers which makes for a smoother playing surface.

When it comes to the Casio key action in this price range, the PX560 is impressive, although I would not classify the key action as functioning and moving like an acoustic grand piano especially on the black keys, because it does not. Casio, along with other manufacturers likes to add some "hype" to their marketing and promotion efforts to get you to want their products, so with that in mind these people tend to exaggerate sometimes and makes you to believe that their product is exactly like a concert grand in key action and/or sound. Really? Then why buy another digital piano for a lot more money or even a regular grand piano for that matter if Casio's inexpensive digital piano supposedly gives you everything you could ever ask for including a grand key action experience? It's a ridiculous statement when manufacturers make it, but I have come to expect these things because they are trying to get you to buy their piano. You just have to look beyond the hype and play the piano and also have experience playing good acoustic grand pianos to know for sure, which I have done hundreds of times. If you want something at a higher level in playing authenticity, then you'll need to spend more money to get it. However for for what it offers, the PX560 is very enjoyable to play and the keys and action movement do respond nicely and better than most other brands in this price range. Finally, when it comes to key movement there is always some noise associated with the keys when they are moving up & down. Some brands and models are noisier when the keys go down and hit bottom and other brands & models are noisier when the keys come back up. On Casio pianos the keys (randomly) do make a bit of noise when the keys come back up, and on Roland pianos the keys are noisy (make a thud sound) when the keys are going down, on Yamaha's in this price range the keys rattle sometimes and sound plasticky when the keys go up or down...and so on. On regular acoustic pianos those key actions are always noisy when those keys move but acoustic pianos are always so loud that the volume drowns out the key noise. However, on digital pianos key noise is always more noticeable because digital pianos are generally played at lower volumes or with headphones. So regardless of which digital piano you buy in this price range or for less money, don't be surprised if you hear some key movement noise.

A good, realistic piano sound is also obviously important, especially to those who will be primarily interested in playing piano, although the other instrument sounds can be enjoyable as well. But it's really all about the acoustic piano sound authenticity and if it can be expressive with a large dynamic tonal range (which the PX560 definitely has), good organic piano sound elements like virtual vibrating strings, resonance, accurate legato and staccato piano sound, smooth key sensitivity volume and fast repetition sound reproduction, then that is something you want to look for. These things are not easy to get in this price range but Casio has done a a very good job of it. There are some "off-brands," as I call them which do a very poor job of reproducing a good piano sound and response and I don't recommend them at all when it comes to piano sound. All of the organic piano sound elements and functions in the PX560 make for a more enjoyable piano playing experience and is necessary to have in a good digital piano if you want to really express yourself musicially. Dynamic tonal range means the range of tone from mellow to bright as you play the keys softly and then push the keys harder and quicker. Key sensitivity volume is when you press softly and get a low volume and then as you press the keys harder you get a louder volume. You are not supposed to notice any hesitation or jumpiness in volume and the volume range is supposed to be smooth and large and the PX560 performs very well in these ways. The PX560 piano sound itself is recorded/sampled in stereo from a real acoustic grand piano (I believe they sampled a Steinway Grand) and really is pretty impressive. Is it the best I have ever heard in a portable digital piano?...no. But I have pretty high standards when it comes to the piano sound and even so, I really do enjoy playing piano on the PX560, it's quite expressive...however it will not be replacing an actual Steinway grand piano anytime soon:). But again, it's what you are getting in this price range along with everything else in this model. There's a total of 24 acoustic piano sounds and piano sound layers in the PX560 which gives the player a large variety of acoustic piano choices. Beyond all the piano preset choices, there are 3 infinity controller knobs on the top panel to the top left of the display screen and this is a very cool feature because the knobs default to a 3-band parametric EQ to control separate low, medium, and high frequencies, especially useful for the piano sound. Not only can you add to and customize the overall piano sound this way, but it also adds more volume and fullness at the same time. Once you make changes, then you can save them and recall them later. The controller knobs can also be assigned to other functions in the piano to be manually changed in real time such as other volumes and functions and you can quickly modify all knob functions in the color display screen which makes it all very easy to use. I really like the 3 panel knobs and it gives you a sense of old time analog control over many aspects of the piano. This is a feature that no other portable all-in-one name brand digital piano has and I personally find it incredibly useful for beginners through advanced players and especially for live play. By the way, if you have a whole bunch of buttons and features you've selected on the PX560 and just want to get back to the main stereo concert piano sound, Casio has included, what I call, a "panic button" called Grand Piano on the control panel all the way to the far right of the display screen. If you press that button the PX560 automatically resets to acoustic stereo piano and the other features shut off and reset...simple!

When it comes to the pedaling experience, this is another important aspect to consider when shopping for a new digital piano.The PX560 pedal damper resonance and damper noise which is the resonance of the tone and physical movement of the damper rail in an acoustic piano.These two elements add a depth of realism to the piano sound when using the damper/sustain pedal. The pedaling also includes a half-damper effect which adds more incremental sustain times to the damper pedaling, but only if you are using the optional 3-pedal unit ($75 internet price). Pedal resonance, damper noise, and especially half-damper effect are very good features to have as you progress in your playing ability or already play well. A person can certainly live without it but it's better if you can access it. However, as I mentioned, you'll need the optional triple pedal unit to access the half-damper sustain effect on the Casio's. Kawai also has half-damper function on their popular ES100 portable piano ($799 internet price) and that feature can be accessed with the included full size single piano pedal, unlike the Casio's. I was hoping Casio would have updated their half-damper access to a single pedal from previous models, but they did not. So that's a negative (although a smaller one) in my book. As far as pedal decay time which is how long a note will sustain after letting go of the key and holding down the sustain pedal, the PX560 do a pretty good job. The sustain time is fairly long on sustained notes but I have heard other digital pianos with even better (longer) decay times especially on the higher notes, but those digital pianos would cost more money. So in this price range the Casio pedaling experience is, overall, a good one.

The PX560 has a very large library 650 built-in instrument tones (including the Hex layers) and 220 built-in rhythms & ensemble chord arrangements.When using the feature on the rhythm arrangements, you then get another 200 selections which gives you a total of 400 rhythms/ensemble arrangements. So when it comes to having a variety of enjoyable instrument sounds and rhythm patterns along with musical arrangements (aka:one man band), it's difficult to need more than that. Casio has increased and advanced the realism of many instrument sounds from previous models as well as the musicality and voicing of the rhythms & arrangements. The increase in realism on some of these selections was quite noticeable to me and made for a more expressive playing experience with all styles of music including classical, jazz, rock, big band, oldies, Latin, country, modern, world music, and everything in-between, and most of them sound great considering how little these pianos cost. The intros and endings as well as drum fill-ins and accompaniment patterns were surprisingly good and far better than on previous models. All of it was expressive and musically realistic for this price range, and variety is plentiful. Casio also inserted some very cool, very realistic musical ritardandos, crescendos, decrescendos, and syncopation into the intros and endings making the music sound more natural instead of digital and robotic, and it's done in full stereo with stereo panning as well. The Casio sound and accompaniment designers/programmers really have done an outstanding job upgrading these particular features as compared to past models, although there are a few auto accompaniment styles that do sound toy-like and amateurish, so they are not all great...but I  expected that. When using the auto-accompaniment feature you can play simple 1-finger left hand chords, 3-finger chords, or full professional chording playing both left and right hand together with multiple fingers over the accompaniment and the accompaniment will follow you.

As far as the solo instruments go, many (but certainly not all) do sound noticeably more authentic than in previous Casio models, and include velocity triggers which adds additional organic nuances to that sound as you press the key harder and quicker. This feature helps in the overall realism of that sound and is a nice thing to have. Beyond offering a variety of acoustic piano sounds, these instrument sounds would include much better electric pianos, brass, organs, woodwinds, strings, etc, and the variety of tones has substantially increased from the previous 250 selections on previous models to the 650 musical sound library it has now with the updated selections, as I previously mentioned. A few of the instrument sounds from previous models such as trumpet and flutes are mostly just average and not as convincing as I had hoped for in these new models. But they are still fun to have and are certainly better than other digital pianos I have played in this price range under $1000, and if you are not too critical, you may like them just
fine. All instrument sounds are quickly accessible through the color touch screen and there are picture icons for each sound group so you just touch it and that group of sounds or rhythms instantly comes up. It really is a pleasure using the color touch screen to quickly see & access all 650 sounds...it's a breeze to do it and definitely makes it fun to use this piano to achieve the musical sounds of your choice. Also, unlike any of the other Casio digital pianos, you can create and save 400 of your own personal user tones so that if you don't like one of the preset tones on the piano, you can modify that instrument tone to your liking and then save up to 400 of them in the user memories accessed easily by the color touch screen. That's a crazy huge amount of potential instrument/sound choices...but hey, it's just one more way of expanding beyond the preset sound library that Casio includes...and that's always a good thing.

Speaking of achieving musical sounds, another exclusive and impressive feature of  the PX560 is its ability to visually edit individual parameters of each instrument sound using what is called sound editing "envelopes." These are specific parameters that were and still are used on professional synthesizer keyboards to modify and create new sounds from existing tones on the keyboard. In the PX560 as an example, there are three sound editing parameters called pitch, filter, and amp. You can select any of these three functions and then enter into an envelope editing mode to adjust different parts of those sound parameters which include initial level, attack time, attack level, decay time, decay level, release time, release level, and envelope time. There are also additional editing parameters for portamentos (sliding/gliding tones), panning, and LFO's among other things so adjustments and the things you can adjust are almost endless. These adjustments or parameters can be useful to pro musicians looking make slight adjustments to the internal tones, studio musicians wanting to create new sounds altogether, or just music enthusiasts who want more digital "stuff" to play around with:). I have used these kinds of features before in pro keyboards but typically editing parameters were overall difficult to figure out, difficult to use, difficult to save when you did create something that you liked, and just not very accessible. However within the PX560, using these editing envelopes (not for mailing a letter:) are readily accessible from the color touch screen, visually easy to find, easy to use, and are displayed in a color graphic layout which allows the editing to be visually pleasing and naturally intuitive as well. Even if you know nothing about this kind of editing or "programming," you can pretend that you do because it's that easy to use and changing the amount (up or down) of that editing parameter is done by turning the alpha dial either left or right and watching the color screen as changes are made. You can certainly make some pretty strange sounds if you want to do that which might be useful as video game tones or Halloween special effects and I know some young kids who might like to do that! But even if you have no desire to do these things and you never use these filters and envelopes to create or adjust new and preset sounds, this should not scare you into thinking the PX560 is not the right portable instrument for you. The best way to explain it would be to say that with all these many, many features offered on this model that no other piano I know of under $2000 can do, there is something for everyone and it allows this instrument to be not only offer a very enjoyable piano playing experience, but it goes so much further for those people who want to take advantage of this creative technology. If you don't like the "extra stuff" then that is fine because you never need to use or touch those features and then you'll never know they are there:).

For beginners, amateurs, or even pro players, the PX560 can also make you sound better than you actually are, and that can be a good thing depending on what you want out of your music. Casio has a very cool feature called "Auto-Harmonize" which does what it suggests...it allows the automatic harmony to come in when you play a single melody note. One of the goals of any student or musician is to play a song so it sounds as full as possible with multiple notes being played by both the left and right hand. Most of the time students and recreational players know how to play accompaniment chords with their left hand, but playing multiple note chords simultaneously with your right hand takes many years of learning and practice to accomplish this. Some people get to that point but most people do not. They can play chords with their left hand with a one (or maybe 2) note melody with their right hand. So wouldn't it be special if you could play one note melodies with your right hand as your left hand is playing the full 3 or 4 finger chords and have your right hand one note melody sound like 3 or 4 notes playing correctly every time you play one key on the right hand? Well...that's what the "auto-harmonize" feature does for you. It automatically harmonizes the right hand single note melody with your left hand chords and makes it sound like you are playing multiple notes on your right hand even though you are only playing one key! The harmonize function also works when playing simple 1-finger chords on the left hand so that a complete beginner can sound like they have been playing for years:). The right hand harmonize feature includes 12 harmonizer variations for your melody accessible from the touch screen and it really does make your right hand sound like you've been playing multiple fingers for years...even though you're just playing one key at a time. This feature can be selected on or off when you want it directly from the master main screen in the touch display so it's easy to use. Whatever chord your left hand is playing and whatever song style you are playing in, the auto-harmonizer automatically adjusts the right hand melody to sound big and full in any number of musical styles while using the accompaniment section. OK...I know that some people will call this harmonizer feature a waste of time and an unnecessary toy. But when you try it, it will definitely bring a smile to your face because it makes your music sound fantastic, and if you don't play well, then I say that you should use all the help you can get:). It's great to learn how to play properly and traditionally...but as a long time piano teacher I always encourage my students to have fun and do whatever it takes to keep playing and enjoy the music....and that's what this feature does.

Most (but not all) digital pianos offer fundamental featureswhich include being able to change the touch sensitivity from soft to hard, layer two instrument sounds together at one time to play the sounds simultaneously, split two sounds at a time with one on the left and right side of the keyboard, have special effects added to the sounds including reverb/echo, chorus, delay, adjusting EQ/brilliance, and using special DPS digital processing effects for further sound enhancement. The previous model Casio's had 4 levels of reverb, 4 levels of chorus effect, and 3 levels of brilliance control. These new models have 4 times as many selections and variations so that's a huge jump in instrument sound control. Also, when it comes to the 256-note polyphonic stereo acoustic piano sounds which is the largest amount of polyphony memory in its class, the PX560 offers the user full control over the natural piano sound elements within the piano sound including 16 adjustable levels of damper resonance, 8 levels of adjustable hammer response, and 16 levels of adjustable string resonance (sympathetic vibrations) and they are all easily selectable in the color touch screen along with using the data wheel if you prefer to scroll through the various option that way. No other digital piano in this range offers anything like that so as far as customizing the acoustic piano sound to your tastes, there is virtually no limit to what you can do. Once you make those personal changes you can then easily save that change into memories and access them again later.

Other notable features I really like is the ability to quickly adjust the individual volume, panning, and actual instrument sounds of each of the 16 MIDI recording & playback tracks as well as mute any of those recorded sounds during playback.This is normally referred to as the "mixer" section. On many digital pianos that have recording and playback in this price range or less, they are limited to normally 2-5 tracks of song recording and playback and many of those pianos also have little control over the individual aspects of the song that you're hearing. In the PX560 there are numerous ways to adjust and change the song that is being recorded or played back so that you can do some nice editing of that song even after you have recorded it. Once again because of the easy to use color touch screen, these song editing features are much easier to find and to use compared to digital pianos without large color touch screens. The individual track adjustments will also work with the auto arranger chord music styles so that you can mute, pan, adjust volume, or change actual instrument sounds of any of the one-man-band accompaniment backing tracks. So even though there are many preset styles of auto arranger accompaniments, you have a lot of flexibility in what you can do with them through the real-time mixer, just like it would be in a real band or orchestra.

You can also change the piano tuning of the entire PX560 using different preset tuning temperaments along with piano stretch tuning just like real pianos tuners do. It is true that many people may not initially understand what all these things mean or how they would affect the overall sound, but that's OK because you can just play around with them and see what they do because they will not permanently change anything unless you want to save what you did. Another very useful feature is a "operation lock" function which you can choose at any time to freeze the setups you have on the PX560 so that no one can push buttons or touch the screen and change your settings. This is great for people playing in a live setting such as a outside event, church, school, etc where there are lots of people near your piano and you don't want them inadvertently changing something on the piano. If you have kids running around your house touching stuff all the time, the operation lock setting prevents them from accidentally changing your setups. I use this feature all the time when young kids are in my studio:).When it comes to two people practicing the same song at the same time, you can setup the 88 keys to play in a Duet Mode so that two people can play at the same time each with 44 notes where both keyboards produce the same notes in the same octave. This is becoming a fairly standard feature on many (but not all) brands and models of digital pianos but it is much easier to use and setup on the PX560. You can easily change the octave of any instrument sound up or down whether playing solo or combining (layering) with another sound with the octave change feature in the touch screen. This allows any instrument sound to be played in a higher or lower octave regardless of what keyboard octave you are actually playing. For professionals or recreational players wanting more authenticity out of the non-piano sounds, the PX560 has both modulation and a pitch bend wheels on the left side of the piano keyboard which allows for more realistic effects such as bending the note when (as an example) you use a clarinet or steel guitar sound or adding variable vibrato modulation when (as an example) using a violin or trombone tone. Violin players move there fingers to get vibrato out of the note and clarinet players bend their notes as they glide up from one pitch to the next. This can all be down independently with the two built-in wheels to the left of the keyboard. It's fun and actually pretty easy to do and many people enjoy making the instrument sounds as realistic as possible. There are just so many features and functions on the PX560 that you will likely not use them all...but it's nice to know they are there in case you need or want it...and this new model definitely has more features that I ever expected. Casio even put in a digital/virtual typing keyboard as a touch screen software feature so you can enter data by typing characters (as you would on your cell phone for texting, etc) to locate and save songs and retrieve other internal song and function data you need to find.

One thing that I personally like to be able to do quickly on a digital piano is to adjust my individual volumes of the various features so they balance out and blend together the way I want them to.This would include overall master volume, both right hand sounds 1 & 2, left hand sounds 1 & 2, accompaniments (drums, bass, rhythmic sounds, etc) audio recorder, MIDI recorder, audio inputs, audio output to external devices, metronome volume, and other volume controls. Without being able to quickly and easily adjust volumes among the various instruments and rhythms, then your song will not not good and one or more parts may overpower the other parts. Casio makes this a very simple process by going to their PX560 volume balance icon on the main menu page and then touching it on the color touch screen which then displays all of the volume controls for each selection. You can then quickly and easily make the volume adjustments you want with the wheel dial and lock those volumes in to their specific number and instantly save them. The color control icons on the piano such as the balance control make it so intuitive even a 3 year old can figure it out. This is definitely not the case with most other digital pianos where you either need to dig deep into the owners manual to figure it all out (if you ever do) or for a few keyboards/digital pianos that have it, you can connect an iPad to the piano and see the piano controls on the iPad touch screen which obviously makes it much easier and more fun to use. However you need to dedicate an Ipad to your piano and not many people can or will do that. So the importance of built-in color touch screen on the PX560 cannot be overstated with regard to allowing the user to quickly get at the controls that are important to you to help create a useful intuitive environment so you can make good music instead of needing to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to use the piano!

The PX560 also has a feature rich built-in recording studio system including a full 16-track (16 instrument multi-track) MIDI recorder and playback system along with a 1-track wav file (CD quality) audio recorder and playback control with 100 song recording and playback capacity. The length of time of recording for the MIDI recorder is 50,000 notes and the CD quality audio recorder time per song is a huge 74 minutes long. So when it comes to a vast array of recording and playback features in this lower price range, nothing beats or comes close to these two new models. I really like the fact that you can access the MIDI and audio wav recorders directly from the control panel buttons so that you can quickly use it without needing to change the touch screen. Within the recording system there's a number of recording editing features that allows the process to become more detailed than just a simple digital recorder would offer. But what really sets the recording system apart from all other new digital pianos under $1000 is the user interface controls in the color touch screen. Typically, recorders in digital pianos are not very easy to use, especially multi-track recorders such as what's in this new pianos. So...when features are more difficult to use, then people may not use them very often or at all, especially some of the more complex features like these recorders. The recording functions are nicely laid out in the color touch screen and are easy to access and you can even get into the recorder screen from a button on the control panel which makes it quick and easy to record. When you touch a recorder function on the color touch screen, then you can access a variety of features in that screen without too much guess work. Rather than go into all the recorder functions and features, you'll just have to take my word for it when I say that creating, making, and playing your own music in the PX560 is super fun and allows you to express yourself in ways that many digital pianos cannot do. No other compact digital piano brand in this price range has the recorder control functions and range as this one does.

Speaking of MIDI recording & playback, the PX560 can playback General MIDI song files off a USB flash drive which allows you to hear and play along with your favorite songs which you can download off the internet on a variety of sites, assuming you don't already have your own MIDI song files. Also, two of the most popular lesson curriculum's available today and used by piano teachers all over the US and the world are by Alfred and Faber & Faber. Both of those lesson book series have optional General MIDI songs which you can purchase and then play back in these Casio pianos through a formatted USB flash drive. This function with available songs allows you to hear the lesson song in the book you're using and get a better for the rhythm & timing of that song along with being able to slow down the song to any tempo while learning that piece. There are literally thousands of General MIDI songs available on the internet and through these two publishers which makes the learning and practice experience at home much more fun and enjoyable. I have been using the MIDI song play-along method for years and find it to be very stimulating because it's like playing along with the orchestra or band. So regardless of your playing skill level whether it be beginner or very advanced, you can definitely have a lot of fun taking advantage of what this piano can do with regard to playing back General MIDI songs files...and the fact is, they make you sound better than you already are and if you don't play at all, then it just makes learning a more enjoyable experience. If you have questions about the General MIDI format, how to use it, and what it can actually do for you on these pianos, just ask me.

The PX560 has an interesting and fun feature for both beginners and pros called Music Presets which is a library of left hand chord progressions & arrangements from famous songs and instructional books.Specifically what this function does is play a well known portion (aka:chord progression) of a famous song from a variety of songs in the Casio Music Presets song library and then loops that part of the song so it will play that chord rhythmic arrangement over and over without stopping. When you select a song and start it up, the color touch display screen shows you the name of the tune and displays the actual chord symbols in the color screen of the left hand chords of that chord progression loop. The idea is for you to be able to "jam"along (at any tempo you choose) with the chord progressions using your right hand and play melody notes along with the playback of the left hand chords. Basically it's like playing the piano along with the band only this band just plays a famous portion of a song (not the whole song) and does it over and over until you want to stop. This system allows you to learn to play by ear, to improvise, and to have fun while you do it all the while looking at the chord symbols in the display screen (just like guitar chords) so you know what notes to play depending on the chord playback progression. The more you hear the chord progression loop and the more you see the chord symbols in the display screen, the easier it will be for you to follow along, "jam out," improvise, and feel like you are in the middle of the band or orchestra. Also, the Music Preset system automatically selects a compatible right hand instrument sound for you so that it corresponds well with the song style progression being played so you don't need to guess what to select. However, you can play full piano sound with both left and right hand during the playback of the Music Presets library if you choose to do that with any of the 305 different Music Preset chord selections. You can also create your own personal custom music presets creating any repeating (looped) chord progression you want to with any music style you like and save up to 100 of them in memories. You can edit chords and their sequence, edit intros and endings, and really create your own Music Preset chord progression for jamming. If you are more of a beginner player then the editing features will likely not be of importance to you. But if you are a player and like the "tech stuff" when it comes to digital pianos, then you will like making your own Music Presets. I used this feature many times on the PX560 and it's definitely lots of fun and quite musically stimulating and something that few other digital pianos have at any price.

When a person is musically and technically advanced enough to play very well, you will often hear them include arpeggios in their music. An arpeggio is a group of notes which are played one after the other, added either going up or going down. Playing an arpeggio requires the player to play the sounds of a chord individually to differentiate the notes. The notes all belong to one chord and the chord may be a simple chord with the 1st, (major or minor) 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale in it. An arpeggio in the key of C major going up two octaves would be the notes (C, E, G, C, E, G, C). An arpeggio really is just a type of broken chord. Other types of broken chords play notes of chords out of sequence or more than one note but less than the full chord simultaneously. Arpeggios can rise or fall for more than one octave and typically you see pianists play across the keyboard from left to right starting with lower notes in the bass section and going all the way up to higher notes in the treble section without stopping. Arpeggios add beauty and warmth to the song as well as giving it extra musical flare and excitement. Playing arpeggios well takes time and practice and in my personal experience, even though the concept of playing arpeggios is simple, they are not necessarily easy to execute. So Casio has done something about this for the person who would love to play them but is not good enough to do so. Casio has included a super cool and fun auto-arpeggiator feature in the PX560 which instantly and automatically plays arpeggios for you while you hold down a simple (or complex) chord. The notes of that chord are played automatically up and down the keyboard without you having to do it. Whatever 2, 3, 4, or 5 finger chord you choose to play and hold down, the arpeggios will be heard playing just like you would have been doing it yourself after many years of practice! Arpeggios will work with any instrument sound and in fact you can have the arpeggiator play an acoustic piano sound in an arpeggio pattern while being layered with another sound (such as strings) which will maintain a constant sustained tone underneath the piano arpeggio. The musical outcome of this sound is super impressive and all you need to do is play simple chords to get it. There are 9 virtual pages totaling 100 different and unique arpeggio patterns quickly and easily accessed by the color touch screen. These arpeggios can be assigned to both the right hand sounds and the left hand sounds all at the same time in combinations or independently. You can use any of the 650 instrument sounds in the piano for any of the four arpeggio sound parts and you can even select a play and hold feature which allow you to play the chord to get the arpeggio started and then let go of the keys and the arpeggio will keep playing so that you can create music within the arpeggio pattern. The tempo of arpeggio pattern can be changed to any speed by using the tempo button on the piano control panel and the arpeggio will respond to sustain pedal as well as transpose key, effects, etc. The arpeggio pattern will even sync up to any rhythm pattern to be used within a rhythmic song accompaniment pattern. I can tell you from personal experience that using an arpeggio feature will make you sound like you have been playing all your life even if you cannot play at all:)...or it make allow the pro player to add special flare and excitement to their music while playing full traditional piano and having the arpeggios playing patterns using another instrument on top of that piano music. With literally millions of pattern and sound combinations at your fingertips, you could spend days and weeks just playing with the auto-arpeggiator and have great musical fun and enjoyment. For some people this feature is just a musical toy, but I have always loved to play musical toys and if it allows me to make music in a way that I could not do otherwise on my own, then I am all for it!

As for the piano connectivity, the PX560 has a variety of connectivity for other devices with of the inclusion of 2 mini stereo headphone jacks in front, on the back of the piano two 1/4" audio output jacks to connect to external speakers if you should be playing in a large room or venue where you need extra sound, an audio-in stereo mini jack with separate volume control (for iPods, iPads, mics, and other devices), and a damper pedal jack using an included plastic sustain pedal which is small, but basically OK (at least Casio includes it for free rather than it being an extra cost). The PX560 also provides for an additional  assignable pedal input so that the performer can use a volume pedal or trigger pedal along with having the sustain pedal. The piano has a high speed USB output to computer or tablet device with is "plug & play" class compliant connectivity. There is an input for a USB flash drive on the front of the piano to load audio and MIDI song files as well as save them from the piano after you have created your own song. The PX560 also has two full size 1/4" line input jacks and the internal piano effects such as reverb, brilliance, etc will apply to the connected devices (mics, etc) going through those input jacks...and that's a very useful feature and not something that Casio has ever offered before. For some people, having standard MIDI cable connections for both MIDI in and out ports is important because there's still a need for some people who have MIDI products without USB connection) (sound modules, keyboards, etc) to have MIDI connections and not USB. So the built-in MIDI connectors on the PX560 is a very big thing for some people and many digital pianos in this price range don't have this feature. Whether or not you will use all of these connectivity options one way or the other simply depends on your musical needs and desires but it's definitely good to have them.

So why would someone want to buy a Casio PX560 over another new digital piano under $2000? There are really a number of reasons why a person would want this unique instrument, but first and foremost is because of its lightweight 26 lb weight and small compact dimensions of 52" x 11.5" x 5.8." It's easy to carry and keep in small spaces and can also be placed on an optional Casio furniture style stand to give it a more traditional look along with making the piano sturdier within that proprietary black stand. The next reason someone may want this piano is because of its very attractive elegant two-tone satin royal blue colorwith black trim. Actually I am somewhat kidding about the blue color being important, but in a way I am being serious. This is definitely one of the coolest looking high quality pro type digital pianos in a lower price range that I have ever seen. The lines, the design detail, the buttons, and the color screen make this piano very classy but yet very contemporary all at the same time. Casio did an outstanding job in designing the PX560 cabinet and I like it a lot. Even if you don;t play very well it makes you look like you do...and if you do play well and you want to play out somewhere, it makes you look even cooler and like you might actually know what you are doing...and that's always a good thing for people to think:). Easy to carry, easy to operate, and great looking which can be important in making that buying decision. However when you add on everything this instrument is capable of doing, the PX560 becomes a real monster in terms of running over just about every other portable digital piano in its path as far as a complete package in a lower price range under $1500. I will say that there are other digital pianos where you may be able to get even better acoustic piano sounds, better electric piano sounds, better instrument sounds, more authentic accompaniment arrangements, better special effects, better pedaling realism, a bigger fuller internal speaker system, and a more realistic piano key action as there are some experienced players who are very "picky" about key actions. However, you would probably need to spend a lot more money to get something better or give up many of the PX560 features to focus on just a few things that may be more to your liking.

I have played all of the new portable digital pianos under $1500 and I would absolutely pick the new Casio PX560 at $1199US internet price as my favorite with regard to an "all-in-one"portable synth workstation piano because I am the type of player who likes to make and create a variety of music and music styles and the PX560 lets me do this easily and quickly and I really enjoy playing it. You can call this instrument many things including a home keyboard, a home digital piano, a pro digital piano, a pro keyboard, a stage piano, a studio recording music creation instrument, a synthesizer, a music workstation, a special effects machine, a fun machine, a one-man-band, or you can just call it a serious digital piano that does other stuff. However the PX560 may or may not be the perfect or right digital piano for you, so you need to do your research and homework to be as sure as possible that it will allow you to achieve your musical goals and satisfy your musical needs in your price range. Yamaha, Kawai, Roland, Korg, Kurzweil, and a few other brands make some nice digital piano product but none of those companies have anything close to what the PX560 can do...and if you add a good pair of powered speakers (approx $300 or less) to the PX560, then it sounds even more amazing and impressive. I definitely enjoy playing other brands and models of portable digital pianos but in this price range I am pretty sold on all that the PX560 can do for me...which is a lot especially in this price range. Do yourself a favor, before you make any buying decision at all, please contact me and I can give you some personal advice.

Below is a very good video demo of the PX560 from a well known digital piano adviser and musician from the UK who does a nice job in playing and presenting this instrument. Let me know what you think about it 👍



If you want If you want more piano info and LOWER PRICES than internet or store discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864

🎹 UPDATED REVIEW - November 25, 2019 - Casio PX-S1000 - Recommended - "Best bang for the buck under $600." The new Casio PXS1000 portable digital piano ($599 internet discount price) is a new model in a new series of digital pianos for the Casio company. Casio of Japan has been designing and producing digital pianos and keyboards for decades and has always been known for offering a lot of "bang for the buck" in the lower price ranges near or under $1000. So it comes as no surprise to me that Casio has "upped their game" with this new series (PXS1000, PXS3000) in a way that no other digital piano company has done before them. In fact, Casio has designed new innovations into the PX-S1000 that are pretty amazing given the low discount price of this model in the US. The PXS1000 is also available in both gloss top white with white cabinet and also gloss top black with black cabinet. In addition to that, Casio has a special edition "limited time" gloss top RED color that is very impressive which no other brand or model has. If you love the way this RED color looks, grab one quickly as they may be gone soon and not available for the holidays if Casio does not get anymore. The RED color is also the same price as the black or white colors which is surprising because typically "special edition" colors are more money in many cases. The PXS1000 also is the lowest priced digital pianos that Casio has which can be controlled by a proprietary app called Chordana Play for Piano that can be used on your iPad or Android. It's a really cool way to control a digital pianos with lots of features and the Casio PX1000 definitely has them.


Before I talk about some of the impressive features in this new piano, let me just say up front that before I tried this model and did a full evaluation of it, I really did not expect much change in this model from previous models of Casio portable digital pianos including their current model Privia PX160 ($499) and much older model PX350 which may still be available at a few places but being discontinued and selling out at $499, but for that price I would not recommend it anymore. I also did not think this new PXS1000 at $599 would be better in terms of offering a more natural piano playing experience than the current model portables from Yamaha, Casio, Roland, and Kawai at or near this price range. Even the popular low priced Casio PX770 ($699) furniture cabinet piano doesn't come close to the brand new PXS1000 in terms of piano playing authenticity for key action, piano sound, and pedaling sustain response in my opinion...and I don't say that lightly, but the advances Casio has made in this new series are very impressive.

When people are shopping for new digital pianos, besides the obvious differences in design and aesthetics (the looks) of a digital piano, it's mostly about what's "under the hood" that really counts in terms of the most realistic piano playing experience a person can get in a certain price range. It has to do with the piano sound technology, the key action realism as compared to a real acoustic piano, and the pedaling response as compared to a real acoustic piano. It also has to do with the internal speaker system of that digital piano and how well it can put out volume and sonic quality of sound. Getting all of those aspects to mix together in a way that "works well," particularly in a low price range under $1000 and especially near or at $500 price range is no easy task in the world of digital pianos...at least until now.

So what is it that makes this new Casio PXS1000 "special" as compared to all other new portable digital pianos out there under $1000? First of all, there are no buttons on the PXS1000 piano except for a flush mounted power button. Beyond that, there is just one large ergonomically attractive master volume knob to control the overall volume of the piano. The entire top control panel along with the power button and volume knob is made of a clean looking contemporary gloss black hard plastic that gives this model a very elegant appearance when you first look at it. But even more importantly, there are no other buttons, knobs, sliders, or any other mechanical access switches to clutter up the elegant look of the PXS1000. So when the piano is not powered on all you can really see is a black knob and a gloss black top...that's it, and because the power button is smaller and flush mounted within the control panel, you hardly notice it's there at all. This portable piano is as minimalistic as they come so then you have to ask the question..."where are all the sounds, functions, features of this model and does it really do anything?" The answer is...yes, it actually has buttons and it does a lot, but not in the way one might think.

The first thing you'll notice when the piano is powered on is that it "comes alive" with a simple and elegant display of 7 digitally lit bright white buttons that show up only when the piano in powered on and you cannot otherwise see them when the piano is off. These "touch sensor" buttons would be similar to any virtual button or app you have on your cell phone or tablet...when you press it you trigger that button or app to start working, like calling someone on your phone. The touch sensor buttons on the PX1000 are very responsive, easy to see and use, and indicate each time when you press one of those 7 buttons with a quick blink of the button...pretty smart. There is an acoustic piano touch button, electric piano touch button, song record button, song play button, metronome timing button, sound mode "stereo surround sound" button, and function button...that's it. You can even dim or minimize the lite-up buttons if you want to and select a timer to automatically turn off the piano so that it doesn't stay on for hours after you are through playing it.

Besides the operation and design of the PXS1000 being so unique is the fact that it is so compact, even by current standards. It measures 52" wide x 9" deep x 4" high and weighs just 24.7 lbs without the lightweight music rack that comes with it. Another very unique thing this model does in terms of its operation is that it can be powered not only by the power adapter that comes with the piano, but also by 6 AA batteries! Yes, you heard that right...batteries! It's hard to believe that an 88-key fully piano-weighted key action digital piano with all that this piano has to offer also allows you to go anywhere you want to without restriction. To the park (I've done it), to the beach, camping, in your backyard, out on safari, in the street, wherever you happen to be...because of this new battery powered feature. The speaker system is super powerful so there is no problem hearing the piano and it has a noticeably good quality sound going through its internal sound system even when on batteries...but I will talk about that in more detail a bit later in this review. When using batteries the piano can be powered up to 4 hours of continuous operation which is a very long time given what this piano is and the power it would normally require if it were any other brand. Since the PXS has an "auto-shutoff" for its battery power, if you don't play the piano for 6 minutes then the power will automatically shut off during battery power, although you can disable that auto shutoff if you like. All I can say is...how cool is that!

Another really cool new feature not previously available on any digital piano model in this price range under $1000 (especially at or near $599) is the inclusion of built-in Bluetooth audio wireless capability. Many of us have and use Bluetooth audio with our personal devices in that you can wirelessley transmit music or any other sound from your personal device (phone, tablet, etc) to an external set of stereo (or mono) speakers without needing any cables. This enhances your listening experience when viewing and/or listening to videos, music, etc. With the PXS1000 this Bluetooth feature is great for a number of reasons such as learning new songs from your digital music library going directly through the piano internal speaker system so you can play along with them whether using the internal speakers of the piano or using headphones in the piano. You can also just listen to your favorite music through the piano speaker system from your personal device so that the PXS1000 becomes your personal stereo sound system wherever you might take it. You can also use the exclusive stereo 3-D surround sound system (called "sound mode") which is built into the piano to enhance your listening pleasure with the music coming through the piano speakers....very impressive, although I will talk more about that a little later. The Bluetooth audio receiver setup is easy to activate in the piano so that it "pairs" quickly and reliably with your personal music/video playing device....I've done it so I know it works.

The final thing that sets this model apart from all previous portable Casio digital pianos as well as most of its competition is the new proprietary Casio Chordana app for tablets and mobile devices which allows you to control the various aspects and features of the PXS1000 from your color touch screen in your device. The larger the color touch screen in your device, the easier it will be in navigation the functions & features in the app. This makes the PXS1000 extremely intuitive and for the first time lets the user access functions that have been previously been very difficult to find using the conventional function button while touching a preset key by looking at a menu in the owners manual. This traditional method made it so that you really did not want to find or use those cool features because the interface was so confusing overall. But with this new easy-to-use app that Casio designed for these pianos, now even the most obscure feature that you may not have tried before is quickly accessible from your color touch screen on your tablet device when then makes it more likely you will use that function or feature and find out how cool it is and what you may have been missing out on before. Beyond that, some of the new PXS1000 sound and performance features are all brand new and not found in previous models, and they can impact your music in some very cool and useful ways. So I found it really great to be able to trigger these performance features so intuitively and easily from my iPad using the "Chordana Play for Piano" app. Whether you are selecting one of the 18 instrument tones in the piano, layering 2 of them, splitting 2 of them (bass & another sound), adding special reverb and ambiance effects to your sound, changing volumes on each sound, editing the piano sound to be even more realistic and natural, using the 3-D surround sound system in a customizable way, making and playing back a recording you've done, whatever you want to do you can do it from this new app.

The Casio Chordana app also does things that the PXS1000 cannot do without the app including providing a fun piano learning game experience using a dedicated portion of the app to activate a "MIDI Player" similar to the Synthesia game app for keyboards. You can import the built-in songs in the piano and play them through this MIDI game so that you can visually see "streaming colors" indicating what keys to press on the piano so that you can play along with the song. There are all kinds of functions & features in this game app to control the songs and how those songs will be playing along with the live interaction you can have with them.This is a very cool part of the Chordana app and definitely lots of fun for the whole family no matter what age or playing skill level you are. Beyond the "MIDI Player" song system, Casio also has created proprietary software within the app called "Audio Player." This player system allows you to import songs from your digital music library on your phone or tablet device (such as iTunes) so that you can play any of those songs through the piano using the Chordana app and then play along with those songs live on the piano and the piano being heard simultaneously through the piano speaker system. You can also wirelessly connect that song player in the Chordana app to the piano using the Bluetooth Audio feature so that you do not need any cables for connection....completely wireless. Apart from that very cool feature, you can take any song from your song library on your device and when running it through the Casio Chordana app you can then raise or lower the key (pitch) of the song along with being able to slow down or speed up the song...and you can do all of that quickly and easily from your tablet color touch screen without any degradation of that audio quality of the song when playing in a new key or different speed. In other words, if there is a vocal part in one of your favorite songs you are playing from your digital song library through the Chordana app, if you raise the pitch of the song, the vocal part is also raised just like that person is actually singing in that new key. If you slow down the song so that you can more easily play along with it while trying to learn it on the piano keys, the song is slowed down without any noticeable distortion or unwanted digital noise when you slow down or speed up the tempo...or change the key. You can also mute out the melody or accompaniment of that song, although that feature is only average and there is some noise and distortion doing that...but I was expecting this to happen so it wasn't a surprise to me. You can also apply the special DSP effects which is called 'sound mode' (reverb, echo, 3-D sound, etc) within the piano directly to the song playing back so you can enhance the natural sound that you might find in a recording studio using more sophisticated effects. Simple to use and definitely makes a big impact on the music. So for someone to say that the Casio Chordana app is "just an app" or that you probably wouldn't use (I have heard some people say this) is very short-sighted in my opinion. If you have a tablet (I use iPad in my studio) then you'll definitely want to use it in conjunction with the PXS1000 because it makes this new piano way more powerful (in very practical ways) than it already is. There are other very impressive things this app lets you do with the piano and I will talk about those things a bit later in this review.

OK...now that I have discussed the things I think are very unique with regard to this new Casio piano model, I want to move onto the #1 most important thing that piano teachers (like myself), piano players (like myself), and music students are most concerned about when shopping for a new digital piano...and that is the key action. It reality all the "bells & whistles" that a digital piano offers is meaningless at the end of the day as compared to how the piano responds and plays as a "piano." There are plenty of digital pianos out there with all kinds of "cool features" in a variety of price ranges, but when it comes to reproducing a pleasing piano playing experience, some of those digital pianos are good, some are average, and some are just bad...and I have done a number of reviews on the poor quality models and bad ones....and most of those pianos are the "off-brand names." The key action in the new PXS1000 is a new & improved design by Casio being currently offered in the new PXS models only and not any other model of Casio digital pianos. The key action is improved and upgraded in a number of ways that are noticeable to me including the key weight, responsiveness, overall balance between the keys going up and down the keyboard, and the quietness of the keys when being played. Of all the key actions out there for a portable digital piano under $1000 I can say, for the first time, that the PXS piano key action has the most realistic "feel" as compared to real good acoustic pianos I have played...not too heavy and not too light, although different people do have some different opinions when it comes to key actions and the weighted keys, but it just depends on your playing experience and which acoustic pianos you have played in the past.

I think that it is important to note that I have played literally thousands of acoustic upright & grand pianos in my long music career including Fazioli, Steinway, Bosendorfer, Kawai, Yamaha, Bechstein, Young Chang, Samick, Boston, Pearl River, Essex, Kimball, Story & Clark, and many more so I know how weighted keys feel and how they are supposed to move. The PXS1000 does have slightly shorter keys (the part of the key you cannot see that goes beyond the visible key and underneath the piano panel behind the key) than other digital pianos and therefore the key weight towards the very backs of the white keys and black keys is harder (firmer) and therefore the keys are a bit harder to press down when playing flats & sharps. You can know what key weight actually is because key weight is measurable in terms of down-weight & up-weight which is the amount of pressure measured in grams that it takes for a key to go down when it is pressed by a finger. Just so you know...the actual keys on digital piano don't have much weight to them at all. It's the extra weights placed inside the key (in acoustic type piano keys) or attached to the keys or within the key action (in digital pianos) that give the plastic and/or wooden keys their complete weight. The Casio PXS1000, like all the other portable and furniture digital pianos under $2000 are more like upright acoustic pianos in that digital pianos in that price range do have shorter keys which is true of regular acoustic upright pianos. Acoustic Grand pianos have longer keys (the part of the key you cannot see that goes under and behind the panel into the piano cabinet) and that is why professional piano players and advanced pianists always prefer to play on grand piano key actions because they can play their music better with more balance between the  backs and fronts of the keys in terms of key pressure and key stroke. However, key weight (the force or pressure it takes to press the key down) is measured on the top front of the key, top middle of the key, and top back of the key. For some of you out there these extra "details" about keys may not be of interest to you and that is fine. But for other people you may enjoy knowing about these details which I am happy to explain.

As a real example, the down-weight of middle C# key (black key measured in the middle of the key) I have personally measured key-weight movement on some Yamaha acoustic upright/console pianos where that key down-weight is about 60 grams of down-weight pressure. The down-weight pressure on the same key measured in the same place (middle of key) on the Casio PXS1000 is approx 65 grams. But if you take that same measurement on the popular Yamaha P515 portable digital piano ($1499 price) the down-weight measures approx 90 grams on that same black key in the same position...this is true of the white keys as well. The Yamaha digital piano key action is noticeably heavier in that key position not only against regular acoustic upright and grand pianos, but also as compared to Korg, Kawai, and Roland digital pianos with Roland needing more key pressure than Kawai, Korg, or Casio. On a real grand piano the amount of finger pressure needed to press down the key is even less than upright acoustic pianos. In other words, the keys are even lighter and take less effort to press down on grand pianos as opposed to upright pianos in the middle of the key and also towards the fronts of the keys. However when pressing the key downward towards the very backs of the keys on the new PXS models, the Casio keys are heavier/firmer and do take more finger pressure than the other brands. It's definitely a trade-off because the Casio key weight is much more realistic on the first 3/4 part of each of the (visible) 88 keys. But the back 1/4 of the visible key is heavier (requires more force) to push down than the other brands of digital pianos and heavier than the other models of Casio digital pianos as well. To get a more portable and slimmer size digital piano, Casio obviously had to compromise to produce that new reduced size in the PXS. But...given the fact that (overall) the 88-keys outplay the other brands of portable digital pianos under $1000 when it comes to key weight and movement...I think it's a reasonable compromise other than not having a slim cabinet and instead making each key a bit longer....which is what I would have personally preferred because that "slim design" is not the reason I would necessarily buy this model just to save an inch or two in depth...it's having the best piano playing experience I could get in this price range for a portable digital piano along with all those other cool features. The bottom line for this new key action is that although the PXS3000 has (overall) a very playable "feel" and the overall weight and movement of the keys is comfortable and responsive, if you are primarily a classical pianist and/or play lots of sharps and flats towards the very backs of the keys then this key action may not be as comfortable and responsive for you as you may need. I hope this all makes sense to you:)

Is this new Casio key action perfect and exactly like a real piano?..definitely not and no one should expect that in this price range. But the question really is, given that there are key action variations among different brands of portable digital pianos under $1000, which one has the most similarity to a good acoustic piano? With that question in mind, for me it would be this new PXS model. It's quite responsive having their new "High Definition" key senor electronics for good note repetition reaction, it's got good weight under the fingers (not too heavy and not too light as I just mentioned) and Casio has added a new proprietary key technology that allows each key to have a slightly different weight than the next one offering linear weighted keys which they have never had before. So the increase and decrease of the graduated weight of the keys as you go up and down the keyboard (Casio calls their new key-action "smart scaled") is something that no other digital piano manufacturer has right now. Beyond that, the synthetic ivory & ebony key-tops feel good under the fingers and the texture of those keys has been greatly improved over previous Casio models including the PX160, PX350, PX360, and other Casio portable digital pianos. Another thing I noticed about the key action is that it's quieter than previous models when the keys move up & down. This is a big deal, especially for Casio because many piano want or need the key action to be as quiet as possible while still moving up & down correctly with good "key travel." So based on my initial testing of this model and many subsequent tests I've done with this key action, I can say that although it is not "noiseless"when the keys move, it is definitely quieter than before and there is no thud, thumping, or knocking sounds when the keys are going down and there is reduced noise when the the keys come back up. In addition to that, when the keys come back up they don't bounce near as much as previous models which means they are steadier and and more refined. So the bottom line is this...the Casio PXS1000 has a more enjoyable and quieter key action than the other brands for portable pianos in this price range under $1000 including other Casio non-PXS models, Roland, Yamaha, and even Kawai...although I do like the Kawai key action in their portable ES110 digital piano ($699 internet discount price). All I can say is..."Casio, you did an amazing job creating this new key action," and although it's not perfect, for $599 it is outstanding in its class."

The piano sound authenticity is certainly the 2nd most important aspect of any piano and the PXS1000 has a brand new piano sound chip in it that no other portable or furniture cabinet Casio piano currently has had. This new sound piano sound chip has been improved in a number of ways over previous models and all other Casio portable digital pianos. First of all, their are 3 main acoustic piano tones in the PXS1000 with one being the concert sound, a brighter piano sound, and a mellow piano sound. There are also some other acoustic piano sounds but the 3 main ones are what most people will be using. The dynamic tonal range and organic nature of these 3 piano tones are very impressive and more expressive than ever before. From very soft to very loud and everywhere in-between, playing the piano sounds, especially the concert Grand sound is so dynamically rich in tone that it's hard to believe Casio could do that in a $600 portable digital piano. The nuanced tones at every pressure level when playing the keys are pretty spectacular and you can even hear the "virtual strings" resonate and vibrate in ways that $1500 digital pianos have a hard time doing and you can hear what are known as sympathetic overtones and hammer noises & resonances, just like the real thing...and with the Chordana app using its "acoustic simulator" features, you can control the amount of those organic vibrations & resonances you hear. So if the sound is a little bit "too much" for you in terms of all those organic tones that Casio has captured in their piano sound chip, you can easily reduce those organic elements or even increase them if you want more of it. The piano tone (overall) is very natural even when coming through it's own PXS1000 internal speakers and as with most all portable digital pianos with internal speakers, the bass response is usually a bit weak particularly considering the cabinet is so compact without much mass for the PXS1000. Perhaps that small size is a compelling reason why Casio created a new proprietary "3-D" surround sound technology within this model to give the sound a presence that I have not heard in any other portable digital piano under $1500. When you play the piano sound through the stereo speaker system in the PXS1000 you get a stereo sound that is pretty good and better than some other portable digital pianos. But when you switch on the 3-D stereo surround sound mode, your ears almost cannot believe what they are hearing. The piano sound comes to life in a way that none of the other brands can do (and I have heard and played them all) and it feels like the sound is all around you and coming from different positions near & through the PXS1000 piano. The 3-D surround sound mode also adds more volume and clarity to the piano sound and gives it expression in tone that you don't have when that mode is switched off, although there are times when you might not want to use this surround sound mode.

In addition to the 3-D surround sound, the PXS1000 has a mode for adding special effects to the sound, such as reverb. All digital pianos have a reverb effect so that is nothing new. However none of these other portable digital pianos under $1500 have a DSP reverb mode that takes a basic reverb/echo effect and brings it to another level that you would find in professional recording studios. Casio has recreated the actual environmental room effect of specific types buildings and/or places that a pro concert might be held at or a pro singer might be singing at such as an Opera Hall, Cathedral, Stadium, etc. That sound mode in the PXS1000 is called "hall simulator." When you activate the hall simulator system you then get professional sound environmental reverb effects recreating these different places I just mentioned and the result is a piano sound that really does become more alive because it makes piano sound become even less artificial and more organic. You can switch on the hall simulator effect and the 3-D surround sound effect at the same time and then when you play some piano on the keyboard you just want to say...WOW, that's really cool! I am not exaggerating about this because that's exactly how I felt when I tried it and no other previous Casio portable digital piano I have ever played (and I have played them all) has made me feel that way. Once you set up your Hall Simulator and 3D surround sound effects the way you want them through the app you can then toggle them off and on from the control panel of the piano with the touch of the "sound mode" digital sensor button so that you don't have to use the app all the time to get those effects, makes it easy. OK...if that was not enough, I connected the PXS1000 to some external powered monitors which are pretty good but not expensive...about $300 for a pair and they have a relatively small footprint. I just took a couple instrument cables coming from the separate audio outputs on the piano and plugged them into the monitors and placed them on the floor next to the PXS1000, and as soon as I did that and powered on the monitors, the PXS1000 became a big grand piano with all the frequency and bass response you could want out of a small portable digital piano. Actually it was pretty unbelievable hearing this instrument that way.

So...when it comes to the piano sound on this new model, don't get me wrong, it does not actually play like or sound exactly like a grand piano because after all, even though the piano sounds in the PXS1000 are very good digital recordings of grand pianos, those sounds are coming out of speakers and the key action that is triggering those piano sounds are not grand piano keys with all the natural organics of a real grand piano. But for the uninitiated and those people who have not had a lot of playing experience on a real top quality grand piano like I have (I've played literally thousands of grand pianos in my music career), you might be fooled into thinking the sound in this Casio PXS1000 actually is a grand piano...it's that good, especially when listening through a good pair of stereo headphones or connecting to some good monitor speakers. With Roland, for instance, I can easily tell their piano sound is more artificial and not as real...although nevertheless I still like it. Same holds true with Yamaha and a few other brands. You can only expect so much is this price range under $1000, but with this new PXS series, Casio has really done their homework and improved things in a way where they now have taken a big leap forward in piano playing realism.

At this point in my (lengthy) review, if you are still with me I want to talk about the pedals. All pianos have pedals and without them there would not be a piano. That's because the pedals, particularly the right damper/sustain pedal is so important for holding and sustaining the piano sound so that you can play your song with all the notes always producing a staccato sound where the note is heard and then quickly shuts off when you let go of the key. You definitely want notes to sustain their sound by holding down the damper/sustain pedal for a period of time depending on the notes and chords you are playing at any given moment in the song. damper pedaling is critical to the outcome and realism of any song you play on the piano. Other instruments like harpsichords, organs, etc do not have sustain pedals because the sound does not operate that way. On a real piano (upright or grand piano) one of the hallmarks of any piano sound in that piano is how well the damper pedal can sustain  and hold that tone and keep up the volume of that piano sound as it is sustain and then decaying away over time. In other words, you should be able to hold the sustain pedal down, play a key on the keyboard maybe in the middle of it, and that piano sound should hold on and sustain naturally for about 15-20 seconds (or even more depending on the piano) until you do not hear it any more, The bass notes have twice as long of sustain time and the high notes have less sustain time than in the middle of the keyboard. With digital pianos almost all of them have had problems with being able to sustain notes for longer periods of time like real pianos can. For the first time Casio now has a natural organic note sustain that is a long and as loud as a real acoustic piano and it also decays and fades out like a real piano. What this does for the piano is to offer the better intermediate or advanced player the ability to play music in a way that they can do on a real piano...and that's the point. Even the beginner sounds better because the longer, bolder piano sustain ability "fills in the holes" just by pressing and holding the sustain pedal. It's like adding thousands of new colors to your pallet, it all just comes out more beautifully...that's what great pedal sustain is able to do for the pianist. The more natural the piano sound, key action, and pedaling is on a digital piano, the more natural your music will sound and the more you will enjoy it...and that should be the goal.

One of the normal downsides of using a damper/sustain pedal on a Casio digital piano is that the pedal included with the PXS pianos are small, square, very lightweight plastic pedals that don't stay in one place and move around on the ground when you are using it. This pedal work OK and is  included free with this model, but it is not something I would recommend for any long term use. So the solution for that is to purchase a heavy duty full size, better weighted metal pedal for about $30-$40 and then the pedaling experience will be much nicer. However, that still only gives you one pedal, and since there are 3 pedals on a piano, Casio has designed and built a new proprietary tripe pedal unit that is portable and plugs directly into the PXS1000. This pedal system is called the SP34, and at $99 discount price, not only does it offer a much better pedaling experience, especially as you progress in your piano playing abilities, but it stays in place better on the floor and the sustain (right) pedal does something that the other Casio single pedals cannot do and that's being able to do "half-damper" pedaling. Half damper pedaling is when you press down on the right damper/sustain pedal and the further you press the pedal down the more sustain effect you will get. When the pedal is all the way down and you slowly release it then you can progressively less sustain effect. This is just like a real piano can do...and it's very natural and needed when playing at a bit more serious level. With the single sustain pedals, those pedals only offer on or off sustain and not progressive sustain. So is the Casio triple pedal system worth the $99?...I think it is but you may not need it right away especially if you are just starting out as a new piano student. The middle pedal on the triple pedal unit is the standard sostenuto function (most people do not use that pedal) and the left pedal is the soft pedal which is useful to soften any note(s) when pressing that pedal down which some piano players will use. Regardless, this is the first time Casio has offered a portable triple pedal unit instead of needing to have it built into a furniture pedal system connected to a furniture stand which is all that was available in previous Casio portable models. This means that you could take the PXS1000 with you somewhere outside where there is no power, set it up on a portable stand, connect the triple pedal unit (or a single pedal), and play the PXS1000 while powered with six AA batteries. Given the great sound of the PXS1000 coming through its own internal speaker system (I will talk specifically about the internal speakers a bit later) and the fact that the piano sound authenticity combined with a very playable piano style key action and responsive pedaling system is so good, you can have musical enjoyment wherever you are and sound like a pro doing it.

When it comes to instrument sounds, effects, functions, and features, the PXS1000 simple appearance is very deceptive. From the outside it looks like it does nothing when the power is off because as I have mentioned earlier, there are no function buttons other than a volume knob and a sleek flush mounted power button. So when you power up the keyboard then some functions appear on the smooth black surface and light up so you can see and activate them. But that appears to be very deceptive as well because by the looks of things from the piano control panel it seems as if there are only two instrument sounds showing, acoustic grand piano and electric piano, and that's it. However, under that "hood" there are actually 18 instrument sounds (17 + 1 string bass tone for split mode) which any one of the 17 instrument tones can be selected along with being able to layer/mix any of those sounds with another 17 sounds in a different menu, although both sets (menus) of sounds are the same. You can layer any one sound in the first menu with any one sound in the second menu such as concert piano with stereo strings or harpsichord with pipe organ, etc. You can also control the volume independently on both sounds which is very convenient and useful in balancing your layered sound. There is also a "split" function on the keyboard which allows for an automatic string bass tone on the left-hand split on a particular preset note and then any sound you choose for the right hand such as piano which is fun if you want to play a bit of Jazz bass/piano.. You can also select 2 sounds to be layered on the right hand along with a bass sound on the left-hand. The 17 sounds + 1 bass tone in this model are all quite good and noticeably improved over past Casio models including a variety of acoustic & electric pianos, orchestral strings, jazz, pop, and church organs, harpsichord and vibes.

Within the piano there are there approx 50 functions which are intuitively accessed by the Casio Chordana app and there are also approx 50 variations of those 50 functions to give you more control over how the sound comes out and also being able to more easily access features, songs, 2 track recording & playback (right-hand, left-hand), metronome, transpose,  5 levels of touch sensitivity control, music games, audio song file importing, and a host of other very cool things you can do with the PXS1000. So all of these things can help you make music in ways that not only lets you sound better on this model than any other portable digital piano out there under $1000 in my opinion, but you get to do musical things that just makes piano playing more fun, more enjoyable, and allows you to customize your piano and instrumental tones in ways other digital pianos just cannot do right now. My point is...don't be deceived by the simple design and looks when the piano is off or even when it is powered on. When you use the Casio Chordana app on your personal device, that app will open up a world of technology which can be used with this piano which anyone from 3 years old to 93 years old can easily learn to do. It's interesting that you can also access these other features directly from the piano itself using a function button and then looking in the owners manual to find the correct key out of all the 88 keys on the keyboard which will then trigger that function you want. But that way of getting to those features is definitely not intuitive and requires a lot of memorization and tends to be tedious to use. The end result is that people usually avoid using those extra features because it's not easy and intuitive to use when you have to rely on such an antiquated operating system like that one..It's really all about using helpful technology (which I am a big supporter of) to make your music playing experience as exciting and personal as it can be, and this is the first Casio portable digital piano that can do that through an app on the color touch screen of your personal device (phone, tablet, etc). Don't have a personal device, especially a tablet like an iPad or Android?...then I recommend you eventually get one if you are going to purchase the PXS1000...it's definitely worth it. It's still somewhat easy to trigger the 17 instrument sound from the piano control panel and keys without the need of an iPad/tablet as well as the recorder, metronome, and surround sound. But it's much easier and more intuitive to do it from a tablet color touch screen using the Casio Chordana app. There are a couple of other portable digital pianos that Casio produces which have been out for a year or two and they have a built-in 5" color touch screen in the center of the piano to allow users to much more easily navigate and use a variety of features in those models and that operating system works well. However the new proprietary electronics in the Casio PXS models along with the Chordana app is something the other Casio portable digital pianos don't have so it just depends on what you really want and what your musical goal is.

I think it's important to reiterate that the PXS series pianos as well as other brands of portable and cabinet digital pianos have a similar setup to the PXS1000 when wanting to use the additional built-in features such as changing transpose key, brightness, touch sensitivity control, and other functions. You have to look in the owners manual at a chart to see where those functions are located in piano by manually pressing a specific white or black key on the keyboard while holding down the function or sound mode button. It's a bit cryptic and not user friendly and it's this operating method which prevents a lot of people from using these extra features intuitively and efficiently, so the result of this is that most people tend to shy away from trying to use those features because it takes a lot of effort to do so. But then you miss out on all the very cool and useful things these extra functions can do like changing the touch sensitivity control of the keyboard to help you play better depending on how you strike the keys. Perhaps you would want to change the brilliance control of the PXS1000 so you can brighten up or mellow out the sound which customizes the piano tone to your ear as some people like an overall more mellow tone and others like a clearer, crisper, sharper tone. This is useful whether you are playing the piano sound, organ sound, or other instrument tones. The reverb and ambiance controls can make your music sound even more realistic and you can even control the depth or amount of that ambiance using internal controls. But all of that is likely going to stay unused or hidden within the piano because most people don't want to deal with memorizing which black or white key on the 88 keys triggers that function (see white chart above left pic) and there is no way to know unless you look in the owners manual each time to see where that feature is located in the chart and then trying to trigger that function by pressing the piano function button and the correct key. There is no indication on the keyboard itself where those functions are located. But as I previously mentioned, this type of operation is true for many other brands and models in this price range under $1000. That's why the Casio Chordana app is so important and so useful in allowing the user to finally have a very intuitive, fun, and efficient way of quickly accessing and trigger all these different types of features contained inside the PXS1000. It just makes the PXS1000 a very powerful musical tool so that your music can come out as pleasing to your fingers and ears as possible within the ability of the piano. I cannot overstate how important that app is to opening up what this piano can do.

However, if all you want is a simple portable digital piano that can instantly let you play piano just by powering up the instrument and playing, then the Casio PXS1000 can do that too. Simple and clean in design and operation, the PXS1000 will likely inspire you musically as soon as you start playing it. I also like the fact that this model has lots of great connectivity inside of it which includes 2 full size 1/4" audio outputs to plug into an external audio system for use in home, in studio, at church,  or wherever you may need to connect with external speakers to get a bigger, bolder, more powerful sound, a 1/8" stereo audio input, a USB output to computer, tablet, etc, a proprietary triple pedal output to connect the optional triple pedal unit, 1 sustain pedal output jack, and two 1/8' stereo headphone jacks located on the right front side of the piano for easy access to wearing headphones for private practice. I want to point out that the PXS1000 is the only digital piano of any brand I know of in this price range that offers a stereo audio input jack which is useful when wanting to use the PXS1000 internal speaker system to hear an external device like a computer, audio player, or other audio device. Bluetooth audio connectivity in this model is always nice to have as I mentioned earlier, but an audio input jack has specific uses that Bluetooth cannot do and there are a lot of external audio devices that don't have Bluetooth wireless or if they do then it may not practical to use depending on the application. So having a stereo audio input jack for wired stereo connectivity is very cool and I did not expect Casio to include it in this new model.

Speaking of the piano internal stereo speaker system, Casio has redesigned their previous internal speaker system they used in previous models and the PXS is the first new models to incorporate this new system in a portable digital piano. The speakers themselves are larger measuring over 6" at its largest point which is about 1.5" larger than in previous models, so they put out a bigger, fuller sound than before because of the expansion of the speaker surface area as well as better components. The 8 watt x 8 watt (total 16 watts) stereo amplifiers have been redesigned to offer a cleaner sound with less distortion and although 16 total watts seems like a small amount of power, you will be surprised at actually how much volume can come out of this piano...it's a lot!. The speaker ports in the PXS1000 disperse the sound in a new way with sound coming out of the front and sound coming out of the back for better all around sound projection. The back speaker grills which are finished off in a black color are also flush mounted and somewhat disappear into the back of the piano to give the back a sleeker appearance. When you add it all up the new internal stereo sound system is a bonus feature also not expected in this new model. The internal sound system is even more impressive when you are using the special surround sound technology when playing the piano because that technology coupled with the new improved speaker system definitely makes the piano sound "come alive" with more bass, more volume, and more clarity (and with less distortion at higher volumes) than ever before, and previous and current Casio digital pianos (and some other brands) just cannot do that. It's important to note that the new "surround sound" feature does not apply to sound coming through headphones or to the sound coming through external speakers. Only through the internal piano speaker system will the surround sound mode work. With regard to the "bass frequencies" and bass power, if you are looking for that grand piano type bass response, you will still not get that with the PXS models. As I talked about earlier, you would still need to connect to a good sub woofer or some good stereo monitors from the piano audio outputs for that to happen. But if you do that (and it does not cost much to do it) then you'll get a big full bass response which will likely make you believe you are actually playing a real full size baby grand piano...I've done it so I know it really works that way.

The PXS series is normally available in both black or white cabinet finishes and come with a matching music rack that will support your sheet music or books. COLOR UPDATE: Casio has just come out with a "limited edition" gloss RED color (see pics above, below) that I have seen in person and it is very impressive. In fact this color is only available on this model and no other model in the Casio digital piano line or any other brand or models. So if you think this "limited edition" RED color would be perfect for your needs or someone else in your family I recommend you order one right away before they are all sold out because Casio may not be getting anymore. The top control panel is gloss color and the cabinet color is all red. However if you wanted a Casio furniture type stand then those items are only available in the standard black or white but it's definitely a nice contrast with the red piano color. The PXS1000 comes with the single plastic sustain pedal and power adapter and Casio makes a nice looking furniture type stand called the CS68 which sells for $130 discount price on-line. The stand is nice looking, supports the piano so the piano can screw down to the stand, and with the optional triple pedal selling for about $100, you would then have a complete home setup. You can also just purchase a lightweight portable x-style adjustable stand on-line for about $30-$40 which can be a  more practical way of supporting the piano depending on your needs and budget. Overall, no matter what accessories you might be purchasing for the piano or how you will be using this instrument, you'll likely be very happy with the purchase. There certainly are other Casio portable digital pianos out there including the PX160 or any CDP models, but because they don't come close to the PXS1000 for what it does. The PXS1000 does com with a Casio full 3-year factory warranty covering both parts and labor, so it's well protected. Casio also makes custom gig bag for this model which fits it perfectly and is very robust and nicely padded as compared to past Casio gig bags for other portable digital pianos. There are a couple nice sized pockets on the gig bag, a comfortable handle, sturdy full length zipper, and a couple of full length straps attached to the bag. The bag itself is not heavy but it seems to be constructed very well and the piano sits securely inside without wiggle room, and that is a very good thing. $130 may seem like a lot to pay for a "gig bag," but I believe you will be hard pressed to find a generic one out there that actually fits this "slim-line" model correctly while being robust. I think this gig bag is definitely worth the price and if you are going to travel with the piano at all, then I recommend you invest in this new gig bag to protect it. I also recommend that you eventually upgrade (sooner or later) to the better metal full length sustain pedal or triple pedal unit to get a more stable and better manageable pedal playing experience, which is no as important for first time beginner students but it will be necessary as you develop your piano playing skills.

Casio PXS3000 Digital Piano

There is another new 2019 portable digital piano under $1000 that I would recommend beyond the PXS1000 and that's its MORE POWERFUL Brother called the PXS3000 at $799 discount price (above picture). For just $200 more the PXS3000 is light years ahead of the PXS1000 in terms of what it can do. In fact, the new PXS3000 is so powerful in its music and piano technology that in my opinion it should be selling for $999 (or more) especially considering what else is out there in self contained (with built-in speakers) portable digital pianos. So it would be my recommendation that if you can go up in your budget just $200 then you should get the PXS3000 instead because it's so much more musically enjoyable and can help you produce a lot more music in a number of different ways that the PXS1000 just cannot do. The nice thing about the PX3000 is that it has the same piano sound chip, the same key action, the same pedaling response, the same Bluetooth connectivity, the same cabinet design and appearance except for a couple of additional controller knobs and a pitch bend wheel located on the very left end portion of cabinet, and the same Casio Chordana app (but with 100's more fun, educational, and useful features and functions). So all of the essentials of the PXS1000 are there in the PXS3000, which is very good. But when you see and hear what the PXS3000 can really do, then I think a majority (but not all) of the digital piano shoppers out there would probably extend their budget to get the PXS3000 instead...because it's just not that much more money for what you would be getting. But as far as the PXS1000 goes, if what you have learned about it here seems like it may be enough for you and you just cannot stretch your budget any further, then even though I definitely like the Casio PX3000 and a few of the other portable digital pianos out there that are under $700 like the Yamaha, Roland, and Kawai models, this new PXS1000 piano is going to be hard to beat at its $599 discount price, so I definitely recommend it. Please click on the following link to read my recent review of the new Casio PXS3000: PXS3000 Review

If you want more info on new digital pianos and LOWER PRICES than internet discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.

UPDATED REPORT: November 20, 2019 - Seniors Playing Music on a Digital Piano makes for important WELLNESS ACTIVITY in Body, Mind, and Soul! Senior Adultsare an important and vital part of American society as well as other societies & cultures around the world, and seniors need relaxing and uplifting hobbies to help give them a longer and better life. My parents are seniors as are some of my other relatives and friends, and depending on who you ask a senior can be nearly any age once you're over 50...especially if you ask a young person:) Seniors deserve a happy life because after all, they probably worked hard to get there and helped to support their family and themselves in the process. When retirement finally hits and you're no longer working full time or at all, playing music can be one of the most rewarding past times you can be involved with. No matter who you are or where in the world you live, playing any kind of a musical instrument is very good for you and if you can do it on a digital piano, it's even better!

In the old days many years ago, I used to play organs (pictured left) such as Lowrey, Roland, Yamaha, Kimball, Hammond, etc, and those instruments were very popular with people of all age groups both young and old. That was a time when nearly every big Mall in America had at least one organ store with someone playing out in front. I loved playing songs on those organs and in fact performed for large groups of people including senior retirement centers which we have plenty of in my home state of Arizona. I got pretty good at playing those complex electric/digital organs like the one one pictured on the left and I can still play them to this day. Pianos (digital & acoustic) along pro keyboards & guitars are my instruments of choice now and I have become an expert on them not only in my playing skills but also my understanding of the intricacies and complexities of digital pianos both old and new. The digital organ is in a decline nationally and has been for a number of years and are typically purchased now by older seniors in retirement areas like Arizona, Florida, etc.

Older seniors citizens typically do like various styles of organ music such as jazz, blues, Latin, swing, big band, Broadway, rock, country, boogie, etc because many of them they grew up with it, especially seniors who are in their later 70's, 80's, and 90's. It is well known that playing music makes a person feel better, for both the player & listener. This is because actively playing music stimulates the brain in so many positive ways and helps keep an "older person" feeling young and living longer (that's a good thing). By the way, I think that being old is mostly all in the mind as long as your body and brain continues to function well. I believe very strongly that you are as young as you feel and think. So with that in "mind," it is important to take care of yourself. Eat right, exercise frequently, and PLAY MUSIC. I am a music teacher & musician(piano, keyboard, organ, guitar) and can tell you by experience that seniors who play music normally stay mentally younger and are more alert. It's funny for me to think that even surviving "younger" musicians from bands like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, and other popular bands of the 60's are all seniors themselves as are so many other popular musicians worldwide. Many younger seniors these days still listen to the music of their youth which includes the music of the 60's and 70's such as the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Chicago, Earth, Wind, & Fire, Elton John, Glen Campbell, Billy Joel, along with classical music, etc, so wanting to play this kind of music comes naturally for many people...as long as you are willing to try. If you don't play piano now...YOU REALLY CAN DO IT. You just have to like music, want to express yourself in a positive way, and are willing to work at it using the available digital piano technology that can make it all of happen!

I have a good friend by the name of Bobby Freeman (pictured left) who happens to be the organist for the Arizona Diamondbacks professional baseball team. He has played at the games for many years and is a great musician and entertainer. Bobby plays keyboards, piano, and other instruments and enjoys music very much. I've worked with Bobby for a number of years and he especially enjoys entertaining kids & seniors, playing at various music events and concerts throughout the greater Phoenix, AZ USA area. If you asked Bobby about seniors playing music, he would agree with me 100% in what I'm saying here...that seniors who play good music, make good music, sing good music, and think good music are more apt to be more productive and more grounded as they age and will have something (playing music) that offers the ability to express yourself in ways like nothing else can.

*By the way, there has been in-depth studies done of seniors "playing music"and the results of the study suggest that "making music may significantly improve an older person's quality of life and feelings of well-being. On top of that, making music helps them relax, feel better and deal positively with stress. It also may help the immune system in its fight against disease which in turn may help you live longer!"

These days an "older person" who wants to get into playing music on a keyboard type instrument and is at a beginner level, can purchase either an organ, acoustic piano, digital piano, or small keyboard. My recommendation is the purchase of a full size digital piano and there are many reasons for this recommendation. Generally speaking, new organs are a bit too expensive for what they do although they are still great fun to play. Even though I enjoy playing an organ (with some of the newer electronic features), I prefer a new digital piano because I really like the beauty of the piano sound and digital pianos are significantly less money than acoustic pianos or organs but can sound like an organ if necessary along with having all the "bells & whistles" of other instrument sounds, recording features, and educational features. A digital piano also has a key touch which has more weight (is a bit heavier) than an organ key touch which helps improve finger dexterity, motion, and strength. The digital piano key movement is also "touch sensitive" so the note gets louder or softer depending on how hard you push down on the key as opposed to an organ with no"touch sensitivity." And finally, a digital piano has just one keyboard as opposed to two in an organ which in my opinion makes a piano easier to play. 

Kawai CP2 ensemble digital piano

Playing and learning guitar or other non-piano instruments at any age is fine, but it takes more work and finger conditioning and you generally can't play melody and chords together as you can on a keyboard instrument.  Playing a smaller inexpensive keyboard is fun too, but in my opinion that playing experience isn't nearly as rewarding because of the difference in tone and touch between a good digital piano & lightweight keyboard. A regular acoustic piano (especially a Grand) is very satisfying to play as well, and I have a couple of those in my studio and enjoy them very much. But for the 'average senior,' a high quality full featured digital piano with resonate tone and responsive key action has so many advantages that there is little reason to buy anything else except for a good digital piano. Some of the reasons include the digital piano never going out of tune, being able to turn down the volume so you can play quietly, having headphone inputs for total private practice anytime of the day or night, and offering professionally arranged instrument setups along with General MIDI song files that play music along with your piano playing which make a beginner sound like a pro within weeks.

I believe that seniors who play music at skill level are generally happier and healthier people in body, mind, and soul, and that has always been my personal experience. Playing music WILL relieve stress, WILL make you feel better, WILL stimulate your mind, your eyes, and your ears, and WILL give a person a sense of "WELL BEING" that is unlike most anything else as I mentioned earlier. The instrument is in your home, always accessible any time, and will be around probably for more years than we will be. The fact is YOU CAN PLAY even if you're a senior with little or no piano playing experience. With the right piano teacher, learning curriculum (including self teaching on iPad or laptop educational program), & the right instrument, you CAN achieve your musical goals because I see it happen all the time. You just have to get started and DO IT. It is NOT rocket science and there are even short-cuts you can take to make satisfying music in less time than you think.

As far as getting started on the "right digital piano," in the higher price range from about $2000 - $5000the Kawai ES8 is a very good example along with the Yamaha digital pianos such as the CLP645, Korg C1 Air, Casio AP650, and others. In the lower price range under $1000 I recommend the Casio PX780 left pic $899US internet price), Kawai ES110, and a few others.The Casio PX780 instrument has many of the things that seniors need which includes lots of fun educational features & sounds, realistic piano tone & touch, and all in a lower price range. I have reviewed this model here on my blog so if you want to know more, please take a look: Casio PX780 review.  There really are quite a few good brands and models of new digital pianos out there in various price ranges which could be very satisfying to play so just ask me about them and I'll give you some personal advice.

Piano Maestro for iPad

It is interesting to note that using an iPad with a digital piano can help your understanding and relating to music be even more fun and more intuitive. There are great apps available for piano learning and some are free and others are a very low cost. If you have an iPad it is easy to connect to digital pianos with the proper iPad and piano connectivity. If you do not own an iPad and are considering getting a digital piano, I would highly recommend the iPad interactive music experience with the piano. I use iPad piano apps in my studio for teaching and learning and if you want more info about that, just let me know. With all of this impressive music technology that is available to seniors, there is almost no reason why anyone who loves music cannot learn to play songs on these new digital pianos and sound good doing it. If you are a senior adult over the age of 50, don't wait for tomorrow to make your musical dream come true because no one really knows if they have a "tomorrow." Even if you are older and don't feel so good and cannot get around much anymore, you can still play piano and be able to express yourself and go any place you want to go...in your own imagination, in your thoughts, in the memories of your mind of friends and family...all when you play music! It is NEVER too late so get involved so do it while you can and you'll be very glad you did!

*Check out these fun music videos below to see seniors involved in some great piano music!




For more info on the subject of seniors playing piano or if you want to purchase one of these recommended pianos (or other brands and models) at lower than internet or store prices, please contact me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call direct at 602-571-1864.