REVIEW - Casio PX780 Digital Piano - A BEST BUY

Casio PX780

UPDATED REVIEW - May 20, 2017 -RECOMMENDED - Casio PX780 Privia cabinet Digital Piano - A BEST BUY - This piano continues to be a big hit for the Casio company since it came out and I don't often see a digital piano that offers so many higher quality features under $1000, but the Casio PX780 ($899US internet discount price) certainly qualifies as one of those pianos. It has a fairly realistic graded hammer style piano key action that feels great in its price range, nice clear acoustic piano sound quality, and a large compliment of useful educational and fun features all together in a nice compact furniture style cabinet with sliding key cover. There are many great piano brands which produce some fine digital pianos in a variety of price ranges including Yamaha, Kawai, Roland, Casio, Kurzweil, Korg, Samick, and others. Normally, furniture cabinet digital pianos with lots of useful features that play & sound good don't come "cheap" and are typically closer to $2000 on up before you get these better pianos. However, based on all my experience, most American families want a new digital piano that will last them well into the future for around $1000US or less, so the Casio PX780 is a great choice in its price range.

Yamaha YDPV240

Of the major brands, Casio is the only company with a furniture cabinet style digital piano in this lower price range that offers what it does and is available on the internet for purchase. You would have to go up to the Yamaha YDPV240 digital piano to get something that would get closer to the Casio PX780 and that Yamaha piano really doesn't come close in a number of ways with regard to functions, sound, and key action. It does have a nice looking cabinet and overall sounds good, but the Yamaha YDP240 has a discount selling price of $1999 in piano stores and on-line which is more than double the price of the Casio PX780. Although Yamaha makes some outstanding instruments (and I personally own some Yamaha product), in my opinion this Yamaha cabinet piano is vastly overpriced for what it does and the Casio is seriously under-priced for what it does in comparison. I am not advocating that Casio is the best digital piano company out there because there are other good brands such as Kawai, Yamaha, & Roland who make even better digital pianos in much higher price ranges. However, in the lower price range for under $1000, the PX780 piano is pretty amazing and its price is affordable for most families.

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. That is why Casio tends to have lower prices. Some people equate lower prices with lower quality but in my opinion these new Casio digital pianos are quite impressive. Beyond that, Casio has a new 3-year parts & labor warranty (with on-line registration) which shows they are serious about giving consumers product protection and have confidence in their new pianos. Many warranties on digital pianos under $1000 have no more more than 1-year labor or maybe 2 at the most, so 3 years is outstanding in my opinion.

The following list of features are just some of the things this piano has and can do:

• Realistic key action with new & improved graduated weighted hammer style movement. (feels more like an  acoustic piano)
• 3-sensor (Casio calls it Tri-Sensor) dynamic response key action (above left pic) for more piano sound range and expression (Yamaha does not have this on their Arius series under $2000 although they do have it on their Clavinova series over $2000). 3-key sensors per key make a big difference in "musical color" of sound and your ability to express your music. If you want further info on this, please ask me.
• A fairly quiet key-bed with little noise as the keys are pressed down as compared to other brands in the same price range.
•  New synthetic textured Ivory & Ebony key tops for smooth finger movement.
• 128-note polyphony with piano resonance & longer piano sustain decay times to produce noticeably more realistic piano sound along with enough polyphony for sound layering and using accompaniment & MIDI recording features.
• Big piano sound through a 4-speaker 40 watt (total) stereo sound system.
• 3-pedal soft/sostenuto/sustain pedal system with "half pedal" sustain function for proper pedaling response.
• USB class compliant core MIDI high speed direct connection to iPad or laptop computer to utilize some outstanding piano education & notation apps now available for tablets.
• 360 drum rhythm patterns for timing and rhythm training (most digital pianos under $2500 offer 0 up to100 rhythm patterns depending on model).
• 250 nice instruments for use with song creation, arranging, composing, and playing just for fun (most digital pianos under $2000 offer approx 10-25 instrument.
• wav file audio recording so you can make live recordings of your playing (useful in converting to MP3 files for MP3 players or to attach to emails for sending to friends and relatives).
• Plugging a microphone into the piano to record live vocals while you're singing & playing at the same time or separately and then saving it all to a USB flashdrive in a .wav audio file!
  
• General MIDI 16-track instrument playback for use with Alfred, Faber, and other piano teaching methods. For important info about General MIDI lesson song accompaniments & lesson practice, I recommend you go to the following link: General MIDI & digital pianos
• General MIDI 16-track instrument recording for song creation, arranging, composing, etc. up to 16 instruments played back simultaneously
• Arranger style chord system with 360 music styles for full accompaniment on your left hand. This allows for integration of a live band or orchestral backup while playing "chord style" using a variety of music accompaniments in the piano including Jazz, Classical, Latin, Country, Rock, Oldies, Waltz, Big Band, Blues, Folk, Contemporary, World Music from other countries, and many other music genres. This feature helps with allowing you to integrate rhythmic music styles into your playing to make your playing music even more enjoyable.
• LCD user display screen directly in front of you for easy to read control panel information.
• 86 "Jam Session" chord progression loops for learning song improv. This unique feature allows the player to learn how to "jam and improvise" with built in chord progressions with 86 recognizable "song loops" that make learning to play "by ear" fun and enjoyable. Ear training is a great way to play piano and helps with understanding music.
• Layering & splitting any two sounds anywhere on the keyboard.
• Duet "4-hand play" for two people playing on the piano simultaneously.
• Grand piano "stretch tuning" function to give a more realistic grand piano sound based on the way piano tuners tune grand pianos.
• Transpose and modulate to any key up & down half-steps while playing the piano.
• Variable reverb, brightness, key sensitivity, octave shift, song & accompaniment volume.
• Panel control button lock to protect your settings for inadvertent button pressing along with auto power shut off function.
• Connectivity: Stereo 1/4" audio outputs, stereo audio inputs to run your iPad or computer volume back through the piano, MIDI in & out ports to connect with MIDI sound modules, other keyboards, and other MIDI devices, Dual 1/4" headphone jacks.
• Console type furniture cabinet with full control button panel and sliding key cover for panel and keyboard protection

Casio PX780 w/closed key cover

Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, Kurzweil, and other brands  have some fine pianos as I've mentioned earlier, but for the internet selling price of $899, it hard to argue with the Casio PX780. I will say that one of the advantages of some of the more expensive pianos near or over $3000 is their more powerful internal speaker-audio systems and nicer furniture cabinets. But for many families the PX780 speaker system and compact furniture cabinet is a perfect choice in a price range like this and compared to some of the other brands, it actually offers more in terms of sound output and functional cabinetry. The piano can fit in smaller spaces, has a protective key cover, and is fairly lightweight. I have seen some more attractive pianos in or near this price range in terms of cabinet design and color offerings, but once you get "under the hood," then the piano key action, sound, and pedaling can be a big disappointment. So don't be fooled by the outside of the piano as to what you think the inside might be like. You need to judge those things independently of each other so that you get the most for your money in terms of a good musical instrument.

The PX780 has built in stereo audio outputs and inputs (left pic and also showing USB device in & computer out) so you can easily connect a small external speaker system to the PX780 for a fuller sound than many of the digital pianos that sell for well over $3000. In fact I have personally done this and the results are amazing. It sounds as if you are playing a big piano when you connect a good external speaker system to the PX780. If you use a good pair of headphones for private practice, then the sound is equally as good that way and it stays right in your head without anybody else hearing it...which depending on how you play, may be a good thing:) So when you boil it all down and look at what the Casio PX780 has to offer as compared to other pianos for the same price on up to over twice its price, this new Casio piano is definitely offers a lot of bang for the buck. By the way, if you choose not to use all the extra on-board features and if you just play the piano sound by itself, you have a selection of 10 different acoustic piano sounds and can play any kind of music with them such as classical, jazz, rock, church, etc. So just playing traditional piano on the PX780 is quite enjoyable and if that's all it did it would still be a great buy compared to other brands & models in this price range based on my experience with it. It's my belief that just because a digital piano has many built-n features and buttons on the piano does not mean the piano cannot stand on its own as an instrument for people who mainly want to play piano. In its price range it really does a good job in that way and then perhaps later you can use some of the extra features that can make your music even more enjoyable than it already is.

PX780 control panel w/LCD screen

As far as any drawbacks or downsides to the PX780, the only ones I can see is the cabinet itself in that some people may want a cabinet that looks even more like a piano such as the new Casio PX860 ($999US internet price), the Casio AP460 ($1499US internet price) or other brands in a higher price range (as I mentioned earlier). Also, the PX780 does not normally come with a bench like some other piano brands do. However, good piano benches are relatively inexpensive and easily purchased on the internet or at local stores and I can give you recommendations on those benches too. As the old saying goes, you don't get something for nothing, but for $899US internet discount price, it's hard to complain, and the cabinet itself is fairly sturdy and stable for most floor situations and actually looks pretty good in its price range. It competes extremely well with the higher priced Roland F140R ($1199US internet price), Roland RP501R ($1499US internet price), Yamaha YDP143 ($1099US internet price), and Yamaha YDP163 ($1499US internet price).

Casio PX780

Whether you and/or family members are taking piano lessons, just playing recreationally, or you play at a higher skill level, I believe you will enjoy the Casio PX780 digital piano very much. I do recommend you research other brands & models in a variety of price ranges (I have many reviews on this blog which can be helpful) before you make your final buying decision because making music is what it's all about along with having fun doing it:)...there are few things better than that! For me personally, playing piano is my "relaxation therapy" and a way for me to express myself that is very satisfying. So make sure you give yourself, your spouse, and/or your children the opportunity to have that same experience, you'll be very glad you did. Do your research and homework and be sure you contact me before you purchase anything anywhere and I can give you some helpful advice:)

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