The Casio PX-400R is an 88-key digital piano with some bells and whistles.

The only thing that pangs my conscience for buying this keyboard is that I purchased it at Guitar Center instead of with my friend Dan O'Neil from here at the forum at keyboardcity.net. Guitar Center had an open box special that made this impossible to pass up.

The keyboard has to weigh 40 lbs. The display is pretty basic and decent.

The key feel for this keyboard is fantastic. I used to own a Fatar SL-880 Pro (a higher model than the SL-990 when I bought it). The Fatar an 88-key weighted key midi controller. I found that I couldn't get very soft notes with the Fatar. If I pushed to soft, I wouldn't get anything. This Casio really feels like a good piano, and you can get pianisimo and fortisimo.

The Stereo Grand Piano sample on the Casio is very, very good. Between the key feel and the piano sound, you can really get your piano playing jollies with this keyboard. I would say it is superior to the PSR3000's Live! piano. The PSR3000's Live! Piano is a little too bright for me, and the top octave does not sound realistic. One problem I have with the Stereo Grand sample is that the certain timbers of the notes do not reverberate enough with the damper pedal. It is a little too much of a mellow piano for it to be just perfect for me.

When I had my Fatar, I would play with a 1 gig Steinway C piano on my computer. This sounded much more expressive than this Casio, but then again, I don't have to hear the whirl of my hard drive with the Casio.

So I give the keybed an A+, especially for the price. I give the stereo piano sample, an A for the price, but an A- overall.

There are no other great voices on this keyboard. The other voices are passable for listening to a midi. None of the other voices are sampled in stereo, and you can tell the difference between the Cool! Electric Pianos and Organs on the PSR3000 and the voices on this Casio.

The Strings and Slow Strings sound very good when layered with the piano.

Here are some severe limitations with this keyboard. You get three Hall reverbs and three Room reverbs with the PX-400R. You can not tweak any parameters whatsoever. None of the reverbs are very strong. You cannot get that concert hall sound, at least through the speakers. Of course, you could go through an outboard sound system that has whatever reverb you want. There are 6 choruses, and similarly, they cannot be tweaked.

So to get a little more of an ethereal sound, I found myself wanting to layer the piano with some strings. Here is another big limitation of the Casio: The layer balance goes from -24 to +24 - not -63 to +63. You cannot turn the layer down to zero volume nor as much as I would like. You cannot get just a tinge of strings. Even at its lowest volume, the string layer sounds pretty prominent - a bit too prominent for my taste.

The arranger features on the PX-400R are more of a toy. One intro, two variations, one fill, and one ending per style. Suitable for practice, but you won't be using it to record songs.

The speakers are pretty nice sounding, even though they don't go that loud.

At Guitar Center, they had the Casio PX-300 right next to the PX-400. The PX-300 has the about the same key feel, but either the speakers are much worse or the piano sample is inferior, but there is no comparison in the grand piano sound. The PX-100 was there too, and the keybed is not as good as either of the higher models.

It looks like the midi features are there to use this keyboard as a controller. There are registration settings so that you can easily switch between a controller function and having your favorite tones ready.

I think I covered the salient characteristics of the keyboard. I'm really excited to get that feeling again that I am playing the piano. The PX-400R excels in that area - and no other. But that is enough to make it worth the price.

Beakybird

Beakybird,
Just like to add the the PX400 was replaced about 2 weeks ago with the PX-555R. It is the same except for the color. It is now silver instead of a more bronze color. Price for this keyboard at my store is $799.00 with the piano type stand.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Beakybird, I have a PX400-R you've described the instrument very well, nice job with your review!

I have done some experimenting with using this as a controller for my Clavinova,it was easy to configure and I only started playing around with midi connections a couple of weeks ago. There's a lot I don't know concerning midi and have a lot to learn

That brings me to this question and I may add it may be very naive of me even asking it. If I use an 88 key controller for a PSR 3000 and I play keys above and below what's on the 3k on the controller keyboard will I get any sound?

Yes you will. I use a Roland 76 key A-37 midi controller keyboard on my KN7000 and PSR3000 for that very purpose, to get more keys. Having said that I realise that I am making an assumption that it would be OK for 88 keys!. Perhaps somebody else can be more definitive.
Keith

Thanks Keith 76 keys works for me and if it will handle 88 that's a bonus.

After 24 more hours, I'm still very happy with the key feel on this thing. But I'm frustrated with the dry sound of the Stereo piano. The PSR3000's Live! GrandPiano and WarmGrand are too wet for me. The PX-400R sounds realistic, but kind of dull. The PSR3000 sounds too bright, you don't get any feeling of wood vibrating. Oh well. Maybe I'm frustrated with my piano playing skills which have suffered these last few years.

Incidentally, you only get to choose between two Hall reverbs and two Room reverbs, not three. Another limitation is there is no setting for tone or eq.

I think I'll be pretty happy with this thing. I really wanted a one piece unit that I didn't have to hook up to a computer - my wife wouldn't stand for that in the living room. I know I could get a much better piano sound through a computer.

In a couple of years, I'll look around again in the hopes that they will be putting multi-gig sized piano samples inside these stand alone units.

Beakybird