I would like to add a few quotes and observations about the sound and fell of the PX330.
Keyboard Magazine gave the 330 a marvelous review this month and I agree with their conclusions.
First, regarding the built in 8watt speakers. I have the PX130 only playing through it's own speakers and I have the PX330 going through a pair of powered Roland near field monitors. There is no comparison that the piano voice shines through the more powerful quallity monitors. Here is what Keyboard Magazine's Richard Leiter writes:
"What's going to make Privia a household name is that it sounds and feels like a grand piano. In fact, you don't really hear how strong the main piano sound is until you run it through something bigger than the built-in speakers. Don't get me wrong- they're terrific, but 8 watts is still only 8 watts. Within 20 minutes of getting the PX-330 into my studio, I'd played it through my Tannoy and T)A speakers,plus the Barbetta and Gallien-Krueger amps I use on gigs, and I can confidently assert that the piano sound rivals many digital stage pianos regardless of weight or price. IN FACT, IT MAY WORK AGAINST CASIO THAT THEIR PRODUCT IS SO LIGHT AND AFFORDABLE, BECAUSE SOME CUSTOMERS EXPECT "PRO" KEYBOARDS TO COST AND WEIGH MORE------BUT HAVING READ THIS REVIEW, YOU'LL KNOW BETTER."
I do think that many of our members can't even imagine that a Casio product could be this good.
As to the comment about the feel of the keys feeling a bit to "hard" i would suggest you read the following:
"The graded, hammer-action keyboard feels sluggish if you play with the sound off, BUT ABSOLUTELY SURE-FINGERED AND NATURAL WHEN YOU TURN IT ON. It powers up at the medium(2) touch sensitivity setting, but I backed it off to a lighter touch (1)and it danced!"

As to the sound sounding not as great in the middle of the keyboard I have had some of the best piano players in LA stop by and play the PX330 and all have been impressed. Keyboard Magazine's reviewer states:
"It seems like every digital piano has its specially named process for delivering the goods. Casio's "Linear Morphing System" seems to create very smooth and natural velocity transitions among the gobs of samples that they use in the piano sound. At the end of the day, the PX-330 delivers the acoustic piano from top to bottom".

The backlit screen is easy to read I think in all lighting conditions but the printing on the actual keyboard is light grey on black and this is not easy to see. For a musician gigging with this model it would be a good idea to make up to 96 registration memories of things you will want to play before hand so you wouldn't have to search for them during a gig.

My opinion of this keyboard is it is a tremendous value for $699. It is not trying to compete with a high end arranger or even a high end digital piano which has better buttons and controls. However it is the best sounding piano available for under $1000.00 and has the advantage over most of a decent GM bank for playing back standard midi files, a pitchbender, stereo inputs and outputs and even a 16 track sequencer.


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

This Casio piano is definitely worth checking out...lots of cool features (especially style assembly, and ON BASS fingering), a great piano sound, good action...I wonder just how good the styles are, or is that hoping for too much?

There's no 330 at my local dealer....rats!

First off George you say the "best piano players" were imnpressed, but with what? You did not actually specifically mention what they thought of the mid-section???

The GM bank is basic, not decent in my view.

Sure you can pre-set registrations, BUT what happens if you need to make a quick change at some point. It works okay if you carry a torch so you can actually even see the buttons, let alone the writing.

I really do not pay much attention to either magazine reviewers, or store owners (no offence) but really, they have a serious conflict of interest.

I understand that anything you say you have to put your spin on it to make it sound a bit better. You are after all having to sell them so why on earth would you make overt criticisms.

I think for the money it is a reasonable keyboard, and as for the "weight" if you re-read my post I said I had not made up my mind about it as yet, but it did feel heavy. And really, whether the keyboard is on or off, makes no difference to how heavy the keys feel. Sheesh what other spin can be applied.

I just give an honest opinion of how I rate the instrument. This is as bad as Lionstracs. Somebody gives an honest assessment and then so much spin comes back I get dizzy.

Is this Privia good value - Yes
Does it have a good action - Yes
Does it's main Piano sound good - Yes
Does the Gm bank sound good - No
Are the EP's good - No
Are the styles good - Yes and No (bearing in mind they are using a poor GM bank)
Is the backlit screen easy to see - Yes
Is the backlit screen easy to use - NO!!
Are the button names easy to see - No

This is a budget keyboard and as such has several "cut-corners".

I am guessing that Casio spent the R+D on the main piano sample and the keybed. The rest is pretty much standard Casio.

The main sample whilst good, has way to short a length on the main sample body. The tail is quite long, but the point is, the main body fades to the tail way too early in my view.

The Rock piano is quite useable, probably as it is more punchy, and bright and a shorter sample does not matter as much.

The Electric Pianos, are, really, not very useable. A couple would get by in a mix, but not solo.

The basses are very average as are the guitars.

What MAY be interesting is it has a sort of chord sequencer that is called "Music Preset". There are about 300 factory ones, and they even have the chord progs to existing songs as well as the standard chord progressions you would hear in blues pop R+B, rock Jazz tunes.
A user can program their own, and I am yet to fully experiment with this, but as I said in my OP, when hooked up with the Motif ES Rack, it might work okay.

Dennis

Look, I don't want to get into one of these things I've been seing here too much the past couple of years. I've been around here for years and years. Most of you know my reputation as a dealer and a person. What I read posted here I felt was not representing what I see as a great value for so little. We all have our opinions but I thought that perhaps the people here who have tried out the Privia at their local music store or best buy type store did not give it the attention a reviewer from Keyboard Magazine or what I, a music store owner have been able to do.
Dennis,I do think all of our opinions are well received at the Synthzone but I just wanted to make sure that this new model is given careful consideration because even though I own a music store, I consider this an extemely big bang for the buck.
I do believe that over the years although many of my posts about new products have been positive when I've reviewed them, there have been products I've been less than enthusiastic about as well.
Any more questions I'll be happy to answer if I can.


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

How many parts in the styles?

The Yammies have 8 parts...RHY1 RHY2 BASS CHD1 CHD2 PAD PHR1 PHR2.

Ian

Rhythm patterns are made of up to eight parts. They are:
drums, percussion, bass, chord1,2,3,4,5.

The parameters to edit per part are:
Rhythm select: drum variation
Tone Select
Part on/off
Volume level
pan
reverb level
chorus level



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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

Yeah fair enough George. Please also understand NONE of what I posted was personal in any way shape or form. I knwo you are one of the few reputable sellers out there along with Frank, so please do nto take my comments as a "calling you out" type of thing.

I totally agree it is very good for the price point.

I jsut need to decide if I want to keep it JUST as a solo piano/weighted keybed or maybe look to a dedicated controller like the KX8...As I said when I finally get time (next day or so) to set the ES up with it I will post back.

Dennis

Remember the transpose issue with the KX8, Dennis...it has no dedicated buttons, and you must transpose the slave unit.

Thanks for the info on the Casio...it seems a good bang for the buck, and it has a pitch bend wheel, something the P85 I was using, does not have.

Ian

Thanks Ian, I did not know that. Or if I did I forgot . Definately a deal breaker for me as I do have sit-in singers from time to time, and whilst I CAN transpose in my head, it takes all the fun away from playing

Too much multi-tasking for me!!

Dennis

The Keyboard Mag review http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/casio-privia-px-330/October-2009/101537