Just took delivery of my brand new PX560. I was waiting/hoping for a new model that will replace the Casio PX5s or the PX560. It was such a great price and I couldn't pass up.

The keyboard action is good, and I like the ivory feel. With Casio, you never pay for the "name" but you do feel you get a lot more than what you pay for.

Chris

PX560 is indeed a rather unique offer. I think Casio really tried to make a perfect product, it's compact, with whole range of keys, it has assignable knobs, a touchscreen, accompaniment, speakers, inputs and outputs, and a lot of parameters can be easily adjusted. And it sounds good, too.

My fear is that it might be a case when being perfect is not enough. I can imagine that an average customer is not ready to appreciate all these benefits. So Casio went other way with PX-S3000, it is just as simple as possible.

I would grab one of PX560 as well, maybe some day I will; for now I just have to go with my priorities very carefully.

Congrats on your acquisition!

It doesn't offer on-board style creation, so I would have to get an advanced Casio arranger to perform that function. But unforgivably, it also doesn't offer Sync Stop, nor "arranger hold" or "arranger memory." Basically there is no way to make the style pause when you lift your hands off of the keys. This is essential to the way I play.

The MZ-X500 was Casio's first arranger in recent memory to offer sync stop, and it shared much of its OS with the PX-560. If Casio adds sync stop or an "arranger hold" parameter to their NEXT-generation style piano i.e. PX-560 successor, then I would consider it.

I will say that the PX-S3000 is unique also; it probably is the slimmest weighted 88-key board. The action is supposed to be even better and quieter that that of the PX560. It's been about 5 years since Casio introduced the PX560. If you can wait, they might come out with a PX560 successor in less than a year.

Sure, the PX-560 is not really much of an arranger keyboard, but as an 88 key player, I thought it would make a great controller for my SD40 or vArranger. I have Korg and Yamaha arranger keyboards, but they are all 61 keys, and I don't do too well on them. Once, I had a 76 key Roland arranger keyboard, but sold it.

I can see that being the slimmest digital piano is something that can be said in promotion, but I'm not sure if it changes a lot in a real life, apart of speakers being faced to a wall.

So far I have doubts if there will be a PX-560 successor, in some way we can consider that PX-S3000 is actually to replace it. I speculate that PX-560 didn't sell very well. It had (has) to compete with Yamaha DGX-660, which is to me less interesting, but sells pretty well - right now here it costs less than PX-560 and comes with a stand. I assume that Casio tried to learn the lesson, realized, that an average customer has different expectations from a portable keyboard and a digital piano and is not ready to have both in one package.

Now Casio offers digital pianos as a stylish thing for home, which won't steal much place and doesn't suggest that you have to be a computer engineer to operate it. But for those who really wants to be productive, to play it on gigs - it is much less useful.

I had the earlier version the 350. After a short time the keys started making a audible thump and not a realistic hammer feel or sound. I don't know if they've upgraded the keyboards. I spent a short time on one of the newer home models and and Styles are OK for home entertainment but not suitable for a professional arranger.
They are a good value for what they are.