CASIO PX-5S

Advantages: The excellent sound of piano samples (comparable to the clp pits), but much cheaper. Pleasant to the touch rough keys, which allows you to feel the keyboard better. The sounds of electronic pianos are beyond praise. Convenient equalizer on the "krutilki" and effects (reverb, chorus, delay, etc.) on the sliders. Record audio to USB flash drive in wav format.

Disadvantages: The instruction in Russian is only basic, in-depth - only in English. The instruction itself is written not for creative people, but for the scientific minds of a mathematical warehouse (it is VERY difficult to understand). It would seem to understand everything. You do as it is written in the instructions - it does not work ...
How to program various functions remains a mystery ...

Comment: The tool is in use for several days. It was bought mainly for the sake of piano timbres as a replacement for the Chinese Medeli SP-5500. But in Chinese, more functions were displayed on buttons, more intuitive controls. Here, in spite of the excellent sound and light weight of the instrument, mastering is so hard given to mastering ... In general, if you want to mainly play piano timbres - a super instrument! Nice keys, good sound (but do not forget to buy speakers for it, since there are no built-in speakers), equalizer and effects on the knobs are convenient. As soon as it comes to recording, breaking the keyboard into zones, superimposing different timbres, etc., which is advertised so much, you immediately sit down in a puddle, because not at all clear, even according to the instructions how to do it. It may need more time and a more thorough study ... Most likely, without the support of more experienced people who have been using the tool for a long time, they cannot understand it.

After 2 years of use: for breaking the keyboard into zones and mixing different tools on the official support site there is a special program that is installed on the computer. The piano is connected via USB-cable and through the program you can manage all the add. tool functions - add new tools (downloaded from the offline support forum), divide the tool into zones and apply one tool to another. This is done easily and I could quickly figure it out. You can also flash a new version of the firmware, if any. At the connection stage, I reflashed, now I did not check for the presence of a new firmware.
During the use of the keyboard they poured a glass of water onto the keys themselves. Turned over, poured water, raised the keys, unscrewing all the bolts, dried with a hair dryer, everything is OK, nothing was hurt.
For 2 years nothing happened - all the keys work, the buttons are stably pressed, the twists spin without hissing and cod.
Buzz from the tool has not passed in two years. Still like everything.

Advantages: many useful features for home and studio, AiR Sound Source sound processor, 8-track phrasal sequencer with a capacity of up to 1000 phrases - cool when playing live !! weight without stand 11 kg

Disadvantages: not found

Comment: Recently I tried the instrument in the store, all the musicians respond positively. The sound was pleasantly surprised, the resonance of the strings is amazing.
The polyphony of 256 voices allows you to play virtuoso piano compositions with the active use of the damper pedal, as well as experience all the advantages of the Hex-layer function - simultaneous superposition of up to 6 timbres into a single complex sound. Cool theme for the scene.

Advantages: A lot of good sounds, the price is the one convenient for working with a computer

Disadvantages: small display

Comment: The store looks like a cool synthesizer, a kind of HD, all sorts of twists, control jogs like in a synthesizer. It is convenient for classes, it is easy to move to any available place, it works very actively with a computer. Good and budget tool

Advantages: good sounding multi-tool

Disadvantages: not found.

Comment: compact, light enough, with great functionality digital piano, an excellent stage instrument for all those who are used to getting high quality at an affordable price. Professionals and novice musicians will find a lot of new and useful. Plus it looks cool.
Number of timbres: 370 built-in + 350 user
Control: 6 sliders, 4 adjusters, 2 pedal connectors, 2 wheels
Arpeggiator: 4 zones, 100 built-in + 100 custom
Sequencer: record 8 tracks, up to 1000 phrases
Playing sequencer recordings: One-shot and Loop
Record: up to 100 songs, 25 minutes for 1 song

Advantages: Chic sound, very affordable price in class, elegant design, comfortable keyboard

Disadvantages: difficult to learn instructions, lack of detailed support in Russian (forums and training in English), the lack of a stand under the notes

Comment: They are very satisfied with the purchase, although the experience of using it is still small and the functionality has not yet been mastered - this requires a serious approach. Saying about intuitive control seems like a good joke. The controls are quite confusing, which does not detract from the capabilities of the tool.

At the opening, I was somewhat scared, because "No media" was shining on the screen

A recipe was found on the English-speaking forum - they downloaded the firmware from the official website of Casio from the second time they installed it. (on the first installation hung, it was necessary to restart the second time)

It left a small unpleasant aftertaste, which quickly passed under the onslaught of beautiful sound.

Advantages: excellent hammer keyboard, very good sound, wide possibilities of the synthesizer, reasonable price, easy concert instrument

Disadvantages: small display, a bit complicated interface.

Comment: Good stage piano for professional musicians. It has all the features of the PX lineup and the basics of the XW synthesizer engine.
I decided with one model to fulfill my musical needs for the future. I use it for several months almost every day - it works fine.

Advantages: a great electronic piano with the new Air 2 processor (+ all new piano technologies) + synthesizer on the Casio XW top synthesizer engine. Creating complex composite timbre from several (up to 6) simple PCM tones). Very affordable price, in comparison with the closest analogues from other manufacturers.

Disadvantages: Nevertheless, the management of some functions is made deep in the menu, being hidden for quick access; no input for the expression pedal.

Comment: Excellent machine for performances and work in a small home studio.
For "live" is good because the basic settings are available in a couple of taps.
Very convenient control zones: preset with 4 independent keyboard zones - each with the ability to assign controllers and effects;
4 potentiometers, 6 sliders and 2 pedals (all fully assignable) can control both internal and external parameters simultaneously;
built-in 8-track phrase sequencer and fully programmable 16-step arpeggiator, has the ability to program the filter, panorama, envelopes, etc. (this is a slider from XW models).
Playback recordings can also be controlled using a programmable pedal.
In general, a very interesting tool that allows you to get rid of additional effect controllers, because everything is in the PX 5.

Advantages: keyboard sensitivity, intuitive control, sound control for all acoustic parameters, light weight.

Comment: I met her at the exhibition "Music Moscow", bought it mainly in order to be able to learn the text at home. This is hard to believe, but its three-tier touch sensitivity system is so good that it even allows you to work with a picking! In addition to the standard bender and modulation wheels, there are 4 knobs and 6 controllers in it, with which you can set any sound quality and "acoustics" of any room (except, perhaps, St. Mark's Cathedral :). Speaking academically, I don’t want to mess with this instrument, especially when you sound like in the UPC.) Sustain-pedal also pleased with the naturalism of the sound. It not only prolongs the sound, but also gives the effect of open strings, rich overtones. Only the moment when you let go of the pedal distorts hearing and these overtones instantly disappear. Matt woodgrain keyboard gives a delightful tactile sensation. And, unlike the Kurtzweil and many others, its mechanics are not too noisy. Another plus is light weight: 11 kg (versus 17 kg in a similar model kurzweil).
In the future, when hipsters will get involved in casio, I will legally say that I bought the privia when it was not yet mainstream. )
(# 235 dated 10/20/2013)