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I am looking for an 88 key to put under my 76 key tyros 5 arranger. Today i visited some some music shops in the neighborhood and got my hands dirty with some of them.. Putting my experience on the web here, maybe it helps someone in their decision, tough the only way to choose a keybed that fits you is actually playing them.


Yamaha P115 (€600)
i would not advise anyone that wants to play seriously this keybed, it does not repsond well to fast playing, missing notes when a key is striked fast in quick concession (same keybed as the DGX650)

Yamaha P225 (€1200)
a little better then the P115, but still not fast enough, the sound selection is really thin compared to other keys in this price range. however the sounds available are okay.

Casio PX-5S (€800)
A much better keybed then both Yamaha's, and a huge sound selection, also assignable knobs and sliders, which makes the instrument really usable as a masterkeybed. I tought Sound quallity piano sounds was on par with the P255. it also offers lots of rythms and a very very nice arpeggiator

Roland RD800 (€2100)
i really really loved the keybed, but also the interface with the direct controll and offcourse the sound, i have allways been a huge fan of the Roland sound but thats a personall opinion. on this instrument you can p[retty much eddit every aspect possible of the sound..

Kawai MP11 (€2200)
Maybe the touch was even a tiny bit better then the RD800, and the interface and sounds where great to.. maybe its the Roland being a bit flashier and espescially lower that made me feel that the RD800 would be a better choice in combination with a T5. however i will not rule it out.

Nord Stage 2 EX (€4000)
A very nice instrument, great piano sounds, top knotch organs and an awesome synth aboard.. perfect for people that love to fiddle with around with the knobs and continously finetune their sound during a performance. The keybed however is a trade off between piano and synth action.. feeling okay but not great and way less then all the other + €2000 instruments..

Korg SV1 (€1700)
surprisingly nice keybed, somehow even feels better then the Kronos. perfect Epiano's both sound as well as the controll interface. The other sounds however including the acoustic piano's sound dated.

Physis H1(€2900)
Also a Fatar keybed, but much much better then on the Nord, very very good piano action and sounds.. and the indepth piano sound edditing is just perfect. Epiano's are fat, and the other sound are all top knotch. Interesting interface, everything is glass and touch. except for the screen.

Yamaha CVP 709 (€8000)
The brand new piano version of the Tyros 5. first and foremost i think the keybed is very much better then what i remember from the CVP 609. Not as good as the Roland and the Kawai, but miles better then the cheeper Yamaha's i tested. On par with the Physis and the Korg. And in my opinion a bit better then the Casio and lots better then the Nord.
The touchscreen works perfectly and makes me wish they would have added such a nice screen to the Tyros 5. The instrument was a real joy to play. convincing me again from the fact that a single 88 key arranger would be perfect for me..
However at twice the price of a Tyros 5, i think its a shame that the T5 has so many features not available on the CVP709..
I really missed the aftertouch, ensemble and organworld voices. Also the fact that there are no pads convinced me that its better to have an 88 key under the T5.. because the T5 is a much more complete instrument only missing the pianoroom feauture of the CVP709..


So far my day, its allways fun to play new and different instruments.

The Casio Privia series and the Korg SV1 seem identical in feel to me,which is one of the reasons I am overwhelmingly thrilled with the Casio PX-560.

while keyaction was on par between, i think the physical surface of the SV1 keys felt a bit better then the unnatural feel of the Casio..

I too have the 76 key Tyros 5.

In YouTube search for:

keybtyros

Some nice playing from Rico with his various Tyros models and some different under keyboards.

My plan is to buy a Kawai VPC-1 to put under mine as I already have Pianoteq 5

Ian

To me, sound off, the Privia action feels better than the Korg; but with sound on, the SV1 action seems to do a better job of "connecting" the feel with its AP/EP sounds than Casio does. As is usually the case, each board has its advantages over the other... I'd take the Casio for being far more fully featured (lots more sounds, lots more MIDI control functionality, much easier to carry around, flexible splits/layers, etc.)... but for what the SV1 does, it does it nicely, there's just a really nice vibe to playing it.

Cant imagine for a moment wby folk like the Casio action. Its heavy and nearly unplayable on the black keys near the hinge point. Im hoping the later ones may improve on this, particularly the hybrid grand which has attracted attention in no uncertain terms. . .

I find, and maybe Im not alone, that evaluating pianos is a perplexing business. Too many variables. Like, the mood youre in, what you had for breakfast, the weather, and the attitude of the shop guy. . .

I tried an LX15 last week. It sounded good until I tried the CN35. .

Yeh it's a constant battle between the consumer and the company, trying to get more for less and less for more. I read everything I can and try everything I can and then stew for a week or two until I get so frustrated that I'd rather just buy something and move on with my life and make the best decision I can.

We can be thankful it's a relatively competitive market though so we can be reasonably assured of decent value products.

Seriously? The CN35 was better than an LX15? Was that in sound or playability or just everything?

Are you referring to Casio's Privia line?If so...that's really interesting,as I am by no means...a traditional pianist,so my hands are not conditioned for heavy keys and yet,I found the CGP-700 to be the perfect balance,as it's weighted just right & responsive enough,for me to play all styles of music...effortlessly.

If you really hate Casio's action,try playing the Korg Triton Extreme 88 key,as you need sledgehammers for fingers,to perform effectively on that damned thing!

The more I think about it,the more I find it an absurd notion,to suggest to anyone,what the action of any key-bed feels like....as in the end....it always boils down to physically going to a store and having a hands-on demo for one's self.

Its not absurd. Just my impressions relating to my longish fingers. I clearly understand differences in opinions are part of the variety of life. But we all have our reasons which are less obvious and more personal. The best two keyboards for me so far, are those on the cp 5 and the cvp 609. Next is that fitted on es7 and its successor on CN 35

Theyd be even better if they were lighter! And I am unanimous on that. . .

Because it's typically compared to what else is available at under $1k. It's all relative...

I would even go so far as to say that it compares favorably to the actions on boards costing several times as much. While I suspect that most would probably agree that it can't compete with high end actions from Kawai and Roland (and maybe Yamaha), I think a lot of people would probably find the action on the casio privia line to be comparable to keyboards using Fatar actions (including high end boards from Nord and Kurzweil that cost a few kilobucks) as well as the actions found on Korg's top of the line keyboards (which also cost a pretty penny).

The other thing that's amazing about the Casio action is how light weight it is. Their stage pianos typically only weigh about 25 lbs. That's pretty amazing when keyboards from other companies generally weigh twice that much.

I guess thats me told. . . not for the first time. . .nor the last . .

I happen to prefer those Fatar TP40 (not TP100) actions to the Privia, but I would be curious as to whether there's any general consensus there (recognizing that you can pretty much always find someone who prefers keyboard x to keyboard y).

As for Korg, they really only have one "high end" action, it's the RH3, which is used in the $1500 SV1 ($1700 with 88 keys) and the pricier Kronos. I'm not sure how much agreement there is that the RH3 feels better than the Privia. I think the other actions that most people would prefer to Privia would include the $1800+ models from Roland and Kawai (FP80/MP7 and up), Yamaha CP4. For an 88 key board, short of that $1700 or $1800 price point, I don't think you'd find anything that people pretty consistently find better feeling than the Privia. And yeah, nothing else as easy to carry around.

If you judge by the key length and pivot point, Yamaha GH should be one of the very best.

Doesn`t always work like that in practice. Wonder why?

The thing that disturbs me about the Privia isn't the *feel* of the action, it's that the action is loud. To me, I heard it thumping even during quiet playing - and certainly while playing with headphones.

I don't know if others feel this way - but the loudness of using the action (with volume off - just the sound of fingers pressing keys) really matters to me.

Kawai actions are quieter to my ear.

Yes, the Privia action is one of the noisier ones. However, it is important to note that they all make noise. In general, if you notice the noise, your volume is down too low. So be sure to play test them at good volumes that an acoustic piano would be at (which is roughly at 75% volume).

Its espescially unpleasant when playing with headsets on.. You domt have any sound to cover the noise...

I think indeed the Casio and the Nord stage where quite noisy...

That's why God gave us closed-back headphones, and high-isolation "in-ear monitors" ( = expensive earbuds).

Try playing on an acoustic action, removed from its piano so that the strings don't sound. Clack-clack-clack-clack . . .

No DP action I have met so far has been as loud as an acoustic piano action. At the Steinway shop it was actually quite important to them to point out that a acoustic with "silent" enabled is actually not silent, but goes thumb-thumb-thumb and can be quite distracting to someone working/reading next to it.