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Greetings, I'm new here and this is my first post.

I'm beginner with keyboards, having played for a bit over a year now. My current "instrument" is Casio CTK-611. I've grown tired of the mediocre piano sound and especially of the non-existent touch action.. So, I've been looking around (and dreaming.. ) at several models. First, let me state that as I'm just a poor university student, my budget is *very* limited.

My first choice was Yamaha P70. My friend commented its action being a little toyish, but probably good enough for me. I'd have to agree, as I have played a real piano (not very good one, old and battered upright) only twice in my life, and it felt strange as I've used to the springy CTK-611 action. I have tried P70 very quickly at a music store, and it felt weird. In any case, I have lot of learning to do to get adjusted to the real (at least to some extent) piano action when I finally get a new instrument! Anyway, I then got carried away by P140, that seemed very nice, but unfortunately is way too expensive for me..

Then I started reading upon M-Audio Prokeys 88. It seems that people either love it or hate it. And quite a lot of people are in the latter category. The action isn't very popular, I've gathered. On another forum, a newbie just like me switched from Casio CTK-800 to Prokeys, and has been very happy with his purchase, so I think I'd be too. After all, I don't have a real idea what the piano should feel like (after only two plays) and I'm coming from CTK-611, which is much older than CTK-800.. Prokeys is reasonably priced, even. So that was to be my second, and final choice.

For a while. I then began, just out of curiosity, reading about the recent Casio Privia models. And I was amazed how well received the PX-110 and PX-310 were! PX-110 seems to be very good choice for me, since it's cheapest of those all, looks nice (especially with the stand) and from what I've heard sounds nice too. Sure, there isn't too much features (compared to Prokeys or P140), but what's there should be plenty for me for at least a couple of years to come. The only thing that is giving me thoughts, is the 32/16 polyphony limit.. That just might be passable, but for how long.. I don't know. But still, it seems that the price/quality - ratio can't get much better for me and my limited budget. I'm quite surprised, actually - I never even thought about buying another Casio..

So, I'd like to ask your opinions on these pianos. Feel free to comment and discuss! I've been doing some calculations and I just might have enough money for PX110 in a month or two at most. ^^

Go for PX110. You get the most for your money, and everything a beginner needs. I haven't noticed any issues with the limited polyphony, thou I am a beginner, and mostly stick to playing music from soundtracks, and pop.

I also think they just came out with PX200, which has 128 polyphony, but is a little more expensive.

Hi Sadako,

I own a PX310 and have tried the P70 and the prokeys models. My first impression of the P70 was right on track with yours. Too much like a synth type action. More expensive Yamaha pianos are much better.

With the Prokeys, I tried it twice and could not get the keys to respond uniformly to keypresses. I also noted this complaint on reviews posted on the online merchants.

Overall, many people (myself included) think the PX110 / 310 are the best value in this price range.

I think it will be some time before you run into the polyphony limit and one option to get around that is to use the PX110 as a controller and have a computer run a software piano sample / modeling program. Then the polyphony is limited by the computer not the keyboard.

The PX200 comes out next month (I think) and would eliminate the polyphony problem also. If the sound improvement from the PX110 to PX200 matches the improvement from PX100 to PX110 then that might be another reason to wait for the PX200. Also, you might be able to find clearance sales on the PX110 and 310 by the time you get the money together.

Another plus in favor of the PX200 or PX310 is that it comes with line outs. This means that you can hook it up to a sound system (PA / Monitors / or even stereo) and get much better sound than the keyboard itself. It is hard to go back to the built in speakers once you hear the PX310 through a better sound system!

Everyone has their own preferences on the sound and touch of digital pianos. They only one who can make the right decision for you is yourself.

Thanks for the responses, guys.

PX200 seems the like the ultimate piano for me, but I'm not sure when it'd be available on Thomann (I'm going to order from there, the PX-series are way too overpriced in Finland..), and what it'd cost. Probably much more than PX110.. Makes sense though, it really seems to be on another level, especially with the 128 polyphony. As you (DragonPianoPlayer) said, the new PX200 just might bring some sales to the older models, that'd be neat indeed. Btw, what kind of price tag (on PX200) are we talking about here, has anyone compared it to PX110/310 pricing..?

I indeed plan on connecting the piano to my computer at some point, to play with sequencers and virtual instruments. But not quite yet.

A proper line-out would be nice, but I will manage with the head phone connection for a while. I've concluded that the cost between PX110 and PX310 is too high for me: 499€ for PX110 + stand (which I plan to get, it looks great and my gf thinks so too! ) vs. 609€ for just PX310 on Thomann.de. The extra sounds would be nice (although the GM sounds are not probably too much better than what's on my CTK-611), line-out too, but the price difference is a bit too steep for me. Plus PX110 looks a bit nicer in my opinion, and has the 60 demo songs which would be nice to (at least attempt to) learn some day. ^^ And I'm sure I'll cope with lesser amount of sounds, as P140 has only 14 and that would be my choice if I had that much money.. :p

Btw, from Kraft Music I found a nice comparison audio clip from PX110 and P140 - and what surprised me the most: I can't really say which sample I prefer! PX110 sounds mighty impressive next to a machine that costs almost three times the price!
PX110 sample vs. P140 sample

I think you should go for Casio PX110 (or, if you can get more money for PX310)
I also think that Roland RD170 is really great for its price but its probably too expensive for you.

Yeah, PX110 seems to be the best choice for my money. Although I'm very tempted by the PX200.. I emailed Thomann and asked when they stock the new models, and in what price range - let's see what they respond.

Oh, a question for the PX110 owners? How do the other tones sound? Mostly it's piano samples I've heard.. Prokeys 88 had awesome strings and synth pad (no pad on PX110, I'm afraid) but it missed church organ, which I like (P70 and PX110(?) has it).

Thanks for the comments so far!

I think the list price of the PX200 is currently at $699.

I could comment on the tones on the PX310, but I'm not sure which ones are on the PX110.

DragonPianoPlayer:
PX110 has these tones: Grand Piano 1 & 2, Electric Piano 1 & 2, Harpsichord, Vibraphone, Pipe Organ, Perc Organ, Strings, Acoustic Bass, Ride Acoustic Bass.

PX series sounds really good, even when compared with more expensive models, and I believe it's due to their 3 point sampling.
When it comes to tone quality and quantity, you can always use your computer and MIDI connection to extend on that with software (use your piano to control audio software on your computer).
To connect PX110 you need to get MIDI to USB interface - they're usually $30-$50.
Definitely get a good, sturdy bench, preferably with the 3 pedals already built in. If I had a choice between PX310 with no bench, and PX110 with a good bench, I'd go for the latter.

Good to know, as I'm going to buy it with the wooden stand. Even then it's over 100€ cheaper than PX310 without one.. Unfortunately the SP-30 pedals are not included, but I guess I'll manage with the included pedal for a while. I'm definitely going to buy the three pedal set later, provided I'll go with PX110. And it seems that I will. PX200 sure is tempting, though..

Thanks for the input, Eternal!

It sure looks very nice, IMHO (apart from the pedal box):

I have quickly made a google spreadsheet comparing the Casio Privias along with the Yamaha P70 and P140, see here:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pfOj2Ml6NsPKf9NOz45aUWw

Hi Evan Roberts

Well done. Thank you very much!

Regards,calvero

Sadako114:

Here are some sample sounds from my PX310. I played a couple of lines of a Beethovan sonatina that I have been working on, recorded it as midi and then played it back with each tone to record the audio. They have been compressed to mp3's.

Hopefully these are the same as the ones you mentioned on the PX110:

Grand Piano 1:
http://www.rjmeredith.com/music/samplegp1.mp3

Grand Piano 2:
http://www.rjmeredith.com/music/samplegp2.mp3

Elect Piano 1:
http://www.rjmeredith.com/music/sampleep1.mp3

Elect Piano 2:
http://www.rjmeredith.com/music/sampleep2.mp3

Harpsicord (Advanced Tone on the 310):
http://www.rjmeredith.com/music/sampleharp.mp3

Vibraphone:
http://www.rjmeredith.com/music/samplevibr.mp3

Church Organ (310 does not have a pipe organ, also advanced tone):
http://www.rjmeredith.com/music/samplechurch.mp3

Rotary Perc Organ (advanced tone):
http://www.rjmeredith.com/music/samplerotperc.mp3

Strings:
http://www.rjmeredith.com/music/samplestrings.mp3

Acoustic Bass (Advanced tone):
http://www.rjmeredith.com/music/sampleacousbass.mp3
Ride Bass (Advanced tone):
http://www.rjmeredith.com/music/sampleridebass.mp3

I hope this gives you something to compare it to.

Rich

Hey, thanks a lot! That was very helpful, not only to myself but to other people who're planning to buy PX110 or PX310! Very nice, thank you for your trouble.

Hmm.. In my opinion Prokeys has at least the electric pianos and strings better covered. Check them out (especially program 11: Strings and 12: Warm Pad are awesome on that board) here . But P70 on the other hand, hard to say which sounds better.. GP1 should be better on Privias since it has dynamic sampling whereas P70 has only one level of samples. In any case, I think PX110 beats P70, so at least I've got that narrowed down. I must say that Prokeys has very nice sounding samples there, even beats P140 at least with strings - too bad the action isn't very good, apparently. Dunno if it'd matter to me, though. But anyway, PX110 is much cheaper and looks a lot nicer so I guess it's a battle between PX110 and PX200 right now. Most probably I end up buying the first, since I'm very eager to get a new piano to practice on, and thus simply cannot wait and collect money for too long.. Maybe you guys know the feeling.

Evan Roberts: Nice chart, thanks. I think there's a few errors on some of the stats, more on the Yamaha side, but it's still a nice summary.
EDIT: Cool, you've edited it further. Nice job. The Privias have 60 demo songs instead of 30, actually. And P140 comes with only one pedal (but it supports half-pedaling, unlike the one that comes with P70).

Thanks for the help, again! I really appreciate it. ^^

Thankyou for pointing the errors, I've now update the chart to correct them. Think I've included all the important features now, though I might expand the chart sometime to include other digital pianos.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pfOj2Ml6NsPKf9NOz45aUWw

Nice chart, thanks. Minor points -- the P70 has two headphone jacks; it does not have a metronome.

Mark

Also, P140 has "Graded Hammer Effect", so it should be GHE instead of GHA, right? You probably meant "Graded Hammer Action", but I think GHE is the offical term here.

You might want to add half-pedaling. All those machines support it, although PX110/310/200 only with the optional three pedal set. P70 also with optional FC-? (forgot the number, FC-3 I think ) pedal, P140 has that pedal included. So P140 and PX700/800 are the only which support half-pedaling out of the box.

EDIT: I updated the thread title a bit. ^^

I got a reply; they don't know anything about the new models in Germany (where the store is) yet, they said that maybe more in the middle of April. That settles it then, I'm not going to wait that long. I guess I'll go with PX110. ..when I get the money, that is. Just found out today we (me and my girlfriend) finally get the aparment we applied for, so while that's great (we'll move together, yay! ) it also costs money.. Oh well, first things first.

(whoah, triple post..

The PX310 doesn't have a metronome? That actually makes me angry.