Get to know a whole new Casio
By David Jones
Casio PX-110 and PX-310
You thought you knew all about dig-ital pianos with an affordable price tag. You had them pegged as keyboards for beginners, not fine instruments worthy of consideration by ad-vancing pianists. You knew the score-until you played a Privia, that is. Then your world went all topsy-turvy as everything you thought you knew went out the window.
Don't feel too bad, though. It was a common assumption before the PX Series Privia digital pianos debuted. Mainly because there wasn't anything available like the Privia. Users, music gear writers, and professionals all praised the natural feel of the 88-key graded hammer board, as well as the selectable levels of touch sensitivity. Pianists were shocked by the realistic grand piano sounds and loved the simple and easy-to-use interface. The slim, compact, light, and stylishly attractive cabinets got rave reviews too. And most of all, they talked about what an incredible value the Privia pianos are when combined with their many advanced features and shockingly low prices.
Here comes the new
While some people loved the Privias so much they made them their main digital piano and occasionally even gigged with them, there were some who had a wish list of possible upgrades. They wanted future PX-series models to have more effects and sounds, improved onboard speakers, and more footpedal control. Casio nailed that wish list with the new Privia PX-110 and PX-310-upgraded versions of the PX-100 and PX-300, the two most popular PX series units.
PX-110 improvements include an extra tone, an upgraded sound engine and sound source for better tones, a three-pedal array mode, and bass reflex speaker design for more clean and clear response all the way across the frequency spectrum. The PX-310 has all those upgrades plus over 200 tones, a more advanced bass reflex speaker design, and MIDI I/O/thru. Casio put the cherry on top of both models by adding extra demo songs, increasing the note capacity of the sequencer to 10,000, and somehow making the keyboards lighter. It's a stunning upgrade to a line already dear to the hearts of buyers and one which continues the remaking of Casio's digital piano offerings. The best part is that Casio kept the prices low so that the Privia value equation, which was great before, is now fantastic.
To the engine room
The muscular sound source upgrade makes the Privia capable of pumping out some impressive piano sounds. It's called ZPI, which stands for Zygotech Polynomial Interpolation. A combination of several sound technologies, it results in amazingly clear and realistic sounds. The first part is the tri-element stereo samples it uses, which are among the leading edge in sampling. Casio ensured the sounds are realistic by multisampling the best instruments available with waveforms for strong, medium, and light key pressure.
The second part of the ZPI upgrade is the sound engine, which is a seriously heavy-duty digital synthesizer and DSP chip combo. It performs advanced synthesis with high-level tone logarithms to produce the gorgeous and richly expressive sounds of the PX-110 and PX-310. The DSP kicks in to add selected effects to each of the tones for ultimate realism. It throws a dash of reverb and resonance to the Grand Piano sound, adds rotating speaker effects to the Jazz Organ sound, and spices up the Electric Piano with chorus and reverb. It's also responsible for giving you control over the stick velocity on the drum tones. The 32-note polyphony gives you all the notes you'll need to take on any piece that comes your way.
Sounds good to me
With the PX-310, 15 tones are available as control-panel presets, and it's easy to tap into all the GM tones as well. But the main attractions here are the two grand piano voices, both equally stunning. The first grand tone is the setting auto-selec-ted when you turn it on for the first time, and it sets a high standard with its powerful and authentic vibe. It's the classic grand piano sound: balanced, resonant, and tight. When you play, whether complex chords, fast arpeggios, or expressive single notes, the sound remains natural from the initial attack to the decay. As impressive as Grand 1 is, Grand 2 is right beside it. It's a different flavor of grand piano sound, ever so slightly darker and bolder with more response in the low and midrange frequencies.
When you play, what you feel corresponds with what you hear, which is really what makes the Privias capable of delivering an authentic piano experience. The board feels fantastic with convincing hammer action, realistic scaling, and three levels of touch sensitivity. If the price were several times higher, the feel and responsiveness of the keys would be unremarkable, but at this price, it's like ordering oysters and finding a jewelry-grade pearl in your dinner. I can't imagine a better board for students. It will allow them to transition from digital to acoustic piano without any problems. And acoustic players won't miss a thing either.
All the other things you get with the PX-110 and PX-310 are butter. The chorus, reverb, and brilliance effects deliver everything you could want. The drum kits provide a variety of rhythms and make an excellent accompaniment partner for practice sessions. The MIDI I/O/thru on the PX-310 makes it an extremely nice MIDI controller if you have a rack or computer synth to put behind it. The PX-110 and PX-310 will absolutely change the way you think about affordable, compact digital pianos. They're ready for you if you're ready for them.
Casio PX-110 88-Key Privia Digital Piano
Casio PX-310 88-Key Digital Piano
