Privia Keybeds

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Dax Productions

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I was working on some music with my cowriter last week and we were using one of her other writing partner's privia 310. I was SO impressed with the action given the price that I'm now on the market for one of my own.

Does anyone know if all the privia models use the same keybed? I'd be using it primarily for midi into Reason, so I'm more concerned about the action, and not so much the builtin sounds. I'd like to save some cash and pick up something cheap from the 100 series, but would I be missing any important features?
 
The Privia 110 has the same action as the 310 - the only really difference is the 310 comes with more sounds, which you do care about.
 
Px120

I thought the action on the Casio CDP100 & PX110 were the same when comparing them back and forth. Really nice for the price, basically the best action you can find in that price range if your just talking about utilizing it for midi. Recently they came out with the PX120, which is replacing the PX110, but I was only able to A/B the action of it with the CDP100. My first impression was that the PX120's action is a little better, but not critically so. The CDP is going to be the cheapest of the three and my main hangup with it was that it only allowed for strait up sustain with one pedal jack. The others (PX series) you can expand to three pedals with the SP30 or SP30R (not sure what the difference is). Of course the on board sounds of the PX series are a little better too, but that really only matters when you want to practice a bit without turning everything else on or if you've taken your keyboard out of the studio for the week. Still it's nice to have that option, and they're all light enough (26lbs) that it's not a big deal to move them around and you'll have sound whenever you do that. I wouldn't upgrade from the casio till I'm ready for a higher end Yamaha, and even then if I did that, I'd lose a lot of versatility cause it's really heavy/clunky and without Speakers, not to mention it would cost 3-4 times as much. Maybe down the line, but I'm pretty content with the Casio's action.

Other options to look into could be like a Studiologic or CME 88key midi controller. Both are more expensive with no on board sound for practice sake. The Studiologic is heavy with good action, and the CME is feature rich + aftertouch. For my bucks the Casio's the best value for action & versatility, least in my applications which is to use it as a midi keyboard with virtual instruments. Pick up a cheap Midi controler like the Behringer BCR2000 to use in conjunction with a CDP100/PX110/PX120 and your golden with the right VSTi's.

I think the only difference between the PX110 & PX310 has got to do with on board sounds, memory and things of that nature. The Keybed is the same, or seemed so when I played them.
 
Lol

Oh God, thats funny...

Yesterday I had a Rep Power of 4, now today after the update to the board I'm at 5664. I guess I should just shut up and be happy with it, but come on, that's pretty f#@king funny! LOL, Caught me by surprise. I thought I must have left a really good message :)
 
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Thanks guys!! Looks like I'm off to the store to see if I can A/B a 110/310 vs a 120/320.

I'll report back!
 
Dax Productions said:
Thanks guys!! Looks like I'm off to the store to see if I can A/B a 110/310 vs a 120/320.

I'll report back!
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try going over to www.music123.com

they have some pretty nice deals/coupons going on now. They have a 15% off blemished items coupon, a $40 off $400 coupon, and a $100 off $500+ coupon.

I picked up a Casio px310 blemished for under $300

I was debating between the Casio and the Studiologic.
 
hmm. Seems like all of those got snatched up already.

It seems like most placing are clearing out 310's and 110's and have none left :(
 
Careful...one good knock and the key's will bounce out of their guides. On the plus side, it's really ez to fix. There is excellent access thanks to the large access panel on the bottom.:cool:
 
ok... so everybody has to make their decision based on cost/benefit and how well it holds up for themselves granted... IMO the casios just wont hold up... i've recently started to look for a controller to use with a live rig running vsti's since i can no longer move my kurzweil by myself... i've ruled out the casio and the maudio's as just being to cheaply built... studio logic and cme are still inthe running....
 
I use a Casio 310 in my studio and have pounded out some Jerry Lee Lewis riffs with no ill effects. As a studio controller with a reasonably good action - I think the Casio is a good value.

However, I would never consider making this a gigging instrument - it is no doubt too frail for taking that type of abuse!!!

If I were to do it over again......I think I would have spent more to get a Kurzweil for the studio - but the Casio does the job as well as I had hoped!!
 
mikeh said:
However, I would never consider making this a gigging instrument - it is no doubt too frail for taking that type of abuse!!!!
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you play heavier live than at home??? i dont... it's the same when/where ever... and i also use hard cases...
 
I have both the PX575R and the PX310 at home. I got the 575R for really cheap, but it has no midi, so I ordered the 310 for that purpose. The action on both feel noticeably different. The 575R's action definitely feels more free flowing...the keys feel weighted. The 310 on the other hand feels a bit more "spongy"...almost a fake weighted feel. That's the biggest difference. I don't know about the 310 and the 110 though.

Because of this, I might keep both...one for the enjoyment of playing and learning, and the other for the midi.

...please take these words with a grain of salt as I'm a novice on the keys.
 
Actually I do play a little harder live than in the studio (on stage I tend to play more agressive and with more show - in the studio I can focus a little more on subtle technique). But the abuse I referenced had more to do with the repeated set-up and tear down, exposure to heat, cold, rain, dust, etc. etc. Even with hard cases, gear gets banged and bumped - and I'm not conviced the Privia can hold up. In the studio, it sits in one place and is never moved.
 
Yeah, I can see how that could be an issue. This thing will be staying in my home studio 99.9% of the time though. Maybe a gig every so often, but very rarely. The number one thing for me is the action, and for what these things run, I haven't found anything that comes close.
 
Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to get down to the store, but I plan on doing it tomorrow!
 
Just got back from Long and McQuade's downtown toronto store.

Unfortunately, they didn't have any Previa's in stock. I did try out pretty much every weighted keyboard they had, and my previous thoughts were pretty much reassured.

All the keybeds I liked were hundreds, if not thousands more than the $300-400 previa's.

The worst belonged to the m-audio keystation - just nasty.

CME - affordable, but felt a little spongy and fake. I'm still considering a used uf8 I found for $300, but I'm pretty sold on the casio stuff now. I'm pretty sure I'd like a "digital piano" rather than a midi controller just for the sake of having the onboard sounds when I don't have my home stuff all set up.

Yamaha - typically decent, probably on par with the previa's but expensive!! The cheapest one that felt good was around $800.

Roland - A little less "real" feeling than the Yamahas, but typically more expensive.

Kurzweil - Definitely top of the list. The flagship one, can't remember the model, was incredible, but was priced around 3 grand! The spx2 was affordable, around $800 if I recall, and nicer than the previas for about twice the price.

So there you have it - I wasn't able to A/B the different previa models, but got to see what I thought of all the other stuff.
 
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