Casio PX330 Reviews

“On the whole the Privia PX330 has very good piano sounds”

I needed an electric piano for various objectives. First for my son who is starting to study, and second for myself, I studied piano for five years playing up to Chopin mazurkas, after that also played some jazz and in a rock band for some years, although not as my main job. Have my own acoustic baby grand but it doesn’t fit in my current living room.

Given this background my main concern was finding a piano that had a good acoustic feel within my budget (1500 dollars placed in Costa Rica after tax), quality of piano sounds was not an issue so long as I could hook up the keyboard to my computer, but I did want it to have it’s own sounds so that my computer would not be bound to the instrument. Portability also was a issue so as to be able to carry it to gigs.

After a lot of looking around and testing I settled for a CASIO Privia 330 with full stand, stool, pedal bar and headphones, been “test driving” it for three days. My first impression was that the main piano sound is a little nbit thin on the mid to high register, but on the whole the Privia has very good piano sounds. The feel of the piano is very nice, and the piano-forte action keyboard is definitely much more sensitive than the lightweight keyboards that I have been playing lately, bottom line for me is that the mpiano is sufficiently good in response and sound as to remind me of playing the baby grand, a feeling that I longed to have since I left my instrument at my folks house.

My only concern with the feel is that is does not have graded action, and this reflects in a slightly unnatural feel on the right hand side in the high register, but I found that this does not hinder my playing or affect my enjoyment of the instrument.

Although this was not a priority, the piano has a good selection of acoustic and electric pianos, the rock piano has a very nice percussive sound, and the Organs are good also, but I’ve heard better honky tonk pianos on other instruments. I like specially the Jazz organ sound, but miss it’s lack of touch sensitivity that my synth has with this sound (I guess to make it more “organ” real). Orchestral string didn’t impress me that much, the brass are good though, and the bass guitar and world sounds are very nice.

Haven’t tested the presets for songs and playing along (don’t really care much about this feature), but did listen to the demo songs, and frankly, my small (and cheaper) Yamaha keyboard has much better demo songs. Casio should pay more attention to this feature since this is a selling point for some people.

The button display is not particularly friendly for live playing (unless I’m missing something) which is understandable, the memory bank is divided into 8 sections and you have to scroll with “<” and “>” buttons to get to the sound you want, there is no wheel or number pad for easy direct access. If you are mostly a piano player though, you won’t spend a lot of time changing sounds, and the main piano sounds do have quick access.

Visually the piano is very smart and elegant, and with its stand and pedal bar much more so that the more expensive Yamaha models, On the whole I’m
satisfied with the instrument and would recommend it fully to anyone looking for a piano like feel with a medium budget.

Review by: Jose Castro, Costa Rica

 

“These are customer reviews from actual owners of this piano.
The most recent review is at the top of this page “, Graham Howard, Piano Advisor

Send me an email if you have any questions or need advice: grahamhoward@ukpianos.co.uk
Or call 020 8367 5107

 

“The Casio PX330 is like playing with a toy”

To me, once defined a range of price, the potential buyer should identify the goal he tries to achive, and according to this, his market survey, and the experts opinion, to take a decision. A cinic probably would say that, in any case, he will be wrong but he will not notice it because he will not have means to compare his equipment with others.

I am one of those last ones. Weeks ago I had to make a present and finally I decided to buy a Casio Privia PX-330 (yes, I know!). In Spanish your verb
“to play” has two meanings: “jugar” (to play with a toy) and “tocar” (in this case, to play an instrument). Let us say that the PX-330 fulfil very well the first meaning.

Review by Antonio Fernandez, Spain

 

“Great portability – Only weighs 10KG”

If portability is of paramount importance to you, consider that with a weight less of 10 Kilos you can get a more than aceptable keyboard with 88 graded and weighted keys plus lots of sounds and useful features, wrapped in an atractive price.

This neat techno-miracle is the Casio Privia PX330.

Review by Carlo

 

“It’s not a toy, it’s a nice piece of kit”

I bought the Casio PX330 for two reasons: portability, good ratio between price/sound quality.
In my opinion, is very light (that is maybe why to someone it may seems a toy) but is not a toy, is a nice piece of kit. Great sound of piano and many other features for very cheap price compared to other famous brands.

I use for gigging and I play it with or without PA system, as solo or with band and so far as been a surprise to everyone that knows about musical instrument. In my past I had digital pianos from Yamaha (Clavinova), Roland HP, master keyboard by Elka with Yamaha sound module, and I have always suffered for the size and weight and practicality of these instruments. So, 11 kilos of technology and nice feel of the keyboard, compared to 19 Kilos and often more from brands like Roland Yamaha Korg Kurzweil.

I own an acoustic upright piano Kawai AT12, and I grow up in a home with a babygrand Kawai KG-2 and an upright Schmidt.

Review by Zino, Surrey, South London

 

“A piano should be able to cope with regular use, and this one didn’t”

I’d just like to say that the Casio Privia needs to be avoided : very nice piano on the face of it, good sound-quality at the start, but in my experience the action and the sound both very quickly deteriorate to an unacceptable level.

Perhaps because I’m a professional concert pianist I tend to hit pianos harder than most people ! but a piano should be able to cope with regular use, and this one didn’t. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Review by Ro

 

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