This keyboard series comes in a variety of finishes. The PX-110 is one of the simplest in the range, but that doesn't mean it's short on features. Here are the different models in CASIO's “Privia” electronic keyboard line. I'll only cover some of them here, the ones I consider most significant within the range. Let's get started.
PX-110 – This is the one I have in my hands right now. It could be considered a good instrument as a practice keyboard, with its overall bulk and weight (and its price) minimized as far as possible. It could effectively replace a conventional piano in our home or studio, which takes up far more space and whose sound could bother nearby neighbors. That doesn't happen with this model: although it has its own speakers built into the case, they can be controlled with a master volume knob, or even muted so you can listen through headphones.
PX-110DK – Similar to the previous model, but with the stand added.
PX-310 – As well as being efficient for practicing in our own studio, it has more features than the previous model, so it can be very effective on stage for public performances, delivering greater, high-level performance.
PX-400R – I was thrilled with this CASIO product in my review mentioned earlier, because for its tight price it had, in my opinion, a wealth of features well suited to use on many occasions, whether in the studio, on stage, or even as a master and controller keyboard for our computer recordings.
PX-410R – An even more refined model that came after the previous one, and undoubtedly an excellent choice.
PX-500L – Its special feature is that little lights come on in each key, which seems useful as a teaching method for beginners, helping them improve their skills as pianists.
PX-700 – Its features and its price go up, and with them its resources, so its range of uses is considerably broader.
An in-depth look at the PX-110
Very easy to handle and store, even behind a door or standing upright in a small gap in a closet. It's also easy to transport, since it weighs only about 12 kg. It doesn't look like a toy, as it's 132 cm wide and holds 88 weighted keys of a size similar to what we'd find on a “regular” piano, which at the very least means it's perfectly suited to studying any keyboard score. We could even use it to replace an awkward “analog” piano, more conventional or larger, which many people can't picture in any room of their home and which can also bother the neighbors, who have to put up with our practice sessions over and over. With this model, by contrast, we can work with headphones plugged in, or at a volume we can adjust as needed.
Since it has two internal speakers, one on each side of the case, you won't need to use headphones or an external amplifier, as it delivers plenty of volume. Even with the master volume control for the speakers turned all the way up, there's hardly any noticeable distortion, unless we “pound” wildly on the keys, which of course won't be the norm. With a depth of only 27.80 cm and a height of 13.20 cm, you can place it on practically any surface, a table, or even, if it comes to that, an “ironing board”...
Of course, behind the keys and on top of the case, small, discreet buttons, almost all of them push buttons, give us a wide range of options for handling its sounds and technical possibilities, which are quite extensive in their configuration, considering its price, sound and design.
A “chip” called ZPI inside its machinery
Careful! We're not talking about “politics” here. “ZPI” is an important component in CASIO's “PRIVIA” models. It's the great discovery from their labs that lets them achieve the different acoustic levels you can hear in each sound depending on how hard you press the keys at any given moment, producing “very natural” nuances that are surprising in their effect, with spot-on expressiveness. On its two piano sounds, for example, it really seems as though there are hammers inside striking strings, as on classical pianos: softly when we press lightly, or “forcefully” when we play with more exaggerated movements, but at “continuous” levels rather than “in jumps.” For CASIO this is surely a great and VERY NOTICEABLE success for the product.
Mechanically, they've also managed, quite successfully in my view, to give it a feel that approximates the response to the pressure our fingers exert on each key; the sensation is usually very similar to playing a conventional piano keyboard. In this case, I'd say it's a “semi-soft” piano action, but not nearly as soft as those old synthesizers, just nimble enough to allow some comfortable virtuosity (depending on each player) in your practice on it.
A large number of different sounds on the PX-110
To start, it has up to 60 built-in DEMOS or complete pieces of music, most of which are well-known compositions from the “classical” genre in very diverse styles. They don't just give us an idea of the efficient sounds this electronic instrument can produce; they also help with our musical training, since you can change the playback speed at any time and even mute one of the “two hands” so we can practice that part “with the other hand.”
As “base instruments” it has ten “fundamentals,” although they actually appear as eleven: two different “classical” pianos, very dynamic and surprisingly “real,” very similar to mechanical acoustic, non-electronic pianos; two “electric pianos” with distinct timbres, one more “bell-like,” the other “Rhodes”-style; a harpsichord; a vibraphone; two organs (one classic “church” type and another with “percussive” effects very much in the Hammond style, also known as the “B-3” type); a fairly “open” and effective orchestral “strings” sound to play alongside any of the sounds described above; and a “sweet” classical-style upright bass sound; plus another (the eleventh) found on the same corresponding push button on the case, where the bass seems to be accompanied by some “very subtle cymbals,” giving a somewhat special, different rhythm when playing certain pieces that seem to call for more rhythm or swing.
Polyphony is 32 notes, meaning up to 32 different sounds can play at the same time. Of course, you can't do that “all at once” with just the ten fingers of your hands, but you can, for example, if you hold down the “sustain” pedal on a string chord while playing other melodic notes “on top.”
The same applies when we layer simultaneous sounds from different timbres or via MIDI that play together inside this machine. It also has eight other possible variations of reverb and chorus, which can complement each of the sounds described above to taste and as the occasion requires. At any time, we can choose whether to add a “metronome” at whatever tempo we need, as well as percussion effects that we can vary at will. If we press the push button for the percussion at the end of a bar, that “drum kit” will even seem to play a “break” with snare rolls, timbales or “cymbals.” It contains up to 20 different rhythms that we can select whenever it suits us. You can also change at will the number of beats per bar you want in the piece you're playing.
Important: the “Function” push button
There's a “Function” push button on the left of the main case, next to the volume knob. If you press it together with each of the other push buttons (which are also the ones we use to change sounds), it changes their functions (printed or silkscreened below each one). This makes it easy, for example, to transpose the whole keyboard (in semitone steps) and even change its tuning or octave. In the same way, we can change the EQ of the sounds to, for example, get a somewhat “brighter” acoustic result from our keyboard.
Using the same procedure, we'll find four different types of reverb or four types of “chorus.” In addition, the “Function” button works in combination with ten keys numbered zero to nine, allowing “finer” changes and adjustments to the percussion sounds, as well as to the distribution of combined sounds across the keyboard.
Pressing this button together with other keys (which are also marked) changes the “split” settings, the time signatures, the metronome patterns and even the types of rhythms we want to accompany us at any given moment.
Using the same procedures, it also has up to four different ways of playing “auto accompaniments” using chords, rhythms and bass lines generated internally by its electronic circuits, which follow the keys we're pressing with our fingers at any given moment. There's no specific button for this; instead, you combine “Function” with the keyboard keys already assigned for it. So on certain keys of the main keyboard, their “additional functions” are silkscreened at the back, on the cabinet frame, and there are several of them, all rewarding to experiment with. With this “simplified” approach, they've avoided putting a much larger number of buttons on the instrument's case. You'll need to read the instructions a bit and practice combining the keys and buttons described, and you'll be surprised at the sheer number of “functions” this machine has HIDDEN beneath its “apparent simplicity.” "It's more machine than it looks"
Other tools on the PX-110
It lets you record each hand “separately” and independently; for example, so you can check how well you played along with those DEMOS, or to lay down a chord bed first and then, while listening to that “playback,” fill in the other track with your melody on the instrument of your choice.
This model can be set so that every key plays two different sounds at once, for example piano together with “strings.” Or it can separate those two sounds with a “split.”
One of the push buttons at the top of the main case, labeled “split,” divides the keyboard into two halves with two different sounds, chosen from all those available on this machine, so you can play each one with a different hand as you like. You can also easily change the point on the keyboard where you want the two instrument types of that “split” to divide, simply by pressing that button and any key you want. Likewise, you can vary the relative volume of each of the two separated parts and their corresponding sounds.
There are also outputs on the side of the instrument for plugging in two pairs of headphones: one for the player and another for the “teacher or accompanist,” so both can follow along or practice together on the instrument without any sound coming out of the speakers, keeping total silence around them outside the headphones. It even has a “count-in” function that you can add at will when starting a performance.
The settings you make to your liking with all these features stay unchanged even when you turn off the power to the instrument, thanks to a small internal lithium battery expected to last about five years, which can easily be replaced when the time comes (preferably by CASIO's service center, so you don't lose the stored information).
On that same (left) side there are DIN sockets for MIDI in and out connections, so you can link this instrument with whatever other gear you like, for example a computer, letting it serve as a “master keyboard” or as a “sound module” (with the internal sounds I described earlier).
On the back there are also three jacks or connectors for plugging in cables from up to three “pedals,” one of which, the “sustain” pedal, comes standard with the keyboard. One of these pedals also produces “half-damper” effects, as you'd find on most conventional acoustic pianos.
Its “DSP” system, which you can choose to use on this instrument, allows complex adjustments inside its circuits, resulting in striking acoustic improvements. It runs on 12 volts and draws only 18 watts. It comes standard with a suitable adapter so you can plug it into ordinary 220-volt AC power. A stand (CS-65PDK) designed especially for this model is sold separately as an option.
Alternatives to the PX-110
To begin with, alternatives to this model include not only what competitors have on the market but also, since it's the entry-level model in the PRIVIA series, any of the brand's higher models, which will have additional tools not included here.
For example, the typical modulation and “Pitch Bend” wheels are missing; they usually sit on the left of many electronic keyboards, and here they're conspicuous by their absence. But it's also true that on this model they wouldn't be that useful, precisely because its sounds (well chosen, by the way) aren't monophonic, which makes “Pitch Bend” practically unnecessary.
Line-level inputs and outputs to connect this keyboard to other gear are also missing, although it does have MIDI. There are no USB connections either, or a few other refinements.
But in my opinion, CASIO has packed a simple but attractive product here that, among other things, offers:·
- Very well-crafted sound samples, especially the basic piano, organs and electric pianos, although it has several more that I described above.
- No need for external amplification, since it's self-sufficient with the power provided by its two built-in stereo speakers.
- Its small size and light weight, which make it very easy to store and set up almost anywhere, yet it still doesn't feel like a toy, but something more serious.
- Its weighted keys, also similar in size to those of a classical piano, which let you do all kinds of musical study. A music stand comes standard.
- Its two headphone outputs, so two different people can follow its sounds at the same time without disturbing any neighbors who might be near the instrument
- The option to connect three different types of pedals (one comes standard).
- Its significant number of musical functions, despite seeming to have few buttons, such as extras like different types of auto accompaniment, tuning and transposition, and variations in rhythm types and the 20 percussion patterns it also includes.
- It even lets you record your performance (for a single song, but it's better than nothing...) of up to 10,000 notes, plenty for a fairly long piece of music. That recording can also be made separately for each of its two tracks.
It has quite a bit more than we'd find on a great many “basic electronic keyboards” and, of course, it's hard to beat for a budget as low as €695.
