For years we have seen keyboards made by CASIO by the millions, piled up even in big-box stores such as hypermarkets, because on display there they impressed people with their features and especially their price, something the competition seemed unable to counter... CASIO, no longer a toy brand, put on its best clothes with the PX-400R.
This Privia, also called the "PX-400R," seems to have wanted to compete from a higher tier, at a time when our more "professional" stores were stocking very sophisticated keyboards with a host of technically advanced features, but almost all of them priced in a category far removed from what CASIO offers here for approximately €1,200 (its launch price when it hit the market).
Features
Its new visual impact breaks with the "black" ones we were used to seeing from other Casio models; this one comes with a solid, silver-colored metal structure. Nor does it have so many little lights and "gimmicks"; instead it has plenty of practical controls, starting, I’d say, with something pleasantly different from the competition: a large display in the center, well lit, with extraordinarily visible characters, much bigger than "normal," showing a continuous flow of information about what is happening inside this machine at every moment. It can even display, in real time, "the lyrics" of the "Karaoke" song we are performing, highlighting the syllables one by one as the song progresses. But it also tells us about many other things, not just the names assigned to the songs or the instruments selected, becoming a constant ally that, if we wish, also looks after us "like a teacher" that just can’t talk...
With serious specs
Not all keyboards that “boast” of being “more serious” have, as this model does, no fewer than 88 full-size weighted keys in the same style as those of a grand piano, while the overall size and weight of this machine are also much more manageable.
Hidden from view on each side of its upper part are two speakers, 16 and 5 cm, through which the notes played on the keyboard sound, without needing to boost their power with amplifiers, computers or other external gadgets; they also give the hands a certain sense of vibration, similar to what we would feel from “a real piano...”
The first optional sound, set by default to a "conventional" piano, is quite well done, perhaps due to its well-chosen stereo sampling prepared for this unit, and it sounds with the same quality through its headphone connection, at which point the sound from the speakers is cut off; in addition, on the side there are inputs for 2 pairs of headphones so that two different people can follow the sound being produced at the same time. It is therefore a highly recommendable keyboard for piano students who don’t have, or don’t want to give up, the space needed at home for "a real piano...", nor the money to buy one (they cost more than this Casio, even the worst-quality "upright" ones).
But there are other reasons that make it desirable, thanks to many other features this CASIO model offers that those other pianos... "won’t even get a whiff of...", such as MIDI with 32-note polyphony, almost 300 different sound types, including several different types of piano, sax, flute, strings, etc. (including of course the GM ones), 8 different reverb effects, metronome, (easy-to-use) transpose, tuning, 120 drum rhythms including intros, endings and style changes in the middle of each song at the press of an accessible switch, storage of work on SmartMedia cards inserted in a convenient slot next to its top controls, USB for connecting it to a computer and greatly expanding its features (with sequencers and more sounds or effects programmed on that computer), PITCH BEND, a melody RECORDER and even an input so you can also do so through a microphone.
The quality of its sampled sounds
Compared with other sample modules or "samplers," or those built into other similar machines, I would say it’s a mixed bag. I think the pianos, which seem to be its main sound base here, are quite well done, including the several distinct electric pianos it offers. Some other monophonic sounds are also quite reasonable, such as the sax and perhaps the trumpet, etc., which also change their acoustic intensity according to how hard we press the corresponding key.
Others convince me less, such as the strings or human voices, but they may be acceptable for "background" use. When several of its sounds are combined at once, there is a control for setting the volume at which we want each timbre in the ensemble to sound with greater or lesser priority (including percussion). Speaking of percussion rhythms, some are better than others. But it’s also true that since this keyboard can be linked, for example, to another module (via MIDI) or to a computer (via USB), that side of things can easily be expanded to our liking without great expense.
But it still has many more "things"
"Things" that many of those keyboards described as "professional," which in many cases cost three times as much, don’t usually have. With this keyboard, the "not so professional" player gets a real boost, getting much more out of their modest musical skills than with those other keyboards that are "so sophisticated" you don’t even know where to start with them, failing to achieve even half the effects and results that are easily achieved with this one. For example, it has easy-to-use settings that generate "intelligent," automatic accompaniments that "analyze in real time" the notes you press (forming some kind of chord), and the machine completes them with amazing additions such as a bassist, a drummer, a guitar or a horn section that "accompany you," even adding a "duet" over the melody you play monophonically, in keeping with that harmony. To many, all this will seem like magic.
It also has a huge store of complete songs that use its sounds, either as DEMOS or as learning material through a program, as if you had a teacher giving you lessons, even teaching you to make better use of your left hand and right hand separately.
It comes with a CD of software to install on your computer, and you can add free options from its publicly accessible web pages. And I still have many more "things" left to tell...
