µC-Kuper

BradMZ, The issue is mostly related to key repetition -- not playing fast all over the keyboard, even though this is a factor as well. This video does not prove much. Show me a video that compares a skilled, professional player playing a difficult and fast piece on a regular grand (like a Steinway or Kawai say), and then the same on the PX-5S, and let's hear the results and the comments that the professional can make about his experience. Also, I have seen the mechanical test video. My fingers are not as consistent as that mechanical device to find the sweet spot for single key repetition. In my playing on the PX-5S so far, to get the key repetition right, I have to find a sweet spot of strength and distance from the key to get it to work. I think we can put this issue to bed. I think many players have concurred that this action is a bit sluggish for single-key repetition with a human hand, and I don't think there is any denying about this. It's a great keyboard, but it has its quirks like any other, and if Casio desires to improve it for a future release, it should heed these types of comments, and make some changes to make the action less sluggish. And that would be outstanding.

Totally agree. i actually tried playing Angry Young Man on it. Could not really pull it off. I could on a synth action - no problem. I have to try it on my baby grand. But I can say with certainty that I had a pre-WWII Steinway 6 footer that was rebuilt. It had a hard action, but nothing as hard as this, and it was fast in spite of it being hard. And my neighbor has an old upright, and the action on it feels about 1/3 as hard as the PX-5S, and it's also very fast. Maybe this is a compromise between a grand and a Fender suitcase. I think everyone is confirming the slow action and our like for the instrument in spite of it.

I thought I was getting dizzy when I started watching it until I realized what was happening That is a heck of a stand! Once you learn to play like this, you can play on anything!

Thanks for backing up that assertion. The problems is that, on a real piano, once the escapement releases, the key feels a lot lighter than these keys, which continue to weigh against your finger as if the hammer had never fired. I also agree this is an outstanding instrument barring this issue, and I also believe it's probably a problem for most other piano-like actions out there. I have not had a chance to actually compare many of them, but the ones I did try pretty much have a similar feel. Yet I read many reviews that claim this is one of the best-feeling actions on the market. I wish it were just a bit lighter. I hope, as others have stated, that it gets softer and quicker with use. I may have to try pouring in some beer.

I've been trying to play Chopin on it myself! My problem is my own playing though, not the keyboard. I was being facetious. But this video is not a great example, will you not agree? This player will experience a much improved playing experience if he just puts the 5S on a sturdy stand. That instrument is bouncing up and down on that X stand, and can't feel like a good action that way. I used it like this for a few days myself and quickly realized I needed something like a Z stand that does not wobble side to side. This made a huge difference! Get rid of the X stand! Get a Z or something with side-to-side stability.

Seems like the discussion here has deteriorated from a wish list for a new Previa pro, to something about bag pipes and the Scotts. I like their single malts myself. But regarding the wish list, I believe most people choose the 5s because it is an incredibly light (26 lb) controller with a good piano action. The sounds may be a nice perk, but no single synth is going to give you all the sounds you might want or need for a cover band act. You will need to bring to the gig at least one more synth, and don't discount the virtual instrument possibilities today. There are tons of killer virtual instruments such as the Spectrasonics KeyScape and even some great, spot-on B3 virtuals that are stable enough to use live with a very modest laptop. And then you have Midi-Kuper (software), which can bring as many synths as you care to take to a gig together into a single interface so it seems like you're playing out of just one synth, but from any controller you want. This is ideal if you are gigging because you do not have to mess with setting up sounds on more than 1 synth as you go from song to song. It will do it all for you. Having said that, the 5s does have some great sounds, especially the pianos, the clav, strings and others. And the greatest feature is that it is multitimbral. So then, when you consider that the 5s can provide 4 sound channels simultaneously (on 4 different MIDI channels), you can set up your 3 most favorite on 3 of those channels, and have the 4th one as a channel where you can use program-change to change up the sounds. Next, you must have some way to play layer one (say the piano) on the 5s keyboard, while being able to access the strings or organs on the other channels from another synth-action keyboard at the same time. Then you can quickly switch up your stage sounds in seconds and direct your upper synth-action controller talk to any of these 4 sounds through Midi-Kuper. So if you need a synth action for a clav sound, but you want to use the GREAT clav sound in the 5s, you can easily do it live. So all in all, in spite the fact its tone-wheel organs are not the best, you really do not want to be playing a B3 on a piano action. It just does not come off well. Same with a Clavinet, which has (the real one) a very short and light action. Again I am coming back to the point that you cannot make the 5s, or any other synth, your do-it-all synth, but it can be a true asset on a gig if you augment its capabilities with additional synths and software to manage it all.

Great subject. I went through the same decision process, considering the A-88, and decided on the PX-5S. I never had an opportunity to try the A-88, but others have reported it to be sluggish as well, so I bought the PX-5s given new pricing considerations and the fact it has a pretty nice sound engine. I have had this keyboard now for about 1 month, and have compared the action to my off-brand baby grand piano, an upright piano, and from memory, a Steinway B baby grand I no longer have access to. To me there is no doubt about it. This keyboard is sluggish compared to any real piano I have ever played.The Steinway was the hardest (and the loudest) but not as much as the 5s. Compared to the upright, the PX is far heavier and slower in responding. And even compared to the others, it just does not play as smoothly. Maybe a piano scholar that has played on many instruments can find other real pianos with this hard an action, but I doubt it. After all, the craft in making a quality real-piano keybed is to make it as fast and easy to play as possible in spite of the mechanics. This one seems to have been designed to make playing harder just to make it feel like a real piano. That should not be the intent. The intent should be to make it like the fastest real piano action available. And in reality, it would have been nice if there was some mechanical adjustment internally that could graduate the sluggishness of the keys to make it play more like the real thing the USER is used to. Playing the Billy Joel thing on another real piano is not very difficult, but it just doesn't come off right on the PX-5s - no way. The keys are just too damn slow-moving compared to a real piano. It is like molasses. And even changing that setting to 0, it just does not cut it in my opinion. This setting does not change the slow return of the key. The reason I found this post was that I was searching to see if anybody had attempted any hardware modifications to make the action faster. So far I have not found it, but will post it here if I do. In all fairness, I have to say that other actions I was able to test at the music store were not much better if at all. So maybe this is the best you can get out there, and certainly many have the opinion this is it. My wish is that the keys would move more rapidly. It is just a slow action. Maybe for those that play live and love to hit the keys really hard (as many of us do in a live, loud performance situation) this is a great action. But I don't think it is meant to play Chopin or Rachmaninoff.