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PX5S compared to MOXF8


Halion76

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I know this is a weird question.....on a casio forum......when we all/most actually own the PX5S - but do any of you have any hands on knowledge of the MOXF8.

 

In particular how does the keybed and piano compare to the PX5S.  Considering we all bought the casio, I'm pretty sure the overwhelming opinion will be one-sided.

 

ps: I own the MOX6 so just wondering about the MOXF8 out of curiousity.

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I have both keyboards.  The Casio is great as a  piano.  I love the feel and the polyphony is great.  I do not use the other functions of the Casio.  The Yamaha MOXF 8 is considerably more costly.  It has a great piano sound and all of those arpeggios.  Almost 7,000.  You can create many performances.  I would take the MOXF over the Casio PX5S only because of the ease in which you can create performances.  I think some of the sounds might have come from the Tyros line.  IE:  Guitars.  I had a Tyros 3 and I thought I heard some of the sounds in the MOXF.  I may be wrong, but the sound are quite good, in my opinion.  If the choice were piano only, then I would not rate one above the other.  I could be very happy using the PX5S for piano sounds only.  To me the Privia is greatly underrated by people.  I play classical music and the PX5S can take anything you throw at it.  I hope this helps you in some way.  It is pretty hard to put the PX5S up against the MOXF.  Yamaha has been making this line for some time now.  They have it down real well.  The MOXF was a keyboard best buy.  You certainly do get the bang for the buck.  If you can get the MOXF, do so.  You will not regret it, as you did not regret getting the PX5S.

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No comparison between the MOXF and PX as far as sounds and studio operations go, the Yammie wins in a landslide, however the Yammie keybed is pretty average, and this is where the PX shines. IN fact the PX keybed is better than many other brands as well.

 

Ideal combo?  PX5s + MOXF6 or even an XS rack, MX49/61...but the PX has to be your bottom "playing" keybed. jmo, and as always ymmv

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I like the keybed of the PX5S very much but while I use a load of VSTs I do like the thought of having the immediacy of a very strong bread and butter sound set to turn to quickly.

 

I have the MOX6 and was contemplating pairing that up in the studio and for gigs - but space is at a premium and if I could get an all in one board it would be best.

 

In no way is any of this a slight on the PX5S.  As I said, it has a superb keybed, is lightweight, has a lovely piano, price is great......BUT........the synth side of it doesn't interest me overly and I'd prefer to have a staple set of quality "bread and butter" sounds at hand.

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I hear what you are saying Stein, but the GHS keybed (the cheapest in the Yammie weighted 'boards) is ordinary to play. So if you want great bread and butter sounds, and let's face it the Yamaha motif series are the best in that reagrd, then the MOXF/PX-5S combo is perfect. In fact I am looking at adding back a MOXF (61 note) at the moment. I did own the MOXF8 but really did not like the action. Ordinary for piano, terrible for organ and even worse for quick line synth action. Again ymmv, but that is my view.

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I have both also...PX5s and MOXF6. Agree with pretty much all that has been said in the posts above, though i cannot comment on the MOXF 88 note keybed as i have not tried one thus far.   The keybed on the MOXF6 is far too light & plasticky for me, but when i control it from my PX5S or my Akai MPK88 the MOXF6 sounds & feels fantastic....as if new life had been breathed into the sounds.

 

PX5S & MOXF are a great combination IMHO.

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Thanks for all the comments.  My thinking at the minute is to stick with the MOX6 with the PX5S for gigs.  With my plethora of VSTs my sound selection is better than anything a workstation can muster on it's own...........I keep changing my mind though so God knows what I'll say tomorrow!! :D

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BUT........the synth side of it doesn't interest me overly and I'd prefer to have a staple set of quality "bread and butter" sounds at hand.

 

The synth side of the PX-5s is not entirely about sawtooth waves, trance music or spacey themes.  It's about creating the best sounds possible. I feel the huge success of the PX-5s would not have been possible without the synthesizer in it.  We have new piano's, strings, sax's, guitar's, organs, and completely new instruments like ukulele that didn't exist before the synth was used. If you only choose sounds from the TONE section, you're missing out on the real magic of the PX-5s.  

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The synth side of the PX-5s is not all about sawtooth waves, trance music or spacey themes.  It's about creating the best sounds possible. I feel the huge success of the PX-5s would not have been possible without the synthesizer in it.  We have new piano's, strings, sax's, guitar's, organs, and completely new instruments like ukulele that didn't exist before the synth was used. If you only choose sounds from the TONE section, you're missing out on the real magic of the PX-5s.  

 

I'm impressed very much by the 2.5 update I put in today.  The ukelele you mention - is that a separate download? 

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Ukulele is one I made and uploaded.  No, that particular stage setting is not in the 2.5 update, although, the 9-5 VelST-Guitar stage setting is derived from this ukulele strumming stage setting and it's twin, muted strum acoustic guitar.  I shared these with Mike and he was impressed enough to create his own version of the guitar and in turn included it in the update.  I'm very humbled by that.  

 

http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/files/file/565-ukulele-strumming/

 

http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/files/file/717-muted-strum-acoustic-guitar-px-5s/

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Great comments from all. A new MOXF8 showed up at our jam last month. I didn't have my PX5S there so I hammered the yammy for a couple of hours. Full of all the usual Yammy tricks and sounds. Decent action, nothing fantastic. I would agree with pax-eterna that the pX5S belongs on the ground floor. Great action, super pianos. At home I use it for its own sounds as well as a midi-controller for a Yamaha rack Motif ES (which still has some pretty killer EPs and organs) , with a 49 key light action controller on top to trigger some synth, organ and string sounds from both the PX5S and the Rack Motif ES. This is also my mobile rig. I prefer the slightly lighter and smaller build of the casio to the MOXF8 when it comes to humping the gear into strange places.

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Great comments from all. A new MOXF8 showed up at our jam last month. I didn't have my PX5S there so I hammered the yammy for a couple of hours. Full of all the usual Yammy tricks and sounds. Decent action, nothing fantastic. I would agree with pax-eterna that the pX5S belongs on the ground floor. Great action, super pianos. At home I use it for its own sounds as well as a midi-controller for a Yamaha rack Motif ES (which still has some pretty killer EPs and organs) , with a 49 key light action controller on top to trigger some synth, organ and string sounds from both the PX5S and the Rack Motif ES. This is also my mobile rig. I prefer the slightly lighter and smaller build of the casio to the MOXF8 when it comes to humping the gear into strange places.

 

Hi, so I presume you're just using audio from PX5S and don't have it connected via midi as well as your 49 key unit.

 

Ideally, I'd like to keep both options open and have the PX5S and a midi controller keyboard connected via midi........but that means getting a midi merge unit and I've no experience of one of those but may well give it a go in the coming weeks.

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Hi - yes I do use the PX5S as a midicontroller as well (sorry if I wasn't that clear). I use a Midi Solutions quadramerge box (around $100), but it is not actually necessary. One can use the "thru" midi jacks that most controllers have. You have to make the basic channel and zone assignments with or without the box. One thing I have to watch is which Yamaha voices respond to all five of the casio sliders (From a "plug in and go"  lazyguy standpoint). If I put the time into tweaking and trimming, I would probably find that the casio soundbank is enough. I would still be using the lightweight synth-action controller for the organ and synth sounds. I think the keyboard guy (John) at the NYC manhattan Sam Ash Music tagged me in his comments when I was there in December ...."The PX5S is actually very deep, much deeper than people suspect from the packaging. When I saw what it could do I expected we would sell a lot more of these, but people don't seem to want to put the time in".  In any case, the PX5S is good bang for the buck. I've had quite a few yamaha synths and a couple of their pianos. Gotta say, anything below $2500 in yammy is feelin kinda flimsy these days. Great sounds, though.

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"The PX5S is actually very deep, much deeper than people suspect from the packaging. When I saw what it could do I expected we would sell a lot more of these, but people don't seem to want to put the time in". 

 

....Which is why we have this community of users like me and many others, who design sounds and stage settings and then upload them here for anyone to plug into their PX-5s.   The larger the library of well made sounds, the more convenient and useful the instrument becomes.  

 

The factory sounds are great, mostly in the stage settings.  But, what has been done aftermarket and uploaded to these forums is amazing and only getting better as those of us who design understand the instrument's finer points better.  

Casio created a polyphonic monster here.  If we can take the PX-5s as an indication of a future ramp up of Casio pro keyboards....oh wow.   Just wow.  Can't wait.  

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.............Casio created a polyphonic monster here.  If we can take the PX-5s as an indication of a future ramp up of Casio pro keyboards....oh wow.   Just wow.  Can't wait.  

 

Well, I would not have gone quite that far BradMZ, that is a bit of a stretch. It is a very good bit of kit for the price, but a "monster"? Nah!

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this is an interesting thread... which leads me to a very newb question (sorry)...

 

if you're using the PX-5S as a keybed to operate an MOXF, then what is the benefit of having the PX-5S over the PX-350 (which has the same keybed)? can you use the additional functions of the PX-5S in addition to what the MOXF does?

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this is an interesting thread... which leads me to a very newb question (sorry)...

 

if you're using the PX-5S as a keybed to operate an MOXF, then what is the benefit of having the PX-5S over the PX-350 (which has the same keybed)? can you use the additional functions of the PX-5S in addition to what the MOXF does?

 

If it's strictly this keybed you want then the PX350 is indeed identical but for that little bit extra you are getting the latest model and while I'm sure some of the other Casio guys will be on to give more intricate analogies (as I've never tried the PX350) all I can say is that having such a superb stage piano with some lovely stage settings and user uploads to compliment the quality of the MOXF engine is ideal.

 

Personally, I went for the PX5S because I got it at a good price and being the latest model meant that it will hold it's price better in the future rather than an older model.  I'm talking as someone who hasn't even digged slightly in to what the PX5S can do, bar flicking through the stage settings, but I hope that can be of some help to you.

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this is an interesting thread... which leads me to a very newb question (sorry)...

 

if you're using the PX-5S as a keybed to operate an MOXF, then what is the benefit of having the PX-5S over the PX-350 (which has the same keybed)? can you use the additional functions of the PX-5S in addition to what the MOXF does?

 

 

First to clear up a definition: We are talking about keyboard action. A keybed is the part UNDER the actual keyboard where the sensors and stuff are. When a key bottoms out it hits the keybed. Sorry.. big pet peeve of mine and you would be surprised how many pros call the keyboard action a keybed... Ok now that I have my inner Joe out..  :D 

The PX-350 would be a fine controller as long as you don't need a modulation wheel and the knobs and sliders the PX-5S has. In other words, if you are only controlling a piano sound on the Yammie you probably won't need all the controls. But if you are doing synth sounds, organs, etc. you may need the extra controller functions the PX-5S offers. 

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Can the PX-350 set up different zones to control different things like the PX-5S? Besides what Scott said, the PX-5S would be a much more powerful controller if it can do the splits and zones while the other models cannot.

 

While the PX-350 (and 150, and the rest of that series) may be technically older than the PX-5S, they're basically considered part of the same line up and as time goes on, will be considered about the same age. Just like the PX-3 and the 130/330/etc. series are about the same age (though the PX-3 actually had a different keyboard and action).

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First to clear up a definition: We are talking about keyboard action. A keybed is the part UNDER the actual keyboard where the sensors and stuff are. When a key bottoms out it hits the keybed. Sorry.. big pet peeve of mine and you would be surprised how many pros call the keyboard action a keybed... Ok now that I have my inner Joe out..  :D 

The PX-350 would be a fine controller as long as you don't need a modulation wheel and the knobs and sliders the PX-5S has. In other words, if you are only controlling a piano sound on the Yammie you probably won't need all the controls. But if you are doing synth sounds, organs, etc. you may need the extra controller functions the PX-5S offers. 

 

Technically you are right re: the difference between keybed and key action........BUT, it's a commonly used general terminology that is used all the time and I personally regard it as a general term incorporating both ^_^

 

As for Joe saying they are part of the same lineup/family, yes again - but I think it's safe to say the more recent PX5S would still standout to a prospective 2nd hand/used purchaser rather than the other models in that family.

 

My point to the original question was if the extra bells and whistles of the PX5S interest you, even slightly, then it would be my preferred purchase over any other model in that family because you have the top model that would be easier to sell on in the future if you wanted to.  The keybed/key action ( :D ) may be the same and if that is the ONLY thing that interests then of course that changes things.

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