Reynard Foxe

I noticed you were using the 10“ EONs which are much lighter than the ones I am used to. The Thumps may be too heavy for you, sorry. That said, they do sound great.

My favourite set up is two Mackie Thumps 15". You get stereo and lots of volume. They are not too heavy and sound really good (much sweeter than the EONs IMHO). The 12“ version sounds good too and is smaller and lighter. Make sure it is the newer version of the Thumps as they are more powerful and sound sweeter. You can tell if they are the newer version because the input connector is the combined XLR/6.5mm type whereas the older version is XLR only. The PX5S is such a great keyboard. I would stick with it, but Casio do have some simpler models too.

Hi there. I use a pair of Mackie 15" Thumps. Pretty cost effective and loud enough for almost any stage. IMHO keyboard players should try to have two speakers to avoid having one louder one barking in one ear. (Most other musicians are able to locate a single monitor directly in front but that doesn't work for keyboardists). And stereo sounds so great. You play better when you are happy, right? With the addition of a very small mixer it can be your stage monitor system as well. Cheers.

There are two factors that will mess up your mathematics and may be the cause of your unexplained readings. 1 Equal Temperament. In my simple understanding, this is the mathematical averaging of the pitch gaps between the notes. Prior to the use of equal temperament, keyboards were tuned accurately to play in particular keys only (called "just tunings"). During the Baroque period (incl. JS Bach) and before there was a strong desire for a tuning which would enable modulations between keys and a more adventurous approach to composition and harmony. Bach's "The Well Tempered Clavier" was a series of pieces demonstrating the validity of using equal temperament. It was discovered that if musicians were able to live with some little pitch compromises, it was possible, and slight approximations were made to the tuning of certain degrees in the scale. If you want to test it out, try these fun things; (a) Using a digital keyboard, play middle C and the C above it. The notes will be very in tune and there will be no "beats" - those little vibrations that are not actually part of the notes but are the product of the two. ( Do the same with C and G, then with C and F. They will also be perfectly in tune. © Now the fun begins, Try it with C and E. You will hear a very subtle vibration or beat being created. Same if you play a C and A. This is a result of the notes being slightly out of tune- equal temperament at work. Obviously this affects the math too. By the way, unaccompanied choirs are not so affected by equal temperament as the singers tune to each other on a chord by chord basis. They can have a very pure sound with regard to pitch. Also, horn players when playing in a band play their notes a little differently depending on which key they are in. Vibrato helps you to not go crazy at this point. Kind of fuzzying the lines. Once you hear the out of tune-ness of equal temperament, you will either relax a little about pitch, or possible go stark raving mad trying to fix the world of music. I hope you choose the former 2 The Slant. In order for our ears to perceive very low notes or very high notes as being in tune, the pitch needs to be "bent". High notes need to be tuned sharp, and low notes need to be tuned flat. All piano tuners use this knowledge to a lesser or greater degree depending on what sounds best to them and you would be surprised how far the actual bend can be. It can be in the range of 20 cents at the extremes. Pianos tolerate the slant (also called the stretch) at the treble end well as the high notes have very little sustain. If you want to test this one, find a keyboard with a string sound or pure lead sound and play middle C and the highest C on the keyboard. Sometimes the high C will sound flat because the slant is not sufficently extreme. If you check it with a tuner it will measure as being in tune but it will sound wrong. This is simply a function of how we humans hear. By contrast, some keyboards will sound right but if you measure them the high note will appear to be sharp. Of the keyboards I have owned, the Rolands tended to sound more slanted than the Yamaha's but that was just a casual observation. (Of course the Casio's are perfect!) I don't know if either of these two phenomenons are the cause of what you observed but at least it may help you to feel that the world is less crazy than you suspect.

Hi Mike...I have heard from the Guru of Casio-ness! I am so excited. Thanks for the help. Workarounds are fine. I will go and experiment tomorrow. I really love the PX 5S. Very sophisticated. Sounds great too. We all want a keyboard that does it all- the veritable swiss army knife- but the price of that is some hours spent doing the necessary homework. I was a Roland guy for years, then one time I was waiting for my keyboard zoo to be shipped to me so I bought a PX or PG 555 (?) to use in the meantime. Still playing it 3 times a week 6 years later. Casio/Privia is the most underated keyboard family there is. They are as tough as my Rolands and half the weight. Not to mention a third of the price and every bit as much fun. Thanks Mike for the help. Keep up the great work.

Thanks Lonelagranger. I may have confused you with my dodgy description. Thought I was going crazy so I just checked the two closest keyboards in my house- a Roland RD 600 and a Casio PX 330 and they both sustain the old sound when you select a new sound as long as you have the damper pedal depressed. The only one in my zoo that doesn't is the newest, the Casio PX 5S. Still need help! Thanks

I have a PX 5S, (I am a fan of Casio keyboards, I have 4) and the PX5S is pretty amazing. One thing I just can't work out is why the current sound and settings are dropped as soon as you select a new Stage Setting even though the damper pedal is depressed. This is not the case with any other keyboard I have ever owned and it makes this great keyboard unusable for me live. As an, example when I use a piano and strings combination, then change to another Stage Setting, the original sound is instantly cut off and the strings go to full volume for a few milli seconds- so embarassing especially after a nice string fade. The alternative is to stop playing, wait for the sound to die out, select the new stage setting then start playing again. This is fine in the studio but rarely practical in the middle of a song when playing live. Please help- I really want to use the PX 5S live but I can't until I get this sorted out. If this has been asked and answered, I apologise. I have looked but I can't find it anywhere.