Joe Garfield

I have a PX330 and am focusing on playing piano. I would have no reservations getting a PX5 for home use. The sound out of a keyboard's speakers is not that great, so I've got my 330 hooked up to external speakers anyway. There is a ton of fun stuff you can do on a PX5. There's a decent amount of fun stuff you can do on a 350 too. And a slab is nice. I don't intent to use mine on stage anytime soon, but I am thinking about bringing it to my Mom's for Christmas and playing a few tunes for the family. The 350 has built-in accompaniments and you can even edit them (remove tracks, change instruments, etc). You can set it up for dual use (playing side by side with your daughter). It will play back the Midi files (supports GM) too.

I am seriously considering an iPad for the sole purpose of using iGrand or some other tone generation app. I have the PX330 and would love a little longer decay and/or newer/nicer piano tone.

I am just starting out with keyboard/piano but have been playing guitar for some time. I am getting monitors for my PX330. Stereo sound is key for things like stereo-recorded piano tones (some piano tones sound especially bad mono), or effects panning R/L, etc. 5" or 6" is a decent size for home use, 8" is typically the next size up and is a bit fuller sounding. 8" seems big for small home/studio use. The speakers that Happyrat suggested are pretty nice. They are in my top 2 or 3 after listening to a bunch. They make a 6" speaker which is nice, most brands go from 5" to 8". I personally like the JBL, as I feel they don't color the music at all. They don't sound as warm as many of the others, but I think the others actually add warmth. I was able to hear a lot more detail out of the JBL's than others. JBL has the L305 out now for $120 (USD) each. I don't know how that converts, but they are an amazing value. My other choice would be Mackie. You can always add a sub or an amp. My approach (with everything musical) is to start with the clearest, highest fidelity sound I can get whenever I can. You can always add 'dirt' but cleaning up dirty sound is never as easy.

If I were to run an iPad MIDI App (iGrand) would there be any kind of delay, or would it feel/sound as if I were playing the instrument in real time? Is it possible to use the PX330 as a MIDI controller to control itself? I am wondering if I could tweak the MIDI settings to alter the sounds of the piano (basically wanting to enhance the grand piano sound with MIDI settings, decay/linear morphing or something). I have not yet started to mess with MIDI but have been thinking about ways to add (via MIDI device) or edit sounds. Thanks!

I am glad I found this thread! I am in the process of refurbing my PX-330 and addressing a few things. Some things seem to be common to this thread, others to most hammer action key beds. 1) When I press a key, the 'bottoming out' has been killing my fingers. I am replacing the upper felt/foam strip with 2 layers of 3/8" weatherstripping and reusing the original felt (adhered to weatherstrip). Test samples feel really good. I hope to install the new strip today or tomorrow. 2) I am fixing the sound heard when the hammers fall back to the rest. I see two issues here: one is that there is hardly any foam under the (wearing) felt, and the other is that there is hardly any rigidity to the thin plastic case bottom. Again I'm addressing with the 3/8" weatherstripping to absorb some of the shock. I removed the thin wide plastic piece that the felt is adhered to and removed the felt. Weather stripping is attached in place of the felt, and I have clear double-sided tape for re-installation. The tape only needs to keep the piece from shifting as once the keyboard is assembled, the plastic piece will be pinned between the keybed and the case. My other consideration is lining the inside bottom case with a vibration damping material wherever I can (could cover exterior bottom but prefer not to at this point). Last, I may build a stand or bench top that supports the middle of the case to keep it from flexing. If you put your hand on the bottom of the case under the hammers, you can feel the bottom bounce. The more expensive keyboards use either MDF or metal cases to reduce the rebound and associated noise. 3) The side-to-side movement in the keys is also being addressed. My approach here (which I am in the middle of doing right now) is to pull off the rubber key guides on the front of the piano. I've got the plastic frame under the rubber guides cleaned off with rubbing alcohol and a piece of clear tape on either side where the support meets the rubber guide. The tape shims the rubber guide making it slightly wider and filling the space between the key and the guide. Right now I've got one piece of tape and it seems like 1 more should do the trick. The key feels are feeling pretty good. My guess about the grease is same as stated above: a white grease for plastic gears. I have some that I use on electronic servo gears, and I purchased it at a model train shop. It is the same color and texture. Mine is the Labelle 106 Multi-Puprose Grease with PTFE: http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Labelle-106-1-2-fl-oz-Multi-Purpose-Grease-with-PT-p/lab-106.htm I can't think of anything else I wanted to address. I think this keyboard (PX330) is going to be a real treat once the extra noise and movement are addressed. I've been pretty happy with the sound through my stereo speakers, am looking forward to a set of JBL monitors for Chrismas, and maybe even the iGrand app. I'll try to post some pics when I'm done.

Thanks for the replies guys. I was just about to follow up on this - I went out and picked up a pair of 1/4" mono male to phono female plugs, just to ensure it was not a wiring issue. It was not. I do have my stereo set to "2ch" which I would have thought would eliminate any processing, but maybe that isn't the case. 2CH is a separate hard button from the surround/alternate input controls, and the only parameters I can edit on 2CH are bass and treble. It is a decent Sony receiver from the 90's and a nice pair of Polk speakers. What I don't get is why there is no latency when I use the headphone jack?? Anyway the plan is to get monitors, I just wanted to make sure everything is working right. I just got this unit, it came used from Guitar Center. I got a sweet deal on it and it seems to be in very good shape. Of course the 30 day trial just ended, so I hope I will really get into it. I am new to piano (taking lessons as well as theory class) so this rig makes a lot of sense for me. However I am stupidly spoiled and can't stop thinking about at $1700 machine. It is pretty amazing that you have to spend double the money (new) to get slightly better piano sound and the next step up in key action. On a related note, I went to GC the other day to sample monitors. I ended up choosing the JBL 305's. I looked at the 5" Mackie and the 5" and 6" Rokits, 5" Yamaha, and heard for giggles the M-Audio and some other cheaper brand. I also heard the sales guy's favorite monitors, a 8" or 10" set of Adams. They sounded great, and I felt they sounded the most like the JBL. All the other brands sounded warm, the JBL sounded clear. I could hear some different tones in the piano samples I had them play, definitely more definition than the other speakers. Hopefully the clarity won't make the piano sound worse! I am hoping it will sound a little less 'electronic'. I am unfortunately too picky for my own budget and good.

I have been playing my PX-330 through my home stereo using the 1/8" headphone jacks. When I hook up to the Line Out jacks, I get a disconnected (delayed) sound, a little echo and a significant reduction in volume. Plugging in the headphone jack helps with volume but there is still the delayed, thin sound. I used a set of RCA cables, each side (red/white) into a Y-splitter (two separate splitters). The splitters are 1/8" stereo to RCA. The 1/8" stereo is inserted in a mono 1/4" adapter, so should have same signal at each output. I am careful about R/L output at board and R/L input to stereo. I believe the jacks in the keyboard are NOT balanced. Basically, the Line Out is useless with degraded sound and some sort of delay. What could this be? The reason I ask is that I am interested in getting powered monitors and would like to utilize the 1/4" jacks.

Thanks Brad, So basically I just have to try them and see what works. I saw that some are geared toward workstations (like the ones you linked) and others are geared toward the pianos, so I'll try both and see if there's a difference. I wasn't sure about my purchase but the more I look at keyboard/pianos the more I realize what I got! I bought my in 'excellent' condition from Guitar Center, and they are all now listing at $150 or more than what I paid, so that's comforting.

Hello, I am a new owner of a PX-330. I see in the manual that I am able to download files from the Internet Data Expansion System. However, none of the 'Access' links mention the 330. http://music.casio.com/e/ What kinds of files can I download, and where do I get them? Thanks, Joe