My Amazon review of the PX-560M

[CharlieWorton]

It's difficult to know where to start, with an instrument as complex and full featured as the Casio PX-560.  You get the full 88 key keyboard, and the keys are weighted to provide a feel that is very similar to a real piano.  It does feel very similar to my Yamaha upright, and I expect that any accomplished pianist will feel right at home.  What is quite different, is the texture on the keys.  Most keyboards have a gloss, highly polished surface; but the PX-560 keys have a pronounced texture that is difficult to describe.  This is done deliberately, to prevent your missing notes as a result of your finger sliding off the key.  It takes a bit of getting used to, but it does work, and I found that I could fly across the keyboard with great accuracy.

 

There are 550 voices, the vast majority of which are sampled instruments.  The samples are excellent, and the reproduction of the instruments is startlingly realistic.  It is also possible to layer two instruments together; in addition, you can divide the keyboard anywhere you want, and layer two instruments on the lower half and two different instruments on the upper half.  The electronics are capable of 256 voice polyphony, which means that you won't have to worry about note stealing; the electronics will play practically anything you throw at it, regardless of complexity.

 

If you wish, you can specify a percussion track from over 220 included tracks, or you can construct your own.  The percussion can be started manually, or you can set it to start when you start playing.  There are also variations in playing style, selectable at a touch of a button.  Like all the other instruments, the drums are wonderfully realistic.

 

This instrument includes a 17 track, editable recorder; this allows you to build up an instrumental a track at a time, getting each track perfect before moving on to the next.

 

One of the features I truly enjoy is the ability to change the pitch.  If i know a song in C but the singer needs to sing it in E, I can transpose the pitch so that I still play it in C, but what comes out is the song in E.  Most keyboards offer this, but it's usually buried several levels deep in the menus.  On the PX-560, you have a separate transpose control, right on the deck.

 

I haven't mentioned the color, touch sensitive display; but it's really one of the main driving forces behind the keyboard.  Instead of having to cursor through different menus to select something, you literally just reach out and touch it.  You can fly around this keyboard at light speed, and everything you want to do is easy to find and select.  A touch sensitive, graphics screen keeps you in the creative side of your brain, and that just makes the whole creative enterprise a lot more fun.

 

One of the most important features of the keyboard are the Hex layers.  This allows you to combine up to 6 instruments together, and select the mix as if it were one instrument.  And you can layer two Hex layers on the right hand side, and - if you wish - a different two hex layers on the left hand side.  So, in theory, you can have up to 24 instruments playing at once!  In practice, you use Hex layers for specific effects.  For example, you can set up the keyboard so that, when the keys are played softly, only the strings play.  Play it a bit harder, and the brass section starts playing; hit the keyboard very hard, and a deep drum and cymbal crash.  This velocity sensitivity allows you to play different instruments, selecting them on the fly simply by how hard or soft you play.  It sound cumbersome when its described, but when you actually start to use Hex layers this way, you'll learn very quickly.

 

On the negative side - and it's not really a negative, just a characteristic - the PX-560 is sold as a stage piano, and is designed from the ground up for the working musician.  This means that it's intended to be used with an external sound system, and the included speakers are more of a convenience for the musician, so they can get limber by playing for a few minutes back stage.  The speakers are good, but they aren't extraordinary.  If you are purchasing this keyboard for home use, you might feel that the speakers aren't loud enough.  The solution is to either plug it into your home theater system (if you have one) or purchase a set of powered bookshelf speakers.  Or, for that matter, a good set of headphones will work spectacularly.

 

In closing, I cannot speak highly enough of this keyboard.  It sounds spectacular, particularly when played through a decent audio system.  The samples are excellent, and breathtakingly realistic.  And the feature set - 17 track recorder, hex layer synthesizer, 256 polyphony - places it squarely in the $5,000 keyboard bracket.  Yet this keyboard sells for less than a third of that price.  It is easily one of the best values in the industry, and if you don't own one, well, you should.  It's an amazing bundle of joy that will keep you riveted to the board for hours on end.

[Jokeyman123]

Congratulations Charlie, patience pays off-but i guess you may not be giving Amazon a real positive review...blame it on the pandemic. Was it worth the wait? sounds like it was! I agree 100%, this is a killer 'board.

 

If you are interested in hearing some edited hex layers and tones, look at the downloads section, there are quite a few by Mike martin and in the user area. I uploaded a few attempts at duplicating some CZ sounds I recalled from my CZ synth days, and an acoustic piano using the "early reflections" DSP which brought out the "presence" of the piano IMO. And in another post-you described having OS version 1.15 from the factory-updating to 1.16 fixes a bug-the only one I've ever found-in the drum editing mode. I discovered that if i edited a drumkit, then used it to record with the song recorder/mixer-it created a very odd DSP type of effect-as if i had used an LFO or somehting-made the kit unusable, but only when I recorded it, it was not evident when I played the kit live from the keys, very unusual bug. You might never notice it unless you edit a drumkit but 1.16 fixed this-which also proves Casio pays attention here if you discover something isn't right-I found that to be very helpful-many manufacturers do not do that. 

 

One other tidbit of info-when you download other's user rhythms, or edit and save your own-the PX saves in AC7 format-similar to several other Casios. but it also will load and play the older Casio rhythm format files labeled CKF. I have quite a few of those in the user area for the PX560-because I use those rhythms in an older PX575 too-another pretty deep older Casio. these are pretty complex, you may not like the styles-but you might be interested to hear how powerful the PX560 is even just as an auto-accompaniment 'board. and the support here from other users is fantastic-the only other group i can compare in terms of moderators and spot-on tech help (aside from the Casio Faceook pages) is Yamaha UK for Yamaha.

[Casiofun]

I used to own a PX575 and thought that was a killer board. The PX560 is light years ahead of it. Surprised it does not have 4 variations like the MZX and CTX boards but it still is amazing. Hope to buy a used one someday.

[Jokeyman123]

Sure it is-but not completely outdated by some of the newer boards-large screen with alot of info-can read and map samples from wav files (I've created a few), intefaces with IDES 4.0-which unlike later versions of IDES software, is a complete editor/full DSP and other global settings and leslie settings-virtual drawbars, fast/slow settings and percussion. not shabby for an older Casio-and the key action still feels quite nice-I switch back and forth alot between the 2. Much more depth to the acoustic pianos and organs on the PX560 but like some who kept their MZ-2000 Casios, even  with the PX560 and XW-P1, I find it hard to give this old Casio up. Good thing I have the room for all these 88-key monsters, but since the Casio 88-keys were so upfront about reducing the weight-even the PX575 is relatively lightweight compared to say an 88-key Triton, Trinity or Yamaha MO or Motif. Heavier than the PX560 by about 6 pounds or so-but still pretty transportable locally. The depth of the acoustic piano tones and the hex layers alone on the 560 will keep me busy for a long time-classical repertoire sounds amazing on the PX560. I have 2 32GB Sandisk thumb drives I use with the PX560-can easily hold over a thousand midi and Casio song recorder songs, tones, hex layers, registrations everything except for recordings using the audio recorder take up very little room on the drive. 

[Joe Muscara]

15 hours ago, Casiofun said:

I used to own a PX575 and thought that was a killer board. The PX560 is light years ahead of it. Surprised it does not have 4 variations like the MZX and CTX boards but it still is amazing. Hope to buy a used one someday.

Sure it does. The PX-360 and CGP-700 are similar though generally lesser models. The PX-160 and PX-860 also came out around the same time, but they both lack the color touch screen and number of sounds and programmability. All five models have the same action, and all but the PX-860 can use the SP-33 3-pedal system (the PX-860 comes with the cabinet and three-pedal system as part of that).