The PX-560 is not a PX-5s with a touchscreen and speakers

[AlenK]

I was motivated to start this topic by a review of the PX-560 I recently watched on YouTube. The review was posted by Glynn Masterman, who runs a YouTube channel called Gearfacts. Since Glynn has apparently posted more than 1,600 reviews of music products on the Gearfacts YouTube channel, chances are good that you have watched at least one of them. Although Glynn reviews many brands and more than just keyboards, over the years he has reviewed many Casio keyboards. AFAIK, his review of the PX-560 (here) is his latest Casio review. It was posted relatively recently, on December 30, 2022, despite the instrument being released way back in late 2015.  

 

Glynn has also reviewed the PX-5s; the first time five years ago and again three years ago. According to his statements in those videos, he was very impressed by the instrument at the time. In his review of the PX-560, Glynn is not nearly as glowing. To quote from the video’s description,

 

“Every specification of this workstation piano is excellent. Its capabilities are immense, yet every sound seems bland and familiar. Where is the magic of the PX-5S?”

 

In the video itself he furthermore complains of the “clunky” keys and essentially dismisses the arpeggios, which in a reply to me in the comments section he further describes as “linear” and “uninspiring.”  This critique was mystifying to me since the PX-5s and the PX-560 share the same synthesis engine, most of the same samples and tones (the PX-560 has additional ones), a similar effects engine (differing only in the number of tones that can simultaneously use effects) and the same physical keyboard. The PX-560’s arpeggiator features exactly the same preset arpeggios but of course can’t be programmed, can't control parameters (like filter cutoff) and there is only one rather than four. Not to minimize those differences, which can be important depending on your needs, but they shouldn't in my opinion cause the PX-560 to get a poorer "score" on a review that fairly considers the target market for the product.  (Not that Glynn gives out scores or actually rates products.)  
 

I believe the main reason that Glynn was not impressed with the PX-560 is that he was actually expecting a PX-5s with a touchscreen and speakers. He says almost as much at the end of the review (mentioning the speakers but not the touchscreen). However, Casio from the beginning has been quite clear that these are very different instruments. Most reviewers and owners of the PX-560 understand this. 
 

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by AlenK
Clarification

[Jokeyman123]

I take all of these reviewers with a "grain of salt". "One man's meat is another man's poison".....Lucretius, 1st Century AD

 

This is why here at least (and every other user group I'm in) I try to avoid my "opinions". Just the facts, Jack-is what I look for. 

 

AlenK I value your knowledge and descriptions. Why I stay in this group, I try to pass on/share what I know and learn from others, not what I or they think! As one of my less tactful friends once said to me......"Opinions are like a*****s, everyone may have one, but they might not want to see yours!!!  (excuse the vulgarity but i am trying to be accurate.😉 I am also so grateful for the moderators here are who they are and value what they do....worth alot to me who had to be homebound so much through the pandemic, and for other reasons. I want to be part of the solution, not the problem, here and elsewhere if i can.

 

I have tried to keep the flaming arguments out of here-so this user group stays a valuable source of accurate information-and look at what you've done for just the one keyboard-this is what i look for. Knowledge-and the application of knowledge is power, not opinions. It is so difficult now-with so few places to sit and play, audition instruments that the technology of online reviews which has become so prevalent-can sometimes be so worthless. when I hand-picked my first set of Zildjian cymbals as a young drummer starting out professionally-I was able to go to 4-5 different stores-play every cymbal they had, and decide for myself what sounded right-to me. Same with my first digital piano years ago-I spent all day in a piano store trying-every single piano they had!!!! I drove the salespeople insane-but they enjoyed my playing a least-and I ended up with a Kurzweil RG200-based on the sound and action which to me, had a beautiful ringing quality for classical and jazz piano.  Now, so help me the more I listen to these reviews the more I'm convinced, many of these reviews and reviewers are just opinions and have very little validity to me-Pianoman Chuck is not one of these. I've learned more from his reviews than just about anybody else. Why-because he states facts and accurate-unbiased-descriptions of what an instrument's capabilities are, or can be in the right hands. And lately I've been listening to an Italian musician-not for his opinions-but because he plays so beautifully-so I can really hear what the instruments he plays sound like in the hands of one who knows how to do this. Unfortunately, it is all in italian, but has subtitles! Wonderful or as the Italians say...Bellissimo!

[Mike Martin]

No one from Casio has ever said the PX-560 was a PX-5S with a touch screen. We've been very clear about the differences from the beginning. The PX-560 brings the same sound technology but the ways you can use it are different. The PX-560 is more flexible in some ways, but the PX-5S is more flexible in others. 

[Jokeyman123]

Absolutely, the designs are obviously that way (different) for a reason. Thank you Mike.

[AlenK]

Well, now that Mike Martin has weighed in, perhaps we should address one of those two differences that Glynn apparently believed were the only important ones between the PX-560 and the PX-5s, namely the LCD touchscreen.
 

What bliss when I saw such a thing appear on several models of Casio keyboards, first the PX-560, the PX-360 and the CGP-700 (all based on the same “chassis”) and then the MZ-X500 and MZ-X300 (both of the latter based on another common “chassis”). 

 

How disappointing to NOT see it on another Casio keyboard released since. Now, there’s certainly nothing wrong with the non-LCD-touchscreen user interfaces of Casio’s current and recently retired keyboards. (For example, I bought an LK-S250 last year for my then 7-year old granddaughter and thought the interface very well designed and easy to use.) But an LCD touch-screen integrated into a keyboard brings ease-of-use to a whole other level and is especially well suited to keyboard beginners.
 

Please, Casio, bring the LCD touchscreen back! I won’t personally ask for another professional stage-and-studio  instrument for it to appear on (that ship has already sailed). But surely there is room in the model line up for a new home instrument that has one, at least at the top end. No, I won’t be personally buying such an instrument but I am sure that there are many other potential customers.