XpoiZone Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Hello all. I have heard very nice things about the Casio Forums and it's members. Right now, I am looking forward to some advice. I am an experienced keyboardist. I have been playing for quite a while, and have gigged a lot and participated in many school competitions with my band. School ended last year and right now I'm almost halfway through university. I no longer need an ultra light, cheap keyboard I can toss around and gig with because I plan to play and make music at home when I'm free. Now, I have never owned an 88 key weighted, hammer action keyboard. Mostly because I quickly transitioned away from traditional piano playing to progressive metal/rock and electronic music. If I were to describe the kind of music I play I'd immediately refer to Dream Theater and Liquid Tension Experiment (I am a big fan of Jordan Rudess). Thus I stuck to my 61 key synthesizers/arrangers which did work well for my purpose. I have a budget of up to $1000 and after months of research and testing at stores, I am as confused as I was the day I started out. As of now I have no master keyboard - only a powerful PC and some desk space. I also have a laptop if I ever need to take my keyboard out and jam with someone. I have zeroed in on the following possibilities (in no particular order): 1.) Korg Krome 61: This is a board I've had my eyes on since a friend of mine showed it to me during my senior year of high school. A lovely sounding workstation which has an amazing joystick controller. And though it's joystick, touchscreen and exterior build quality is superb, it's keybed/key action are equally terrible. Why Korg would do such a thing is beyond me, but I still consider this workstation today because of the vast amount of in built sounds it offers. And I can get all the aggressive progressive rock leads I want for it because the community has already come up with them. 2.) Yamaha MOXF6: Another quality product from Yamaha. This time they outdid themselves, because the MOXF6 is almost a full blown motif!!! The key action is also better than Korg's. However, I didn't enjoy it's interface, tiny screen and standard pitch/mod wheel combo which isn't great at modifying most lead sounds in real time. The sound quality was better than the Krome though, and I liked it's basic sampling capabilities. 3.) Arturia Keylab 88: This thing costs $200-300 less than the two above, and I get 88 keys! The keybed is the FATAR TP-100LR which is quite decent as well. I also get analog lab which contains a ton of synth power. Downside is that the pitch bend/mod wheels are almost unusable given their position and size, and the fact that I'll have to lug a laptop around wherever I want to use it because it's a controller. 4.) Casio Privia PX-5s: I put this one last so you could read the others first beforehand. This is the most balanced option out of the 4 I am considering. The keys are better than the Keylab, I already have a bunch of pre-loaded sounds to play with, and it has great synthesizing power. Sadly when I tried it out at the store I couldn't navigate through the interface even if my life depended on it. Extremely cumbersome and non intuitive...I didn't even play a sound after testing the piano because I had no idea how to!!! Because of this I have no idea what I can do with this keyboard.Can the Privia ever sound like this?: Because these sounds are something I definitely need. And I can get them on the Krome for free, I can get them on the MOXF for $30 and I can synthesize them on analog lab with minimal effort but I have no idea whether the Privia can do so. I seek your help here. The lure of 88 weighted keys and great value for money has made me turn to the Privia. And this isn't the first time. Back when I was playing only the piano, I almost ended up with a PX-150. I ended up with another 61 key keyboard instead because I took a different musical route. I'm looking for some unbiased opinions! Thank you all!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XpoiZone Posted December 23, 2014 Author Share Posted December 23, 2014 Oh, and just for fun I came up with a black/red color scheme that would make the px-5s look cooler (for me ) http://imgur.com/a/cVRcd#0 (click to enlarge) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XW-Addict Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Oh, and just for fun I came up with a black/red color scheme that would make the px-5s look cooler (for me ) http://imgur.com/a/cVRcd#0 (click to enlarge)Awmygawd I would immediately be sold for such coloring scheme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XpoiZone Posted December 23, 2014 Author Share Posted December 23, 2014 Awmygawd I would immediately be sold for such coloring scheme. Nice to know you like it, but I kinda want you to answer the main post as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Muscara Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 The interface is simple once you know one basic thing. To navigate through the sounds, use the Stage Setting buttons on the right. Ignore the tone buttons to the left for now. You can adjust parameters of the Stage Settings with the knobs and sliders on the far left, and for most Stage Settings, they adjust the same things. Also, in each Bank, slot 0 is acoustic piano, 1 is a tine electric piano, 2 is a reed electric piano, 5 is an organ, and I don't recall the rest at the moment. IOW, 0-0 is an acoustic piano, as is 1-0, 2-0, etc. Hold down the Bank button and press one of the ten SS buttons to jump to that numbered bank. Does that help? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Choppin Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Hello, I imagine the synth sound(s) in the video can be emulated or at least gotten close to in the PX-5s. However, the playing style would be challenging as there is no Monophonic mode on the PX-5s. Unless your technique was dead on, the tricks and smoothness would be hard to reproduce. There is portamento and pitch bend and modulation; but no mono mode. As far as the interface, you have to understand that CASIO's approach may be a little different than what you are used to. The PX-5s is built around what is called a "stage setting." Elaborating a little on what Joe had said, a stage setting is a recallable keyboard state that contains the tones (synth sounds), volumes, effects, program changes, controls, layers, keyboard splits, arpeggios, phrases, and pedal configurations. There are 100 recallable locations so there's plenty of room to store your performance setups for various songs. Each stage setting is made up of 4 zones and each zone can be assigned it's own tone, layer, and control configuration. A hex tone is a single tone that can be made up of up to 6 individual tones thus allowing a stage setting to have a maximum layer potential of up to 14 tones. On the right side of the display is the stage setting selection control. This is where you switch to your individual stage settings that are setup however you want (or use the defaults). You can switch to any of 100 by pressing the bank button and then the 2 digit number of the stage setting (00-99). On the left hand side of the display are the individual Tone banks. A tone is the actual synth sound. These controls are used to quickly load in a new tone on the current stage setting into one of the zones. Perhaps the stage setting you are using has an electric piano, but for the particular song you are playing, you want something a little different without switching to a new stage setting. Use the tone selections for this to switch to a new sound on the fly without disrupting or changing your keyboard setup. It takes a little getting use to, but once you get the concept, you'll wonder why you thought it was hard. It does get deeper when you get into the programming. You can of course create your own sounds and modify existing ones and you can save tones that are exclusive to the stage setting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XW-Addict Posted December 24, 2014 Share Posted December 24, 2014 Nice to know you like it, but I kinda want you to answer the main post as well Mkay to be blunt based on what you require it seems you need quick access to sounds no treble, The only question remains which of those gives you quick access to the sounds you need. And the video really narrows you're choice so it probably seems you need either a Krome or MoxF. And if you down to programming you're own in need of monophonic lead sounds you could go for an XW-P1 also we have an community that provide knowledge how to program lead , vintage leads and any other sounds this way you're budget leaves enough to acquire an Arturia also one for the road the other for home.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Saucier Posted December 24, 2014 Share Posted December 24, 2014 You can strike one worry off of your list. Learning how to use the PX-5s is made easy by an enormous amount of online support. More for the PX-5s than any other model. As far as your video and can the PX-5s sound like that? NO. The PX-5s has polyphonic portamento. It would be difficult to pull of the mono leads heard in that video. For those sounds you would might want to look at an XW-P1 or XW-G1. Also, the PX-5s is not great at being nasty sounding. It's an incredibly smooth and rich sounding synth. It greatest strength is in pads and arpeggiated soundscapes. Great for smooth leads. It is, afterall, designed to be stage piano. Most stage piano's never dreamed of being a synth as well. As far as live sound shaping control...the 6 sliders and 4 knobs and 2 pedals are fully programmable. The live sound shaping possibilities are deep. If you end up at a PX-5s again to test it, press the bank button and press 7 twice. This will take you to stage setting 7-7 polysynth. Start playing and tweaking all knobs and sliders. This will give you an idea of control possibilities. Then you can press bank again and input other numbers to try other stage settings. The 100 stage settings are in 10 banks. 0-0 thru 9-9. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted December 24, 2014 Share Posted December 24, 2014 Get the Mo 6X(Not trying to be to harsh, just a sugestion)If you want to Dream T. , then you want a Krog X.JR used an Krog Osa.. for years and it worked fine for what you need.Save your beer money.Larry 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Display Name Posted December 25, 2014 Share Posted December 25, 2014 You will learn navigation of the PX-5S much quicker than you think. It's deep, but all very logical and easy to get around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XpoiZone Posted December 25, 2014 Author Share Posted December 25, 2014 Thank you all for your suggestions. Apparently I came across this lovely offer in a boxing day flyer (I'm Canadian). What do you think about this? It'll cost me around $1300 (CAD) Also, the Yamaha MOXF6 is on sale for $999, and the XW-series was on sale as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cirores Posted December 26, 2014 Share Posted December 26, 2014 I agree with bradmz. The px5s is a really unique hybrid between synth and stage piano, but most users are going to find its prime use as a lightweight gigging piano with the extra sounds/tweakability as the proverbial "icing on the cake." Given time, you could probably make the px5s a prog rockers dream come true, but any of the keyboards you mentioned having an interest in, probably have sounds fairly close to what you are looking for without doing any serious editing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XpoiZone Posted December 26, 2014 Author Share Posted December 26, 2014 So, is this bank of synth sounds any similar to the ones in the video I posted above? http://www.casiomusicforums.com/index.php?/files/file/519-px-5s-xtreme-synth-bank/ Can the PX-5s emulate wah-wah on a lead? I don't really mind the absence of a mono mode, my older keyboard never had it and I was fine playing all sorts of crazy solos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Saucier Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 I suggest listening to this collection of demo's to get an idea of where the PX-5s can go. https://soundcloud.com/casio-px-5s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shasari Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Oh, and just for fun I came up with a black/red color scheme that would make the px-5s look cooler (for me ) http://imgur.com/a/cVRcd#0 (click to enlarge) I like the red/black with the standard color keys - that's pretty sweet looking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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