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Wow, thanks! I don't read Japanese either but it looks like one of the pix is about longer attack sampling before decay looping, another is about release velocity influencing damping time, and another about FIR comb filtering associated with stereo mic positioning, yet another about 16k velocities vs. 127.

Mike, could you comment on this? Why is it that the Japanese audience gets more technical info than the English speaking audience?

I was wondering the same thing....

K.

Are people on these shores more dependent on marketers? That is, we need them to tell us what to buy? It feels that way sometimes.

Completely baseless speculation by the way. I've never lived in Japan so I don't know what the media or culture is like.

Things have to be translated, then proof read, checked for trademark clashes, etc. Takes time and money. Someone has to be first then second then ... They should probably choose Mandarin then Spanish before English. The world is larger than you think

This is my feeling too (that it's marketing at work).

They're showing multiple waveform views of note decays and graphs of MIDI velocities - all they need is a phase scope video and they'd be in Roland SN descriptive territory. I'm not accustomed to this, though I certainly applaud it and hope they translate it for wider dissemination.

In the end it all comes downto how it sounds. To start with; if they pick an inferior piano as source , or don't record it well - no processing afterward can save it. The basic piano sound must also match your taste. One likes the Steinway, the other swears with Bosendorfer or Fazioli . Same as with digitals - longer decays and better processing is a good thing , but doesnt tell the whole story and is sometime more of a gimmick to cover up a base that is already shaky to start with. I don't specifically mean Casio in that respect, but more in general - when people start to show to many fancy graphs and pics , I get suspicious ;-) give us some more sounds demo's that are convincing - its the ears that will decide...

On Casio's older keyboards, they call the key action 'Tri-Sensor 88-note scaled hammer action keyboard', which sound more like a description than any kind of branding. But on Casio International's site, they have actually labelled the new key action as 'Tri-sensor Scaled Hammer Action Keyboard II'. You can find more info on it here:
http://www.casio-intl.com/asia-mea/en/emi/privia/info/#hummer

It is nice that all the pianos in the same series will share the same key action so you are choosing based on the added features you need and don't have to worry about basic compromises in the lower models. While I am interested in the PX-150, I do wonder when will the AP-250 be announced for the US since I don't need portability and I do like having a cover. And a Privia + stand + bench will cost close to that of the equivalent Celviano anyway.

Just found this video on the new Celviano pianos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4-FpJ5unnE

That's in Post #1939385

Given that the PX-130 was announced in Aug 11, 2009 and the matching AP-220 in Jan 14, 2010, I guessing I'll have to wait until early 2013 for the PX-150's matching AP-250.

The specs for the PX-150 / AP-250 says it only has an USB-host port and not an USB-device port, so no playback of music from a flash drive. Can I connect a Casio to a PC laptop and get it to play/pass a midi file through to the keyboard's synthesizer?

The question was already asked before, but there've been no replies;
Given that the PX-350 still has 250 sample voices, is it reasonable to assume that with the exception of the new piano sounds, the other samples remain the same as those on the PX-330?

Based on the sound list for the PX-350, the non-piano sounds are not completely identical to either the PX-330 nor the PX-3.

http://support.casio.com/pdf/008/Web_PX350-E-1A.pdf

I'm going to be evil, and suggest that the extra PX-350 piano sounds are probably EQ/filter settings (over the PX-330) of the suggested new and improved main piano sound.

Just comparing PDFs (ie, no idea if the sounds themselves were altered):

+2 piano (2 of concert/studio/bright/dolce, as they probably just renamed the previous "variation" and "modern")
+2 ep/vibes/clavi (chorus ep, wah clavi - probably EQ again)
+1 organ (full drawbar (arabic organ renamed and moved here?))
+1 strings/synthpad (stereo strings 2)
-6 various (yang qin 2, suo na, pi pa 2, sarod, sarangi, arabic organ)
no change bass/guitar.
no change gm tones.

If you mean all the PX-350 AP voices are probably just EQ variations of a single sample set I wouldn't call that evil, just keeping one's expectations realistically in the basement. And spreading sample memory even thinner to support more than one base sample is generally a mistake in this backwards market.

Too bad you can't be arrested for breaking Moore's law.

Wow... I was going to buy a Celviano next week, but it seems I'm gonna wait for the new models.

The "record to WAV file" function is sure to become very useful for uploading clean-sounding videos to YouTube.

So, you have to try a "modeled" instrument, not one with "samples"...

The only digital that really has great sustain pedal decay and resonance (like an acoustic) would be the V-Piano, or, V-Piano Grand. And, you will have to shell out at least $6K to get one, as I did.

[Edited]

Heh, I wish I had $6k to spend! For now it will probably be a basic DP connected to an old laptop, linuxsampler and $25 worth of Sampletekk bosendorfer gigasampler files. It sounds quite ok really.

@Stevesie,

I am quite sure that your current solution is probably just fine, as what sounds "good" to the ear of the player is all that really matters anyway, plus a decent action.

I just bought Kawai's lowest end offering, the EP3, and I can truly say that I like the sounds and resonance (specifically, the longer sustain pedal decay) far better than the more expensive Casio AP-620.

The EP3 is very good, in its price range.

Just took a quick picture of a PX-150. The texture on the keys looks a bit exaggerated due to the lighting but it feels absolutely phenomenal (in my opinion).





We're shooting videos and recording audio demos this week and next so we should have those posted before the new models begin shipping.

Take care,