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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 4,565
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He's a salesman masquerading as an independent advisor. Not an honourable business practice at all in my opinion.
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 854
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I don`t think that blog of Tim Praskins is bad no matter if he working for Casio or not. Tim Praskins still insists on Roland FP-30 being out of tune! It's a direct competitor of Casio PX-160 and Kawai ES-110 which he sells. On every site where talking about pianos we can find something that we don`t like. Are you believe in everything they told you ? I don`t know is Roland fp30 out of tune or not, I said that you can find lots of information about digital pianos. Most of them are ok. I dont think I wiil stop to read all reviews because of that. There are many reviews there in one place and I love to read them. I don`t create opinion based only on one site, in fact if is not in my hand I will not create at all but some presumptions. If he said that Roland fp30 is out of tune but he also said all other good things about it and this is the case here, I will investigate if I want this piano. If not, I don`t bother. You sound like you know that man personally and you know that he sells Casio and Kawai or you have presumptions ? I always try to avoid direct qualifications about something that is not in front of my eyes. We living in the world where people for top high end product said `incredible` and some of them `garbage` for the same product and who we believe ? If is out of reach, then we read more about it, right ? Just to be sure more. And for the record, I dont think that Roland fp30 is out of tune. This is my presumption. When I hear `out of tune` for me it means you can hear without doubt that is not in tune and then I imagine workers in Roland to first sampling beer and then piano hehe, I don`t think so.
Last edited by slobajudge; 08/24/17 09:30 AM.
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Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 52
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You sound like you know that man personally and you know that he sells Casio and Kawai or you have presumptions ? It's stated on his main page - "Arizona Piano Wholesale. We specialize in Digital Pianos and will help you get the right one for LOWER PRICES than internet, Amazon, store, or bundle pricing." UPD Here's the information about Arizona Piano Wholesale. https://bizstanding.com/directory/AZ/AR/1299/Arizona Piano Wholesale also is in Kawai dealer list: http://www.kawaius.com/dealer_locator/pro_locator.htmlAnd here it is in Casio dealers list http://www.casiomusicgear.com/where-to-buy
Last edited by JoniD; 08/24/17 02:02 PM.
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 854
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Oh right JoniD, you won, now we find that what are we going to do with iiiiit ? Little joke, don`t be angry, can`t resist, sorry.
Last edited by slobajudge; 08/24/17 09:50 AM.
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 14,439
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
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Precisely. He's a salesman masquerading as an independent advisor. Not an honourable business practice at all in my opinion.
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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 121
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In this day of fake news, one must expect non-vetted, non-peer reviewed sights to have a bias. Perhaps some of you have been a little harsh and some a little too supportive. But in Internet Land I have seen much worse and some better sites. We all vote with our money and in the end that really says what you think about a product or site. As far as Casio goes, Show me a machine at even twice the price of a PX-5s that can do what it can do. Yes the 560 has a nice screen, but I use mine in a "studio" and can see the Casio PC program on a 4K screen and TV - makes it pretty easy to use. Casio is a price/value leader and anyone who says differently is a sophist or ignorant IMHO.
In the end it takes work and luck to find the right piano, some get it right the first time and others search for longer, but in end it is a personal opinion (and including mine) these are only opinions and you should really in final analysis only care about how you feel and find enjoyment in the DP you buy. Why so much acrimony over a dealers web site? Buyer beware is even more important on the net.
Last edited by D7K; 08/24/17 10:50 AM.
Jeff Casio PX-5S Pro - my new adventure Yamaha p105 - gone but not forgotten
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Joined: May 2016
Posts: 2,430
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I read Praskins' reviews about middle-to-high-end digital pianos a couple years ago, when I was choosing one for myself for practicing silently. And, to be honest, I noticed no bias. His reviews were helpful enough, very detailed, his recommendations were well explained, and his conclusions about action and sound were more or less close to mine. I wrote a letter to him with a small question, but he never responded. Aside from this fact, I have nothing bad to say about him. Use the reviews as educational material (discarding the sales crap), not to make your purchasing decision, and you'll be fine. Never buy something as big as a digital piano blindly, based on reviews only. +1.
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Joined: Feb 2015
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As far as I remember he has provided instructions how to reproduce the issue... Have you tried to follow the instructions?
Kawai KDP-90
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Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 1,782
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I've bought 2 pianos/keyboards from Tim. First I bought a Kawai ES8. The price was better than anywhere else I looked and the transaction was smooth. I was so pleased with the service that I purchased a Casio MZ-X500 (for a friend), and again, the transaction was seamless.
I stumbled across Tim's website by searching around on the internet and found his reviews to be informative. I don't think he is disingenuous in anyway. As consumers we should be smart enough to make reasoned decisions based on accurate information that is readily available from numerous sources. I'm looking forward to purchasing a Kawai MP12 from Tim when they become available (unless I can find it cheaper somewhere else).
God Bless, David
Last edited by David B; 08/24/17 03:40 PM.
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As far as I remember he has provided instructions how to reproduce the issue... Have you tried to follow the instructions?
AFAIK apart from his words he hasn't yet provided any evidence.
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Joined: Feb 2015
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As far as I remember he has provided instructions how to reproduce the issue... Have you tried to follow the instructions?
AFAIK apart from his words he hasn't yet provided any evidence. I have found what I meant. Unfortunately not exact chords but more than nothing, and could be enough to find pieces where it could be an issue: "primarily about the relationship between notes in the bass section and the middle to upper octaves and it definitely sounds like there are note and chord combinations which are noticeably sharp on the upper notes of the chord combinations"
Kawai KDP-90
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I have found what I meant. Unfortunately not exact chords but more than nothing, and could be enough to find pieces where it could be an issue: "primarily about the relationship between notes in the bass section and the middle to upper octaves and it definitely sounds like there are note and chord combinations which are noticeably sharp on the upper notes of the chord combinations" This has been discussed many times - it's just stretch tuning. It doesn't mean that the piano is out of tune. UPD You can read about it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_acoustics#The_Railsback_curveand here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretched_tuning
Last edited by JoniD; 08/25/17 01:52 AM.
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Joined: Feb 2015
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I have found what I meant. Unfortunately not exact chords but more than nothing, and could be enough to find pieces where it could be an issue: "primarily about the relationship between notes in the bass section and the middle to upper octaves and it definitely sounds like there are note and chord combinations which are noticeably sharp on the upper notes of the chord combinations" This has been discussed many times - it's just stretch tuning. It doesn't mean that the piano is out of tune. UPD You can read about it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_acoustics#The_Railsback_curveand here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretched_tuningAs far as I understand, Tim Praskins says this stretch tuning is far too agressive on FP-30, especially on the mid-high and high octaves... and it can be clear for anyone reading his review. For me the reactions on his review sounds like a battle on terminology only -- and no ones seems to reply on his claim itself: far too aggressive stretch tuning. I would welcome "peer-reviews" on the claim itself and not only on the terminology.
Kawai KDP-90
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As far as I understand, Tim Praskins says this stretch tuning is far too agressive on FP-30, especially on the mid-high and high octaves... and it can be clear for anyone reading his review. For me the reactions on his review sounds like a battle on terminology only -- and no ones seems to reply on his claim itself: far too aggressive stretch tuning. I would welcome "peer-reviews" on the claim itself and not only on the terminology.
He's constantly changing the text - I've read many version of his article. First it was recommended, then suddenly it became out of tune and not recommended, then it became semi-recommended , later the text about overly done stretch tuning appeared and the piano got 'recommended' sign again. Anyway, no evidence that the tuning falls outside Railsback curve has been given. Roland's representative confirmed that the same tuning was used by Roland in their previous pianos. It might sound somewhat harsh with certain intervals to a person used to the equal tuning but many acoustic pianos has been tuned that way. A person with more than 40 years of experience should have known this. UPD The version of 2016, March 2nd had no claims about the piano being out of tune. It was added later. https://web.archive.org/web/20160302080226/https://azpianonews.blogspot.com/2016/01/Roland-FP30-REVIEW-Digital-Piano-Portable-lowest-price-piano-review.html Unfortunately, the span between snapshot is too large.
Last edited by JoniD; 08/25/17 05:39 AM.
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I have not heard about that confirmation -- and actually I could not find anything by searching the net. So you might know far more than most people on the internet.
Kawai KDP-90
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Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 12
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I used Tim's site extensively and e-mailed him a bunch when looking for pianos. He doesn't just push Casios. In general, if it's a Casio or an online product (doesn't matter if it's Kawai or Roland or Yamaha for that matter) he's able to source it and sell it. If it's an in person dealer only product then it's hit or miss. In our case he lined up a Roland dealer/distributor for us to buy from but they apparently got cold feet at the last minute.
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Joined: Jul 2017
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As for Casios there are Casios and there are Casios. If it were up to me, I might have gone with the Casio GP400, which uses hammer-sensor "hybrid" technology in the same way the Yamaha hybrids do.
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Joined: Sep 2015
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Tim Praskins runs his blog, in my humble opinion, very professionally. I believe he is an expert, and unbiased.
My experience with him, his son, and his blog thru a couple of phone calls helped me obtain a Casio PX360 at a very reasonable price. This keyboard was picked a year and a half ago over the Kawai ES100, MP7, Yammer 255, and one or two others. This was done under his guidance. In no way did he push, persuade, or speak poorly of any other instrument.
Praskins son Eric answered my questions, focused my search from ES7's and MP7's to $800 to 1200 dollar instruments, and encouraged me to play a few at local music stores including a Yamaha dealer. I was very appreciative of his advice, blog, and advice.
As far as the casio, I love it!!! Is it an MP11, ES8, Clav 585? No. What it is is a very, very good digital piano. I needed headphone capable, OK sound and better then average action with plug and play capabilities for VST and modelled sounds, and ease of use. It fit the bill. And yes, I was very concerned about Casio name as I did not know they made high end musical instruments when I began my search for a digital piano. They do.
Pianomanchuck also helped
Thanks to both Praskins and pianomanchuck,
PS Next instrument will prob be ES8 or family in another year or two.
Too many sheet music titles I'll never play, but I keep adding to the pile!
Formal lessons (6 Ft SCHIMMEL Grand), intermediate Cable Nelson Vertical (CN 116), Casio PX360, Technics, Pianoteq
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