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After reading so many positive reviews (i couldn't find a negative one regarding key action) i decided to buy it. Because what matters most to me is realistic piano like key action so if there are users of this piano here i want to ask two things. First what can you tell me about it's key action based on your experience. Second, because of the fact that i don't want to use onboard sounds when playing, i need to know whether or not this piano can act as a master midi controller via it's usb port to PC.

Thanks in advance

I have PX400 r, I liked it a lot when I bought it and it still is a good digital piano, but it has been discontinued now and I think you would be better off buying a newer model - PX110, 310 or 700. They have better piano sounds on board and the keyboard action is just as good, or better.

I have a PX400r as well and when I bought it, the key action felt pretty good and the sound was passable, but as my playing got more advanced I started to really dislike the action. I wanted to get a new keyboard, but I opted to buy a Yamaha Motif ES Rack sound module and now I use my PX400r as a MIDI controller for the rack unit. Well let me tell you, it wasn't the action of PX400r I hated, it was the SOUND. The piano sample on the Casio was so lackluster and non-dynamic that the keys just didn't respond well to ppp-fff playing--looking back, I realize now it's not necessarily the key action that is SO important, it's the expressiveness of the sample and how well they key action can implement the different velocity layers. After I hooked up the Yamaha rack to the PX400r, it honestly felt like I was playing a different keyboard. Technically speaking, the "feel" is exactly the same, but when played in conjuction with a more expressive and dynamic piano sample there is an honest difference since the keys are reacting to the different velocity layers in a better way; and the mind actually perceives the key action to "feel" better, too (at least in my opinion). As far as hooking it up to a computer, you can do that, but make sure you have a capable system or you'll run into latency issues (hit a key and it won't sound until a second later).

I know how to get around technical things very well so it won't be a problem.
As i said in my first post, i don't care about on board sounds because i'll use a software like ivory, akoustik piano etc. So if key action is good enough it is ok for me. In fact i would buy something like Yamaha S90ES or Roland RD-700SX but they are so expensive for my purpose. Also i believe that their prices are so high because of the quality of the onboard sounds. So if i buy either of them my money mostly will be spent on something i won't use (onboard sounds). It's a shame that there isn't any good midi controller for controlling velocity beautifully. I looked at lots of reviews for different midi controllers. All of them has bad reviews as much as good ones.

By the way, how come none of the casio sites i've looked at (including www.privia-instruments.com) never mentions model 555?

Have you ever checked out the CME UF88? It's a really great MIDI controller and the action pretty impressive. It's also one of the only controllers in that price range that offers aftertouch.

CME UF88 @ Sam-Ash

Yes, i've checked it too, not personally because it's not available in my country. Interesting thing is i've read lots of bad reviews regarding key action of CME UF88 (most of them says that it is worse than M-Audio Keystation 88 Pro which is terrible too according to most of the people) but you say it's impressive so it seems like expectations of people wildly differ. Thank you for the recommendation though.

Interesting, there are quite a bit of reviews I've read of people dumping their M-Audio boards for this one mainly for key action. My personal opinion of the CME UF88 is that its action is vastly superior to the lot of M-Audio products. And, about some opinions you'll come across... well they won't really matter to you until you can actually play the board and compare your opinion to theirs. I've had people say the PX400r was the greatest keyboard since sliced bread and that simply isn't true (sometimes opinions can be worthless)--and solely based on their opinion I can tell they have absolutely no business giving somebody advice about pro-audio equipment. In any event, Jana is right, if you're only going to use the board for MIDI, ALL of the privia pianos have MIDI outs, so you'd be better off buying a cheaper model like the PX100/110.

Well, the reason i asked for 400R is it's USB port. If it is just for song exchange, it's useless for my purposes so most logical choice would be buying 110 as you & jana recommended. But in USB drivers of casio(v.1.2) it says they've added midi over usb support so i just wanted to be sure whether it really works or not by querying an actual user of it.

By the way, don't get me wrong i didn't ignore your recommendation based on some anonymous reviews. I just can't find that keyboard here even if i like it thats all.

I've used the usb port on my 400R to control a soft-synth program before, it works. I prefer the MIDI out method, though.

Why do you prefer midi out? There shouldn't be any difference. I want USB because i don't have a midi connection equipment.

I don't know... even though USB works fine for controlling, I just use it to transfer MIDI files only--it's just my preference. You should be fine.

I am wondering about piano sound of Motif sound module. Geek in pink has my Privia sound - how does the best piano on the module compare to it?(my Privia PX700 piano sound I sent him was actually piano1 and 2 layered together)

Best price i could get for cheapest privia was 1100$ so i bought a Roland RD-300SX for 1600$

Dang! Where do you live? You could've sent me a check for $500 and I could've bought one and shipped it to you.

Turkey. It is like a joke. If i will pay 1000+ i'll get roland not casio that's for sure. Btw you can be sure that if i buy it from outside of my country when that piano came to the customs it'll at least double it's price for sure. It's actually the reason why prices are too high. Tax rates are ridiculously high here...

why don't you just get a MIDI Master controller instead, if you are not planning to use the on-board sound at all?

I've narrowed down my search to StudioLogic VMK-188 "Plus" and CME VF-8. They are both new and currently I can't get a hold of either one in the USA. (you might be able to get a hold of StudioLogic over there easier, as it is made in Italy)

One thing I've noticed with Yamaha and Casio (maybe even Roland)sdigital pianos is that the velociy does not cover the entire range. I've heard from many people saying their Yamaha and Casio does not do velocity level higher than 110 easily. My yamaha sort of acts this way as well. It does go up to 123, but I really have to hammer on it (which nobody plays that hard in real life). For regular playing I can only get it around 110.

Prices made me change my mind. People want a lot of money even for 2nd hand studiologics, i haven't seen a new one in the stores i've looked at. (There is no online music instruments store here like sweetwater, zzsounds etc and international sites don't send here because of the problems at customs) Also i couldn't find the distributor of studiologic here and there is a wild price difference of the same keyboard here if you buy it from it's distributor or other stores. CME distributor told me they don't have 88key controllers (i know CME itself have but distributor don't bring it only for special requests) and offered me M-Audio Keystation Pro 88 with a price a lot higher than the price actual distributor of the M-Audio gave me. I didn't exaggerate when i said it was like a joke
Anyway as a result, i said myself if i'll pay 1000$+ price range it's a wiser decision to buy a roland even if it has on board sounds because i tried it and liked it at the store.

I can rearrange the samples in my sampler according to velocitiy range of the keyboard that's won't be a big problem but i didn't try the midi connection via usb yet i connected and installed drivers correctly but i can't see the device in midi channels list.

Edit: I fixed the problem, it works now, i can achieve 127 velocity. it is hard to achive in normal touch setting and more achievable in light touch setting.