Casio PX750 Privia Digital Piano-Recommended

UPDATED REVIEW – February 22, 2015 – Casio Privia PX750 Digital Piano – This model is now discontinued and replaced by the new PX760 – Go to the following link to read about the brand new PX760 and why it is a better instrument in a few important ways and worth getting over the discontinued PX750: Casio PX760 review

Previous review of the PX750: I recommend the Casio Privia PX750 digital piano ($799 internet discount price which includes the furniture stand and 3 pedals) because it offers a surprisingly realistic upright piano playing experience in a very low price range for both key action movement, acoustic piano tone realism, and pedaling in a sleek compact furniture style cabinet (with a metal sliding key cover) available in satin black, satin oak brown, & satin white finishes.
 

Casio PX750 black

Overall, the PX750 is the same piano as the PX150 portable model as far as key action and functions except that the PX750 projects the piano sound in a much better way through upgraded speakers producing a fuller, more resonate piano tone. Also, the PX750 has a more elegant compact furniture style cabinet with a sliding metal key cover (none on the portable models) which helps protect the key mechanism from dust & dirt, and comes with the matching stand and 3-pedal unit as opposed to it being optional. The PX750 is fairly lightweight with stand and pedals (only 71lbs), and the piano itself can be detached from the stand & pedals for easy moving. A couple of other things worth noting about this model as compared with portable digital pianos is the fact that there is room on top of the piano (because of its design) to put things on like music or other items. This is because the speakers are underneath the piano facing forward as opposed to being on top of the piano as they are in the portable models. The piano top itself is also taller than the portables which allows for front facing controls on the control panel (see pictures) which are convenient to use as opposed to the portables which are not built in that way. So really there is a lot to like about this model as opposed to any of the more basic portable pianos including the Casio PX150, Yamaha P105, and others like them, and the PX750 is only slightly more money.

The Casio company itself is based in Tokyo, Japan (left pic) and has been producing digital pianos and musical instruments including digital keyboards, synthesizers, pianos, guitars, and other sophisticated musical instruments for over 30 years, which is a long time in my opinion. They are obviously also well known for their keyboards, watches, digital cameras, calculators, and hundreds of other digital products so technology is not new to them. Casio is generally thought of as a company that gives you a lot of “bang for the buck” in the lower price ranges and it’s certainly true for the PX750 in my opinion as compared to any other brand in this price range. By the way, all Casio digital pianos come with a long 3 year parts and labor factory warranty, and are fairly reliable based on my personal experience as well as other people I know who own Casio pianos, so there is little reason to buy extended warranties for these pianos.

PX750

I have played the PX750 many times and I like the way the PX750 plays and sounds. It has 18 instrument tones, five of which are various acoustic piano sounds which is one of the most important features to have on a digital piano. The other sounds are a mix of strings, organs, harpsicord, and electric pianos. Those particular instrument sounds are just average and don’t really sound like those actual instruments. However, a good variety of acoustic piano tones allows you to play and reproduce different types of piano music including classical, jazz, pop, country, etc. There are a few digital pianos from other brands available in lower prices ranges including the Yamaha, but they typically have only two acoustic piano sounds. So having five of them on the Casio is very good. The PX750 has 128-note polyphony as opposed to 64 notes in many other digital pianos in this price range and that allows the player to play more complex music or have two sounds layered together with no notes dropping out because of lack of polyphony processing power. It’s generally always good to get more polyphony rather than less and having more polyphony also helps with pedal sustain ability when sustaining multiple notes on the
keys. Playing the pedals is a very important aspect of piano playing
and this would include having good pedal sustain instead of just on & off sustain as is in other digital pianos and keyboards. The more realistic pedal sustain reproduction is also known as “half-pedaling,” and this Casio PX750 has that feature which is important as your playing skill level increases. All regular acoustic pianos have a “gradual or incremental sustain” triggered by the right pedal, so getting “half-pedal” sustain on your digital piano is a very good thing.

As far as key action movement and dynamic response goes, the PX750 is surprisingly realistic (feels pretty much like an upright piano) for its low price and I was impressed when I played it especially in this lower price range. Key action is always the number one concern of piano teachers and those people that can play piano at higher skill levels. People always ask me “does this digital piano feel and respond like a real acoustic piano?” My answer is always that most brands and models of real acoustic pianos feel and play differently from each other including uprights & grands. There are different price ranges and qualities just like in anything you can buy, so the PX750 is not going to be replacing a Steinway grand piano anytime soon! However, for its price range it is an exceptional piano in being able to get close to an acoustic piano playing experience with proper tonal dynamics, smooth volume response, and fairly good decay and attack times (this means what a piano sounds like when you first press the key down and then release it while holding the damper sustain pedal).

PX750 satin white

As far as the piano keys themselves go, the better digital manufacturers have come out with a new synthetic “ivory feel keytop” on many digital pianos which is a new material on top of the white keys that tries to reproduce the original real ivory keys that used to be on most acoustic pianos many years ago until it became illegal to use elephant ivory. The ivory substance provided a better playing experience for most people because it absorbed sweat your fingers would produce while playing the keys and this material also provided a smoother key surface as well. Also, the black key tops were made of ebony (have you heard the term ebony & ivory?) so the black keys also had a better playing surface. To get these new keytops instead of the regular plastic ones, you would need to spend more money on other brands to get it on digital pianos these days. Beyond that, this new material is not the same on different piano brands because some are noticeably better than others. Casio has added a proprietary synthetic ebony and ivory to their keys that I do like, but it does take a bit of getting used to for some people. 

Beyond the piano playing experience, having some useful digital features in the piano that can help with music education and/or playing skills, etc, is always welcome as far as I’m concerned. As a piano teacher & musician I enjoy having these things on my digital pianos and like to see students and recreational piano players get them too. The PX750 allows for layering two sounds together like acoustic piano and string violins etc, electronically splitting the keyboard into 2 equal parts for duet play for teaching and learning, or to put a different sound on the left hand and a different sound on the right hand which is lots of fun. The PX750 also has a USB MIDI “plug & play” connection to computer or iPad device which is very useful for interactive play and learning and there are super cool iPad/tablet apps out there to take advantage of this new technology as well as great piano music programs for laptop computers so that you can have a fun interactive time in learning, composing, on screen notation & music creation. The PX750 also has other useful features such as a built in electronic metronome for timing, 2 headphone jacks for private playing, touch response adjustments for the reaction of the key volume to your touch, special reverb echo effects, and a classical music library for playalong. To use some of these extra functions, you need to look at a operational menu in the owners manual because there is no display screen on the piano, but this is true for the other name brand digital pianos in this price range.

PX750 with key cover closed

Overall for the money, the Casio PX750 is by far the best furniture style digital piano out there under $800 that reproduces the piano playing experience in a way that makes it seem real…and that’s what it’s all about. Is this piano a concert grand or a big upright piano?…no…not even close and you shouldn’t expect that. Although the PX750 piano is lightweight and the top can come off the stand, it is not meant to be portable to be played apart from the stand & pedals. So if you want to take it places, then you should look at the portable PX150 version instead, or another brand & model of portable piano.
 

Casio PX780

There is also a better Casio piano in a slightly higher price range with built-in digital educational technology and LCD user display screen to help with “learning and playing fun” and it has some very cool added features on it along with the same piano key action & piano realism of the Casio PX750. That model is called the PX780 (above left pic) with an internet discount price of $999, and it also sounds much bigger & fuller than the PX750 because of its 40 watt 4-speaker internal sound system as compared to 16 watts and 2 speakers in the PX750. The PX780 is my pick for “best bang for the buck” of any new digital piano selling for under $1000. You can find more info on this model by reading my review: Casio PX780 Review

PX750

The only other brand out there in this price range with a furniture style cabinet I would recommend in a lower price range is Yamaha, but as of right now their lowest price cabinet piano is the YDP142 ($1099 internet price) and it doesn’t come close to the Casio PX750/PX760 or the PX780 in terms of piano realism and features. When you add up its 128-note polyphony, upright key graduated hammer key action, synthetic ivory & ebony key tops, “half-pedal” sustain feature, and front facing panel controls, as well as USB to iPad/computer output, you get a lot for a small price. However, once you get above the $1000 price range there are certainly more options out there (like Roland & Kawai). The Yamaha YDP142 is a nice instrument but it’s the same price as the brand new upgraded Casio PX860 ($1099 internet price), and the Casio PX860 is substantially upgraded over the Casio PX750 and the Yamaha. For now, the Privia PX750 (now replaced by the new PX760) or PX780 would be my choice for contemporary cabinet pianos in the lower price range under $1000. But for slightly more money the new top of the line Casio Privia PX860 is also an impressive instrument and a big upgrade over the PX750 as I just mentioned. Go here for the PX860 review: Casio PX860 review

If you want more info on these and other pianos and lower prices than internet or store discounts, please email me at tim@azpianowholesale.com or call me direct at 602-571-1864.