Skip to content

Thoughts after Sweetwater Visit

David Lai

kawafanboi I know your opinions, KFB, and I respect them. However, we have different use cases. For me, a powered speaker is more space saving, and I have less cables to work with, only my audio interface and laptop (source and preamp). Also, this setup is what studios use anyway, so all the better. And marketing does contribute to how to get the word out, but these studio monitors are not just advertising. Hope this was enlightening.


navindra

David Lai Do you prefer digital pianos over the Pearl River pianos then, if you had to choose?


David Lai

navindra If I choose, I'd prefer digitals for two reasons: 1 it's always in tune; 2 good digitals are just as good as acoustics, in my opinion.

My current practice setup is digital, FYI. I love an acoustic, but a university apartment doesn't allow it.


kawafanboi

David Lai

david, do you find acoustic pianos are just too loud ? after going digital, i play my acoustics less and less due to volume, you don't realize it until you get a digital, and it's NOT an assault on your ears every time.

i distinctly remember as a child, piano practice would seem ungodly painfully loud for the first 15 minutes, before you get used to it.


David Lai

kawafanboi No, I don't think acoustics are painfully loud. Yes, they are loud, but I guess I've gotten used to it. My main concern is the flexibility of such an instrument in modern day apartments. That's why I've gone digital with my setup.


navindra

David Lai Yes, I believe I've seen your setup with the VPC1 or something. It's very nice!

Do you have perfect pitch? If so, I can see how acoustic tuning variations over time could be bothersome.


David Lai

navindra Yes, I do have perfect pitch. It mostly is a blessing, but sometimes can also be not so much. 🙂


Matias

Nice report, thanks!


David Lai

Matias You're welcome. I thought I'd make the most out of it as I seldom get the chance to travel far because of my disability.


Johnstaf

David Lai Matias You're welcome. I thought I'd make the most out of it as I seldom get the chance to travel far because of my disability.

It's such a shame the world is the way it is. I have a friend who is a blind computer scientist. She has a brilliant mind, but so many ordinary everyday things are a struggle. She's a great musician too.


David Lai

Johnstaf Blindness is probably the most difficult disability out there in the world, I certainly feel it, especially when you're like me, having no light perception. The eyes are just… up there…


SouthPark

The amazing thing is that in many cases, where one sense is reduced, or not there, then other senses become stronger. In this case, hearing and possibly memory gets developed, and touch etc.

For music, even if we can 'hear' music in our minds if our actual hearing is not there ….. being able to hear … and hearing satisfactorily … definitely helps.


RIP

Thanks for the report/review @David Lai this is all very good to know!


David Lai

RIP Thank you for reading! A friend posted some videos of me playing, all clips. I was having fun with the internal sounds of the Yamaha P-525 and the Nord keyboards, among other things. Wish you could see them… 🙂


vagfilm

@David Lai May I ask you one thing? I was intrigued by your slightly favourable comment about the casio s7000 (apart from the absence of buttons). A few months ago I bought a casio s1100 because the action felt good enough to me as a beginner, and quite frankly I really don't mind the short pivot. But it does not have continuous pedalling (not that I really can use it). There is a casio s5000 that has the same action of the s7000 and is exactly of the same size of my s1100 and so fits well in my custom "cabinetry". How much did you appreciate that casio action?


David Lai

vagfilm Personally, I enjoy the action especially for fast passages, and even my friend who doesn't play the piano much understood me when I said that the action was "buttery smooth." So I think it's a good action, at least of the limited time I was able to have on it. I think the longer keys made it felt a bit more comfortable than the StudioLogic, but both left me good impressions after testing, all be it not exactly back to back. Hope this somewhat helps. 🙂


kawafanboi

i've said this for a long time, the pxs** actions feel fine. if you don't think about it, you can barely feel a difference in the key weight. that aspect has been over blown. the short pivot is only a big deal if you play higher up on the black keys, it feels really weird, but not so bad that you can't get around getting used to.

the comparison though is always well if something else with longer keys cost about the same, why pxs?😗


vagfilm

kawafanboi if something else with longer keys cost about the same, why pxs?

I have mentioned this before (even with pictures of how I integrated the slab into a bookshelf), but to be able to have my piano at an adequate height and still keep my bookshelf space, I need a piano that is less than 10cm to the top of the white keys. Not many fit this requirement: the pxs, fp90, fp60… There may be others that I have not measured (korg b2, studiologics…), but the majority of slabs are 12~15 cm in height…


David Lai

vagfilm Then I think from this standpoint, it might work for you. Unfortunately I didn't test any Rolands, not sure if they carried them there, at least I wasn't informed of their presence. If I was told, I would have at least tested out the FP60X and the FP90X, among other things.


jdg78

Re: Casio PX-S7000, I recently demoed this model and thought action felt quite decent - much better than some of the lower-tier Casios. However in comparison with the PHA-50 on the Roland FP90x and the TP400W on the Studiologic Numa X GT, the PX-S7000 exhibited more lateral movement within individual keys, as well as more bounce on the key return, which made it feel a bit less solid and stable to me. However, if those particular aspects don’t bother you so much, it is a nice feeling action.


« Previous Page Next Page »