Casio PX S3100

[Biggles]

It has only been out for a few weeks and Jack Duxbury of Anderson’s has produced a great video.

Now the reviewer pianoforever trashed the action in a couple of his videos and whilst he is no doubt a great classical pianist in the video Jack has his own opinions which are well worth a look.

I have played the Casio S1000 and S3000 when I was looking for a DP. At the price point I was wanting to spend the action of the Roland FP30 was best, Yamaha P125 2nd and the Casio S1000 third with the Korg with their NH action miles away imo. Based on acoustic piano sounds the Yamaha suited my ears best so that is what I bought.

Casio sounds were pretty good and the CTX that I briefly had also had pretty good sounds at its price point.

At the price segment there are only three comparable models:-

Casio PX S3100
Yamaha DGX 670
Korg XE20

The features that set these apart are the range and number of onboard sounds and the Arranger features and Styles that they have.

Yes there are other DP’s with arranger features but these are more fixed home models and not the portable or semi portable that these three are.

Notice I use the term Arranger features, in a full on Arranger the Style play auto accompaniment (AA) has 3 Intros, 4 Variations, Fill, 3 Endings to choose from, yet with these DP’s they do not necessarily include these number of AA features.

Casio, small, light, acoustic piano quality sounds
Yamaha, large, heavy, quality of acoustic piano sounds
Korg, probably easier to use than the Yamaha, but that is all I can say, I do not like the action or Korg’s acoustic piano sounds

I must admit I am seriously considering buying one.

 

[happyrat1]

Do we really need a separate thread for every new board that's coming out this month?

Gary

 

[Biggles]

Yes

It is not as though there are that many, and members need not read any that are not of interest.

 

[Biggles]

So I have been researching for a couple of days now.

On paper my needs are simple:-

88 key (maybe 76)
Full arranger features
500+ onboard sounds
reasonable price
not to heavy

I do like the look of the Casio PX S 3100, but strong doubts exist. Yes there is the keybed feel which is not as good as Kawai, Yamaha or Roland. The sounds are pretty good for the price bracket.

The Arranger features are lacking, two variations just do not cut it nor does the ease or rather lack of it that exists in changing sounds on the fly.

There are a host of other limitations that seem to have rolled over from the previous 3000 model. Whilst I take his videos with a pinch of salt he does have a go at the features and OS of the 3000 and my research indicates that his comments are still valid.

So do watch all the reviews and try before you buy and if you try in store do read up the manual and take it with you. The OS is not user friendly.

 

[happyrat1]

If you weren't spending so much on your cars you'd be able to afford a Kronos

Gary

 

[Biggles]

True, but I have not spent on a car since 2016 so maybe its Nautilus time for me?

 

[happyrat1]

Ask your testicles.

"Do I need a new shiny piece of road rubber? Or do I want to captain the starship Enterprise?"

I asked MYSELF that question every time I bought a new piece of gear

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

BTW, the best argument I've seen yet for voting Enterprise

Gary

 

[3dc]

I do like the look of the Casio PX S 3100, but strong doubts exist. Yes there is the keybed feel which is not as good as Kawai, Yamaha or Roland. The sounds are pretty good for the price bracket.

As far as I know CASIO PX-S3100 is the only 88 key with this features at this price. Fortunately they have 2 years warranty in UK and EU so this should help. If you are not pianist then the key weight should not be a serious problem. Also I think they improved MIDI implementation but don't quote me on this.

I would not go for Yamaha DGX-670. Its a ton of an instrument and people report problems more often then I would like to see them. And its out of stock here in EU anyway.

I on the other hand can't decide between Yamaha MODX61, KORG Krome-88 EX, Roland RD-88 or wait for new more expensive models.

 

[happyrat1]

Why not sell BOTH kidneys and buy a Kronos?

I'm loving this thread.

It's a good thing for newbies to see BOTH ends of the rainbow.

Gary

 

[3dc]

Why not sell BOTH kidneys and buy a Kronos?

I have a PC loaded with high quality virtual instruments, synths and sound libraries. Why would I ever need an outdated Kronos?
I need something for fun not for music production.

 

[happyrat1]

What could possibly be more fun than a Fantom 8? ? You have to cough up THREE kidneys though

 

[Rayblewit]

It's a good thing for newbies

They will be overwhelmed, confused and terror stricken at the thought of buying a keyboard.

They had no idea that buying a keyboard would require the use of testicles and kidneys. As well needing to sell off a BMW or Audi.

Biggles and Rat . . You two are so cruel and callous.

R

 

[happyrat1]

 

[Biggles]

As far as I know CASIO PX-S3100 is the only 88 key with this features at this price. Fortunately they have 2 years warranty in UK and EU so this should help. If you are not pianist then the key weight should not be a serious problem. Also I think they improved MIDI implementation but don't quote me on this.

I would not go for Yamaha DGX-670. Its a ton of an instrument and people report problems more often then I would like to see them. And its out of stock here in EU anyway.

I on the other hand can't decide between Yamaha MODX61, KORG Krome-88 EX, Roland RD-88 or wait for new more expensive models.

The Casio, Korg XE and Yamaha DGX are similar in features, all have plenty of sounds, but all have cut down arranger features. I agree about the DGX its size and weight is a deal breaker for me.

My problem is that I want:-
88 key (maybe 76)
Full arranger features
500+ onboard sounds
reasonable price
not to heavy

It does not currently exist if I add a decent interface and a LCD display that is not a 90’s left over component

Well it does in a Korg Pa4X 76 but that is Pentium 4 style of keyboard mobo rather than current i9 or i7 and being 7 years old, no way am I spending on that, no matter how good it is and the last major update to its OS was in 2018.

Talk over on the Korg forum is that new products will be released in Q2 this year, not sure what is happening with Kronos but there is talk that it is out of production and it is just old stock that is being sold off, even if said stock is still in the factory.

Time will tell.

Now onto your dilema, you seem confused!

Yamaha MODX61, KORG Krome-88 EX, Roland RD-88 are not exactly directly comparable in that the RD88 is a Stage Piano where the other two are more workstations.

You probably have gathered by now that whilst I like Yamaha DP’s the rest of their kit leaves me cold. The MODX being super frozen and not in a cool chilled way more like a cold day in hell before I would buy one of these. Keybed, ugh, enough said, acoustic piano sounds are good, EP less so, brass damn I need my hearing tested James Last on a really bad day, so awful I cringe just thinking about the dross that was coming out of the PA when I played one in my local music store. Then there is the layer upon layer, upon layer, upon layer of menus. I want to play not to get RSI from twidding that damn magic knob and pushing buttons. So good luck with that @ £966.

Korg Krome EX, not played one, just read on the Korg forum that many buyers are a bit pi55ed that it is a cosmetic and minor tweak to the original. The 61 and 73 have semi weighted keys, now if the keybed is the same as the Pa1000 then that is pretty good which is more than I can say for the NH action of the Krome Ex 88. In my DP playing tests the order of hammer action that I found best were:-
Roland
Yamaha
Casio (yes despite the so called flawed S3000 action, its better than Korg’s)
Korg NH

So again good luck with your choice but at £1100 it is a lot of keyboard for the price.

Roland RD88, gets great reviews and the PHA 4 keybed is good. It does seem a bit of a hybrid with Zen core but the old Super Natural Piano and EP sounds. @ £950 a lot of DP for the cost.

So do try before you buy.

Gary’s on the right track with a Nautilus 88, @ £1926 in a shop near me. A great almost perfect all rounder, I say almost perfect because out of the box sounds may need some degree of tweaking, especially the acoustic pianos. The other thing is the sheer complexity of the menu system but one thing I could see in the video that was posted is a strong family resemblance from the Nautilus to the Pa range and to the Kross 2 that I had. So getting it set up and producing user Combi’s and Programs should be a very quick and easy action. A Combi btw is layers of instruments in a single preset, whilst a Program is a single (but can be multiple) sound preset and the Korg will come with a batch of them preconfigured.

So me, I’ll keep procrastinating until about May and then decide what to do.