Welcome to our review of the Casio Privia PX-330 digital piano.
Casio: the maker of calculators. Even today, people still associate Casio with electronic gadgets and products such as calculators and watches, not musical instruments.
Yet the Privia line of digital pianos has proven with each new product that Casio can indeed make wonderful, professional-sounding musical instruments like the more established Yamaha, and not just plastic toy keyboards. There are unfortunately, plenty of people who still associate the brand name with toy keyboards, despite professional musicians proudly showing off their Casio keyboards or digital pianos. Perceptions certainly are difficult to change. Sometimes, we wonder if Casio would be better off marketing their elegant digital pianos using the Privia name alone and dropping the Casio brand completely.
Anyway, one of the latest offerings from Casio Privia is the PX-330 digital piano. It’s touted as a digital piano that ”redefines the digital piano category with unprecedented sound quality and performance in a sleek package that is supremely portable“. Let’s find out if this claim for the Casio Privia PX-330 Digital Piano is true!
But first, let’s look at the main features.
Contents
Casio Privia PX-330 Digital Piano Features
- Size (Width x Depth x Height): 52.05” x 11.26” x 5.31”
- Weight: 24.7 lbs
- 88 weighted, scaled hammer-action keys
- 128-note polyphony
- 250 tones (with layer and split)
- Reverb (4 types), Chorus (4 types), Brilliance (-3 to 0 to 3), Acoustic Resonance
- Pitch Bend Wheel
- Built-in metronome
- Duet mode, for two simultaneous players
- 180 rhythms for built-in accompaniment
- 16 Track, 5 Song Recorder
- Accepts SD memory up to 2GB
- Pedals: damper, soft/sostenuto (switchable)
- MIDI I/O
- USB type B
- 2 headphone jacks
The Casio Privia PX-330 digital piano is actually similar to the more basic (and cheaper) model PX-130 in many ways. The 3 features in bold in the above list (250 tones, pitch bend wheel and 180 rhythms for built-in accompaniment) indicate what we feel to be the most significant differences between the PX-330 and the more basic PX-130.
Alright, let’s break down the claim by Casio: that the Privia PX 330 digital piano has
- unprecedented sound quality and performance,
- comes in a sleek package that is highly portable and
- redefines the digital piano category.
- Casio Privia PX-330 Review: “unprecedented sound quality and performance”
The 2 main technological features that Casio boasts in its latest offerings of digital pianos are “new grand piano samples” and “Tri-sensor scaled hammer action“. Together, these work to give the Casio Privia PX-330 digital piano the realistic sound and feel that closely resemble those of a traditional acoustic piano, allowing players free reign of expression on the instrument.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In this case, it’s in the ear of the listener. There are many customers who have been satisfied and agree that the Casio Privia PX-330 digital piano lives up to its unprecedented sound quality and performance. Take a look at these sample Casio Privia PX-330 reviews and testimonials by beginner and advanced pianists on Amazon:
“…The keyboard itself, in my humble opinion, replicates the touch and sensitivity of an acoustic piano quite well. There are a variety of acoustic piano patches, which sound very, very good, even with the built in speakers, and even better using a pair of headphones…
“…We researched sooo many before purchasing and this casio sounds and feels like a “real” piano…
“…The piano tones are very high quality, for this price range or any for that matter…
Thus, we conclude that the Casio PX-330 Privia 88-key digital keyboard indeed lives up to its advertised feature of “unprecedented sound quality and performance”, especially when considering its price range.
Casio Privia PX330 Digital Piano Review:
“sleek package that is supremely portable”
The Casio PX-330 Privia keyboard is advertised as a “sleek package”. We have no objection to that at all. While it does contain more buttons and even a small LCD screen display compared to the PX-130, the PX 330 remains uncluttered and its elegant black design remains, well, elegant. Nobody will mistake this digital piano for some toy electronic keyboard.
In addition, despite the additional features, the keyboard is just as lightweight as its predecessor, weighing less than 26 pounds. That, to us, is definitely “supremely portable”. You won’t have much issues carrying it around to and from gigs or classes.
So, “sleek package that is supremely portable”? Check!
Casio Privia PX-330 Digital Piano Review: “redefines the digital piano category”
Ooh, bold claim here: “Redefines the digital piano category”? Really?
Surprisingly, it appears this claim is not just fluff. In the past, a keyboard featuring 128-note polyphony AND realistic weighted keys AND a full bank of instrumental tones and costing less than $1000 would have been unheard of. 128-note polyphony is a key feature which is essential to ensure none of your notes drop off, especially when you are layering tones and accompaniments as well as using the sustain pedal. All this contributes to the realistic tone of the digital piano.
With the Privia family of digital pianos, however, such a keyboard costing less than $1000 is a reality. In fact, smart shoppers can get this piano at a bargain price of just under $700!
So, amazingly enough, the Casio Privia PX-330 does indeed redefine the digital piano category.
Casio Privia PX 330 Review: Bottomline
As we have established, the Privia PX-330 lives up to Casio’s claim that it “redefines the digital piano category with unprecedented sound quality and performance in a sleek package that is supremely portable“.
However, we actually recommend the more basic PX-130 instead of PX-330 if you’re just a pianist (whether beginner or advanced) who doesn’t care for other instrumental sounds on their digital piano such as drum kits, violin, guitar, etc. After all, why pay for features you will never use?
But if you’re in a band, perform solo gigs on stage, or even compose your own music or songs, then such instrumental sounds as well as accompaniment rhythms and the pitchbend wheel can be immensely helpful or even crucial. The PX-330 will be a more suitable piano keyboard for you, and we absolutely recommend it.
