There are many portable digital pianos on the market. Here, let’s explore in more detail of Casio digital piano PX-S3000.
The Casio Privia PX-S series pianos are the slimmest digital pianos in the world. Casio managed to make this PX-S3000 ultra-slim without sacrificing authentic piano sound and feel.
The PX-S3000 has a beautiful grand piano sound with mechanical noises, damper, and string resonance that truly replicates an acoustic piano sound.
Its smart scaled hammer action keyboard recreates the hammer behavior of a real grand piano.
Table of Contents
Casio PX-S3000 Specification
| PX S3000 Specifications |
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Design
The Casio S3000 digital piano has an elegant and charming design that perfectly matches any decor, mood, or music room.
This digital piano is super portable, with a weight of 25 pounds. It operates on six AA-sized batteries when a situation calls for it. Normally, the use of an AC adaptor is optimal.
The compact and lightweight design makes the instrument easy to transport anywhere. It is suitable for home and stage use.
Still, your mobility won’t be limited because you can change positions easily. When you compare the PX-S3000 with the PX-S1000, the latter weighs 0.4 lbs less, but the additional features are worth the extra weight.
The control interface uses illuminated touch sensor controls. All the controls are responsive, and you will always hit the button you aim for, especially when you get used to the keyboard.
The buttons light up based on what you are doing. They indicate each button when turned on, making it look stylish and modern. The lights are bright and can easily be seen even in low-light conditions, making the piano suitable for stage performances.
Casio PX S3000 has an attractive case with a sleek glossy top panel; when it is switched off, all control lights vanish, leaving a pleasingly clean instrument.
Overall, the PX-S3000 has a good design, and it has better improvements that will enhance your experience.
Sound of Casio PX-S3000
Over the past few years, Casio’s been updating the older sounds found on previous models, making them completely new. Casio’s AiR sound engine powers the PX-S3000.
Onboard this Casio piano, there are 700 tones. With 200 rhythms and many voices available, the PX S3000 is considered one of the best stage pianos.
Despite having a minimal footprint, the piano includes powerful speakers. The speakers have a good sound quality, and they deliver a wide stereo field. They are powered by two 8W amplifiers.
Besides the great sound good, what makes it outstanding is how it interacts with your playing. It almost feels like it is responsive to your expression and dynamics to bring out the best in the sound.
Polyphony
The Casio PX-S3000 has 192-note polyphony. Polyphony on digital pianos is the maximum number of notes that a keyboard can sound simultaneously.
Even though the more polyphony notes, the better, 192-note polyphony is very high for its price point. It is enough to play complex music and gives a layer of multiple sounds.
Speakers
The PX-S3000 is equipped with two built-in 8W speakers that sound awesome. They sound even better when you use the piano’s surround sound effect. It makes it feel like the sound is coming at you from multiple directions.
There are also various hall simulators that make you feel like you are playing in different music venues.
Build-in Tones
Casio Privia PX-S3000 offers a generous 700-tone collection onboard that spans a wide variety of different instruments. They include pianos, electric pianos, organs, strings, and many others.
The PX-S3000 has amazing realistic guitar sounds and some steel strings as well.
It also puts forward some great brass instruments and lots of built-in rhythms. You’ll have more fun with the auto accompaniment.
The auto accompaniment is a great feature that sets the PX-S3000 apart. It offers you the freedom to perform as a one-man band. Besides, the auto accompaniment lets you define specific rhythm variations. For example, all rhythms come with a variation, an ending, a normal groove, and a fill.
Keyboard
The most essential part of a piano is the keyboard. The PX-S3000 uses a Smart Scaled Hammer-Action keyboard, making the piano extremely easy to use.
Overall, the keys feel great and responsive, enhancing quick note repetitions. Each key is weighted individually to help capture the slightest difference from one note to another.
The keys are just like an acoustic grand piano, with heavier keys on the bottom and lighter keys up top.
All the keys have textured surfaces that provide optimum grip and a piano-like feel. Furthermore, the keys have been slightly refined to offer a more natural feel.
When it comes to touch sensitivity, the keyboard offers five different levels. You can choose from light to heavy and anything in between. With the lighter levels, you will have louder playing despite the soft key presses and vice versa.
This instrument comes with a full 88 keys and a standard piano keyboard.
Modes
The PX-S3000 includes the layer mode, duet play mode, and split mode.
Dual (Layers) Mode
The layer mode enables you to play two sounds simultaneously, and it is a standard feature on most digital pianos and keyboards.
Duet (Duo) Mode
The duet play mode is designed for those who need a simple demonstration method. It has some similarities with the split mode, only that both halves of the keyboard use a similar octave range and tone, offering you two half-sized pianos. This way, a teacher can sit beside a student and teach by showing.
Split Mode
The split mode allows players to play different sounds on the left and right of the keyboard. This mode is more advanced than the variant used on the PX-S1000 piano, which only allows players to use a bass sound on the keyboard’s left.
On the PX-S3000, you can easily specify what tone is allocated to each side. Still, you can assign two tones to the right side while having a layer mode active. When combined with the recording functions, you can easily get close to orchestral enjoyment.
Recording and Playback
The Casio PX-S3000 comes with six demo songs. Unlike other digital pianos, the keyboard doesn’t offer songs for practice, primarily those built for beginners.
MIDI Recording
However, it is easy for beginners or professionals to record their songs, thanks to the built-in MIDI and audio recorders. MIDI recording helps you record your playing without committing the chosen settings and voices, meaning you can change certain details after recording.
The feature enables you to record up to 3 tracks per song, and you can save up to 5 songs in the internal memory. Furthermore, the MIDI recorder allows you to overdub (adding notes to the tracks recorded previously).
Audio Recorder
The audio recorder is an alternative method of recording your plays. This feature allows you to record the instrument’s actual sound, so you won’t have to change the tempo, tone, rhythm, and other settings after the recording is done.
Still, the audio recordings can be played back by computers or smart devices without software. You can share the recordings on social media, convert them to other audio formats, or burn them to a CD.”
In addition, you can record a one-track song and listen to the playback. Still, one can record a separate track and play both together.
Connectivity
This Casio portable digital piano has impressive connectivity, with some improvements that give you a better experience.
Standard Stereo Jacks
The Casio Privia PX-S3000 is equipped with two headphone jacks that enable you to have convenient practice sessions at night without disturbing those around you.
The two stereo mini-jacks are located at the front left of the piano for convenient access. When the headphones are plugged in, the speakers turn off. However, you can make modifications in the settings menu.
Moreover, you can still use the Line Out for external speakers as needed.
Line Out & Audio In
The Casio PXS3000 features quarter-inch (1/4″) dedicated audio outputs. You can take this compact digital piano on stage and plug it into an external amplifier or Public Address (PA) system.
Another audio in mini-jack is included to connect your smartphone or music player through the built-in speakers.
USB Connectors
The USB-to-Host (type B) is a simple plug-and-play port. It allows connection to any computer or mobile device you wish. There is no driver and no installation required. The USB port offers a convenient way to connect to Casio’s Chordana App, and it also serves as a USB-MIDI connection.
The USB flash drive (Type A) port lets you save your favorite songs and play them back easily.
Bluetooth Audio
The Casio PX-S3000 furnishes Bluetooth audio input. Therefore, you can connect your phone or your tablet to play whatever music you have on your device through the piano’s onboard speakers.
Additional Features
The PX-S3000 comes with a few useful features.
Registration
The registration function allows you to save the entire snapshot of your settings of tones, rhythms, and effects. There are four registration slots with 24 banks, each giving you a total of 96 locations to save your favorite combinations.
Arpeggiator
This is not a standard feature on advanced pianos, but it is a welcome addition to keyboards with guitar voices, allowing for fast, repetitive patterns to be played. An arpeggiator might not be too valuable for classical piano players, but most accompaniment-mode players find it useful.
Metronome
The PX-S3000 model features an onboard metronome. Nowadays, this is a standard feature of most digital pianos.
Pedals
The Casio PX-S3000 has three jacks for pedal connection:
- Damper pedal jack: for the default pedal SP-3, that is a simple footswitch.
- Tri-pedal unit jack: for connecting an optional pedal unit SP-34 that provides a damper pedal, a soft pedal, and a sostenuto pedal. This pedal unit more closely replicates acoustic piano pedals.
- Expression pedal jack: while you can use the damper pedal SP-3 in this jack, the expression pedal provides more control of the digital effects of the piano. It allows you to use an optional expression pedal.
Casio Privia PX-S3000 vs PX-S1000
Although there are some differences between the PX-S3000 and PX-S1000, there are many things that are exactly the same.
They are very close in weight and claim to be the slimmest digital pianos.
Things are in Common:
- Same onboard speakers – two 8W amplifies provide nice sound output, especially in such a slim physical footprint
- Both have 192 notes of polyphony
- Same key action
- Basically, both instruments have the same core processing capability
The differences between the PX-S3000 and PX-S1000 are in their functionality and the range of sound selection.
If your primary need is a piano, then the PX-S1000 is a really reasonable choice. Its price is right up to Yamaha P125.
What are the Differences Worth Noting?
- The lack of onboard control on PX-S1000, however, can be easily mitigated by using the Chordana app. On the other hand, you can easily access the controls directly from the display on PX-S3000.
- 17 sounds in PX-S1000 are in total contrast to 700 sounds in PX-3000.
- The auto-accompaniment makes the PX-S3000 a highly usable stage piano and synth.
The PX-S3000 is at a slightly higher price with much more functionality.
Casio Privia PX-S3000 Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 192-note polyphony | The included footswitch is lightweight and slipping |
| Casio Multi-dimensional Morphing AIR sound engine | No Bluetooth MIDI connectivity |
| Smart Scaled Hammer Action Keyboard | |
| 700 onboard voices and auto-accompaniment | |
| Robust connectivities, including Bluetooth Audio | |
| Ultra-slim design and really suitable for a stage piano | |
| Good price for the wonderful functionality |
Our Review and Verdict On Casio PX-S3000
4.5 out of 5.0
The Casio Privia PX-S3000 is a fantastic digital piano for both beginners and professionals. It is one of the slimmest and also with the most advanced features.
It is absolutely gig-friendly. You practically have a portable band packed in this instrument.
It has incredible sound quality, and it comes with everything you need for the best experience. Overall, it is a good piano, and you won’t regret investing your hard-earned money in it.
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