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Comparable Alternatives
🛒Casio RD-88▸https://geni.us/Roland-RD88
🛒Kurzweil Forte SE▸https://geni.us/Kurzweil-Forte-SE
🛒Yamaha YDP-164▸https://geni.us/Yamaha-YDP164
🛒Roland F-140R▸https://geni.us/Roland-F140R

#casio#casioaps450#casiodigitalpiano

Introduction

Casio has been making major strides to position itself in the top tier of digital piano manufacturers, with two of its most impressive products being the hybrid grand GP-510 and the PX-S7000, which got into the Rob Report. This is no small feat for a magazine known for luxury watches and private jets.
The mid-range of Casio’s home digital lineup, namely the PX and AP series, was begging for an update. With the release of the AP-S450, 550, and 750, they have rounded out their full lineup to compete with Yamaha, Roland, and Kawai.

4 Key Features
Aesthetics
Riding off the success of the PS-X5000, 6000, and 7000, the aesthetic look of the cabinet and the overall style of the instrument stand out; including the high-gloss finish, touchscreen surfaces, and modern sleek look. The piano has a very compact form factor, but the most distinctive part of the cabinet is the high-gloss piece of cabinetry where the key cover would normally be. It’s very eye-catching until you sit down and realize it’s more like the HAL-9000 talking to you while playing the instrument.
At first, this feature seems excessive as it adds no musical or aesthetical value to the instrument, but it’s still appealing as it may draw new players to the piano.

The control panel on the left is simple, which has pros and cons. When interacting with the instrument, the user will either be choosing sounds, which are clearly marked in front of the keys, or editing sounds, which requires the Casio Music Space app. It’s unrealistic to think that all of the functionality related to the recorder, the acoustic simulator, and the audio and MIDI playback will be easily accessed using keyboard shortcut commands. The app is free and runs on iOS and Android.

Sound
The AP-S450 has an updated Hamburg and New York Steinway 5-layer sample set, which is a deep, rich experience for this price point. This stands out when playing with headphones, and is reminiscent of the SK-EX competition grands that are on Kawai’s CA and Nova series pianos.
Both sample sets are great to play, but there is a more rounded, even acoustic envelope around all of the different velocity layers on the Hamburg, with a more refined sense of nuance in the tone.

Speakers
As more entry-level acoustic customers are changing to digital customers, the standards and nuance have increased; thus, the industry meeting demand. Unique to Casio, the main lower speakers are positioned up into the cabinet while exposing the back of the speaker cone underneath the panel with a grill so that all of the indirect sound goes down towards the floor, and all of the direct sound comes up through the cabinet where it resonates against the wood surfaces as well as through tone ports.
There are also two forward-facing tweeters positioned at the far left and right of the cabinet that provide extra top-end resonance as well as mechanical sounds from the acoustic simulator. Distinct from the most recent PS-X models that have a ton of direct high-end detail, the AP-S540 has a more dispersed sound resulting in the absence of top-end harshness without losing detail.
The relatively small cabinet has a 40-watt speaker system.

Action
The AP-S540 has a solid wooden key, similar to the mid-range and upper-mid-range Yamaha pianos, which gives a much more authentic sense of the dynamic inertia of the key because as much as counterweights help, there is a certain feel from striking a solid key. Not only does it reduce the mechanical noise, but the motion feels more authentic.
It may be a minor detail, but the keys will feel more natural with five to ten hours of playing because the key surface texture will absorb hand oil quickly to get to a nice blend of glide and stickiness.
Aside from the Casio GP-510, this is the most satisfying action on a Casio piano.

Specs
The AP-S450 has a 256-note polyphony, two dozen onboard tones, and a myriad of other features and editability through the Casio Music Space app. There is also Bluetooth audio and MIDI, allowing the user to feed external audio through the keyboard's speakers, as well as a pair of headphone jacks.

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