0:54 Fatar-used by Fatar (duh!), Kurzweil and Nord (improves them by modding the Fatar action), Chuck’s least favorite actions. Still works for organs and other stuff, but not for a professional pianist. 5:34 Yamaha and Kawai (upper end models), Chuck’s favorite actions 7:10 Casio, e.g. Privia PX-350 or Privia PX-5, convincing piano action, especially great for the price. Chuck’s choice for next best after Yamaha and Kawai. 8:03 Korg, Roland. Pretty good, but like with Yamaha and Kawai, you have to get the upper end models. The more you pay, the better the action. Korg Kronos: excellent action, also usable for other things than piano. Roland: The V-Piano also has a pretty great action.

This guy actually knows what he's talking about. You guys giving him grief might benefit from listening to him. Listen and learn. Still true 5 years on I like Roland PHA 4 Concert action well enough and they're not too expensive.

Dang! This information is so good! Thank you so much for your very cogent, clear and useful info!

make the speed 1.5, it helps.

My sincere condolences ...

As always: LOUD and clear! Txs Chuck!

There's nothing more useful than an opinion of experienced person. Thank you!

this was the most helpful video i have ever seen on youtube thanks

Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

This was 8 years ago. Wow. I'm almost sure what first keyboard i would plan to have right now. Price is always the first thing to consider.

Very helpful, thanks. I'm probably not alone in having bought a non hammer action keyboard and now wanting to upgrade to a better model, so this review hit the spot perfectly. (Going for the Casio Previa)

I'm not a professional, but I'm a long-term piano player and I own a LOT of gear. Here are my opinions on the ones that I currently own: Kurzweil PC3K8 (Fatar) - This is way too light for a piano and not my preference Korg Kronos2-88 - This is a little light, but feels Ok. It's not great. Yamaha Montage8 (BHA) - This is very similar to the Korg. Its a little disappointing, but not bad. Yamaha MOXF8 - This is a graded action. It actually feels a bit heavier than the Montage and it's pretty nice, but only double-sensor, so it's not as expressive or responsive as I'd prefer. Roland HP508 (PHA4) - This is a great action with wooden keys and simulated escapement. It's nicely weighted and heavy and very expressive. This is my main practice instrument. Roland RD-2000 (PHA50) - This is another great wooden action. I don't think it's any improvement on the PHA4, but it's the best stage piano action that I've tried. It's quite heavy, triple-sensor and very expressive. This is my usual stage piano. I don't own any Kawaii's, but I own two Yamahas, one of which is a top-of-the-line flagship instrument. And the Roland actions are very clearly superior to the Yamaha actions. Maybe the Yamaha CP stage pianos are better than the workstation Yamaha synths that I have, but I'm very happy with the Rolands, and I'd recommend an RD-2000 or RD-800 to any serious pianist. The Kurzweil piano sounds great, but the action is so bad that I rarely use it as a piano. Fortunately, the Kurzweil organs and other sounds are great too. Just because Yamaha makes real acoustic pianos, I wouldn't assume that all of their digital piano actions are best in class. I think Roland is just as good or better, at least among the ones that I own.

Lots of valuable insight. Thank you for sharing!

Another great video! 99% agree/you. Thank you very much for sharing!

Excellent summary that even music store sales people would be able to give!

This really helped. Thanks!

Your help was fantastic. Love the thoughtful presentation. I now know that Fatar action is what I want.

Thanks, given me lots to think about before I buy.

This helped a lot! Thank you.

Great vid Chuck! Very good explanation. As a professional concert trained pianist that plays jazz improv, rock, contemporary etc., I can tell you that it all depends on which Fatar action that comes in the keyboard. I had an Alesis Fusion 88 years ago and it played great! It was a Fatar action but a very light action. Currently I'm using a used S90 ES because the action beat everything I have played. It's very close to the Yamaha Montage but when they were side by side at Sam Ash, at the time I prefered the S90 ES. A few weeks later I ordered a used The S90 XS for it's extra features but the action wasn't as good. The XS played like a Motif so that one went back. Next I'm ordering a used Kurzweil PC3K8 since it makes a great controller. It has a medium wood weighted hammer action by Fatar that I hear plays better than the Motif so we will see. I heard that the Fatar wood weighted hammer action comes in Hard, Medium and Soft. I tried the MP11 and it was good as well. I also tried the Casio and even though it was a lighter action, I still prefered the S90 ES. Next to the S90 ES the Casio felt like a toy. I also order 2 - SL88 (the Studio and the Grand). They went back before even hooking them up. The S90 ES was still the winner.

I just purchased a Casio PX-360 and I loooove the action way more than the Graded Hammer action on the mid-priced Yamaha keyboards. It is light, pretty authentic, and is a great in-between action for both piano and organ.

Very helpful. Explains why the Casio line has its merits and deserves serious consideration by anyone wishing to keep things close to that $1,000 -$1,500 comfort zone while still enjoying a quality instrument. I predict a bright future for Casio because they are an electronics and technology company and better technology usually always wins. Their 5.3 touchscreen is an example. Meanwhile, the screen on a Yamaha DGX-660 looks like it is from a TI graphing calculator from the 90's, they put the headphone jack on the back, and haven't figured out that Android devices exist.

At the 10 minute mark he nailed the reason I have been using Kurzweil for years... it's versatility. One thing I had wished he would have gone into is the electronics. I'll have to take a look at a few more videos. Currently I'm using an old PC88MX. I don't really care one bit about it's internal sounds.. I don't think I've actually used any of them in perhaps 8 years. What I do care about.. is the feel of the keys and their intonation. That.. is paramount. I need to be able to vary the feel of my pieces (Video scoring) with velocity and pressure. I'm looking to replace my PC88 with something new that may have more feel but will not give up the level of responsiveness and sensitivity I get with the PC88. So time to hit a few more videos before having a look at some brick and mortar stores to get a feel for a few. Thanks for posting the video.

well done as always

Thanks, Chuck.

Really informative video, thanks for putting this together. Any thoughts on the best sort of all-rounder that's not so heavy as to hinder synth/organ style playing, but has a high quality mechanism and key feel? My background is synths, but I'm looking to step up to a higher quality 88 key controller (in addition to expanding the sort of music I'm trying to learn). Cheers

Awesome video !!!

I read that Roland's F140 with PHA4 has a heavier feel than Casio's tri sensor II, more like an acoustic. Do you think it's worth the switch just based on that?

Your explanations are clear and helpful... thx. Piano man chuck....

Hi chuck Have you tried the Kurzweil artis 7 ? Thinking of getting one, never used a Kurzweil. Or may wait for the electro 5. Great video again, thank you !

Thank You

what about de roland fa 88 action compared to yamaha moxf 88 what do you think of them?

Very informative video. Really helpful.

Thanks for the video. Initially I was planing to buy Yamaha p115, but now I'm considering a Casio. Which Casio is comparable to Yamaha p115? I've seem Casio px350, are there others? How do you compare them? Thanks.

Very informative!

Hi Check, could you suggest would you believe is better PX-150 or PX-330, the 330 costs just a little bit more here, but as far as I understand the 150 got a better keys, no?

Thank you for such a great details, but which Casio model you are referring to?

Hi Chuck, did you played Ketron GP1 stage piano? Regards

which is the best keybed for a lead synthesizer player?

great video

Great video! There will never be a single keybed for an organ, piano or synth. They are completely different playing styles, and to resonate with your instrument and feel good playing you first need a great keybed to match your playing style/position in the band. ~99% of us will be semi pro musicians and depending upon the band we can either be a specialist (organ)(piano)(synth) or asked to be an amalgamation of all three (plus horn parts). Quick background... Crumar/Fafisa organs as a teen... tonewheel Hammonds/Leslies/franken leslies... Steinway and Yamaha Uprights... so "THE SOUND" was my holy grail for many years as a player in pickup bands. But there was always the authentic touch of a great keybed... I tried clones (Nord, Hammond) based upon what they could "SOUND" like. Did they match the Hammond/Leslie vibe? (No, but the audience had a good time and danced) The Nord locked up when I smeared many notes and hated the FATAR KEYBED, nothing at all like a Hammond which is built like a tank and still works amazingly well 60 years later! The Hammond keybed & build quality would be ~ $10,000 in today's economy/rate of inflation. BTW, I covered piano, synth with a Kurzweil PC2x, another crappy FATAR KEYBED, but the sound is still great today...so my post is leading to a point... is sound the holy grail or something else? I played a tiny key Casio toy keyboard with friends around a campfire and had a blast. Crappy sound, crappy little keys, but we made music and had fun. Maybe this is my point: - A musician needs to feel a connection to their instrument at hand (punny). The keybed is the physical connection and feedback for us keyboardists. Guitarists have this connection still. Old time piano players felt the mechanical connection and real string vibration. Modern keyboards are a second level connection through electronics producing the sound, but we still need the physical connection, hence the importance of a great keybed to make us feel our best while playing. - A good player can make music and make people happy with the shittiest keyboard, (crappy action and crappy sound) - I always thought Casio's were a toy (they were) and now I'm recommending them to my friends when they ask what keyboard to buy. They are not FATAR's which is a monopoly of mediocre engineering due to market demands, but have freaking nice actions for sub $1k price points., I'm still using my old school Kurzweil, now rack mounted and midied to a Casio, just for the keybed....

I play by ear as a hobby and use a older Yamaha P90 with GHE action. I like everything about it except the effort on my arthritic fingers to play it. Anything as good with less effort to use?

In your opinion, which action would be better for a MIDI Controller? Kawai VPC-1, or Roland A-88? I'm not a big fan of Yamaha's action (unless it's the AvantGrand), I find it to be stiff and necessary of pounding if you ever want some decent output. But I did like the smooth feel of Kawai's action, and also the heaviness of Roland's.

Very informative..excellent video

Im a big fan of your reviews. But its strange that u placed casio over Vpiano. Im very familiar with casio's newer Dp's but also familiar with the vpiano. While casios action and feel is a VERY pleasant surprise, its NO competition (other than the weight and the few extra sounds (garebage)). I DO agree with you placing the Mp11 at the top! Best keyboard action ive ever played and i work at a music store

Everyone seems to be ignoring the recent Korg models C1 and G1. I have bought the C1 and the action feels awesome! I can even sense a bit of escapement.

Hey Chuck, Im looking a DP for learning piano. Im not planning to use VSTs any time soon on the DP, so the samples have to be decent, but the keyboard action its my first priority. Between the Kawai ES100 and the Casio PX350 which would fit my needs ? I haven't had the chance to try them yet (both are pretty pricey in my country around ~ 1250 U$S) Thanks !

Interesting, because I read a lot of comments claiming Rolands Actions are the best? On paper though the Casio looks better than all of them, even the PX160 ticks all the boxes when considering on Action alone

Hello Chuck, another great presentation. I recently bought a Kawai ES7 to replace my ageing Roland FP3 and was so disappointed in the sluggishness of the action compared to the Roland FP3 and my Knight upright acoustic I took it straight back. I see you really like the PX5s in lots of your reviews. Do the piano sounds hold their own in a live amplified arena (not in a band, just piano and vocal)? I'm interested in easy portable options, but not at the compromise of action and piano sound. Not fussed about the other sounds. Thanks and peace out!

Hi Chuck! Thanks for your great videos. What's your comparison between YAMAHA p155/255 vs Casio px 350/750/850 (no sure which are fair comparison)?

What a great review! I'm a generalist. I play orchestral collections (Spitfire etc..) Synths and piaon. Is Korg D1 ok for me according to your impression? It's RH3 at 600$. Very controller like, no gadgets. I want it extremely simple. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for this video! Your videos have been very helpful to put things into perspective and taught me that the holy red boards are in fact not as perfect as they seem. I was wandering off to Korg and Roland but it seems to me that I should stick to Casio if I'm buying under a grand.

Very informative on actions. But action is only one factor in a buying decision. I have a VPC1 which I love, and yes, the action is fantastic. But if I’m gigging somewhere I have to carry the beast any distance it weighs too much and I’ll choose something lighter even if it has a Fatar. I can even carry that on public transport!

Good stuff. Shared.

On another vid you recommend Casio PX560BE or Kawai ES8. If price were negligible which would be preferable? On Amazon the ES8 has a lot of bad reviews. You don’t mention Dexibell at all. They also use Fatar, right? Do they also tweak it like Nord?

Roland does also make great actions. even though they don't make acoustic pianos. but especially kawai is very good at making digital piano action that feels like the real thing.

Great video chuck, for me when it comes to keyboard actions, I have have played a lot of them and for the price and weight I prefer casio. At the college I go to they have yamaha clavinovas 430 series and the action on those models are not that great it's a little to resistive for me and lacking keybounce . I prefer and actin with keybounce and a harder waited feel like on casio and higher priced digital pianos. But I can't afford an avant grand or a kawai

does this still apply today, which is 7 years later? For example, is the SL88 with TP/40 Wood or Numa GT with TP/100 Wood ok? (correction: it is TP/400 Wood). What about the more common TP/100 LR?

Native Instruments - Kontack Komplete is advertising "weighted" (which means nothing) HAMMER keys in its flagship unit - a Fatar keybed. Do you know anything about this one, Chuck? Thanks.

Hey Chuck I just started to follow you on here and I respect and value your opinion I think I'm going to go for the Casio Privia

Hi Chuck, I really enjoy your videos and I see that you have been playing many keyboards throughout your career. I recently bought a Kronos 2 88 and I think it is a very close piano feel, comparable to a Yamaha C1. I saw a Kronos 88 first generation in a shop the other day and I was surprised that the piano feel was very much different (more plastic feel, less responsive), have they changed it ? Then I tried the Nord Stage 2 sitting next to it and it was even worse I felt the hammer action was vague and noisy, very much actually. But I agree with you it does ok to replicate the Organ feel. Until recently I played on a roland A-88 together with an Integra-7 and thought it was great (cost performance wise) but then the Kronos 2 sounds so much better with slightly better feel. If you get the chance to review the Kronos 2 please share your view on the feel, just to confirm whether I have broken fingers or not :p peace!

Dexibell?

The assumption that since Kawai and Yamaha make acoustic pianos that their Digital Pianos have better actions makes no sense. I know many professionals that feel Roland makes a more realistic action than Kawai and Yamaha. And the new Casio Grand Hybrid may be better than all of them.

great video!!! ......have you played the m audio key station pro 88 harmmer keys?what do you think about that piano?

wich is better casio px-160 or kurzweil M110?

P.s. not literally in an arena, just live situations!

Good comparisons pointing out that a piano action is best suited for emulating a real piano, not a guitar or synth sounds. Because you can shop around and get a great deal on a used real piano, for a studio I'd get a real piano for piano sounds as nothing sounds or feels like a real piano... if you have the space needed.

I owned a Nord Stage 2 HA88 and if that's the best you can get, forget it. It's not great looking and feels nothing like a hemmed or the physics and dynamics relayed to real pianos. I agree chuck on the Yamaha - even the CP action was great, but the Stage pianos are out of my price point.

The Casio action is better than Fatar, but definitely NOT better than Yamaha or Roland. Even the Yamaha P45 and P125 have a better feel to me than the Privias. I haven't spent enough time with Korg or Kawai to comment on their actions. Last weekend I went shopping for a digital piano at Guitar Center....I was interested in the Casio PX-350 mostly because that model still has MIDI jacks....but there was a secondhand Roland FP-7F on the floor for $150 more than the PX-350 that just outclassed it in every way. Needless to say, the Roland came home with me!

I have a Roland keyboard and the action is a PHA 4 Concert Grand Action with Ivory/Ebony feel. It's decent. I like. it.

Would be nice to hear your feelings between Yamaha NWX, Roland PHA50, etc... Otherwise it is not very precise. Oops! Just saw the video date. Damn algorithms!

Seems like a strange speech to give at a funeral. (the background looks like that)

You missed the Casio GP510 … no Casio doesn’t make real pianos (your criteria) but the Casio hybrid partner Beckstein - is one of the greatest piano makers in history … and Bechstein makes the key bed and action mechanics for Casio in the successful co-brand hybrid GP500-510 … that is remarkably affordable too! Just sayin … don’t work for Casio but I like the GP500 feel … and I’m a Bosendorfer 225 owner, with lots of experience playing Steinway Bs and Ds as well. Try the Casio GP510 with headphones and see what I mean!

Fatar makes the keybed for the "hammer action portable" or HP models on the Nord electro. It is OK when new, it is very poor after a couple months of use. Aside from the action which is subjective, there are loose keys and rattle sounds that nobody could appreciate. From what I understand, the nord stage 88 and piano use a different piano. But after being so disappointed in an electro, I will never take that chance. I kept hearing "the more money you spend, the better the action is" in this video and that may be true, but there is no way you should be able to spend what ANY Nord costs and have rattling keys within months.

Kurzweil rules !!! I've been through Kronos, fantom (um a synth player) .... Kurz got the best action and sounds are mind blowing.. even Kronos failed to produce those sounds kurz got..

and now Dexibell

Too much bias without actual arguments. Specially all the Fatar hate without data or objective arguments to sustain the point. That makes the whole video as a Kawai advertisement fail.

Lol that's why no one buys Casio calculators lol. Best of the best is Kawai, then Korg

if you name something Italian means it gonna break down anytime :))))))))

I havn't had a Nord Piano, and will not be getting any, but for Nords Electro line, I can tell you they don't do Squat modding of the Tp/8o keybed used. They are absolutely horrible to play and feels like a cheap (italian) Bontempi keyboard usually sold in stores like ToysRus. Reason why you should stay far away from Nord, plus they are way too expensive for what they are, but Maybe Nord actually do something about their Pianos, cause you keep running into Pianists that praise their Nord Pianos action, and I just don't get that, You get far far better action in Any of the "Major 5" as you say than in any modded Fatar keybed. Even their wooden Piano beds is so far from any Quality Roland, Yamaha or Kawai Piano beds. they are using much better techniques to mimic the feel of a real acoustic Piano action, but then again .. Professional Piano players also have different opinions about how an acoustic Piano action should be, so its allways up to the user to try different instruments out to see what fits your playing best, I just feel I havn't tried out any Nord keyboard I ever liked playing. What people should know is, go check some videos on repairing/modding a keybed if you choose to buy especially a "cheapish" controller for home studio or live usage, cause chances are 99% you will get a Fatar bed that either breaks within the 1st year, or start to make annoying noises after some months. Cheap Roland or Yamaha keyboards arent too fantastic either today, but they usually have lesser faults than Fatar, and chances are that a cheap Roland Piano or Yamaha Clavinova will still server you very well for 5-10 years at home for non professional usage.

Seems to me like he doesn't like Roland...

Chuck, what's with the background?? You look like you're giving a eulogy at a funeral.

Who died?