Casio is really famous for producing millions of great electronic products and have been designing and building digital pianos for well over 40 years . The new AP-270 is part of a traditional furniture cabinet line of digital pianos called Celviano . The new AP-270 is the lowest price digital piano in the Celviano line and has now been released in India . It will be available in satin black finish including a matching piano style padded bench . The new AP-270 has some very distinct upgrades over the previous model AP-260 in a number of ways and the AP-260 was the same price as the new AP-270 .
1 . Redesigned cabinet – Casio has given the piano cabinet a good overhaul with fewer seams , smoother installation , more piano-like in appearance . Even the speakers under the piano have been redesigned to be more " invisible " and less obvious to give the cabinet a more realistic look .
2 . The piano sound chip – The sound engine has been noticeably improved along with an exclusive stereo piano sound sample from a handmade New York Steinway 9 ' grand piano . Up until now Casio and others have used sound samples from a variety of pianos including from Europe , but never from a real New York custom 9 ' concert grand . The new AP-270 is the only Casio piano made out of all models with this new Steinway piano sound and I can tell you first hand that it is the best piano sound for a traditional piano cabinet digital piano in this price range that I have ever heard . Beyond that , the New York Steinway sound has a couple of variations to it which also sound great . I was very impressed when I played and heard this new piano sound and did not expect the AP-270 to sound as good as it did . Also when you use a good pair of stereo headphones the stereo Steinway piano sound is even better because you get to hear all the tonal nuances coming directly into your ears .
3 . The sustain pedal – The sustain pedal and its ability to hold the piano sound out over time and then to have that sound decay and fade out is crucial to any intermediate to advanced pianist and that ' s where many of these digital pianos fall short . This time the new model has more than twice the realism in sustain / decay time of the piano tone along with the volume of the sustained piano sound to hold a more realistic level before fading out . I noticed this change from the previous model right away and for people that play piano at a higher level than a beginner , this new upgrade will simply make your music sound better with a more organic tone like a real piano . Along with half-damper pedaling for more natural piano sustain at different pedal depths and the improved damper resonance which gives the piano sound a more organic natural reverb ( echo ) response especially when playing on the high octave keys that don ' t normally have good sustain .
4 . The Polyphony in this new piano – The polyphony has been increased from the previous 128-note polyphony to the new 192-note polyphony . This is considered as piano ’ s processing power which enables the piano sound to be larger , fuller , and more resonant along with being able to play more complex music without notes dropping out or sustain time being too short .
5 . 22 Built-in Tones - The AP-270 now has 22 separate instrument sounds which are an increase from the previous model and all of those sounds have been improved to be even more like the real thing including the electric pianos , harpsichords , organs , choirs , etc . and as mentioned earlier also the acoustic piano tones . It is interesting to note there are now a total of 7 distinct acoustic piano sounds using a New York Steinway grand piano sound and a European grand piano sound which is far more than the other brands in this price range . The main piano sounds are also easily accessible with buttons on the control panel . Most people want a variety of actual acoustic piano sounds rather than the non-piano sounds so this new Casio AP-270 delivers on this point .
6 . New Control Panel - The control panel of the new model has changed from having the buttons above the keys to having them on the left side of the keyboard . Casio did this to make the piano look more minimalist and give it a cleaner appearance with a bit less clutter . Casio has placed the names of the sounds and additional functions above the keyboard so they are easy to find and this is done through with pressing one button and then using a specific key to trigger the feature . It ' s fairly easy to operate and much easier than similar control panels in other brands because the features ( sounds , effects , metronome , etc .), are labeled on the new AP-270 .
7 . Simulated Ebony & Ivory Keys - The tops of the keys are made of synthetic ebony & ivory material to replicate the older real acoustic pianos from many years ago when ivory and ebony were legal to be made into piano key tops . Casio has been using this material on their keys for a number of years now but in this model Casio has redesigned and upgraded the " feel " of those key tops by changing and smoothing out the texture so that it feels more like actual ivory and ebony and I noticed this change right away when playing the piano . When you touch those keys the surface now feels better and is more natural to play . This is a relatively small change but a good one and shows that Casio is paying attention to the details as well as the big things .
As you can see by the improvements I just mentioned that this new AP-270 really does have many significant advantages in all aspects of this piano , but at the same time Casio has kept some nicer previous features and functions of the AP-260 . This would include layering of two sounds together for simultaneous play such as string symphony and grand piano , as well as a split sound function allowing for an instrument sound on the left hand and a different instrument sound on the right hand . Other useful functions and features carried over to this model include transpose , an adjustable metronome for rhythm and timing training , and last but not least a 2-track MIDI recorder for left and right-hand piano practice and playback . This 2-part recording system is something other digital pianos in this price range do not have and being able to record and playback your left and right hand separately is really useful for students . Most students need to practice and hear each hand one at a time , and for more advanced players , they want to analyze their performance by listening to how each hand is doing one at a time and then played back together . You can also speed up or slow down the playback portion so that you can record the song at a slow speed and playback at normal speed or you can record at a normal speed but playback at a slower speed so you can better hear how you played and identify your mistakes better that way .
So here ' s the bottom line ; The AP-270 is a lower priced digital piano with higher priced features in an attractive traditional furniture cabinet with matching piano bench , sliding key cover , and full privacy panel with features that concentrate and focuses on the best piano playing experience possible in its price range . It does not have a lot of unnecessary bells & whistles so is great for families or players who mainly just want to play the piano and have the necessary elements in a piano to do so . With the improvements that Casio has made to this Celviano model as compared to the previous model and the current competition out there , there really is no other digital piano that comes close in this price range in my opinion .
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