Casio has announced that its Privia PX-S1000 has just been awarded a Red Dot Product Design Award (2020).
The Red Dot is a prestigious industrial design award. it was originally established in 1954 by Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen as a domestic German competition. In 1991 the competition went international and has since become a much sought-after marque of excellence.
Over 6,500 products were entered into this year’s competition. These came from a diverse range of product areas. A jury of 40 experts convened at the beginning of March, and 1,644 products won a Red Dot Award.
Last year the Roland LX700 and the Yamaha Clavinova CSP series both received a Red Dot Product Design Award. This is the first time Casio has won in this category.
Casio Privia PX-S1000
Casio first introduced the Privia range in 2003. However it was felt that radical new ideas were needed to keep the brand fresh. To be honest improvements in sound quality can only be incremental these days, but one area where Casio felt they could excel was size.
The design team wanted to produce a great sounding digital piano with a natural highly responsive touch, but in as small a package as possible.
The PX-S1000 is remarkably compact. Casio markets the instrument as “the world’s slimmest digital piano”. And the key to this is Casio’s redesign of two of the piano’s bulkiest components—the keyboard and the speakers.
Casio’s 88-note Smart Scaled Hammer Action Keyboard employs a unique “three-part” hammer mechanism, which simultaneously provides an extremely accurate touch-response, whilst taking up very little space.
Casio also developed a new 8 x 16 cm elliptical speaker unit with an extremely low profile. This again saves valuable space, but without sacrificing sound quality.
The flat glossy control panel sits above the keyboard and utilises touch sensors with LEDs. This delivers a simple flat surface with no protrusions giving the instrument a smart elegant style.
The PX-S1000 digital piano can be battery powered. Weighing just 11.2 kg (24.7 lbs) it is also relatively light. And so, along with its compact design and professional sound quality, this is a great go-anywhere instrument.
The PX-S1000 first appeared at the Winter Namm Show in January 2019, before shipping a few weeks later. A red version (PX-S1000RD) appeared in the summer of 2019.
The Casio Privia PX-S1000 has also recently won an iF Design Award 2020 for design excellence. This is another long-established and highly respected international award for innovative design.
Casio Privia PX-S1000 Digital Piano
Models: PX-S1000BK (black), PX-S1000WE (white), PX-S1000RD (red)
Recommended Price: $599.00 (£575.00)
Websites: Casio (USA), Casio (UK), Casio (Japan), Red Dot Awards, iF Awards
Specifications: Casio Privia PX-S1000
| Keyboard | 88-key duet: Adjustable range (-2 to +2 octaves) |
| Transpose: -12 to 0 to +12 semitone octave Shift: -2 to 0 to +2 octave | |
| Sound Source | Number of tones: 18 (17 + bass tone for low frequencies) Layering and Split facilities |
| Polyphony: Maximum 192 tones | |
| Touch response function: 5 sensitivity settings | |
| Tuning: 415.5Hz—465.9Hz (0.1Hz increments) | |
| Temperament: Equal temperament + 16 types | |
| Acoustic Simulator | Hammer response, key-off response, string resonance, damper resonance, damper noise, key-on action noise, key-off action noise |
| Digital effects | Hall simulator (x4), surround sound (x2), chorus (x4), DSP, Brilliance |
| Demo Song | 1 song |
| Music Library | Built-in songs: 60 songs |
| Downloaded songs: 10 songs | |
| Song volume: Adjustable (also used as recording function) | |
| Part on / off: L, R | |
| Recording Function | MIDI recorder system: Real-time recording |
| Number of songs played: 1 | |
| Track capacity: approx. 10,000 notes | |
| Built-in flash memory | |
| Additional Features | Connectivity to Chordana Play for Piano software |
| Metronome | Tempo range: 20-255 bpm |
| Pedal | Pedal SP-3 (included): Switchable between damper (off, on), sostenuto (off, on), soft (off, on), metronome (start, stop), tempo setting |
| Pedal SP- 34 (sold separately): Damper (off, half, on), sostenuto (off, on), soft (off, on) when used | |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth version: 5.0 (Class 2) |
| MIDI | 16ch multitimbral reception |
| Input / Output | PHONES terminal: Stereo mini jack x 2 |
| Power supply terminal: DC12V | |
| AUDIO IN terminal: Stereo minijack | |
| LINE OUT R, L / MONO terminal: Standard jack x 2 | |
| USB port: Type B | |
| DAMPER PEDAL terminal: Standard jack | |
| PEDAL UNIT terminal: Dedicated shape | |
| Amplification | Amplifier output: 8W + 8W |
| Speaker: 16cm x 8cm (oval) x 2 | |
| Power Supply | 6 AA alkaline batteries or AC power adaptor |
| Power Consumption | 10W |
| Dimensions (cm) | 132.2 (W) x 23.2 (D) x 10.2 (H) |
| Weight | Approximately 11.2 kg (excluding batteries) |
| Accessories | AC adapter (AD-A12150LW), pedal (SP-3), music stand, score book |
