SeriesCasio CTK

The CTK 7000 is one of my favorite portable keyboards from Casio because of the 800 different sounds that it comes with. Plus the price is very affordable too for it to have that many sounds and a sequencer. You can connect it to your computer via USB and the keys have a very good feel to them. A lot better than the CTK 3200 from Casio but that is mainly because this is an upgrade. UTILIZATION You get a great value for your money with this keyboard; it is very portable with some great features. But it unlike the 3200 it cannot run off of batteries. It comes with a power adapter and that is the only way you can use it so hope there is a plug close by if you are mobile. This board weighs around 15 pounds which is not bad and it has 15 effects. There are reverb and chorus effects on the CTK 7000 and it also has built in speakers. The speakers are the only thing that I think could really be better because they are very low quality and lack some serious depth and low end sounds but you really can not expect much more out of a keyboard from Casio in this price range. OVERALL OPINION It does have a pedal input but I didn’t ever use a pedal with it. The manual is easy to understand but you will not need it because everything is the same as it also is on these types of keyboards. Everything you need to know is right in front of you. I have never gigged with this keyboard but it would have been very possible considering the sounds that it comes with and all of the features. You would definitely have to use some sort of an external speaker system via the TRS output because the speakers are not efficient enough to want to use in a gig setting.

The Casio CTK 4200 is a portable keyboard that has over 550 built in tones. I was able to plug in my MP3 player to it which made it a lot more fun to use because I could play along with my own songs and some of my favorite songs from the past instead of just playing along with the songs that come with it. One of my favorite things that I use to do with the Casio CTK 4200 is create drum patterns on my computer in Cubase and then loop it, export it to an MP3 file and plug it into the CTK 4200. I would do this to work on my improve skills and it also made it a lot of fun. UTILIZATION I also used this keyboard for a while as a MIDI controller with Cubase when my M Audio controller broke on me. This was a life saver at the time, but I only used it for about 4 months back in 2011 until I purchased a better full 88 key keyboard because this one only has 61 keys. But with it only having 61 keys it was very portable. But I felt limited to my playing without the full 88. OVERALL OPINION This is a great keyboard just to keep around if you want to practice or just play around from time to time. It is very durable as well, when I was not using it I would put it up on its side and lean it against the wall in the closet. It never damaged the keyboard or any of the keys and when I was ready to practice I could just take it right out and use it right away. This keyboard does have a small LCD screen to pick your sounds with but it really was not anything to brag about because it was pretty simple. This keyboard only cost around 150 bucks in the store and it is a great keyboard to have for someone who is just learning or getting started on the keys.

The Casio CTK 3200 is a smaller keyboard, but it is very portable. It only has 61 keys but it is still packed with over 400 presets. Out of those presets only about half of them sound good though. This keyboard only cost 130 bucks which is a pretty standard price for a keyboard of this quality. At best this keyboard is good to practice with and get some ideas. I could not gig with this keyboard nor could I use any of the sounds that it has for my music. But it was a lot of fun to mess around with and practice. UTILIZATION You can connect it to your computer via USB but the best part about it is that it only weighs 7 pounds! That made it really portable for me and sometimes I would just leave it in my car so that no matter where I went I had it with me. It can run off of batteries (6 double A) which were really convenient. OVERALL OPINION There are also 10 different effects on the CTK 3200 mostly all reverb. There is no sequencer on this keyboard but if you want to use it with your DAW you could do that easily with a few different methods. The only reason I purchased this keyboard was to have something that ran off of batteries that I could just leave in my car so I could have music with anywhere because I would never know when an idea would strike me. This keyboard is very light and portable; if you are an advanced user do not purchase this because the keys feel very cheap. But if you are looking for something portable and light it is a must have because there are not many boards that only weigh 7 pounds and will last you a while. For this keyboard to be so inexpensive, it is well built.

This is a digital keyboard with a lot of features. It has a sound library of over 100 sounds, as well as a drum machine with 100 different beats and a song bank of 100 songs. The songs range from "How Deep is your Love", to "The Girl from Ipanema", and "Superstition". The rhythms are pretty diverse in terms of genre, however the rock beats are lacking (to be expected). There are headphone and audio out connections (both 1/4"). There is no effects section, and there really isn't a sequencer. UTILIZATION This keyboard is easy enough to play. The cool thing about it is that it has demo modes and such features that will enable the student to learn the basics faster. If the player has played for awhile, or is taking lessons, these may or may not be irrelevant, but it's great for the beginners. The manual will explain how to use the keyboard really well, though it isn't really necessary. OVERALL OPINION One thing that needs to be mentioned is that the sounds that come out of this keyboard are pretty cheesy. The sounds are very fake, and unconvincing. Another thing is dynamics; since the keys aren't weighted like a piano, they don't really respond to dynamics very well at all, if at all. This makes it difficult to make a piano sound good, so I wouldn't recommend this for any good keyboard players. For young children, this is definitely a good buy though.

(Originally written by valentin2105/translated from Audiofanzine FR) 241 tones, 100 rhythms, 50 song banks, 50 piano banks, USB connection, inexpensive! UTILIZATION Very easy to use (budget synth) No playing sensitivity but good enough for beginners!! (I learned with this synth ^^) OVERALL OPINION Good value for money. A few presets sound good: panpipes, electric organ, etc. I give it a 5 because it can't compete with big synths but IT'S VERY GOOD for beginners.