Casio CDP-100

The Casio CDP-100 is a full-sized, hammer-action, weighted 88-key digital piano. It also features 32-note polyphony, 5 different sounds (including strings and electric piano), midi input and output, demo songs, headphone jack, sustain jack, and much more.

UTILIZATION

This CDP-100 digital piano is one of the cheapest full-sized, hammer-action digital pianos you can buy, and at first, I was hesitant to buy a Casio keyboard, which is well known for making lower end, non-professional digital piano products. But at the price point of around $350, it was hard to pass this up, and it really doesn't disappoint. The keys feel pretty real, compared to my baby grand piano, and the action is very natural. I've always disliked semi-weighted keys on some small midi controllers that try to emulate the feel of a real piano, but they would feel extremely fake to me. That is not the case here with the Casio. Even if you were to use the CDP-100 strictly as a midi controller, it is still cheaper than almost all other 88-key, hammer-action midi controllers as well.


SOUNDS

The piano sounds on the CDP-100 are pretty good and realistic, and they are passable for most basic piano applications. I would not recommend the other sounds as much, such as the electric piano or strings, so do not buy this product if you intended to use those sounds. The piano sounds are stereo sampled, but they are not velocity-sampled as deep as they could be. For example, if you play the piano with low velocity, the notes do not sound real, they sound like regular piano playing, but the volume simply turned down. That would be my biggest gripe and disappointment with the sounds.


OVERALL OPINION

Overall, this keyboard is a deal that is hard to beat, so don't pass it up!

I started playing piano when I was a kid, but only took lessons for a couple years. I recently was in a car accident, however, and was laid up for quite a while. I felt like rewarding myself so I was looking around for a toy that could keep me busy, but was also sort of productive. Almost bought a ps3 but figured the money would be better spent on something that I could actually develop a skill with.

I bought this from Musician's Fried for about $400. I bought it online and it came with free shipping.

I haven't really played many of these. I knew the Casio name because I had an old portable years ago and that's primarily why I bought it. I also figured four hundred was probably a good price to pay. Not too much, but not so cheap I was getting a poor product. I think the thing I like the most is the feel of the keys. This thing feels like a real piano, but is really lightweight and portable. There are also different sensitivity levels so you can adjust to your liking.

Not much to dislike, but think for the price they could have included a sustainer pedal. There's a jack for it, but how could it have cost them to just throw one in. I guess it's not a big deal, but you asked..

Decent quality, relatively well built. The unit is pretty light, I think the manual says it's about twenty six pounds or so. The fit and finish is pretty good, though, and there are no odd spaces or parts that don't fit together well. Who knows. Ask me in a year or so after I've had a chance to bang it around a few times. Casio keyboards have a pretty good reputation in my opinino.

Get one, you won't be disappointed. It's a good price point for someone who's more serious than a beginner, but not an accomplished virtuoso.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

This keyboard has the full range of Octaves being that it has 88 keys. Unfortunately the only output on this keyboard is the headphone jack (and the speakers of course). This is a small irritant for me as I only use this keyboard for practice. It also has midi in/out jacks and a sustain pedal input as well. There are only a few sounds on this board including two piano sounds, and electric piano (rhodes), a Harpsichord and a Strings Patch. No, the sounds cannot be edited, with the exception of adding reverb or chorus.

UTILIZATION

Yes, the general configuration and setup couldn't be easier. Flick on the power, select the sound you want (maybe add a little reverb or chorus) and play...that's it. The manual is clear and sufficient. It is really only useful if you want to mess around with the demo songs, but I had no interest in that. The patch selection is performed by individually assigned buttons (very convenient) which makes it a breeze to change patches quickly. This is truly a simple keyboard and the general config really couldn't get any easier. It's simply a matter of turning it on, and making sure your sustain pedal is plugged in, clicking one button (piano patch for me, it's all I really use) and you're off.

SOUNDS

I read a lot of reviews on a lot of different pianos and this one had reviews on both sides. Some couldn't believe how bad the sounds were, and some were very happy with them. I personally find the sounds acceptable for practice, but I wouldn't run out and buy this if this was to be used for performance. The sounds are definitely usable though, the grand is not as "tinny" as I would have expected and the Rhodes is really mellow and only gets that horrible "sampled" sound when playing the high register. Now, the the feel of the keys is where this board really shines. I was really surprised how great the keys feel. I have played many real pianos in my day and many keyboards as well and I have to say Casio does a darn good job compared to Korg, M-Audio and Kawaii. The keys are very realistic and are 95% of the way to the feel of a real piano. No aftertouch on this board. The effects on this guy are nothing to go crazy over. They sit well with the patches but again, nothing I would brag about. The chorus sounds really nice on the Rhodes patch, but I don't care for it on anything else. The reverb is decent and smooths out the piano nicely.
I don't hate any sounds on this board, and I can't say I was blown away by any either. They are simply acceptable especially if they are for your ears only.

OVERALL OPINION

What I love most about this thing is the amazing action and how light it is. For the price point, I don't think you will fine such a real piano feel in another board. Also I can easily carry it with one arm which is great because I bought this piano to be "portable." I am so sick of practicing piano inside all day so I decided to buy a board that wasn't too expensive that I had to constantly be worried about it and I could setup up outside and practice. The built in speakers mean I don't need a PA so I just run an extension cord out of my house and setup in my back yard. YAY!!!!!! For $400 this is one of the best deals for Pianists out there. I would give it a 7 out of 10 for sound. Good, but not great. I have used many keyboards in my time (Korg, Kawaii, Roland, Nord=the best, etc.....) and I have never found this quality of action in a board under $800 before this guy. I would definitely buy this board again. It's the perfect practice companion.

88 keys (+ 7 octaves) to heavy touch

5 sounds uneditable (2 pianos, 1 rhode 1 calvecin, 1 strings). Opportunity to juxtapose two sounds simultaneously (piano + strings, harpsichord + rhode ...)

Reverb / chorus configurable (4 levels each)

Integrated speakers 2x8W, 32 voices polyphony (max)

Midi in / midi out, headphone output (mini jack), sustain input jack (6.35)

5 demo songs

Function tuning and transposition (offset half tone)

Dimensions (with stand): 1323 x 278 x 167 mm

Weight: 11.2 kg, 18.2 kg with stand

Possibility of detaching from the bracket (4 screws fasteners)

UTILIZATION

Nice touch with dynamic typing return the game properly imitating an acoustic piano. The keys are still slightly noisy when the volume is too low.

Selection of sounds by pressing one of five dedicated buttons (piano1, Piano2, rhode, harpsichord, strings), ditto for the reverb and chorus (equipped with a red LED to know what each effect is implemented) it is possible to combine. We can no longer simple.

We can criticize his lack of connection (USB, line out ...) but it is a piano entered range and connection midi (in / out) are, for my part, ample.

Manual clear and concise. Very useful to use a 100% functionality of the device (intensity effects, juxtaposition of sounds, pitch shift ...).
Small flat anyway, the lack of benchmarks for piano use advanced features without requiring manual back flip (including dosage effects).

SOUNDS

Sounds realistic overall and pretty good quality (obviously better to avoid unnecessary and unwelcome comparison with the best models of Roland, Yamaha & co).

I think the grand piano (piano 1) very good. His sound is beautiful, rich, full, clear with lots of detail in the last 2 octaves (the most severe) ... it would almost hammers striking the strings so it is rendered.
Against by severe rather poorly defined and confusing enough as a whole (and not just the grand piano). But hey, it goes anyway, I mean it's not unplayable either, do not exaggerate.

I also liked the rhode and strings that make it okay. Following are better for sure but I think these two sounds pretty cool.
The piano 2 I do not hardly ever used (the piano one fully meets my expectations) but it's ok too.
Harpsichord is no comment, I think it's just ugly (and I do not think it comes from CDP 100 but the instrument itself).

The expression and responsiveness are more than adequate I think. It means introducing much subtlety in his game playing on the dynamics of keys, brevity and intensity of support, sustain ...
Small problem: I find the lack of sustain "depth" and expressiveness. It is closer to the "on" / "off" than anything else in my humble opinion, my good are not more royalist than the king.

The effects are good and do their job properly ... even a bit too much. If they are too pronounced to your taste you can anyway change their dosage.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 4 years now (bought the model expo in January 2009 Auchan 350th instead of 500th new: RAM deals post holiday season: D) and I have never been disappointed .

To be honest, at the time, I went to an old synth low end digital piano range of entered and I was just on my ass after testing the beast. It changed me at all compared to all my old casio, it was night and day what. I thought at the time "it's amazing, a real piano in this little box, it's magic."

Obviously magic has faded somewhat since the musical experience and since the requirement with respect to the equipment have been totally leveled up but I still think that Casio CDP 100 in real qualities both musical ( piano main effects, dynamic keys) and practical (ease of use, weight, size).

We can of course blame him too much its simplicity (which is its main advantage, however) and regret that we can not edit the sounds have more instrumentals, memorize his game or enjoy a more complete connectivity but it should certainly not forget the price and rank (entry level).
Report excellent price / quality in my opinion (I remake this choice without a second of hesitation). After if you want better ben ... it is more expensive here.