Casio CTK-1000

I think this one of the best casio keyboards, but it's old and some people dont know this one.
I use this model cus it has a lot of nice effects, it makes a lot of cool tunes you wont find on another keyboards..
Its kind of difficult to use, I mean you must be an electronic musician like me to know how to handle with ctk-1000
Its not that hard editing patches, you just must know how to do it, and do it with your heart, everything is alright!

Very easy to use; building own sounds is somewhat limited but really easy. The manual is quite OK but you don't need it usually.

It has only 8 MIDI-channels of which one is reserved for the drumkid. The keyboard (including a pitchbend-wheel) is OK.
Best thing about this keyboard are the in-built effects, though you can only lay them on all midi-channels simultaneously.
There are no expansion capabilities in any way.
MIDI implementation is OK, too - it understands and sends the usual PRG Chg., pitchbend, NOTE on/off, ...
The rhythm-section is programmable and there is an in-built sequencer, too.
Creating own patches is quite limited, LFOs for example are predesigned for several instruments.
Some sounds can be edited via layering 2 presets, some can be edited by modulating it in a strange way.

The pianos are great, so are the pads. I also like some brasses very much as they sound quite realistic. There are also some very weird electronic fx and sounds as well as good organs. The greatest thing are 2 different choirs; one very smokey, the other rather clear.
Very bad are the drumkid and percussions. Flutes are almost nonexistable.
It works very well when you want to add a unique sounding instrument to a song.
Some sounds react to different velocities, some not. Some react to very short NOTE on-off periods, some not. Very strange in some ways.

I don't like that it loses the user-banks except if you have tons of fat batteries inside it. That makes it rather independable.
Well, all in all...lots of plastic. But it is very light and easy to carry.

I hope it won't break down someday because it seems to be quite impossible to find anything about this keyboard. Not even casio.com provides any imformation.

This keyboard has some very unique sounds that can be used on and on without sounding too used. This makes the CTK-1000 a unit which I don't want to miss.
I wish the quality of the drumkid was not such bad, but choirs, pianos and pads make up for that. A modulation-wheel would also make some sense.

i have a casio CTK-1000..it's great ..everything u need u will find in this keyboard..it's not so to learn how to use this keyboard..it only need some time ..and there's a manual..u can find everything in it..

so many effects u will find in this keyboard..and easy to use..sensetive keys ...midi channels..and much more..

this keyboard is great ..for the soft music..and techno music..it only depends on the player..as for me ..i play thecno music ..and room..like enigma...and it's doing great..the sounds r ..so real..the effects..r good..but not so usefull on one keyboard..cos u can't use the effects only on the sound u play..the effect contain all the music..that's the only thing i don't like in it..but it's great..

forget about the backup..cos after 31 party without a backup..i don't think that i will need a backup later

none of that

editing is hard, and not really time worthy. the manual helps but since there are only limited things you can do with this keyboard, it's really hard to intergrate it into anyother equipment,(ie other keyboards, computer...)

Features are very poor. only 8 midi channels which is a shame. Effects (reverb, delay, etc.) will modify all tracks. no expansion. you can mess with the sounds and styles a little bit, very limited and not really helpful. Saving changes is hard, need batteries at all times.

instrument sounds are a joke, if you have seen a good keyboard in you life. i don't think anything sounds realistinc although synth-pads are not so bad. Although you can "register" or save styles and tones settings you can't change mid song or it completely messes up.
very limited range of music to be played with this as styles (rhythms) are not so good

never used it on a gig, but it has never broke down. however the auto-shutdown feature does get on my nerves

never dealt with customer service

I wish i had done some research to see what was on the market. I should have bought a Yamaha. Overall i want my $500 back! it gets in the way of making music, honestly i do all of my work on the computer now. not even worth buying a midi cable for since it is not even general midi compatible.

I never need to use the users manual because the use of the CTK-1000 is very simple. But it has so many features that I never used all of them.
The sounds and patches edition are very easy.

16 notes polyphony. It has a sequencer with 3 melodie tracks and more 5 chord tracks, but when we are using PC sequencers we have 8 melodie tracks.

All the sound are very expressive. The sax sounds are thery good and the pianos too. The flute and violin are incredible and it has many sound effects. We can edit the sounds.

I never need support for it. But we have many places to help us with it here in Brazil.

It's an excelent keyboard that can be compared with the YAMAHAs keyboard.

Using Logic audio 4.1
the presets sound fine until you use the grand piano
editing can be a little sticky but for a professional keyboard what do you expect except professional quality (really built as an analogue synthesyser for sound effects
clear as a bell

61 note / touch sensitive 4 levels
yes / not too bad
its possible to do it if you know how to set up the internal chipset and configurations
in / out / stage
yes / 16 track multitimbral / very flexible if you are technically minded

very few of these sounds are poor, the rest are powerful. there are user setups but can get a bit fiddley
all
good quality audio effects
it reacts well as a heavy keyboard. heavy audio carriage.
yes. auto setup. can only be stored in the user controls and the residence format

this is very dependable. well worth buying. if you can find it of course
probably. can be used but have a second synth with you to condense the sounds and formats you need through midi I/O

Brought from dawsons chester. excellent service and support
not needed, however upgraded last year to two pro midi casios. NO PROBLEMS

It's very easy to use right out of the box. It has it own speakers, phones output, so you can play inmediatly. The preset sounds are good, but the edition is limited to attack, release, and wave type. There is no filter cutoff but you can simulate it with the velocity sensitive keyboard.

It has an 8 track sequencer. I love that feature but it is limited. You can program patterns A and B and one fill in, but you cannot modify intro or ending of a song. Besides, if you program some notes on track four, you cannot program at the same time in track 5 ! so it has its own sequencer but not too much powerful. The 5 first tracks allow you to program the patterns and the other 3 are linear tracks.

Midi implementation is poor, this is not a general MIDI instrument, so you won't be able to play you MIDI files through it unless you do a very hard programming work.

The velocity sensitive keyboard is weak and you have to press the keys very strong to play the notes loud.

The built in effects are good (distortion, flanger, reverb, chorus, delay....) but you cannot apply them to just 1 track. They affect all the 8 tracks at once !!!! That's bad.

Strings are good, as are some electric basses, and choirs, very good for techno. there is only 1 drum kit... You'll get bored of it after 1 year. Doesn't have aftertouch, only velocity and i said before it wasn't any good. Fortunately there is a button that allows you to turn off velocity.

Yeah, i used it on a gig, it doesn't crash NEVER. It works on batteries also, but will easily drain 6 big batteries in a day. It is useful to keep batteries in even when they are dead, this allows you to keep your patches and patterns. No batteries and no plug, and you'll lose everything (but presets). I wouldn't be so sure about endurance, because it is heavy and the plastic is weak.

never tried it.

It's a good synth to start but if you want to get serious about music making, get a real synth / work station. Roland or Korg and you'll know what is a synth.

Casio is a toy. I enjoyed this keyboard a lot, played with it, made some great songs -eurodance, pop- , but after you buy yourself a real synth you'll notice the difference.

What's the most bothering thing about it ? The MIDI implementation. You can make great songs on it, but i wasn't ever able to export them to a MIDI file. Everything i did on it is lost by now. i sold it for some 300 US dollars. (and i bought a Korg X5D)

Patch editing leaves something to be desired. You can only edit the patches for the entire keyboard (i.e. if you add reverb to the effect you're using, the reverb will be on all the other effects as well). The manual is pretty good. I have used it to figure out a couple of different things.

The keyboard itself feels great. Built in effects include distortion, reverb, large hall reverb, flanger, etc. All of which give you the ability to make the sounds change completely.

The instruments (albeit a whopping 99) are great. I've been using this keyboard exclusively for all my keyboard needs. The pianos are great, the synth leads are even better. The "atmosphere" section is also great.

All I know is that in approximately 10 years of owning it... I've never had a problem. And yes, I'd use it without a backup.

If I were to lose my CTK1000... of course I'd buy it again. It's been the backbone of all my industrial/techno music. I've been playing keyboards since the mid-80s. As far as my other equipment... I also really like my old school Realistic... but more on that later.