Casio CTK-471

The tones sound pretty good for $80 US. The songs built in are chincy...like Waltzing Matilda! I got the wrong manual in the box so that sucked.

OK This is a pretty cheps sounding keyboard. I have heard better from some cheap Yamaha's. The keys are not touch sensitive. You prolly want to get a sustain pedal for any relistic sounding peices.

I can depend on it. For $80 i havent had any problems in workmanship or structual quality and have had it about 3 years.

I would not buy this keyboard again/

I just posted this review to warn on how crappy this keyboard sounds. There is a constant hiss along with every piano note, and the two pianos sound like a sample from an old 8-bit sound card. Some other reviewer paid $100 but I paid ?155 (in Spain) and that's definitely not worth. Even my 12 year-old Yamaha VSS-30 toy sounds more realistic.

Good for the 61 natural-sized keys and nice to start learning but don't take it seriously. Although its size, it's a toy anyway.

It's real easy to use, because it only has 100 preset sounds. These sounds, or most of them, are taken from the GM-library. This keyboard is GM-compatible, but only in channels 1, 2, 3, 4 and 10 for rythm. The keyboard is NOT touch sensitive.
The English/U. S.-manual is o.k., but my Danish version sucks!

The polyphony is 12 on most sounds. Some sounds are variations with added hall-reverbish sound. It's probably not expandable, and if I had the money to expand, I'd expand with a brand new TOUCH-SENSITIVE keyboard.
There is no onboard sequencer, I bought this to use it with my distorted guitar and 4-track tapedeck. I can only compare this keyboard with GM and old porno-organs from the 70's, as these are the only keyboards I've played at all. The organ sounds are decent, but they don't howl or grind or do anything at all. The two church-organs are great for this cheap a keyboard, but I don't play many psalms.
I bought this also because it could teach me basic chords like M7/m7 and sus4 and stuff like that, and it did.
But only 100 cheesy sounds, 100 cheesy 'songs' (girl from ipanema-jingle bells). The 100 rythms actually sound better than old organs!
No pan-wheel.

The sounds are easy to use, since there are these tacky scriptures on the board, like on a toy. The sounds are really just a selection of GM. To use this professionally you would have to be very dedicated to Lo-Fi. The split-keyboard option offers only 3 or 4 presets. The keyboard is very easily infected with hairs (I have cats) and dust and little bits.

The keys stay in place after I've used the thing for a month. That's a good sign. The plastic on this thing is fragile in some places (around the back)! But the buttons work very well.

I have dealt with the company, because one of the keys stopped working after a week. They cleaned the thing internally. Must have been a cat's hair!

If this stopped working on me I would buy a touch sensitive keyboard, because it would make the synthetic piano sound of GM better. I've made melodies to go along with guitar riffs on a GM sequencer, and also an old porno-organ from the 70's (remember that sound?) I bought this for learning and for playing instead of sequencing. This keyboard can teach you, but the other features get boring after a day. I bought this instrument because it was the most decent I had the money for right away, but now I've saved up for one of the Casio WK-1800's (the same only much better).

This keyboard seems like it is ok for a beginner. I am a beginner who is fueling an interest in learning to play the piano, and I thought I would buy this little $100 one to see if the interest stays.

I am using WIN98, and the keyboard says its MIDI compatible (not general MIDI, though). I am not sure if it is, as I think it might just be a through port. We'll see in the future if it works out. The presets all kinda sound the same.

Like I said, I got it to learn on, so if I get better, I'll get a better keyboard.

The polyphoney seems to be around ten notes, though I cannot find where its listed in the fat manual. The action is nonweighted fullsize keys, which is cool for size, but I find myself hitting the keys with a stutter, since they require no effort to depress.

No on board effects, no expansion capabilities, non-velocity keys, no sequencer.

The instruments don't really sound like anything except different versions of the synth sound. The type of music that would best fit this thing would be all, since it seems to be a lowest common denominator kinda thing. No onboard effects, no reaction to playing, and velocity and after touch? What's that?

I don't recommend using the headphone jack, since that makes all the presets sound almost exactly the same. When playing with the onboard fullrange speakers, the sounds kinda sound like their description, but with headphones, you can really hear a big difference. The basic piano sounds kinda sound like crap, they have these synth overtones. Most of the other sounds all kinda sound like the "strings" preset, just different versions. The decay of the tones are kinda silly, they pop off with no natural decay at all. The cool ones are an "analog synth" tone, which sounds like the old Atari game noises and a very few others.

I will say that the first one I bought, the LCD display didn't work, so I took it back. The new one seems to work just fine.

Casio is a decent name for all electronics, so I would think it will last. I'e had a few Casio calculators, and a Data-tek watch and they all still function after 10+ years, so I think it will probably last.

No contact.

I kinda have no opinion of this keyboard. I am happy about learning the piano, and excited about the future, but I know that I will probably quickly outgrow this board. If it were stolen I'd be sad it was gone but I would definatelty buy a better one. I like the cost and portability (it can run on batteries), I don't like the crappy little sounds that all sound the same. I did compare and it won due to being MIDI comaptible and the cost.
To summize, if it's for a beginner, son or daughter; or just to learn on, why not, it's only $100. If you plan on using this out and about, seriously consider paying a little more for a little something better. Like I said, it's just to learn on, and I like it for that. I cannot afford something bigger and I didn't want to buy something bigger just to loose interest. I think it will work out, but I do think I'll out grow it soon, but if not, it was only $100.