Product: Casio CTK-810
Price Paid: USD 150
Submitted
02/29/2008
at
12:55am
by
Joe Jazz
Ease of Use
:
9
Quite easy to use. No patch editor. Manual is fine.
One trick that is good to know: it is possible to save setups but the CTK insists on starting up the rhythm background when recalled. One may get around this by setting the accompaniment volume to zero. You also need batteries to save the setup.
Features
:
5
The polyphony is 32, which is enough for me. The keyboard action is a simple spring, not very nice. Reverb and chorus are built in, I don't like them. No expansion. Has MIDI, I've never used it. No sequencer.
But I feel no shortage of features. I don't like to fiddle with knobs. There is an instructional package that looks pretty nice, if you want that. There is no line out but the headphone output into an amp works fine.
Expressiveness/Sounds
:
5
I bought it because I liked how the electric piano and Hammond organ patches sound. There are maybe 30 others that sound pretty good: marimba, steel drums, sax, Minimoog. Many others are usable if you use the split/layer features, which work well. The piano is barely adequate.
It is pretty good for jazz. Might be OK for rock. Forget about classical.
The onboard effects are not worth much. The touch sensitivity is good, but be sure to use the "2" setting, not the default.
Reliability
:
No Opinion
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
9
I bought it because I liked the sound and I wanted a cheap touch-sensitive keyboard to learn on to see whether I was really interested or not. The sound has grown on me. You'd have to triple the price to find something better, I think. It seems like a bargain to me. I think the sound is great for the price.
I'm a beginner on keyboard but have been playing music for decades. The basic action with no aftertouch is starting to bug me, though. But then again, you have to triple the price to get something better. I tried a Yamaha and some other brand at the same price and thought they sounded terrible.
I might go for a real piano next and keep the Casio as a fun toy. If you want a real piano then you don't want the Casio. The piano sound is not good. But for learning and messing around with its great. For a really nice electric keyboard new I think it I might have to go $1000.
