Product: Casio CPS-700
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
11/02/2008
at
11:10am
by
Shamun Mahmud
Email: smahmud<at>cox dot net
General Features
:
9
This mimicks Abraham854's review, I merely corrected the number of keys. This keyboard has 76 keys, not 45.
Description:
1) The digital piano operates off a 12 Volts adapter. It also works with 8 D-cell batteries, for total portability!
2) It has a slider on/off switch and a slider volume control.
3) It has 5 voices. They are:
i) Piano
ii) Harpsichord
iii) Vibraphone
iv) Electric piano
v) Pipe organ
4) It has two medium size speakers fitted at either end of the
keyboard.
5) It has a total keyboard size of 76 keys, synth feel, not hammer action.
6) It has a music library of 45 classical music pieces, ranging
from Beethoven to Chopin and Mozart.
7) It has MIDI in and out sockets, a tuning control to tune the
digital piano to the correct pitch, a damper pedal socket, a
line out socket and a 12 Volts dc socket. All of these are
located at the back of the keyboard.
8) The digital piano comes with a music stand that looks like a
bracket which locates in two holes near the back of the digital
piano.
9) The colour of the digital piano is black with the keys being
black and white in the traditional fashion.
My experience of the Casio CPS-700 Digital Piano
It is a beautiful looking instrument. Before I got this keyboard, I was thinking about buying a keyboard at some point and then I never bothered because I didn't think I would use it often enough to justify the cost of one.
However, a work colleage at the time (2001) told me his sister had a keyboard and wasn't using it. He asked if I was interested in having it. I said yes. He gave me it for free. What a blessing that was.
I can say that the instrument has been a great introduction to piano playing. However because of the lightness of the keys, it is challenging to go from that, to a grand piano with weighted keys for my piano lessons.
The sound quality is very good.
I like the sound quality on all the sounds as named earlier.
Here are my descriptions of the sounds as I find them:
1) Piano - This sounds very much like a piano (that maybe
sounds like a strange thing to say, but I really like it). I do
most of my piano practise using this sound. It is excellent and
very realisitic. The only thing I would say however, is that
when you leave your finger on the keyboard til the note is
finished, you can hear the digital sound or electric sound
coming through, but it is still good having said that.
2) Harpsichord - This is a lovely sound. It sounds very much like
a stringed instrument, as a harpsichord is. It sounds like
something Bach would have used.
3) Vibraphone - This sounds very much like a glockenspiel.
This is a sound that I use rarely, except when I am having fun.
4) Electric Piano - This again is a very good sound. The thing I
like about this is the lower part of the keyboard really sounds
like a good bass section. This could be used to substitute a
bass guitar.
5) Pipe organ - This is a lovely sound. It reminds me of a sound
you would hear in a cathedral. It sounds gorgeous. Great for
playing hymns.
I have used the lineout socket on this keyboard a few times. The sound that comes from sound equipment that it connects to is brilliant in my view!
There is also a headphone socket 6mm (if I measured accurately). Well it it the bigger size of the two options, so you'll know what I am talking about. This is great for practising with when you don't want to disturb the neighbours late at night.
I would heartily recommend this keyboard to anyone who is either desiring to play for fun or who wants to play seriously. I started my Grade 1 piano class by using this as a practice keyboard.
The keyboard is still going strong, five weeks after I acquired it.
Additional Controls
:
9
Great MIDI in/out. Can be played through an amp (am using an Eden N208S bass amp with horn)
Damper pedal input is handy
The 45 musical pieces are nice.
Can be run on batteries, this is a very nice feature
Connectivity
:
9
MIDI in/out
Line out for external amps
Damper pedal
Headphone jack
Additional features
:
8
45 classical pieces built-in.
Overall Rating
:
No Opinion
If it were stolen,
I might reverse my stand on gun control!
But seriously, I love this thing.
I would buy another, IFF I can find one.
Short of that, I would buy another Casio
Never figured out what the big deal is about Roland. Besides their name appeal, I think Casio has come a long way!