MusicPlayerNetwork.com Forums Keys and Synths The Keyboard Corner Casio gives the CT line a bump

The new CT-S1 (MSRP: $299.99), CT-S400 (MSRP: $349.99), LK-S450 (MSRP: $399.99), and WU-BT10 (MSRP: $129.99) will be available for pre order April 14, 2021 and for sale mid-May.

I had recently picked up a CT-S300 and find it generally useful. However, one short coming was the lack of one really good piano timbre. The S1 seems to address that. If the size and speakers are similar, might be worth a switch. No handle though?

Video didn't mention a sustain pedal input, which would be my only gripe as this price point. Otherwise looks promising for a "couch practice board."

It most certainly has a sustain pedal input.

There have been only three of these units in the US for the past few weeks. Mike and Rich Formidoni from Casio have had one...
...and I've had the other one.



MPN will be releasing a First Look video - done by me and edited by Craig Anderton - later today.

dB

Good! Seems like a great, affordable product!

Yes, they have handles, or at least handle-like grips. They don't go all the way through. It was mentioned in a video that that was because of how they are making use of the interior space for the speakers.

Best thing... pegs for keytar straps!

Nice sounds in the S1, too. And decent live patch selection functionality, if you don't need quick access to too many of them.

Curious about the action.

Would have liked to see a way to leave the speakers playing even if you have something connected to the audio output, but I'm not optimistic.

I hope it has the action from the CT-S300. Velocity is responsive and you can get a note triggered along the entire key, even smack up against the fall board.

Have you noticed 5 pin or USB midi? Or none?

Surprisingly good. You'll see in the video I did - I don't always play lightly.

Nope - not that I found.

USB jack.

Also, there's a wireless Bluetooth adaptor (optional, $79) that allows control over software synths and streams audio. VERY cool.

dB

Ug, I just got a CTS300. Had I known this was coming I'd have held off for the CTS1. Oh well, $134 invested, it's not like buying a Nord Stage just before the upgrade.

The action on these Casio's is decent, better than expected. For me that's the #1 selling point as a couch/travel board. The CTS1's speakers should be a big upgrade on the 300.

And with the strap pegs you might actually inspire someone to use "casio" and "sexy" in the same sentence!

OTOH, I just saw in the manual that they specifically say that that cut-out should not be used as a handle!

Hi Scott,
It is definitely a grip not a handle. It certainly helps in moving the instrument. The manual has to get all kinds of liabilities included like turn the volume all the way down before connecting headphones.

Mike, Casio doing a little bag for it?

But they even put "is not" in caps!



Of course people are going to do it. ;-)

Anyway, the board looks/sounds really cool. In a perfect world, I'd like to be able to use a computer/iOS editor to re-order the sounds in each category (so I could determine which sound comes up first in each category, or swap out some of the panel-selectable sounds I don't care about for others of the 61, without using up the 7 shortcut buttons), and there are just a handful of other sounds I'd like to have seen... like it's great that there are tape flutes, but then I miss the tape strings! Others I'd like to have seen are a marimba, a non-synthy choir, trumpet, violin/fiddle, harmonica, and banjo. Considering the absence of those last three, I think they forgot about the times we've gotta cover the country tunes! (Though I don't know what the CZ trumpet and violin sound like.) And if only that little bluetooth add-on also provided 5-pin MIDI I/O and 1/4" outputs even if it added another 20 bucks (if that were feasible). But as a whole, for $199, there's only so much I can complain about. It looks you guys really did a nice job on this.

Awesome job Dave!!! Damn...I want one!

I may have missed it, but how long does it last on batteries? I'd be using rechargeables of course.....

Thanks for getting the review up!! Well done!! And kudos to Casio!!

Very nice, Dave!!!

I actually clapped when I heard the "Jump" quote

It will run on rechargeable batteries. I haven't done a real-world test but I'll test it myself soon. I think the official spec from HQ is 4+ hours.

Another video we did featuring just some of the sounds:

I'm waiting for a CT-CS V2 ....same thing but with P & W wheels for $30 more.

Took my vid down - saw something that needed fixing. It'll be back in a sec.

dB

On another forum, someone noted the design appears to be influenced by the Braun-Rams school of industrial design

https://philamuseum.org/calendar/exhibition/dieter-rams-principled-design





Kudos to Casio for the nice, clean look

Impressive that they can get this quality of sound out of hardware that falls in this price range.

Boy, I'll say.

dB

Price from the usual online retailers is $199! I paid more than that for a budget TV soundbar not too long ago.

And yeah... I can tell from the videos that the keys aren't hinged ideally - but for rehearsing, just banging around, whatever.. it's one of those things I didn't think I needed until I saw it, but maybe I do.

The elusive "couch keyboard".

dB

Reminds me a bit of the CP series.

Or maybe the CP series reminds you of Braun-Rams.

Dieter Rams got his first design award in 1960.

I couldn't see actual audio outputs from the videos.
Are they quiet?

Audio outs are just via the 1/8" stereo headphone output. All the audio in our videos was recorded directly from that.

dB is reposting his video shortly, he can comment too.

Mike, your playing was quite enjoyable. Nice & fluid. Allowing for the usual +/- 10% impurity of YouTube compression, I'm impressed by the sound of the instrument. Its just a short notch below what I'd expect from a much more costly and programmable item. Its a giant sweet spot.

Its a bit hard to quantify the experience for a 2021 newbie, since this same range of instruments was made of pure cheeze in the 80s, aside from the impact of the CZ line. All this would have needed would have been a split so I could run my CZ-101 from the top octaves. I would have felt like a demigod.

Thanks Dave you're too kind.
These days it is a fine line between hitting Youtube copyright issues and not so trying to come up with interesting things to play while the "RECORDING LIGHT" is on is always a challenge for me. I'll add that a few of those clips (taken from the left angle) were actually captured in a compressed format in the first place by accident - then recompressed by MP4 and Youtube.

The fun factor of the CT-S1 is simply hard to express over video.