Casio CT-S1-76

[SteveCoscia]

This looks interesting.  Could be the harbinger of great things to come in Casio's 76-key category.

 

https://youtu.be/t-ED9r36zp4?si=AidoHLgNnQIobJrN

[Adan]

Yay for 76'ers!

 

Boo for 1/8" outs!

[D. Gauss]

boo for breaks-if-you-look-at-it-wrong micro usb, and not including the bluetooth dongle too.

[ElmerJFudd]

Love the sounds in these, they are excellent value.  Don’t love the keys.  But it’s $350 for the 76 and $219 for the 61.  For the price they are very nice. 

[AnotherScott]

3 hours ago, ElmerJFudd said:

Don’t love the keys.

 It's all relative. I rank the keys over much pricier boards like Korg Kross (and its brethren), Juno DS61 (ditto), Numa Compact series, Fantom-07, for example.

[Jazz+]

These would benefit from  a speakers stays on option when using the 1/8” Output. I love my CT-S1. It has a good touch response and action when I set it to Heavy Touch. The Acoustic Piano and Epiano are good.

[D. Gauss]

 $350? except for the speakers, it's an exact ($219) CT-S1 with 15 more keys.   $130 bucks for 15 more keys? I often see used CT-S1s on craigslist for 100-125 bucks.  maybe if it came with the bluetooth dongle included like the ct-s500 & 1000v it would be a good deal, but sadly it doesn't. 

   IMO, if casio had  actually built the bluetooth into this instead of the optional $80 dollar, sore thumb sticking out, "you're gonna lose this," dongle, AND put in a 1/4" jack and USB C (instead of micro USB), it would be killer. 

  As someone who both owns and likes the CT-S1 and CT-S1000v, i can tell you that even though it works great, that BT dongle thing really is a drag. IF it slid into a recessed cutout/cubby protective area on the top or back of the keyboard, it would be fine, but... as is, since it sticks out like a thumb drive, you have to remove it to put in a case pocket for transport to prevent damage.  I've already done one gig with the 1000v where i realized the BT adapter was still at home in the pocket of a different gig bag. not fun.

[Adan]

Economies of scale may have something to do with the price difference. Casio probably expects to sell fewer 76's. Also, it does have the upgraded speakers. 

 

Agree with Jazz+ that the speaker disabling with output engaged is a big negative, and there's not an obvious reason for it.  But in general I'm a fan of the CT-S1, so the 76 is more of a good thing.

[Baggypants]

9 hours ago, D. Gauss said:

it's an exact ($219) CT-S1 with 15 more keys. 

And different speakers.

 

[AnotherScott]

10 hours ago, D. Gauss said:

 $350? except for the speakers, it's an exact ($219) CT-S1 with 15 more keys.   $130 bucks for 15 more keys?

I suspect that it's no coincidence that it is the same price as the Yamaha NP-35, which is probably its only direct competition. (And Yamaha seems very successful with that line, they've had an NP-3x since 2008.)

 

10 hours ago, D. Gauss said:

that BT dongle thing really is a drag. IF it slid into a recessed cutout/cubby protective area on the top or back of the keyboard, it would be fine, but... as is, since it sticks out like a thumb drive,

It doesn't stick out like a (typical) thumb drive, it sticks out not too far and then right-angles up, and is a pretty solid piece.  I leave it in.

 

Though I agree that the Micro USB is a pain... not just that you're not as likely to have the right cable around, but the connection does seem too delicate.

[SteveCoscia]

Hey @AnotherScott, do you know if the more powerful CT-S1-76 speakers & amplifier are on par with Casio's PX-560?

[Mike Martin]

1 hour ago, SteveCoscia said:

Hey @AnotherScott, do you know if the more powerful CT-S1-76 speakers & amplifier are on par with Casio's PX-560?

Yes 

[D. Gauss]

10 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

Though I agree that the Micro USB is a pain... not just that you're not as likely to have the right cable around, but the connection does seem too delicate.

 

yup, see the horror stories about the Behringer Flow 8 mixer and all the assorted hacks trying to fix the micro USB jack that it uses to supply power! Nightmare.

[Mike Martin]

5 minutes ago, D. Gauss said:

yup, see the horror stories about the Behringer Flow 8 mixer and all the assorted hacks trying to fix the micro USB jack that it uses to supply power! Nightmare.

 

It is not for power. Since we've had MicroUSB on our Casiotone keyboards, I'm aware of only one failure which we replaced under warranty. 

[D. Gauss]

2 minutes ago, Mike Martin said:

 

It is not for power. Since we've had MicroUSB on our Casiotone keyboards, I'm aware of only one failure which we replaced under warranty. 

 

 i never said it was.  (i own a ct-s1 and ct-s1000v)

[D. Gauss]

11 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

 the Yamaha NP-35, which is probably its only direct competition. (And Yamaha seems very successful with that line, they've had an NP-3x since 2008.)

 

 

I used to have the earlier version (NP-31) and still miss it. Easy to play on your lap. Only bothersome thing for me was having the speakers on either end make it only 2 inches and change shorter than an 88 keyboard (p-125). Always figured they'd changed that in subsequent versions, but never have. weird.  The Casio is much shorter which is nice.

[stoken6]

7 hours ago, D. Gauss said:

 

I used to have the earlier version (NP-31) and still miss it. Easy to play on your lap. Only bothersome thing for me was having the speakers on either end make it only 2 inches and change shorter than an 88 keyboard (p-125). Always figured they'd changed that in subsequent versions, but never have. weird.  The Casio is much shorter which is nice.

I have a NP30 and those two inches (plus the reduced front-to-back depth) means it fits in the boot/trunk of my car, where a standard 88 wouldn't. Because it has 5-pin MIDI it can pull duty as my downstairs board for high-shlep gigs. 

 

Casio - a CT576 (and CT1076 if you like) for table 8?

 

Cheers, Mike.

[piano39]

Here's a question for those of you that have the Casio bluetooth adapter.  Can I use this to midi the CT-S1 to a Yamaha midi bluetooth adapter?  In other words, can I send midi from the Casio directly to the Yamaha, or do I need an iPad or computer to pair?

 

Thanks

[JamieT]

On 7/15/2024 at 7:59 AM, D. Gauss said:

 

 i never said it was.  (i own a ct-s1 and ct-s1000v)

What do you use the micro USB port for (given that you have the Bluetooth adapter)?  I own the CT-S1 (and the BT adapter) and never need to use the USB port.   

[JamieT]

There is one additional difference with the new CT-S1-76. It supports the Casio Music Space app which allows you to control all of the keyboard parameters via your iPad or iPhone instead of having to remember note combinations. 

I am hoping that the more-powerful speakers will allow me to avoid bringing an amp in more scenarios. The new speakers have 6.5 watts per side (vs. 2.5 watts for the 61-key version).   

 

 

[Jazz+]

Those 6.5-watt speakers sound good, too bad they go away when you plug into a little mono support amp for a solo piano gig. Otherwise, I would buy one.

[Baggypants]

The speaker thing is ironic since people were complaining the Priva PX-S speakers don't turn off when you use the line out.

[Jazz+]

I think you might be conflating headphone outs with line outs.  PX-S has 2 headphone and 2x 1/4-inch outputs. The CT-S1 has a single stereo output

[Baggypants]

People complained about it. They're complaining about the opposite happening here. That was my whole point.

[AnotherScott]

56 minutes ago, Jazz+ said:

Those 6.5-watt speakers sound good, too bad they go away when you plug into a little mono support amp for a solo piano gig. Otherwise, I would buy one.

 

Yeah, Liano has the same issue. No setting that allows the internal speakers to keep playing if you hook up something external.

 

These look like two nice options for what they are, though. Liano offers 88 keys and built in audio interface; CT-S1 has lots more sounds, layering, 7 user presets

[Lou Gehrig Charles]

On 7/12/2024 at 3:50 PM, Adan said:

 

Boo for 1/8" outs!

 

Boo is right!  That's the only thing I don't like about my CDP-S360.

 

I even took off the bottom panel one day to see if I could replace my 1/8" jack with a 1/4".  Apparently, not without unsoldering it from the circuit board.

[Adan]

On 7/20/2024 at 5:56 PM, Baggypants said:

The speaker thing is ironic since people were complaining the Priva PX-S speakers don't turn off when you use the line out.

This isn't rocket science for a company like Casio. Just make it an option, hardware or firmware. 

 

I would consider using one of these for some solo piano gigs, but lack of options with the speaker detracts significantly from it's usefulness for me, which would be an ultra-light setup that I could supplement with a small external speaker. Also, losing the vibration feeling from the speakers is a shame.

[AnotherScott]

29 minutes ago, Adan said:

This isn't rocket science for a company like Casio. Just make it an option, hardware or firmware. 

It's possible that it would have been feasible to provide a software option to turn the speakers on and off independently of the headphone jack... though it's also possible that the design only supports the one audio route where the insertion of the headphone jack is physically breaking the connection to the speakers, in which case it would have had to have been manufactured differently (possibly at some increased cost). I'm trying to remember if I've ever seen a piano with only a headphone jack that provided independent selection of whether or not the speakers are playing. Off-hand, the only ones I remember that have switchable speakers also have 1/4" jacks (meaning they already have an additional audio out path, physically separate from the headphone jack).

[Adan]

9 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

It's possible that it would have been feasible to provide a software option to turn the speakers on and off independently of the headphone jack... though it's also possible that the design only supports the one audio route where the insertion of the headphone jack is physically breaking the connection to the speakers, in which case it would have had to have been manufactured differently (possibly at some increased cost). I'm trying to remember if I've ever seen a piano with only a headphone jack that provided independent selection of whether or not the speakers are playing. Off-hand, the only ones I remember that have switchable speakers also have 1/4" jacks (meaning they already have an additional audio out path, physically separate from the headphone jack).

I see your point. It's too bad because this comes so close to being something I'd really like to use in gigging situations. Maybe there's an inherent conflict between my wishes and the design goals of a keyboard like this, specifically, an ultra-light keyboard with speakers is likely to be designed for home use and keeping the cost down.

 

The Yamaha CK61, which I have, has the speaker off option, but it's in a much higher price range. The speakers on the CK are so quiet as to be almost useless.

[AnotherScott]

33 minutes ago, Adan said:

The speakers on the CK are so quiet as to be almost useless

There is a menu option to increase the volume, have you tried that?