Casio gives the CT line a bump

[GovernorSilver]

Not possible

 

thanks for reply.

bummer.

looking at the midi DSP chart, was hoping you could do it via sending something. on my yamaha p-125 it was possible by wiring a simple momentary switch into a couple of the pins in the extra pedal din jack.

 

Also, no way to control organ swell with expression pedal. Just one of several reasons the old hands are recommending using an external solution for organ tones.

[D. Gauss]

The only work-around I can think of would be to use the Jazz organ sound ( there doesn"t seem to be any internal Leslie sound on this organ) and put it through a Neo Ventilator pedal or something similar. You"d have to make sure to hit the bypass switch when you"re done. It"s a lot of trouble to go to for one organ sound.

 

yup. sure seems silly as i'm sure the leslie is dsp generated. maybe a firmware update could do something (ha! that won't ever happen).

should be as simple as hit the function button, or step on the sustain pedal to switch speeds. grrrr!

[GovernorSilver]

Compromises are inevitable when you're talking about a $199 keyboard.

[AnotherScott]

yup. sure seems silly as i'm sure the leslie is dsp generated. maybe a firmware update could do something (ha! that won't ever happen).

should be as simple as hit the function button, or step on the sustain pedal to switch speeds. grrrr!

You may be underestimating the DSP resources required for a decent rotary effect. A pedal that would give you a good rotary effect can cost more than the entire S1. The Kurzweil PC4, with 32 DSP effects units, needs to use something like 10 of them to do a rotary effect that is barely passable. That said, I suppose it's possible that Casio might have been able to build in a poor rotary effect rather than none. ;-) I wonder what the cheapest keyboard is that people think has a passable rotary effect in it.

[Morrissey]

I wonder what the cheapest keyboard is that people think has a passable rotary effect in it.

 

Roland VR09?

[D. Gauss]

yup. sure seems silly as i'm sure the leslie is dsp generated. maybe a firmware update could do something (ha! that won't ever happen).

should be as simple as hit the function button, or step on the sustain pedal to switch speeds. grrrr!

 

You may be underestimating the DSP resources required for a decent rotary effect.

 

no need to reinvent the wheel. not asking for something that isn't already there... i.e. one of the organ tones seems to have leslie effect of some sort, so it just needs to change speed. as mentioned, the yammy p-125 does it just fine with a cobbled together switch.

[GovernorSilver]

Got a notification from the Amazon system, saying my question was not answered. Ok, will order this one instead. Rated 4.7 stars vs. 4.5, heh

 

Got the new pedal.

 

It may not magically add half-damper operation, but it feels so much nicer than the crummy little plastic square pedal.

[AnotherScott]

as mentioned, the yammy p-125 does it just fine with a cobbled together switch.

...or no need to even cobble anything together, if you buy their optional pedal attachment, it's an officially supported/documented function. I haven't heard it, though. How good is the effect? Though I do understand, as I said, that some effect is better than none. no one would expect Vent quality. (Though again, even the P-125 could have more DSP functionaliy in it than the S1.)

[D. Gauss]

as mentioned, the yammy p-125 does it just fine with a cobbled together switch.

...or no need to even cobble anything together, if you buy their optional pedal attachment, it's an officially supported/documented function. I haven't heard it, though. How good is the effect? Though I do understand, as I said, that some effect is better than none. no one would expect Vent quality. (Though again, even the P-125 could have more DSP functionaliy in it than the S1.)

 

 

the optional pedal attachment is a piano-esque 3 pedal type thingy that ain't ever gonna work on a bar gig on an x stand. my point is that if the DSP can do one speed, it can do the other....just need to switch between.

[Mike Martin]

What happens if you don"t adjust the battery switch? I"ve never encountered such a situation.

 

By the way, when the light started flashing that my regular Costco batteries were going, I still had about 2 hours of soft playtime. So I think if starts flashing on a gig that you don"t have to really worry.

 

The switch is to optimize the battery life and help with the accuracy of the warning light. The warning is very conservative but I'd recommending testing yourself before you head out to a gig with only batteries.

[EscapeRocks]

as mentioned, the yammy p-125 does it just fine with a cobbled together switch.

...or no need to even cobble anything together, if you buy their optional pedal attachment, it's an officially supported/documented function. I haven't heard it, though. How good is the effect? Though I do understand, as I said, that some effect is better than none. no one would expect Vent quality. (Though again, even the P-125 could have more DSP functionaliy in it than the S1.)

 

 

the optional pedal attachment is a piano-esque 3 pedal type thingy that ain't ever gonna work on a bar gig on an x stand. my point is that if the DSP can do one speed, it can do the other....just need to switch between.

 

You do know that the Casio SP34 3-pedal unit for the PX-S1000/3000 is a stand alone pedal? It's not the old style 3 pedal unit that has to attach to the bottom of the old wooden Casio stands. It uses a 6 pin DIN connection. It will most certainly work with an X stand. I have one and it works fine. Even when I have my S3000 on an X-stand when I'm just noodling. It's not setup right now, so here's a stock pic of the pedal unit

 

[El Lobo]

I took the S1 on a trip to Los Angeles and Santa Barbara to see relatives. I played the S1 as a couch piano, jamming with my brother on guitar, my son on bass, brother's lady on vocals. Also used it to show some music things to my bass-playing teen granddaughter and my beats-making teen grandson. The S1 is fun in that context. I thought about gigging it. I've got an invitational jam tomorrow night and another on Saturday. I did a gig set up in my music room with the S1 on a stand and stereo splitter miniplug going out to my 2 QSC K8s. I played several of the pianos, e pianos, and a couple of organs. I did not like the sounds. The piano sounded too boxy, the only 2 organ choices I would even consider for a gig were unacceptable, and the wurlies were just no good. This is all compared to my Nord 5D which I have set with a few pianos I like, a good wurly, and an organ with drawbars and rotary speed fast, slow, stop. I thought about tweaking the sounds on the S1 with reverb, sustain, other settings to adapt to the QSC speakers but decided it was too time consuming and I'd still not want to gig the sounds. My conclusion is that the board sounds really good through its internal speakers and is fun in a couch piano format. I'll also take it to a couple of rehearsals just for ease of use and a little show and tell of this $200 board. But for gigs, I'll take the Nord.

[Mike Martin]

[El Lobo]

I finally gigged my S1. I was reluctant to lose some of the features and sounds on my Nord 5D but I wanted to give the S1 a try. It came off ok. The piano sound cut through and I could live with the organ sounds, although I prefer a slower rotary speaker speed on that sound. The wurly sounds didn't come through very well at all, so I either went back to piano or organ. During my solo on Dixie Chicken I ran out of room at the top so I pressed the key to raise the octave. The bass player saw and heard me do that and made some comment about selecting the extendo feature while I played up there.

 

I had played the board on battery power at a jam a few days earlier. I had a spare set of charged batteries but I wan't thinking much about it and thought the batteries might make it through a 3-hour gig. No, they didn't. They died in the middle of a song. It was much faster and easier for me to grab the AC adapter and just plug in to keep going. Lesson 1 learned: use fully charged batteries.

 

I also played with wireless guitar transmitter/receivers going from the stereo splitter out to 2 QSC K8s. One of the receivers died mid-gig so I quickly pulled it and plugged in a 1/4" cable. I don't know why I wanted to go wireless with the keyboard. It was just for fun. Lesson 2: there's nothing wrong with using cables instead of trying to go wireless with everything.

 

I use a wireless mic and receiver for my sax. I'm used to putting the box that is the receiver on the corner of my Nord. The S1 is smaller and it turns out there is less room to do that. The receiver got knocked off a couple of times. Lesson 3: put the wireless sax mic receiver somewhere else.

 

The board is so lightweight that it's easy to tip it off the Stay stand that I used. My table stand seems too big and bulky for this lightweight board. I may have to learn to be careful. If you press down hard, say all the way on the right top treble keys, and the board is perched on one of those stands that just has bars to lay the board on, you could easily pound the keys and tip the board up and off the stand. I didn't do that, but I did notice I could tip the board up pretty easily because it's so light.

 

I realize this is the ideal couch piano and not really designed for gigging. But I had fun and I'll do it again, just because the board is so cool.

[o0Ampy0o]

...The board is so lightweight that it's easy to tip it off the Stay stand that I used. My table stand seems too big and bulky for this lightweight board. I may have to learn to be careful. If you press down hard, say all the way on the right top treble keys, and the board is perched on one of those stands that just has bars to lay the board on, you could easily pound the keys and tip the board up and off the stand. I didn't do that, but I did notice I could tip the board up pretty easily because it's so light.....

On stage Christopher North of Ambrosia would dramatically tip the ends of his keyboard dramatizing notes and chords.

[D. Gauss]

On stage Christopher North of Ambrosia would dramatically tip the ends of his keyboard dramatizing notes and chords.

 

 

as does my good friend and sometimes bandmate here (at 7:15)...

[El Lobo]

On stage Christopher North of Ambrosia would dramatically tip the ends of his keyboard dramatizing notes and chords.

 

 

as does my good friend and sometimes bandmate here (at 7:15)...

Ok. I'm doin' that stunt at this weekend's gig. And I'm gonna spin around like she does too. I can't play as good as her, and I sure can't get my foot up on the keyboard, but I can work on some of those other tricks.

[SaskiaHamilton]

Just giving this one a little bump - after half a year on with this board have to say I still love it, it just screams to be played and sounds great in so many informal situations that it's encouraged me to play more often then anything have purchased in last few years. BUT god I wish it had 88 keys, I really do, even with the same action. That would be me done - one board and a big smile on my face. Everything else just ticks the right box. Of course I get why Casio wouldn't want to do that, and of course there's countless other models out there, but just don't want to shell out for something I ended up linking less just to get my full range. Still continues to be a big thumbs up from me (but please Casio just think about it!)

[Baldwin Funster]

I'd get one if it had a pitchwheel. I'm more of a synth player than pianist and a board with brass and synth sounds and no wheel is like having one leg. Sorry if I offend anybody that has a missing leg.

[Morrissey]

Good feedback, Saskia. This board is still on my wish list. I'm trying to convince myself it is modest enough to count as a "stocking stuffer" this year.

[Morrissey]

Just doing a little "window shopping" and noticed one of Kraft's "bundles" for the CTS1 includes a guitar strap?! I can't imagine this puppy is a candidate for keytar duties.

[El Lobo]

Just doing a little "window shopping" and noticed one of Kraft's "bundles" for the CTS1 includes a guitar strap?! I can't imagine this puppy is a candidate for keytar duties.

I tried it. Kinda awkward. But then I tried a Roland Lucina keytar before and I really can't play a keyboard that isn't horizontal in front of me. Trying to play a keyboard that is hanging straight down, vertical to me, is beyond my limited skills.

[El Lobo]

When you play it sitting in a chair the strap goes around your waist and keeps it from slipping off your knees. Thus, a strap enables me to play sitting with it on my lap without a stand. A strap alleviates the effort needed to keep it from slipping away.

YES. +1 on that. That's what makes it a true couch/lap keyboard. The strap lets you play it with it on your lap while sitting on a couch.

[GovernorSilver]

Still happy with mine.

 

I bust out my Keystep 37 or hook up the MIDI out of my Moog Matriarch if I want to get all bendy with the notes. Generally though, when I'm on the CT-S1, I'm committed to practicing my piano playing and trying not to goof off with non-piano stuff like playing with pitch and mod wheels.

 

Interesting to see others finding a use for the strap.

[Morrissey]

When you play it sitting in a chair the strap goes around your waist and keeps it from slipping off your knees. Thus, a strap enables me to play sitting with it on my lap without a stand. A strap alleviates the effort needed to keep it from slipping away.

YES. +1 on that. That's what makes it a true couch/lap keyboard. The strap lets you play it with it on your lap while sitting on a couch.

 

I keep the strap on it at all times and never need a stand. It's a lap keyboard

 

This is fantastic.

[El Lobo]

Good feedback, Saskia. This board is still on my wish list. I'm trying to convince myself it is modest enough to count as a "stocking stuffer" this year.

I got my S1 out, inspired by this thread. It's a lot of fun to play, seems like it weighs nothing, goes anywhere, and the sounds are good. Very satisfying acoustic piano sound (stereo), a bunch of electric pianos, nice organs, some synths, acoustic guitar, strings, some of the sounds have different things in them the harder you hit or if you play a chord. It's $200. What's not to like? Give yourself one ... just because.

[SaskiaHamilton]

Just as a heads up - not sure if just a European market thing but the bluetooth adaptor is now being included by the looks of things - even more reason to pull the trigger!

[Groove On]

Been using my CT-S1 quite a lot for the past 2 weeks, to brush up on Christmas tunes.

 

Basic CT-S1 Rig

- portable/completely battery-powered

- iPad and keyboard stand, plus wires

 

 

 

[Groove On]

Basic CT-S1 Rig (wireless MIDI setup)

- portable/completely battery-powered

- iPad and keyboard stand

- CME UHost and Bud Pro wireless MIDI devices

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike Martin]

Groove On,

 

I"m curious, why did you not get the Casio BT adapter?