CasioCasio Casiotone CT-S1 – 61-Key Touch-Sensitive Retro Keyboard | Sleek, Portable Design for Beginners to Pros | Stereo Grand Piano + 60 AiX Tones | USB-MIDI Connectivity | Red

I own a top flight acoustic piano and professional digital keyboards. I searched everywhere for a portable, super light-weight keyboard that I could carry on when flying/traveling to use for practicing and composition. The Casio CT-S1 fits the bill well, with a few very minor nits.This keyboard weighs in at less than 10 lbs. yet is very well built and 'feels' sturdy and solid. It's physically impossible to have weighted or semi-weighted keys on a 10 pound instrument, but the key bed is otherwise very good. The keys are nearly full-size, have a matte finish and a good touch sensitive response.The body of the keyboard is well constructed and does not feel fragile. The 'retro', minimalist look of the instrument with the cloth covered panel across the top is easy on the eyes. There is a built-in handle which allows carrying around your house or hotel with ease. It comes with a external power supply, but also runs on batteries. I sprung for a set of AA rechargeable batteries, worth the investment. Nit #1: You'll need to purchase a sustain pedal - not included.There is a very good and wide range of sounds, most important of which are decent acoustic piano, electric piano and organ voices. A nice feature is a set of physical buttons and a volume knob across the front panel. There are dozens of additional sound and tone controls accessible via the function button and the piano keys. Nit #2: I would like to have dedicated buttons for the most used functions: transpose, octave shift and reverb.The built-in speakers are very serviceable. There are 1/8" inch stereo IN and stereo OUT connectors, so I carry a couple of 1/8" stereo patch cables for connecting my Klipsch Groove bluetooth speaker (sounds great), tablets, phone, etc. The USB MIDI interface is ideal for for writing or transcribing music.Nit #3: The Casio case for this instrument, when available, has an awkward design (load from the end ??), and has questionable padding for travel. Casio would do well to make available a decent, well fitting, padded case - even at half the cost of the keyboard, it would be worth it. I scoured the retail world for days to found a good quality, padded, but otherwise snug fitting case for airline carry on, but a case designed for this unit would be better.This instrument is an excellent value.

Love tbe portability and unique design of this instrument. Has an expensive look to it. The sounds are amazing for this price range. I don’t miss weighted keys at all with this. The keys have a matte textured feel and they are touch sensitive. Lots of great hidden features on this keyboard. Tone layering, octave shifts, etc. If you want great sounds and aren’t wanting drum beats and accompaniment then this is a great instrument. I love that you can use batteries and take it anywhere. Played it in my backyard and my neighbors were coming out to listen!Update: Loving this keyboard more and more as I delve into the full instruction manual (available on the casio website). I recommend printing for easy reference, as there are a lot of hidden features. I just discovered the hidden piano and organ tones, along with a piano/bass split. The organ tones are KILLER> if you love vintage sounding keys (wurly, rhodes, pipe, and gospel organs...even has a nod to vintage video game organ tones). My new favorite features are the simple record/loop feature where I can record one hand playing and then play the other hand over it. Super helpful for learning Bach pieces especially. This keyboard is exactly what I was looking for in that it has super impressive, high quality sounds/tones in an inexpensive keyboard. I love the styling on this. It is quite unique and premium looking with its fabric covered speakers. I think its great that it comes in 3 colors. I often find arranger keyboards a little cheezy and I really just want to play sheet music where I play my own accompaniament. The recorder feature allows me enough layering capability for my tastes, but if you prefer rhythms and arpeggiators I would go with the new Casiotone ct S500 or the cts1000v. Both of these are arranger keyboards and they have my attention currently, as they have the same updated soundchip but I still think the ct s1 has some sounds that are unique to it.

Casio has made great improvements with the sound quality of entry levelkeyboards over the years. I’ve always considered them to be budget keyboards but the sound quality is truly professional. After watching videos and reading reviews, I decided to get the CT-S1 and have not been disappointed. I love how easy it is to use this keyboard. It was a breeze to set up and the midi adaptor (separate purchase) is great for connecting to other apps (I use an iOS tablet) to record/compose songs. The included slide in music/device stand is well made and overall the keyboard has a lovely modern aesthetic look. It is the perfect size for beginner players and/pr those with smaller living spaces that want a solid keyboard. The Casio Music Space App is nice as well and provides the option to stream music from Spotify and Apple. One can also play along with simulated environments. There is nothing like playing beginner ABC songs and hearing a roaring crowd in the background…LOL!

Excellent purchase. Was relearning piano after being away from it for several decades. I spent my childhood playing on a grand piano, and didn’t want a crap electric piano. Also didn’t want to invest in a pro-grade for my needs. This was the perfect balance. Apparently used by a lot of pros when they need something quality to travel with for practice. Will never be the same as the sound of a grand piano when the house fills with the cool spring air. But definitely meets my needs. Ordered it over a year ago I think. Use it a lot. Very happy with quality and sound.