This ain't no music store or manufacturer-approved video - MusicPlayerNetwork.com's David Bryce is a lifelong keyboard fanatic, checking out the most important part of the CT-S1: the sounds.
Thank you so much for your thorough review. You’re one of the few reviewers that actually let us hear how the built-in speakers sound through your mic rather than amps and for that you get my highest praise. I’ve put in my preorder and can’t wait to receive it. Thanks again, much appreciated.
Casio have really hit the nail on the head , David . This is great , mine came today, it feels good, sounds are fantastic , especially the surround sound speakers . & it looks cool, I got white , the black is very cool & the Red one's fun. I'm very impressed . especially the electric pianos.
Thanks for all the advice on this keyboard. I have just recieved my keyboard today and it's (pardon the language) bloody fantastic! The onboard speakers are incredible! I doubt that I would want to use the external speaker when take it out. I HAVE BEEN PLAYING ALL AFTERNOON, and I actually forgot to eat :) I am one of the fussiest people going when it comes to sound quality and quality of instrumental sounds.....this simply blew me away!! so anyone sitting on the fence (like I did, I have to confess) don't hesitate if looking for a great sounding keyboard, at a fantastic price. I have a Yamaha Genos as my main Workstation for composing at home, so as you can imagine my standards are high. Just wanted this to take out with me when I perform. Honestly I cannot wait to take this out with me! You are right, RU-vid does not do the speaker sound justice. Anyone reading this, Bear in mind that to get the best sound from this you should have it on a stand, as there are speakers on the underside as well, so you don't want to mute those by putting it on a table if you can possible help it. Apart from my Genos, this is the best buy I have made in a while. Here is my most recent composition on my Genos. Hope you like it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0nNXXZCeZmA.html
Im receiving it tomorrow, very happy with the reviews i ve been watching across internet like yours, all professionals tells me the same. I feel I made a good purchase
Dave, I had a hard time focusing on the CT-S1 in this video because I was so impressed with your playing skills. With time, most people can learn the mechanics of playing a keyboard to some degree. Musicality, on the other hand, depends on talent, which you definitely have in spades.
Nice review David! Sounds great, and a pleasure listening to you play. I await a CT-S400. If the CT-S1 could do splits and had a sax, and a trumpet tone, I would have ordered one immediately. Love the white and red.
Great review and even better playing. I bought the CT-S1 and I agree with your review. Excellent acoustic piano, electric piano, organ, and synth sounds. Very good speakers. This keyboard is a lot of fun to play. If I could make a wish list for Casio to upgrade this keyboard, it would be 73 semi weighted keys, 1/4” line out, true midi out, and the ability to split the keyboard. Those additional specs would make what is already an excellent keyboard absolutely unbelievable.
I’ve realized that I can’t get weighted keys on a 61 key digital piano, so I need to focus on portability, sound, and features. Thanks for demonstrating how awesome this unit is, especially with actually mic-ing the speakers!
Dave, great video. I’ve listened to this and nearly every other video so far posted on the CTS-1 and the CTS-400 on high quality headphones and WOW...just WOW! The amount of stereo phasing, applied DSP effects, and massaging of the AiX sounds on both of these boards is unbelievable. The time for Yamaha to “bow it’s head and lay that golden fiddle down at Johnny Casio’s feet because they know that they’ve been beat” on ‘entry level’ has come!!! The only thing entry level about these two new boards is the price. This board in particular makes the Yamaha NP-12 look like a Toys ‘R Us special from 1995.
Thanks so much! I had a ball making the video - cranked up my studio monitors and just got lost in the sounds. I definitely agree that Casio has set an entirely new bar with this instrument.
@@musicplayernetwork2950 Dont be over enthusiastic. I bought the CT-X800 two years ago because of the AiX chip and its unbelievable sounds. Unfortunately the keybed is subpar. I had to send it twice to the repair shop under the warranty scheme. The second time round they’re keeping it, apparently because of COVID-19 there’s currently a shortage on spare parts (!). So I am left without a keyboard. The sounds of the CT-S1 are unbelievable but IMHO nothing is more sturdy and reliable than a Yamaha even a cheap PSR E. That said I reckon that I could buy the CT-S1 just for the tape flute (Lucy in the Sky etc.) the harpsichord and the Elton John piano LoL Time will tell whether the quality of the keybed matches that of the sounds.
@@HubertEtAlice I’ve owned quite a few Yamaha boards going back to the pss-480 with FM Synth (highly underrated little keyboard). I recently bought a PSR E373 as soon as it came out. I hated every thing about it! The User Interface was abysmal with simple things multiple tabs into their “function key” for starters. The key bed was a joke. Both the speakers and the headphones jack had “noise” regardless of volume. Most of the non SAL sounds were dreadful, and at least half of the sounds were sampled at a volume of 1/3 to 1/2 of the other sounds. Will a Yamaha last 30 years, probably, but who cares if it sounds like crap and isn’t a joy to play? I’ve bought 3 different Yamahas in the past year and every one of them had abysmal keybeds and audible hiss in on board speakers and headphones even with volume at zero. Their quality control has gone out the window. My 30 year old Yamahas and 20 year old Rolands don’t have ANY of the issues these new ones had right out of the box!
@@weightlessliving9856 I am so sorry to hear that! I had a PSR E433 for a few years and I liked it very much. I sold it to buy a second-hand DGX640 (which I enjoyed to play) and sold it again to upgrade to the DGX650, which is a nice digital piano with arranger features (it is always nicer to play on top of rhythms than with the metronome IMO). I am actually considering buying a second-hand PSR E433 if I find one at a reasonable price. Some years ago my niece got a PSR E343 which I chanced to play for one week while I was at my brother’s home and it had an incredible keybed. After that, unfortunately, the build quality of the PSR E series went downhill. Hopefully the upcoming PSR E473 will have something nice in stock. I really like the rhythm feature of arranger keyboards, so the CT-S1 is probably not for me (nevertheless I am going to try it out in a music shop out of curiosity as soon as it hit the shelves and the lockdown is over - we’re having our third lockdown in one year here in France). I might go for the CT-S400 if the keybed has improved as compared with the CT-X800, since apart from its poor keybed and the well-known issue of the impossibility to adjust the volume of the Main, Dual and Split voices, I like the CT-X800 very much. It’s 6-tracks MIDI recorder is very useful and I like the sounds and rhythms very much (albeit there are too many “World” rhythms for my taste - I’d wished more Jazz, Pop, Ballad and Dance stuff).
@@HubertEtAlice Excellent. Yes, the new CT-S400 seems to be quite amazing. It’s as if Casio “heard” every complaint and every praise about the CTX Series And has addressed them all! The CT-S400 is supposed to have a new key bed, a new speaker system, a new user interface, new ability to adjust volumes of the split and layered sounds etc. I’m extremely interested in the CT-S400! I’m thinking of perhaps buying both the CT-S1 and the CT-S400 since they are very affordable. Also cool to hear about your DGX successes. I’m very impressed by the brand new DGX670. It’s getting rave reviews and seems to have the internals from the PSR SX600. My local dealer says it won’t be here for several months though 😢. Lastly, the Casio CDPS350 seems to be an 88 key weighted version of this new CT-S400...starting to look at that as well
Dave thanks for this great demo. I am always looking for something that sounds good and I can leave in the car or take to a jam and if someone spills a beer on it I don't have to hate them forever like it was a Hammond or a Nord. :-) I am glad to see you are doing well. Thanks again.
It's a great keyboard for $200. I plan on getting one. It could have had 1/4" stereo out jacks, a pitch bend wheel/lever, and not such a flimsy music holder, and I would prefer a metal mesh speaker grill, but it's great as is.
I've seen several reviews on this and am knocked out by how it sounds and plays - straight out the box. Every preset demoed sounds great. This great review using snippets of well known songs goes to show how authentic the sounds are. Classical Gas, Jump, Strawberry Fields. Just about the simplest user interface (gonna be pretentious here it's the Occams Razor of interfaces-no pork). Gonna get one? Damn right! Cheers.
One thing Casio nerds have been appraised of since the early 2000s is that their suite of EPs has steadily come up in quality. Now with the development of the AiX processor ( the successor technology to AiR and AHL ), the revived Casiotone products and the late model CT-X series also have dramatically improved concert grand and acoustic piano samples
The Casio wk-200 wk-110 are two very underrated keyboards, they don't have weighted keys but their piano samples are more realistic than every Casio keyboard that's not a celviano, I don't know what it is about these two boards in particular, but they are simply phenomenal, there isn't one bad sound on either one, I have a wk-200 that will only work with batteries, and I will never part with it, that's how good it sounds
@@WillsJazzLoft I've been a musician for 43 years, 26 of those years were spent playing on a 6 foot 7 inch grand piano, after countless blisters and fatigue, I have switched to non-weighted keyboards, and I've played a ton of them since they've been released, Casio's EP samples are outstanding on all of their boards, but their piano samples are only good on their WK boards, I've already made a few videos with my WK 200, and there's going to be a lot more forthcoming, every sound on this board is flawless
Hi. I have another question if that's OK? I have a 40w bluetooth external speaker which may give me better sound to take to gigs as it really packs a punch for such a small speaker (it's the Tronsmart). Is this keyboard capable of recognising an external speaker through bluetooth (with the adapter of course) or does this only work for incoming audio (ie sending sound to the keyboard as oppossed to out) and if it does work, could I also have the keyboard speakers enabled at the same time, or would these not work when connected to an external speaker? Sorry for all the questions. These are just little niggles I want to iron out before I finally decide whether to buy one or not. Thanks
This keyboard cannot connect via bluetooth to other BT speakers ,it would only be connected to an external speaker via 3.5mm audio jack, and I think the keyboard's on-board speakers won't be enabled when connected to a diff speaker. Tho I wish it could have :
Great review thanks! Question on the action; I've heard a couple people say it feels much better than the Casiotone series from a couple years ago (CTS-200/300 etc), one reviewer described it as "lightly semi-weighted". What would you say about the action/feel? The CTS-300 series felt like basic entry level synth action
I was really surprised at how good the keyboard felt - much better than I would have expected at this price point. Never played the CTS-300, so I can't speak to that...
@@musicplayernetwork2950 Thanks that helps! If you were impressed with the action it must be improved over the 300, that one was fine but very ordinary entry level synth feeling
You can layer two sounds...and a couple of the stock sounds already have layers built in, so multi-layer things like Acoustic piano and pad layered with EP are possible.
Best way is usb hub plug both into hub and they will communicate as you notice they usb inputs are both male and cannot communicate without hub. Also cheapest way.
woah woah woah - at 1:40 you aid "the included sustain pedal" - I know this is 2 years old, but I've not seen any ads with this keyboard including the pedal... did they at first, then not later on? it's like a $50 add on from what I see
@@davebryce2450 sir what is your audio interface? I tried to record using 2i2. But it didnt sound.. like sound in my headphone.. i hope u can help me sir.
My studio montors? I have a sdet of Amphion One 15s and a set of Kali IN8s...but they're not audible in any of the video. You're either hearing the diret feed from the CT-S1 going right into an Apollo x8 (with no processing) or the output of the Casio's speaker being picked up by the AEA R44C when I pull it down. The AEA mic is also going direct into the Apollo x8 with no processing.
@@musicplayernetwork2950 thank you for that info. I couldn't believe that the sound from the CTS 1 would be that great unless helped, guess that CTS might just set the standard in that category. Stay safe.
Nice rwview.i just got one in red. Can you explain to a dummie(?) how you access all the extra sounds (you have to dive into the manual for) in a SIMPLE way??
@michellemonet4358 if you’ve got more specific questions, you can ask them at this forum. Lots of experienced keyboard players there, including both myself and Mike Martin from Casio. forums.musicplayer.com/forum/28-the-keyboard-corner/
Hi, Roberto - It's one of the ones in the E. PIano 2 bank. Not sure which - maybe one of the Digital E Piano sounds (#15 or #22). Also try the Galaxia sound in the #17 slot.
@@Musicchannel-wp2je No doubt! Really picked the CT-S1’s onboard sound system up nicely...and all I did was swing it over one speaker! If I had two, I could have done stereo... 🤔🙌🏼😁
The real test is how the keys hold up after a month or so. Casio’s keys are just awful after a few months. They develop a horrible rattle. Rumor has it these are improved keys, but we’ll have to wait until people own them for several months. If you’ve ever opened up a Casio keyboard you’d be shocked how cheap the keys are. My Casio MZX500 used the same cheap keybed as their $99 keyboards, and the MZX was over $1000.
the main problem with this well thought and well built (it seems at least) keyboard is its price. 300€ is not very competitive, there are few weighted 88 keys in a similar range....I suppose we should wait for a fair street price in a near future. 250€ would be ok in my opinion
With a dozen of serious Hammond presets it would be a good stage/gig tool, and with drawbars (and, again, a serious H sound&Leslie) it would be insane but, as always, the organ sound is the weak point in this genre of keyboards
Pricepoint, no brainer? But you don't say the price! Some reviewers say it's around $100, but a lot of suppliers (particularly in Europe) don't have this model yet, so it's hard to check the price. Hmmm. So many people reviewing an unobtainable instrument? What's going on? This review sounds scripted by Casio. I sense that there's a heavy marketing campaign happening (and I hope that our favourite reviewers have not turned into unashamed influencers) but I don't deny that the instrument could be ideal for a lot of beginners/dabblers/players of other instruments. The simple onboard recorder, not even discussed, is a major selling point IMO. Singers can keep one of these handy to try their songs/keys/counter harmonies.
Thanks for taking the time to share your comments, Mike - greatly appreciated! I prefer not to say a product’s price in a video. The price of a product can vary all over the world, and I’ve found that the best way to handle that is for anyone who’s interested to go check with their local/regional dealer. Also, prices can change sometimes over time... For the record, Casio had nothing to do with the script at all. It was written entirely by me, which is why it doesn’t talk about things like the recorder. I wasn’t trying to do a complete review - just a first look, which is what they asked me to do. The sounds and feel of this instrument are the things that knocked me out about this instrument...so that’s where I focused. Bells and whistles like a simple onboard recorder don’t usually make that much of a difference for me... You clearly see it differently and would do a different video - nothing wrong with that at all. 😎
@@musicplayernetwork2950 Thanks for replying. I'm glad to hear that your very polished review is all your own. I thought I heard "US $100" dollars somewhere, but I think I am mistaken. The instrument is definitely very hard to source in Europe. I suspect that European distributors wish to sell off stocks of earlier models first. I finally tracked one supplier down, offering it for 255 British pounds. I can't believe that price, which would be excessive without weighted keys, but your assumption that the CT-S1 is very inexpensive is unsupported here, so far.
@@Zoco101 Re: "polished" - if you mean the editing, fx and video production, I asked brother Craig Anderton to do that for me. I'm no good at actually making videos. If you mean the way I talk/present the product, I love doing voice over stuff, and (among other things) have been writing press releases for various companies (mostly pro audio) for a while, so I appreciate that you find the presentation polished. Hopefully you'll get a chance to play one at some point. One of the first things that I evaluate is whether there's a natural feeling connection between engine and keybed, something I find very satisfying when it happens - especially with digital keyboards - and I do believe the Casio folks achieved that here...at least, for my tastes.
@@musicplayernetwork2950 Yes, I did mean polished in a positive way. Your script is good, and the photography and cuts are good too. So congratualations to both of you. I know what you mean about sound a engine complementing a key action. Glad to hear that it applies in this case. Doubt I'll need a CT-S1, but I like to have suggestions for friends, students and so on. As an ex-reviewer (pre-RU-vid) I can't resist topping up my product knowledge anyway.
@@Zoco101 i think the intended price is 200 usd but in some places will be higher do to taxes and tariffs. that would make it more expensive than the ct-s300 but cheaper than the ct-s400 wich has an msrp of 230 usd. the cts400 is spec wise an update on the CTX-800 so i wouldnt be surprised if the next CTX refresh doesnt have the entry level models.
Can't really find any info on if you can use it as a midi keyboard controller. I don't really want the Bluetooth function, would rather just plug it in and use as a midi keyboard. I ASSUME it can do that... but haven't been able to find a direct answer. Any clue? Thanks!
@ 8:16 ...the Bluetooth midi device is interesting...BUT for greenhorns like me, you explanation was all gobbledygook! A short demo would have really been a nice selling point.
Hi, J. R! The Bluetooth device lets you play a separate software synthesizer app on a desktop or mobile device. It connects the Casio wirelessly. Does that help?
