Casio CT-S1 Portable Keyboard Unboxing and First Impressions 

Great video! Noticed a lot of comments from people saying they are beginning the journey to learn piano. I feel compelled to offer my advice that you should get the cheapest 88 weighted key(s) board that you can find. Memorize the keys however works for you. Learn songs that you like (I recommend Beatles covers via you tube)... & before you know it you will be playing II-V-I's in different keys. Obviously not that quick & simple, it does takes hours of practice... but the thing when considering what actually is a beginners keyboard for someone starting out, is how much patience and interest you have. As a long time pianist, I just purchased this specific keyboard not as a beginner & neither did the talented person :) who posted this video. When I was just learning, this kind of keyboard only helps to an extent - more so if you are playing in a band with friends where you can establish rhythm and timing. Orrrr I guess if you take the time to play against a stored rhythm on the keyboard itself. But there is no denying an unweighted keyboard can be frustrating to play as a beginner because there is zero forgiveness on unweighted keys and can lead to giving up. Don't be fooled, the OP is a very gifted player... and it's ironically more challenging to play his example tunes on this "beginner" keyboard than what you might consider a more advanced board or piano. For $100-$200 more you could have an 88 weighted key Yamaha that will make you better faster period. Or for $100 cheaper or honestly for free you could have an unweighted keyboard, dry erase marker or stickers to mark down all the notes... and by all means that route is fine too but can bet the dowry it has a lower success rate. Either way you have to learn/unlock/memorize the individual notes and put them to rhythm patterns. Notes make chords. chords make progressions, progressions become theory -- eventually the sky is the limit after a few committed years. But again, in my likely annoying to this point opinion, you find the teeth and passion of learning quicker and stronger with an 88 weighted keyboard or piano. I'd like to say there's no wrong way, but if you want to learn and play the piano faster and without throwing in the towel .. learn on the real thing. There is a reason the old lady across the street teaches 5th graders on an actual piano :) --- Also to be clear this is a great video and I bought this exact keyboard. Not to learn, but because I was trying to find the best bang for the buck board that takes batteries to bring camping or playing in the park, ect. One love! - I hope this comment didn't sound pretentious.. the world needs more piano players :)

Bought my Ct-s1 two weeks ago, also as a second portable piano and absolutely love it! If you use the SP3 or SP20 sustain pedal from Casio, you won't experience any problem with it, they work perfectly!

Thanks a lot for your review. Appreciate it ❤️🔥 I ordered this yesterday and I'm so excited to receive it.

Hello, I just bought myself the same exact white CS-1, I have no experience with the piano, but I absolutely love the sound of this keyboard. I have learned 2 songs for now, just have to get faster & more precise, but it's been a blast playing with this machine. Great Video!!

really impressed by the sound quality of this little thing!

My new starter piano! If I can stick with it, I’ll get something better later. But for now, WOW I love it!!!😁

Glad you found something that you like!

An excellent review. I like your easy going style. Just subscribed!

¡Qué bien se siente sacarlo el piano de su caja!!!! Yo lo tengo en negro y lo compré hace un mes. Me encanta este piano

Awesome, i wanted to start playing piano and i wanna buy this for christmas

very cool! thanks for the video!

Thanks fo the review. That will be my first Keyboard. I used to play when I was a child, but now, I was looking for something that doesn't sound like a plastic cheap toy. But I didn't want to spend a lot of money. I'm not a profesional :D

Great job, thanks....

Love The Color! Will Definitely stand out than the more boring looking black looking keyboards

I believe most Casio pedals will work properly. Many other brands operate backwards. (Don't use one myself)

As a beginner I think I'm going to chose this piano

Hey man, nice review! A question, if you compare Yamaha E373 and CT S1, which one do you think has the better piano sound? TIA

You have to plug the sustain pedal in BEFORE turning on the keyboard and it will automatically set the sustain pedal.

For some reason a lot of the time keyboards have reverse polarity on the sustain, a lot of sustain pedals have little switches on them that reverse the polarity so you can use them on both types of inputs

Hey man! As I know that there is a little switcher in the bottom of the pedal that you have to set it to what your keyboard brand is.

Ur sustain pedal might have a polarity switch you’ll need to switch round. Good instrument and you play very well.

Loved the review!! Also wanna say that this keyboard will not work with a pedal of not the same brand, but it would if you get a pedal with a polarity switch or buy a pedal of the same brand, but anyways, have fun with the keyboard!! Imma get one of this soon!

Casio uses opposite polarity as just about everyone else - oh, you just figured it out on the video :-D

Hey what did you do about the battery issue ? Also a very nice review 👍

Did everything get resolved with the sustain pedal? Which would you recommend to purchase with the CT-S1?

Thanks for the review! Did you find out the reason why the batteries didn't work?

This keyboard looks so good. Btw how do you connect this to a laptop and get recordings ? Are there any special softwares ( like FL studio) ?

Im very new to this stuff and i dont even know how to play lol, i thought i should get this one, but i also thought a yamaha would be good? If you could help with that stuff, please do, also great vid!

Yamaha and Casio have different sustain pedals. There is a pedal that has a witch to use one pedal. It is best to get different pedals because switches could fail when you need it most. Batteries: rechargeable batteries do not put out the same powers a a regular battery. In addition rechargeable batteries not only cost more, but they get weaker over a short period of time. Just use regular AA Batteries. The music rest is great. The only difference is color of plastic on the red keyboard is black. White matches white and black matches with black keyboard. My own CT-S1 is red having a black music stand. The quality of the stand is fine. I like the black stand with the red keyboard because it makes the black keys stand out nicely. Then you can use the earphone plug to plug into an amplifier. Depending on what is on the amplifier you can do some sounds that will wake and get the attention of the neighborhood. 61 keys on the instrument are a different setting, what? Finally the real complete manual to the instrument is on line. An important factor is the 64 polyphony compared to other instruments in this price range. Whenever looking for a keyboard the polyphony is a major consideration for sound quality regardless of the brand name.

Dear Khordmaster, I'm trying to get someone who has the CTS1 tell what the "layering " function is. One demo on youtube mentioned that you can adjust the volume of each layer. Does layering mean that you can select a preset like an organ preset, then add strings and piano presets that will play with that preset ? That would be a great feature for live performances if that is what layering means. Or is layering where you record a song on the internal digital recorder, and then play along with that recording using the preset of your choice, and adjust the volume as you wish? Someone posted that layering is mentioned in the manual on page 32 -33, and page 67. Hope to hear from you about that feature, and thanks for your video !

How about the key noise? And did you test when wearing headphone 🎧, is the sound still great?

As a beginner do you think this piano would be enough to play most popular songs or would I need an 88 key keyboard

El pedal se debe conectar con el teclado apagado, de otra manera se invierte el efecto del sostén.

How do the keys feel ? I have the modx 88 and Roland rd 88 but I’m looking for a practice portable take anywhere keyboard .. but it all depends on the Keybed

Great review!, i wanna ask how long does it last on batteries

If we connect the USB port on the CT-S1 to the USB port on a Mac, could the CT-S1 serve as a controller for Virtual Instruments??

You need a specific sustain pedal to work with that keyboard. I ended up having to buy one.

How would you go around amplifying this keyboard? just a stereo mini male to stereo female adapter and it would work as normal ones?

Stuck between if I want the white or black one. They both look nice. The red is a bit too bold for me.

Does it seem a little quiet? That was my first impression (as someone buying it as my first instrument)

Regarding that sustain pedal problem. Its not inverted. You must not step on the pedal whilst powering it on.

What type of power cable you need for the keyboard?

Would this work well for first piano,??? So many say i need full one.

Numa compact 1? Why didnt you?

wait is the phone out/ line out not 1/4 jack? Also what cable do i need for connecting it to my DAW? i would appreciate ur answer

bro, have you found out what are those 2 rubber bands in a small plastic zip bag for? it's on 4:11 cheers

Can it be used as a midi controller? to trigger vst

Hi! This piano have dual voice and split?

Yo bro question does it allow plug ins?

Nice review, but I've got to say, dropping the plastic bag that the power cable came in on the floor at 3:02, really bothered me.

This was a good review. Personally my only problem with this product (which I haven't bought yet) is they need to take about six notes from the top register and move them to the bottom. The lowest note should be the g below the lowest note on this product (c two octaves below middle c) so middle c is the center.

will this work as a MIDI if I connect with FL Studio??

Maybe giving a good once-over to the instructions would have been a good idea.

At 4:09 did you figure out what they are for?

Can this keyboard be used as a MIDI controller?

The Bluetooth is included?

So what are the black discs that appear @4:10?

Sustain pedal. I am surprised you didn't know the Yamaha and Casio pedals are opposite pole contacts. Also the DC power input is reversed. All so you can't use other brands but theirs...

what is vintage sound?

I am so stuck between Yamaha Piaggero NP-12 or this Casio CT-S1. Somebody help me decide. 😭

How to connect it with amplifier?

Does it have a headphone jack

Made in which country

The music rest doesn’t match with the red one 😔

It just amazes me to no end that when people get anything new that comes with a manual, they simply feel they are so smart they don't have to read it. I would suggest you read the manuals first before doing your next video. You didn't sound too smart in this one.

Lovinggggg this new lightweight keyboard! It is perfect for my needs. As mentioned in the video, I had some issues with my Yamaha FC4 and FC41 sustain pedals. They worked opposite what you would expect. Something to do with polarity. Anyway, I ordered a new one with a polarity switch which gets delivered today, so once I try it out, I will update this comment with my findings. Don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE, as it truly helps support the channel. Thanks! Edit!!! I purchased this pedal and it works perfectly 🤌🏾🤌🏾🤌🏾 amzn.to/3yVrrj9