Casiotone CT-S1 (Unbiased Full Review) 

Make sure to stick around for the end, I have some interesting information about industry standards in the digital piano world ;)

"No one would use this in a professional setting" - Challenge accepted. ⚡⚡⚡

I've seen a couple reviews of the CT-S1 already, then found your channel. Best review yet. I have zero musical background, and am 71. Looking at piano RU-vid channels only started a couple of days ago for me. I'll start with online tutorials. My black CT-S1 arrives tomorrow!

This keyboard is definitely one I'm considering for my kid (as a starter). She's on the spectrum, but with a strong musical inclination... main thing I like about it, though, is the minimalist interface. Like you alluded to, a lot of keyboards in this price range tend to be loaded with functions and 200+ sounds and layering and backbeats and so on, which I feel is something that -- if you give to an ASD+ADHD child -- will only lead to distractions and confusion and motivation to shift away from actually playing the darn thing. Whereas something that is no-frills actually helps keep things more focused. And the sound quality seems downright outstanding for a $200 device. Digital pianos that are simple and focused in this price range are pretty rare in my experience. I almost feel like this one and the Yamaha NP-12 are about the only ones on the market worth mentioning. Sure, there are no weighted keys, but they don't exist in this price range anyway.

I have this exact model and color, I love it! The upgrade from the last model is so much more, the speakers sound so nice in real life. I also have a Yamaha P-125 and switch back and forth to play classical or freestyle over music/experiment with the CT-S1.

Great video, James. Honest and unbiased. Keep up the good work! I would LOVE to see a shootout of MIDI keyboard controllers. I play in a band and only use MIDI controllers that are mated to a laptop. No internal sounds, so key touch is critical. So hard to find standalone MIDI controllers that have decent actions....ESPECIALLY in the 61 key variety. Please think about it. Thanks for your dedication to the industry.

Wonderful review. I was already sold on it but the pure honestly and attention to detail just makes it all the easier. I’m getting really exactly what I wanted/expected

Good for you man, continue your amazing reviews

You make excellent observations which I concur with. Thanks for your truly unbiased reviews.

Well done. Your honesty is commendable.

You got some of the best reviews!!! Thanks so much!

Wonderful review James. I own a Yamaha P-45 (which I’m very fond of) but this instrument sounds very nice for the price point. I might consider purchasing one on the strength of your review.

Been waiting on you to drop a review on this keyboard. This is the keyboard I want

I love that first original composition you played!❤️

Brilliant review and points at the end James 👍

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you continue to focus on honesty and eliminate bias as best you can in your reviews, you will have accomplished something many have tried to do (and very few succeed). It is my hope you succeed in ALL your ventures James. You show integrity above and beyond reproach.

Was waiting for this one, ordered one today (before the video released). This will be my first digital piano and will be the beginning of my piano journey. You are a natural when it comes to presentations. Keep up the good work

It has amazing customization options that requires some time to get used to, but they are amazing for the "entry" level of this beautiful keyboard! Just to browse into the user guide gives an overview on them, but to play and "mess" with them requires time and some familiarity with how digi keyboards work.

Just received mine today, sounds great, the size is perfect and it has so many cool sounds. The keys feel great too. Before I had a yamaha np30 and while it was great it was too big for me and I never managed t make it work with midi. Great review!

Thanks for the interesting review, James. I really appreciate your honesty and lack of bias and desire to help your fellow musicians. Regarding your comment about wanting something with a simple "just-the-basics" interface and high-quality sounds, I'd be interested to get your 'take' on the Yamaha Piaggero NP12. It's size and real-world price are similar to the CT-S1, and from what I've been reading and hearing about it, that just *might* at least partially meet those criteria.

love the honest review...im getting it!

Oh wow!!!! You actually also reviewed the new CT-S1, awesome and very interesting review once again James!!!!

Great review, thanks. I have been excited to get my first keyboard for the last three months, so I started to study some theory, get some apps in the phone and started to see options, prices etc... a good musician friend suggested the casiotone ct s100 but over the weeks I started to look into others, cheaper and also a little up in quality and price, and finally today I ordered my black ct-s1 and I think I did right and it will stimulate me to keep learning in ways a cheaper one won't do and very likely I will be happy with this for many years to come and if I become good at it, maybe the only upgrade I might do is to get a real wooden vertical piano :-)

I have to say that it is incredible how well you played the piano pieces on this keyboard. Having purchased a casio cts400 which has the same key action, I realized how difficult it is to control the dynamics on these non-weight keys.

Agree with how you reviews and thank you for your honesty

Ive watched your vids for about 6 months. Never ordered anything and waffled on a number of near-purchases, but I just pulled the trigger on this after your review. For my playing level (baseline) and what I want, $200 feels like highway robbery for what you get with this. Seems like it should go for 500 or 600. What a deal!

Thanks for your review! I think I am going to wait for a few month before I am actually gonna get this, because the price is about 300$ here in my country, maybe because shipping fees, and buying directly from amazon would cost me almost 360$, I love your videos!! Keep it up :D

The "classic" tone from 41:00 is from 1980 Casio VL-tone, and it has this violin sound, together with the famous blip rhytms.

Great review, Kwai products have a younger person interest because of the human hearing range more higher pitch. This is in the audio products, radios etc…I have a CT-S1 and your review is honest, informative and overall great. As a musician for me I prefer out of the box ready to use. Some people who are interested in the tinker, nob turning, tweaking than Korg products are more appealing. No manufacture of digital instruments can capture the actual acoustic sound of a piano. The human ear can only hear to ranges with limitations compared to digital ranges. As an arranger keyboard player I prefer Yamaha. Yamaha has less adjusting than others, yet more than a one man band needs. Casio with the CT-S1 has in my opinion really challenging the higher priced instruments with a simplicity in playing comparison to others. Casio has got the attention by those who considered Casio being a toy company. Casio has entered into a new universe. I hope they can continue setting new standards. My first keyboard I bought at the age of 15, a Farfisa Combo Compact in 1965, I have played many along the way and technology has exploded since.

Amazing keyboard for the money, and adjustable touch sensitivity on top of it all!

Great review mate !! It helped me to decide to buy it ! Unfortunately here in Chile is no way near to 200 buck, it's usually 350- 400 but I found it today in black Friday at 280 or so , now I'm Rushing to the store. Thanks a lot.

Im glad you're doing electronic/digital keyboards now..

Great review! I think the pad sounds (on the advanced piano, synth and also on the guitar sound as well) are meant to have the pad triggered by a 3 note left hand chord to allow you to then play some melody in the right without triggering the pad. The surround feature is cool as well if you're using the speakers. I will need to try the heavier touch setting, I haven't done that yet. Thanks again, great review!

Sometimes I feel like life is one big advertisement, this is refreshing. Thank you for the review.

Wow I just watched your video on Casio CT S200. Great video BTW. Let's watch this one!

Thanks a lot for your wonderful review! I just bought this one yesterday. Originally, I bought a locally made piano here in the Philippines just to see if I will like playing piano. Instead of just liking it, I fell in love in its sound. ❤️ I also now a new subscriber!

I have to say that Pigstep was beautiful Watched to the end, and I really appreciate all you said there. I know I can always trust your reviews to be genuine so I can get a realistic idea of what these products are like.

What a nice sound. I am really surprised by the sounds this casiotone has. Really nice quality and a organ sound! Nice. I have to see if I can play it somewhere, somehow… funny. I can’t remember that you talked about the foot paddle. What kind has it? This one is impressive. And talking about your standards. A honest, good, real review. Go on. Keep reviewing like that. I love it and so do a lot others. I wished that a lot of companies would send you a keyboard knowing you would do a honest review. That would be fun. But still you can do a lot of honest reviews and hopefully you will be able to continue. I know you’re not affiliated to anyone and that makes you special. Thank you for sharing and playing. I hope you can do a lot more of this honest reviews and have a lot fun.

Really liked your review! My only quibble (and to some degree I’m just being ornery)-if you take this to a local coffee shop and play it through a decent sound system the audience should hear something close to those sounds that you seem to like in this review. If you play well, the instrument sounds good, and the audience is loving it, then what would be the reason for them to not take you seriously?

I have to say, this sounds perfect for what I want. 70s Vangelis in a box!

Since day one, I trust in you .... thank you.

James, that was a wonderful review of a very affordable keyboard. You have the gift of charisma, an interesting and engaging personality, which I think is powered by the confidence that comes with your special intelligence. Really, only one in 10,000 guys have your kind of gift! It is so much fun to watch that brain at work , and I have learned so much as you kinda give my ears a tune up.

I think the Piano + String pad patch in the Piano : Advance category only works when you play it polyphonically with 3 notes and above, and then when you step on the sustain pedal it would only sustain the Pads I think, and then will let you play melodically...? Like what you said its just some new black magic over here haha! I just got mine, a black version of it and it is very nice!!! Love all of the sounds, specialy that melotron, just *cheff's kiss*

I have a couple Casio keyboards from the 2010's that have fabric over the speaker grills. I agree, I like that look.

James, That sound around 31:00 sounded like Strawberry Fields Forever:) To thine own self be true, that's what you do. Don't ever change, we need honesty in this deceptive world, boy do we ever! Cheers, Rik Spector

Lovely instrument with an impressive sound quality

Great playing, especially the guitar piece

If i need a reference about piano or keyboard..you are the only source i trust..

Beautiful piano skills you would sound good playing anything

Awesome review James. Am planning on getting that board. Am in Kenya though so it will cost close to 300 dollars to get it here😅... But it's worth it.

Would have been nice for them to give it record/playback capability, or a USB stick-drive interface so it can be used as a jukebox/player-piano.

for the $200 i'm pretty impressed, nice video too.

We currently play a Kurzweil SP 76 and we are looking for the same quality but maybe a little lighter n weight. which keyboard would you recommend in the pro category

I really wanna buy a digital piano with good sound, but i don't have much money to afford some expensive ones, but casio - ct s1 has provided me some hopes to experience better quality in a low cost.

So... Is the CT-S1 ideal for "dabbling in the world of pianos" like the ct-s 100/200/300/400 series, or is it better to go with one of the s100-400 series models for those just starting out?

Bought it. My son started and got a Yamaha dgx 670 which is probably an overkill but good to resell if he does not keep up😅. I am too old for so many buttons though and wanted to train with him. Guess this is a good learning instrument for me and works also on the couch.

You can layer strings with piano (etc.) but the triad string trigger requires specific use of the sustain pedal.

Keep it going

About using piano keys to do other functions ... oh wow, I remember a time that got me once. 😛 Was probably about 15 or 20 years ago now, I forget. I had attended a wedding one weekend in the Sacramento area, probably on a Saturday. Sunday morning after the wedding, we had a church service in someone's fairly large back yard. (I don't remember if the wedding itself was there as well.) Well, I was tasked with playing the piano, which was a Yamaha P60 digital piano. BTW, that piano uses the keys to do some functions - for example, to transpose, hold A0+C#1, then play a note in the 4th octave to transpose to that key, or something like that. Anyway the congregation of probably around 100 to 150 or so (maybe 200, idk) was singing one of the hymns we know, although I can't remember which one. I do remember it was using a key that included A major chords .... because at some point, I played an A major chord in the bass - A0+C#1+E1+A2, plus something around the middle of the piano in the right hand. Suddenly I found the piano transposed to a completely different key, right in the middle of the song 😲 Somehow though I was able to quickly (within like 1 or 2 beats or so) figure out what key it transposed to, and resume playing in that key so the song could continue in its original key without having to restart. 😊 (Because of it being spontaneous, in the middle of a song, I didn't bother trying to figure out how to transpose the piano back to normal, I just adapted and played in the "new" key.) Hey that's not all that bad of a piano sound for $200 (even though it's not my personal preference). Around 14 or 15 minutes in ... where you're talking about the strings sometimes dropping out when playing certain things in combination with piano ... that reminded me of a different Casio I owned briefly - the PX-555 or something like that. I had bought it at Guitar Center about 15 years ago or so, I forget now. Anyway, I found out very quickly that 32-note polyphony is VERY limiting. I would almost always have notes dropping out when I was playing complex passages with arpeggios ... and when I used the pedal and layered sounds, I would frequently be trying to play complex chords, and literally only a third or half the notes would actually sound. 😲 Needless to say, that keyboard went right back to GC. Around 18:16 or so ... that little riff where you play (in the right hand) an E major, then B major then E major chord again (I forget the inversion numbers) ... reminded me of a song that I can't remember the name of, but my sisters and cousins used to play it on piano when we were younger. I think it was some movie theme from the 70s or 80s .... chord progression was something like E maj, A maj, Emaj / B, E maj, (or it may be in the key of E-flat I don't remember) then I forget the sequence from there. (I'd recognize the song if I heard it, but humming the tune into Google didn't turn up any valid results ... one it suggested was Soak Up The Sun by Sheryl Crow but that's most definitely *NOT* it!) On the subject of tone variations .... When the time comes for me to buy another digital piano (I currently don't have one at all actually, but I do have two 1950s Baldwin Hamilton uprights), one thing I would like is for the piano variations, instead of just being the same samples EQ'd differently or whatever is normally done ... I'd prefer they actually be sampled from different pianos entirely. (And sampling from two Yamaha CFX's that have consecutive serial numbers isn't different enough - I mean more like, one sample from a Bosendorfer 290, another sampled from a Baldwin Hamilton or Acrosonic, the honky-tonk sampled from an old upright that acquired its out-of-tuneness naturally through decades of not having been tuned, and so on.) Anyway I'm about halfway through watching ... if I want to add more comments I'll do that later. :)

Piano / Synth strings + Minecraft = Awesome

Hey James! Is there by any chance you would do a review about Alesis's new digital piano. The Prestige Grand/Artist I think is the name. I'm curious if it has the same problem as the Recital Pro

This one is so interesting. The piano sound is so good despite being cheap.

dam 1 video later im hooked

What was the Bach piece did he played on the Organ : Vintage (Pipe Organ) voice? I forgot about it

It actually sounds good!!!

Been looking this and cts400. Which one you would recommend (if you have experience with cts400)?

What is that song/music you played on 23:20? Nice video btw, keep it up!

I'm a total beginner wanting to learn. I like this one, but I would love to have weighted keys...what are the options with 61 keys and weighted action out there? (61 is for space constraints that I'm afraid I can't solve, if not I would go for a yamaha p45 88keys.. )

At 41:29 it is the violin and the "drums" from casio VL1 tone ! Does it also have a calculator?

Just wanna ask if you would do a comparison video of this against keyboards around this kind of range? Like the Yamaha YPT-270 or the CT-S200, would be an intresting comparison 🤔

This is a small, light weight piano, but yet it still has so many features. Thank You

Great review. I think I'll go for this one for my beginner keyboard. I was looking at the cts300 since it was the cheapest I could find with touch sensitivity but this one sounds so much better. They're a fair bit more expensive in Australia this one retails for 469AUD (~344USD) so I think I'll wait for the black fridays sales and hopefully get it cheaper. At the moment I'm learning on a 25 key midi controller and its not adequate to say the least lol.

I think the piano you're looking for is the Korg B2. It only has 12 sounds, no crazy features or styles or any of that. There's a semi weighted version and a fully weighted version. Maybe you should check it out.

do you think i can start off with the casiotone ct s1? i’m getting it for christmas and i’m not too sure if it’s suitable for beginners.

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??

when will you review the mp7se? for me its one of the best stage piano on the market today.

Very nice sounds. Personally, I need more piano action feel. 👍🏼🤠 PS: At that price, might be worth just having... AA batteries... humm... PPS: Thanks for your practical aproach to instruments.

May I ask, which amplifier are you using ? To demo ..

Anyone else notice the minecraft music at 14:41 ? I like how he laughs, he knows lmao

I noticed you haven’t done any reviews for a while....digital pianos. Why is that? I think you are quite discerning. There are new pianos out recently. It would be good to hear your take on them

Can you do review of a Casio CT-S1000V?

Pls review casio ctx 700 just piano sounds. Thank you

It would be great to buy it for 200$ - in UE (Poland here) Casiotone ST S1 is about 350$!

Completely unrelated, but I see a Grinnell Jr. 64 note acoustic piano on the market for $200 and im really quite interested in buying it, but skeptical of quality and the need for more keys. Thoughts? I’ve only been playing for around 9 months

To be honest... if Casio really wants to dominate this part of the market... they have to keep on this track. Really good and fewer nice sounds... a good stereo output... two phone jackets on the front... audio-midi via USB as with the DGX-670.... but especially a really nice and good action. I always find Casio's actions to be very light. If they could separate the ultra-portable with professional directed features such midi control, really light, portable and so on and differentiate from 'student models' with features as usb-audio-midi, two phone jackets on the front and very nice, heavy and responsive action would be nice... considering that with the pandemic I'm teaching online, that would be my first recommendation for students... if I could hear their digital piano directly from the USB-audio-midi from my students and with the best action possible... than no Roland, Yamaha, Korg and other brands would sweat because topping that would be hard.

As someone wanting to learn piano, would this be sufficient until I buy a fully weighted keyboard like a clavinova 645 in a few years? Right now I want something to sit on the couch and learn meme songs watching youtube videos. Here in Aus the casio is $480 vs a yamaha p45 is $699 or a Yamaha np35 is $499. What would you pick. Great reviews Btw :)

Thank you for your informative videos. Can you tell me please the piece played @ approx 15:49-16:09. Appreciated.

How do you lower your tune(transport) in casino cts 1

That layered piano + strings patch is the weirdest thing I've ever seen. I'd really like to know how it works!

I literally just bought this last week 😂

Was that Sweden around the 15:00 mark?!?

Great review.. timestamps ?

You killing me. Making me regret my DGX-670 purchase. Headphone-out (only) , in the back....

Hi James, technically with 61 non-weighted keys this is not a digital piano but a keyboard. Many lower-end keyboards have the headphone jack at the back, which is very annoying but also very common. Many of these keyboards also have the speakers covered with fabric, which unfortunately gathers the dust. Your review is very complete. Will you do one of the CT-S400 in the future?

I am pretty jealous.... You can try yamaha psr e463 it's unbelievable at this price

Does this unit shut off automatically after 2 minutes ? I hope it does not.

I hope you read my comment 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻🤙🏻🤙🏻🤙🏻 you should review the kawai cn35 😌 thank you in advanced !

Pretentiousness aside. There are thousands of players out there that would play this at a gig; and guess what? NO ONE WOULD ASK HOW MUCH YOU PAID FOR IT if you showed up and played decently.

What's the song in 36:28

can you split the sounds? bass + piano lets say.