Buying Keyboard

[For7eX]

Hey , I decided to begin to play Keyboard
And i need some help choosing Keyboard cause i dont know anything about it cause im just a beginner..

Price Range : 200-300 ( but would be nice if you guys could find a very good and lowest price as possible..

Music i will play :
Like one republic and pink and that kind of stuff . Cover songs ( Pop and rock )

Thank you for all answers so keep'em comin !,
Robin

 

[A.Dawson]

In that price range, any of the Casio keyboards will do just as much, if not more, much more, and sound just as nice if not better than the $500-$600 keyboards from any other company.

 

[For7eX]

Can u Recommend one? send me a link it would be very Helpful.

thank you,
Robin

 

[A.Dawson]

I personally chose a Casio CTK-5000 as my first keyboard. Bought it over a year ago and am still learning all it can do.

However, if I were to buy one today? Their new CTK-6000 and CTK-7000 models are out, which now include a full tone editor (attack, sustain, decay, release, etc.) and I would jump on one of those in a heartbeat.

They are just now starting to be seen in stores with the CTK-6000 having an introductory price here in the USA of only $200. A phenomenal deal.

http://www.casio-intl.com/emi/high_grade/ctk6000.html

The CTK-7000 is even nicer (better pattern-sequencer editor, drawbar organ slides, full-fledged audio recording, etc.), but then you're jumping up to about $350.

Then again, I'm not you so you might also want to look at boards in their WK lineup. (CTK = 61 keys, WK = 76 keys = higher price, e.g. WK-6500 ~US$300)

I'd strongly suggest downloading a manual of any keyboard your are seriously considering. http://support.casio.com/manuallist.php?rgn=5&cid=008 To make sure it will do what you need.

That's how I shop online, for most anything. General research > download manuals of items now on the short list > choose one > find best deal.


(Interesting, I just noticed the CTK-6000 has 670 tones, 200 rhythms built in (503 more if you download casio's freebies, see another post of mine). Same as my 5000. I bet the 6000 can use the very same Cakewalk "Instrument Definition" file I just created for the CTK-5000. That'd be cool for new owners of them. Just a few extra controller names would have to be added for the new features. I'll have to read their manuals now, I'm curious.)

 

[For7eX]

I personally chose a Casio CTK-5000 as my first keyboard. Bought it over a year ago and am still learning all it can do.

However, if I were to buy one today? Their new CTK-6000 and CTK-7000 models are out, which now include a full tone editor (attack, sustain, decay, release, etc.) and I would jump on one of those in a heartbeat.

They are just now starting to be seen in stores with the CTK-6000 having an introductory price here in the USA of only $200. A phenomenal deal.

http://www.casio-intl.com/emi/high_grade/ctk6000.html

The CTK-7000 is even nicer (better pattern-sequencer editor, drawbar organ slides, full-fledged audio recording, etc.), but then you're jumping up to about $350.

Then again, I'm not you so you might also want to look at boards in their WK lineup. (CTK = 61 keys, WK = 76 keys = higher price, e.g. WK-6500 ~US$300)

I'd strongly suggest downloading a manual of any keyboard your are seriously considering. http://support.casio.com/manuallist.php?rgn=5&cid=008 To make sure it will do what you need.

That's how I shop online, for most anything. General research > download manuals of items now on the short list > choose one > find best deal.


(Interesting, I just noticed the CTK-6000 has 670 tones, 200 rhythms built in (503 more if you download casio's freebies, see another post of mine). Same as my 5000. I bet the 6000 can use the very same Cakewalk "Instrument Definition" file I just created for the CTK-5000. That'd be cool for new owners of them. Just a few extra controller names would have to be added for the new features. I'll have to read their manuals now, I'm curious.)

Yeah but is it MUCH better with the 7000 or would it be okey with a 6000? cause i like the 6000 one and its cheaper soo,or save my money up tp 350?

 

[A.Dawson]

Yeah but is it MUCH better with the 7000 or would it be okey with a 6000? cause i like the 6000 one and its cheaper soo,or save my money up tp 350?

I'm okay with the 5000, and see no real pressing need for all the other features, I'll have no overwhelming envy of anyone who might buy the 6000 or 7000. (If that weren't true, I wouldn't have gone out of my way to create a Cakewalk Instrument Definition file for those CTK-6000 owners earlier today in another thread in the Casio section.) But if the 6000 was available when I was first buying, I'd have gotten that one. Well, maybe. I got an exceptionally good deal on the 5000 when I bought it new, only $35 in a very lucky ebay bid. If I could have gotten the 6000 for that price, then no question about it. The features of the 7000 look fantastic, some real nice icing on that cake, it would be difficult to ever outgrow that keyboard, but is it worth the extra price? Only you can answer that.

Does that answer your question?

 

[For7eX]

Yeah , Thanks man
And another Question , Do i need a amp?

 

[A.Dawson]

That all depends on what you'll be using it for. The Casio boards' 6+6-Watt built-in speakers have a really clean sound to them. For general practice and home-use I don't know why anyone would really need to throw an amp on one except to annoy the neighbors or relatives.

Anecdote: Last summer I was out sunning on my land and don't have a boombox, so I set up my keyboard out there (covered with a light cloth to protect it from the sun) with a small SD card loaded with about 500 nicely-done MIDI songs and plugged in my MP3 player into its audio-input too. With the extra width for speaker-separation on these (as opposed to a boombox) it provided all the nice battery-powered tunes I needed outdoors. You can also turn on a plugged-in MP3 player's record option (on pause), use the MP3 player's built-in electret mic, and turn it all into an instant karaoke machine if you want too. (With real instrument sounds, instead of that rinky-tink Midi-Mapper sound on the PC.) ... Used the keyboard as a "Name that Tune" game one time too. Turn the display contrast up so high that nobody can read it, then use the + and - keys held down for random lengths of time (to scroll to a new unknown MIDI file tune) to start up a new random song.

(MIDI files are so small, that you can finally put to use all those small-memory demo SD cards you get with cameras and other things. Example: 573 well-done MIDI files on my SD card is only 23.9 megs. Leaving tons of room yet on a camera's 50M demo SD card. 503 extra rhythm files only come to another 3.4 megs.)

Sorry, I went off rambling there ....

 

[For7eX]

That all depends on what you'll be using it for. The Casio boards' 6+6-Watt built-in speakers have a really clean sound to them. For general practice and home-use I don't know why anyone would really need to throw an amp on one except to annoy the neighbors or relatives.

Anecdote: Last summer I was out sunning on my land and don't have a boombox, so I set up my keyboard out there (covered with a light cloth to protect it from the sun) with a small SD card loaded with about 500 nicely-done MIDI songs and plugged in my MP3 player into its audio-input too. With the extra width for speaker-separation on these (as opposed to a boombox) it provided all the nice battery-powered tunes I needed outdoors. You can also turn on a plugged-in MP3 player's record option (on pause), use the MP3 player's built-in electret mic, and turn it all into an instant karaoke machine if you want too. (With real instrument sounds, instead of that rinky-tink Midi-Mapper sound on the PC.) ... Used the keyboard as a "Name that Tune" game one time too. Turn the display contrast up so high that nobody can read it, then use the + and - keys held down for random lengths of time (to scroll to a new unknown MIDI file tune) to start up a new random song.

(MIDI files are so small, that you can finally put to use all those small-memory demo SD cards you get with cameras and other things. Example: 573 well-done MIDI files on my SD card is only 23.9 megs. Leaving tons of room yet on a camera's 50M demo SD card. 503 extra rhythm files only come to another 3.4 megs.)

Sorry, I went off rambling there ....

Haha its allright
But Q1 :if i Buy a Casio-CTK-6000 , It will sound like a piano right? i can get the piano sound on the Keyboard?

Q2 : Is it very hard to learn modern songs like Apologize and stuff?