Good Yamaha or Casio keyboards under $200 for an absolute beginner

[robsims]

Hi,

I'm new to keyboards/piano's and i need some help. I would like to learn playing keyboard, so i need to buy one. I want a 61 key keyboard. I want to play short classical pieces or popular music for friends and family. I'm not planning to play in a band. I don't want to spend more than $200 on a keyboard at this point. I want a Yamaha or a Casio keyboard. Which Casio or Yamaha keyboard do you recommend?. If someone has a budget Casio or Yamaha, please share you're experience. Many thanks in advance

 

[Biggles]

Welcome.

First question

Do you really want to play piano or a keyboard?

A piano will have 88 keys and a heavier action to the keys and piano playing will develop along playing Bass lines with your left and the treble or melody lines with the right.

To play true classical then it is piano but to play a classical piece when you have learned to play a keyboard is more akin to playing it in the style of.

A beginners keyboard is probably an arranger type intended to have chords played left handed and the melody line with the right hand all whilst auto accompaniment is taking place where the accompaniment is triggered by the Style chosen and the actual chords played. Do note that a pro musician in a band will not play their keyboard like this, more likely chord variations in right with chord bass not and harmonic with the left.

Onto keyboard within and above budget.

Yamaha PSR E 363 is $199 but in all honesty it is not very good, the sound is only so so, the build quality is not the best. I have played one as recently as 6 weeks ago and wish I had not.

Casio CTX 700 at $175 is a much superior keyboard to the Yamaha but at this price point it will have limitations.

A bit more in cost but much superior is the Casio CTX3000 which is $300

Yamaha has their PSR E 463 which is also $300 the downside is that the menu system is the same as the 363 as is the build but there are more available sounds and styles.

My advice is to consider the above, look at them in store and compare them, the sales person will be keen to help.

What I suggest is up your budget and buy a more quality keyboard like:-

Yamaha PSR EW 410 at c$430
Roland Go Keys or Go Piano both priced at $330
Korg EK 50 c$400

Or

If you decide on a digital piano
Yamaha P45
Roland. FP10
Korg B2
All of these are c$500

Yes I have gone way over budget and with that I wish to guide you into choosing the best keyboard to learn on that you will not soon outgrow which you will with a $200 keyboard

The way I see it is that people buy a low cost keyboard and are keen initially but then the sheer button and menu fiddling required to go from one style to another which together with the fact that the keybeds are not of the best quality then disillusionment steps in and the keyboard is consigned to a dark corner.

Hence buy once but buy wisely.

 

[Kaneda]

Classical pieces and 61 keys don't mix, trust me.
Up your budget just a tad and get a Casio CDP-S100, you won't be disappointed.
You'll have support for the Chordana app for piano (iOS and Android), a great app to learn the piano.

There's plenty of choices for your budget with less than 88 keys, but if you even remotely think about classical music, you need a weighted keybed. Full stop.

 

[Biggles]

The Casio CDP-S100 does seem in short supply over in the USA.

Here in the UK it retails for £284.

 

[Kaneda]

The Casio CDP-S100 does seem in short supply over in the USA.

I've noticed that, too. Strange, because I often read user reviews on Sweetwater's site. But they don't have the CDP-S100, nor do a lot of other US retailers...
In any case, the CDP-S100 is more or less a poor man's PX-S1000, same keybed but without the 'smart' triple sensor part, and with a rather low polyphony of 64 notes, but that shouldn't be no problem at all for beginner to intermediate players...

 

[robsims]

Welcome.

First question

Do you really want to play piano or a keyboard?

A piano will have 88 keys and a heavier action to the keys and piano playing will develop along playing Bass lines with your left and the treble or melody lines with the right.

To play true classical then it is piano but to play a classical piece when you have learned to play a keyboard is more akin to playing it in the style of.

A beginners keyboard is probably an arranger type intended to have chords played left handed and the melody line with the right hand all whilst auto accompaniment is taking place where the accompaniment is triggered by the Style chosen and the actual chords played. Do note that a pro musician in a band will not play their keyboard like this, more likely chord variations in right with chord bass not and harmonic with the left.

Onto keyboard within and above budget.

Yamaha PSR E 363 is $199 but in all honesty it is not very good, the sound is only so so, the build quality is not the best. I have played one as recently as 6 weeks ago and wish I had not.

Casio CTX 700 at $175 is a much superior keyboard to the Yamaha but at this price point it will have limitations.

A bit more in cost but much superior is the Casio CTX3000 which is $300

Yamaha has their PSR E 463 which is also $300 the downside is that the menu system is the same as the 363 as is the build but there are more available sounds and styles.

My advice is to consider the above, look at them in store and compare them, the sales person will be keen to help.

What I suggest is up your budget and buy a more quality keyboard like:-

Yamaha PSR EW 410 at c$430
Roland Go Keys or Go Piano both priced at $330
Korg EK 50 c$400

Or

If you decide on a digital piano
Yamaha P45
Roland. FP10
Korg B2
All of these are c$500

Yes I have gone way over budget and with that I wish to guide you into choosing the best keyboard to learn on that you will not soon outgrow which you will with a $200 keyboard

The way I see it is that people buy a low cost keyboard and are keen initially but then the sheer button and menu fiddling required to go from one style to another which together with the fact that the keybeds are not of the best quality then disillusionment steps in and the keyboard is consigned to a dark corner.

Hence buy once but buy wisely.

Thanks for your kind reply Biggles. My mistake, it's actual a keyboard i want to play. I have also narrowed my search down to the Yamaha PSR-E363, the Casio CTX-700 and the Casio CTK-6250. As i said i don't want to spend more than $200 when ordering from Amazon. With shipping to my country (Suriname) a $200 keyboard will cost me $300 . In my country the music stores don't have these models. So i depend on reviews of others who have these models. I'm leaning towards the Casio's, because i have a gut feeling that the Yamaha's are a bit too expensive, for what they have to offer in comparison with the Casio's. Sound and build quality are my top priorities. So if you say go for the Casio CTX-700, because of the superior build and sound quality, i'll buy it.

 

[robsims]

Classical pieces and 61 keys don't mix, trust me.
Up your budget just a tad and get a Casio CDP-S100, you won't be disappointed.
You'll have support for the Chordana app for piano (iOS and Android), a great app to learn the piano.

There's plenty of choices for your budget with less than 88 keys, but if you even remotely think about classical music, you need a weighted keybed. Full stop.

Thanks for you're reply Kaneda. My mistake, it's a keyboard i'm looking for. I have narrowed my search down to the Yamaha PSR-E363 Casio CTX-700 and the Casio CTK-6250. I'm leaning towards the Casio's, because i have a gut feeling that the Yamaha's are a bit too expensive, for what they have to offer in comparison with the Casio's. Do you have experience with these keyboards??

 

[Kaneda]

Thanks for you're reply Kaneda. My mistake, it's a keyboard i'm looking for. I have narrowed my search down to the Yamaha PSR-E363 Casio CTX-700 and the Casio CTK-6250. I'm leaning towards the Casio's, because i have a gut feeling that the Yamaha's are a bit too expensive, for what they have to offer in comparison with the Casio's. Do you have experience with these keyboards??

No problem, my bad . When I read that you wanted to play classical piano pieces, I immediately assumed that you'd be better served with a 88-key keyboard.
Unfortunately, I have no experience with any of the boards you mention. Good luck in your search, though.

 

[Biggles]

The Casio CTX are the new versions of their CTK models and have a revised sound engine. Not that I have played them just watched a few reviews of them

Can I suggest you watch more reviews of the models you are interested in But only reviews by Retailers such as Sam Ash in the USA.

What I am confident is that either Casio will suit you better than the Yamaha.

Do keep us advised of your learning process.

BTW
There are some great resource links in Gary’s Tutorials sticky post

 

[CharlieO]

Welcome.

First question

Do you really want to play piano or a keyboard?

A piano will have 88 keys and a heavier action to the keys and piano playing will develop along playing Bass lines with your left and the treble or melody lines with the right.

To play true classical then it is piano but to play a classical piece when you have learned to play a keyboard is more akin to playing it in the style of.

A beginners keyboard is probably an arranger type intended to have chords played left handed and the melody line with the right hand all whilst auto accompaniment is taking place where the accompaniment is triggered by the Style chosen and the actual chords played. Do note that a pro musician in a band will not play their keyboard like this, more likely chord variations in right with chord bass not and harmonic with the left.

Onto keyboard within and above budget.

Yamaha PSR E 363 is $199 but in all honesty it is not very good, the sound is only so so, the build quality is not the best. I have played one as recently as 6 weeks ago and wish I had not.

Casio CTX 700 at $175 is a much superior keyboard to the Yamaha but at this price point it will have limitations.

A bit more in cost but much superior is the Casio CTX3000 which is $300

Yamaha has their PSR E 463 which is also $300 the downside is that the menu system is the same as the 363 as is the build but there are more available sounds and styles.

My advice is to consider the above, look at them in store and compare them, the sales person will be keen to help.

What I suggest is up your budget and buy a more quality keyboard like:-

Yamaha PSR EW 410 at c$430
Roland Go Keys or Go Piano both priced at $330
Korg EK 50 c$400

Or

If you decide on a digital piano
Yamaha P45
Roland. FP10
Korg B2
All of these are c$500

Yes I have gone way over budget and with that I wish to guide you into choosing the best keyboard to learn on that you will not soon outgrow which you will with a $200 keyboard

The way I see it is that people buy a low cost keyboard and are keen initially but then the sheer button and menu fiddling required to go from one style to another which together with the fact that the keybeds are not of the best quality then disillusionment steps in and the keyboard is consigned to a dark corner.

Hence buy once but buy wisely.

Yes, like computer/phone tech, buy as well as you can & satisfaction lasts longer!