Help regarding purchase of a new keyboard

[Tushar]

Hi all
I am planning to buy a new keyboard but I am confused between Casio CTK 860IN and Yamaha PSR E343. Can anyone suggest me which one is better. I am completely a beginner.
If any other keyboard is there then also please suggest me.

Thanks

 

[Dharamveer]

Hi friends,today i m going to give my honest review on comparison of yamaha psr vs casio 860 in.I hav bought CASIO 860 IN yesterday due to following reasons:
firstly i was on side of yamaha psr 343 and i was looking forward to buy it.so i decided to go to a music shop and hav their advice and relate it with others.
They put yamaha psr 343 and casio 860 in both plugged in and they suggested me to check myself, the differences i found were:
1 The volume of yamaha psr was very low as compare to casio 860in.
2 Casio provided pitch bend wheel on the side which was missing on yamaha.Its a very important feature and only found in high end devices.
3 Casio 860in has got much more varity of sounds and beats (plus indian).which makes it must buy for indian buyer
4 casio also offered bank keys in front to store our favourite sounds to recall them quick rather then finding them from list.
5 The sync sound of casio was much deeper and better then yamaha
6 The keys of casio were completely closed like harmonium but yamaha's were like in most of pioanos the space below keys.(more space will be more open to dust)
7 Though i was in favour of yamaha in the begning but i had to choose casio 860 in coz of its features and good designing.
I m fully satisfied with casio 860 in and when u start get boared with piano then turn the beats on of indian (bhangra,taals etc)and u will enjoy playing along with these indian intruments like harmonium.

And my important suggestion is not to buy any keyboard online.They shown me the letter from companies indicating no warrenty from online purchases.
THANKS FOR READING

 

[Tushar]

Hi Dharamveer
Thanks for replying.
Can you please tell me where did you buy the keyboard and what was the cost?

 

[Dharamveer]

Hi Tushar,
I bought this from jalandhar (punjab) for rs 12000/-

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Hi, Tushar and Dharamveer! I just wanted to mention that comparing the PSR-E343 with the CTK-860IN is a bit lopsided. A fairer comparison would be between the PSR-I455 and the CTK-860IN, or even between the PSR-E443 and the CTK-860IN (although the PSR-I455 would probably be fairest). For instance, the PSR-I455 and PSR-E443 have a pitch bend wheel (like the CTK-860IN), whereas the PSR-E343 does not. The PSR-I455 and PSR-E443 also have registration buttons on the panel for memorizing and recalling your favorite voices and panel setups. (The PSR-E343 also lets you memorize and recall setups, but recalling a setup requires pressing more than just one button.)

As for the volume of the sounds, for some reason Yamaha sets the default volume rather low for many of its voices-- in fact, none of them are set to "full volume" (which is even discouraged, I think because it might cause the voice to sound distorted or clipped)-- but you can modify the volume to make the voice louder or quieter. Note that I don't mean the "Master Volume" dial that controls the overall volume of the keyboard (although you can certainly adjust that as desired), but rather the volume of the voice itself, which can be set to any value ranging from 0 (silent) to 127 (loudest). Of course, setting a voice's volume to 127 doesn't necessarily mean it will play at the loudest volume, because if you have the Touch Sensitivity turned on then the notes might play at less than 127 volume (or "velocity") depending on how fast (or "hard") you strike the keys. Nevertheless, I can sympathize with you about the default volume of the voices being set so low for many of the voices on Yamaha keyboards.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that you should always try to play a keyboard in a store before you buy it-- including comparing two keyboards side-by-side if you're trying to decide between them. I would also add that it's a good idea to look over the manual(s) of the keyboard(s) you're interested in trying out, so you'll be in a better position to try its various features-- after all, you wouldn't want to discount a keyboard because you thought it couldn't do something (because you couldn't figure out how to do it in the store and the salesperson didn't know, either), only to find out later that it can do what you wanted. In other words, the more you learn about a keyboard and its features ahead of time by reading its manual(s), the better able you'll be to put it through its paces when you play with it in the store.

But perhaps the most important thing to remember is that you are the person spending the money on a keyboard, so you need to be sure to get the keyboard that you want, and not be swayed by anyone else's opinions. That doesn't mean you shouldn't listen to any advice or comments from people who actually own (or once owned) a specific keyboard that you're interested in, because they might have important feedback (either positive or negative) based on their actual experiences with that keyboard. What it does mean is that you shouldn't pick a particular keyboard just because a bunch of people recommended it-- since they aren't buying it, you are, and you're the one who's going to be playing it. So go ahead and ask other people for their advice and opinions, but don't make up your mind solely on that basis-- try to find a nearby store where you can get your hands on whichever keyboards you're considering, so you can see and hear them for yourself. It might also be a good idea to wait a bit after trying them out, to give yourself a chance to research them online, then go back to the store a second or third time (or as many times as needed) so you can try them out again after having read up on how to use them.

Edit: Regarding the warranty thing, I think the manufacturer should honor the warranty when you buy a new keyboard online and have it shipped to your home. However, that might not always be the case, as it might depend on who you ordered it from online (e.g., whether the keyboard manufacturer considers the dealer to be an "official qualified dealer" or not), possibly the country you ordered it from and/or the country you had it delivered to, and other considerations. Thus, if you're thinking of ordering a keyboard from an online dealer, it's a good idea to make sure that they're reputable and that the manufacturer will honor the warranty on the keyboard.

 

[Dharamveer]

Sir The comparison was bw yamaha psr 343 and casio 860in which falls into same price range,i m fully aware of all the upper class models.The yamaha psr e343 costs approx 11000. and the advice of casio 860 in was given bcoz its just of a thousand rs heigher but having much more better options.and the yamaha PSR-I455 costs around 15000.and when we increase our budget then we will keep confusing ourselves coz then casio ctk 6300in will come in this range.so i agree with u that it depends on us how much money we want to spend.but the question was bw yamaha 343 and casio 860in and casio wins by providing more functions and values in this.

 

[Tushar]

Yes, casio 860 and yamaha psr e343 fall in same price range and I was confused between the reliability and quality of the products provided by the two brands. On one side yamaha has its legacy and on other side I have read that casio is also coming up with very good keyboards. Regarding the hands on experience I don't know how to play keyboard but I want to learn it.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Dharamveer, when I was saying that the comparison was a bit lopsided, I was referring to comparable features, not price. If you want to compare Yamaha something-or-other to Casio CTK-860IN, the best Yamaha model to compare with it in terms of the features would be the PSR-I455.

Price is definitely a factor, too, and sometimes two keyboards from different manufacturers may have more-or-less equivalent features yet have a great deal of difference in their prices. And as far as prices, I've noticed that Yamaha dealers in different countries can vary quite a bit. Yamaha (and other manufacturers) list a suggested retail price for their keyboards, but dealers aren't required to sell the keyboards for that price. For example, the PSR-E443 has a MSRP of $429.00 US (equivalent to 26,630.16 rupees), yet it typically sells for $249.99 from US dealers (equivalent to 15,518.12 rupees)-- a "savings" of $179.01 US. As I understand it, Yamaha dealers in India charge closer to the MSRP and won't budge on that. You said that the PSR-I455 costs about 15,000 rupees, which is comparable to the US price, but I'm looking at a web site that says 21,600 rupees-- and that's supposed to be 10% less than the normal price of 22,990 rupees. So I guess the price can vary a good bit in India depending on the dealer.

Anyway, comparing two keyboards that cost about the same to see what you get for the same price is certainly a valid comparison, although in your original post you didn't mention that as being your basis for choosing which keyboards you were comparing.

 

[miteshc]

Hi
If I want to compare casio ctk 860in with yamaha psr i425, which will be better without comparing price ?

 

[SeaGtGruff]

miteshc, I think the best answer is that it will depend on the specifics of what you're looking for as well as what your personal preferences are. If you do a feature comparison of the Casio CTK-860IN and the Yamaha PSR-I425 then you'll find that they're not identical in features, so that means it will be up to you to decide which features are more critical to your needs and wants.

For example, the CTK-860IN has 48-note polyphony, whereas the PSR-I425 has 32-note polyphony, so the CTK-860IN scores higher than the PSR-I425 on that account.

Also, I believe the CTK-860IN lets you create your own rhythms or auto-accompaniments, whereas the PSR-I425 does not.

Both keyboards let you record tracks, but the built-in editing capabilities of the CTK-860IN are superior to the PSR-I425. On the other hand, if you're serious about recording your own songs then you'll eventually want to use a DAW, anyway, in which case the on-board song-recording features become far less important.

The CTK-860IN also has sampling capabilities, so you can sample a sound and use it to create your own tones. On the other hand, you can get sampler software for your computer and use your keyboard as a MIDI controller with it, so an on-board sampler might not be such a big thing unless it's important to you that you can sample sounds on your keyboard and use them "live" without needing to be connected to a computer.

One thing the PSR-I425 has that the CTK-860IN doesn't is the ability to modify the preset sounds ("voices" as Yamaha calls them, or "tones" as Casio calls them). The more advanced Casio Indian keyboards do have this ability, but the CTK-860IN doesn't. So if the ability to modify the built-in sounds is important to you then the PSR-I425 would be better than the CTK-860IN on that account.

As far as the keyboards themselves, the PSR-I425 has "organ/synthesizer" style keys, whereas the CTK-860IN has "piano" style keys-- by which I mean the actual shapes of the keys. The PSR-I425's keys stick out and then have a noticeable gap underneath them, whereas the CTK-860IN's keys have a more box-like shape as do a piano's keys.

What you should do is see if you can find one or more stores near you that have these two keyboards on display so you can try them both out, preferably side-by-side for easier comparison. Try out the features that are similar so you can see if one keyboard seems better than the other for your wants/needs with regard to those features, but be sure to also try out the features that are different (i.e., present on one but lacking on the other) so you can try to judge whether or not those features make a difference to you. Then see if you can decide which one you'd rather have.

Edit: I had meant to add that if there aren't any stores locally that carry these keyboards then you should search on YouTube for audio-visual demonstrations of them so you can try to get a better idea of how they sound and what their features are like.

 

[miteshc]

Thanks Sir,
I am a beginner. So i think(as per your remarks) casio ctk 860in is better for me at affordable price. I do not have any store near by me. On YouTube there is a demonstration of Yamaha psr i425, but i could not find that of ctk 860in regarding its performance/sound.

Online store are offering this ctk860in at less price (Rs. 10,500/-) than MRP (Rs. 11,995/-) as shown on casio official site. Is it advisable to purchase such instrument from online store or should I purchase form authorized shop ?

 

[SeaGtGruff]

It's best to buy from an authorized shop, but be sure to check out their policies about refunds, returns, and repairs so you don't get shafted if it turns out there's a problem with the keyboard. An online seller can be authorized, too, but the advantage of buying from a store rather than online is that you won't have to worry about shipping the keyboard back if there's a problem with it-- you can just carry it back to the store.

Edit: But that doesn't mean you should never buy a keyboard online. I bought my PSR-E443 online from Amazon last year because it wasn't available at any of the local shops, even though it was available from numerous sellers online. And I haven't had any problems with it.