Casio SA-75 Keyboard with Headset Microphone

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Today's Bonus:

• On-screen music staff displays notes played while icons indicate the beat
• 10 demo songs with a melody-off control
• Four-note polyphonic with 100 PCM tones
• 30 patterns include 10 rhythms, 10 free sessions, and 10 funny modes
• Runs on five-AA batteries or AC adapter (not included)

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For just a little more than a toy keyboard you can get something that really works. This keyboard can do up to four notes at once, so children can learn about both chords and melodies. The sound quality is better than I expected considering the price, and it run on nice cheap AA batteries that can be bought in bulk. Battery changing is easy.

The one downside is that the lowest volume level isn't all that low. It's impossible to just play this quitely at a volume level low enough so that only the one playing can hear. Also, it comes with a microphone, and when that is plugged in, the sound can be heard all over the house with the volume set to it's lowest level.

Edit Jan 21 2011: And yes, it comes with a headphone jack just in case the volume won't go low enough. So, since that's my primary gripe with this thing, I changed my review to five stars.

So, it's a nice way to introduce children to music, but it's a loud way because it doesn't allow a truly low volume setting.

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This keyboard is just a decent noise-maker for kids. I bought it so I would have a portable musical reference for a college music theory course.

Two complaints, one small, one huge:

No big deal, but the "tones" you can select from sound pretty weak, although there are a bunch to choose from so it's not hard to find something that sounds okay.

But it really irks me that you can't play more than four keys at the same time! If you have any experience with the piano you're going to find this shortcoming completely unacceptable.

Two bits of praise:

There is a digital display showing both the treble and bass clef staves. When you hit a key the display shows you where the pitch falls on the staves. Ingenious! Perfect for beginners just learning.

Very lightweight and portable.

Conclusion: Great for kids, but don't even think about it if you have been playing for any amount of time.

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The Product Description recommends this for, "the young or beginning musician". I can also recommend it for a female singer who is NOT a pianist.

I wanted a small, lightweight keyboard just to learn vocal parts. This is perfect. The keys are too short for a man's hands and take a bit of getting used to, but the stated 4 1/2 pound weight is well worth it.

I love it!

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My wife and I are professional musicians and teachers, so we are quite discerning and expect a lot when it comes to musical instruments, even if they are inexpensive electronic keyboards. Although this keyboard does what it says and basically is as described, there are a few design quirks that could have easily been remedied which would have made this an exceptional keyboard, rather than just a mediocre one.

First--and I think this was mentioned in other reviews--the volume issue is extremely annoying. Even at the lowest setting, it is pretty loud. If you are planning on giving this to a child, watch out! Every time you turn it on, it resets to the loudest volume setting. Our son is two years old, and he's figured out the surest way to annoy us: keep turning the keyboard off and on, which resets the volume to full blast mode. He really enjoys this, of course, but it annoys us to no end. We are mystified as to why Casio didn't design this keyboard to reset a medium volume setting or even the lowest volume. The loud setting is too loud even for us, and we live and breathe music.

Furthermore, every time the keyboard is turned off and on, not only is it super loud, but it resets to a awful-sounding hip-hop version-sounding Beethoven's Ode to Joy. They could have easily designed this to stay on the last song selection. There should be an option to allow people to let it store the last song.

Our last main complaint is that it's not as easy as it should be play the keyboard along with the stored songs. Casio really expects you to only play a melody with the songs, hence the very limited four-voice polyphony (this means that you can only play four notes at once). If you want to play a full chord with a root, third, fifth and seventh (a V7 or MM7 chord, for example) or a 9th chord along with a melody, you are out of luck. It will only let you play four notes at once, so your chords (such as a left hand accompaniment) will be limited to triads. For a little more money, you can purchase a keyboard that has 16-note polyphony, which will allow you to play true accompaniment with melodic lines.

There is no pedal jack, which might not be that big a deal for a beginner, but somewhat limits your learning how to play a keyboard.

Other than the previously mentioned quirks, the keyboard is somewhat well made. There are 100 "tones" (poor-sounding keyboard sounds, such as piano, electric piano, organ, etc.--the Amazon summary says "top notch", but they're not), 30 patterns (rock, swing, samba, waltz, etc.), and 10 songs. This keyboard supposedly allows you to turn off the melody, but apparently, will not allow you to do that with the all of the songs in the sound bank--just a few, such as the Skater's Waltz. When you turn off the melody, you can play along, but otherwise, you can't. This seems silly to us. The quality of the songs themselves is OK at best, as you would expect from a low-end Casio keyboard. (You can play will all of the patterns, however.) If you're expecting a real orchestral or rock band sound, you're in for a surprise. It sounds like a merry go round toy. Our son doesn't know the difference (and many consumers won't care), but we can tell.

The LCD screen is OK, but very tiny, and our guess is that most people will ignore it. The staff that the notes appear on is less than an inch wide, which is NOT at all how musicians read music. They could have easily made the LCD screen 3 times longer so you could see three notes at once, or even a whole phrase. After all, when you start to read real music, you will read off a whole page, not a tiny LCD screen, one note at a time.

It's not all bad: the keyboard includes a headphone jack and the batteries last a long time, which is great.

All in all, if you don't have a child, this keyboard might prove adequate for learning how to play a melody with a pattern or song, but there are certainly other options out there that are a LOT better than this one. If we could do it all over again--and we probably will--we will definitely purchase a different keyboard. As an educational tool, we have to give this "two thumbs down."

The price is right and my children love it.

Regarding a power adapter, I found some really useful advice by another reviewer.

"I've noticed a lot of people here were having a hard time finding the right adapter for their specific keyboards, and I've got a solution. You don't actually need to buy a Casio brand adapter to fit your Casio keyboard (matching model numbers can be tricky online). Here's a foolproof method for finding the right adapter every time;

On the back or underside of your keyboard, there should be a voltage rating (which looks like a number followed by 'V'. For example, '9V' or '8V') and a milliamp rating (which looks like a larger number followed by 'mA'. For example, '850mA' or '900mA').

With those two numbers, you can find the exact adapter you need. :) For example, my keyboard is rated '9V 850mA', which looks like a bunch of gobbldeygook until you type it into a search engine or show it to a salesperson at any electronics or toy store. Almost all adapters are rated this way and regardless of the manufacturer (i.e. Casio, Yamaha), you'll always get the exact adapter you need when using voltage and milliamp numbers. Just be sure the other end of the adapter is the right fit for your input jack, and you're all set."