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List Price: $549.95
Sale Price: $257.05
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- Real time recording
- On-board sampling
- Pitch bend wheel
- SD Card slot
- This package comes bundles with professional closed-cup headphones, single x-braced keyboard stand, and a power supply.
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I would say that the keyboard itself is fairly nice. If you are a beginner, then this keyboard is a great start. It comes with tons of tones, some beats, a metronome, a distortion wheel, SD card slot, and a USB port. You can also layer tones, split them, and record your own. The stand and power supply also help make this product work.
The headphones are the cheapest thing in the box, and you can tell just by handling them. My headphones also arrived broken! The left ear piece is loose, and "jiggles" LOUDLY every time I move my head! This fact also makes the left ear sound very muffled (compared to the right ear) I would attempt to fix this problem myself, but the headphones are all one piece! Everything is glued together. I would literally have to break and tear these things apart in order to fix the loose speaker. How annoying. Buyer beware.
This keyboard also does not come with a sustain pedal, or USB cable. I was aware of this fact before I purchased the keyboard, so I had to purchase them separately. I think they should have included the pedal and USB cable, instead of those cheap headphones. It would have been worth the price I paid, and a 5 star rating. Or, they should at least charge less for this product.
I gave this product three stars based on what came in the box, and overall product quality as compared to the price that I paid.
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This keyboard is beautiful. The keys feel smooth and responsive and so far it's been a very pleasant experience. This comes with a real Casio-brand power supply, which is great, and the stand is pretty sturdy (it will rock a little bit if I shake it, but I notice no instability while using the keyboard). Also, once I hooked up an A-to-B USB cable (not included), it was immediately recognized by my iMac. I've messed around a little bit in GarageBand and it flawlessly captured my playing. At one point I even got it to play the sound through GarageBand instead of the keyboard (this would be useful in a couple instances). I'm not sure what triggered that, though.
I do have some criticisms, of course:
1) The contrast of the numbers and text aren't very high against the black, so a light will probably be necessary to find the right buttons at first (though you may want one for sheet music anyway)
2) The tone selection button doesn't light up like the rhythm and song buttons. In fact, whichever of the latter two you had selected previously will stay lit while you change tones. I found this strange and confusing at first, but it's not even close to a deal-breaker. Perhaps there's a reason behind it that I just haven't thought of or read about.
And some other thoughts:
1) The power connector is slightly under-thought. It is a 90-degree turn at the back of the keyboard, but the groove doesn't allow it to fit vertically. That is, the cord must bend outward or be angled to the side.
2) I wonder if there's a way to alter the pitch wheel configuration to expand more than a whole-step, or to cause it to only affect notes already played. I'd like to try and use it to slide between notes more than anything else, but this is a bit impractical with the default configuration.
Overall it's a great keyboard and I hope it lasts a long time.
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All I really wanted when I was purchasing a keyboard was to be able to practice the piano in my own room without bothering my roommates. This purchase was exactly what I needed because the package came with headphones, the stand, and an adapter. I was able to start playing immediately after I set it up. I have enjoyed using it every day since!
Of course it's not a real piano, so the touch-sensitive keys aren't as good, the clicking of the keys when you press on them is a bit noisy, and the feel is a little different, but I adjusted easily and it hasn't been an issue.
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You simply couldn't get anything like for this kind of money a few years ago. If you're looking for a cheap keyboard to practice or learn the piano on this is an excellent choice, the home keyboard has finally come of age in that respect''Compared to the 80s when I started out it now sounds and acts much more like a piano, 76 touch sensitive keys allowing you to play those early learner classics like Moonlight Sonata with feeling and it has a brilliant step-by-step teacher which I wish I'd had to begin with. Some of the songs in the songbook are corny and old fashioned but it's an interesting history lesson in classic and popular music. In particular, I'm comparing this to my first large keyboard, a Casio CT-680, which I got in 1992 or thereabouts. The WK500 corrects a great many things which I wanted to be corrected in the CT-680. It was always frustrating that it didn't have a few extra keys and touch sensitivity. And it didn't sound quite realistic enough. Besides that, it's one track recording ability was deemed insufficient and I wanted to be able to separate elements of the style patterns. Of course, microchips have come on a long way and all of this is possible with the WK500 and more. The WK500 has a six track multi-track recorder for up to 5 songs, which is enough to keep me amused, and it has sampling ability, a range of arpeggios and song exportability. This is particularly important because it means you can save as midi file, and then make incremental changes to your music when read as sheet music on a computer. It basically gives you the ability to use the Casio as a far more fully fledged composing machine, than ever before, if you want. In theory, you could then import the midi file back into the machine and play it. Although the home keyboard is regarded as something of a toy compared to professional keyboards there's no reason that a machine like this can't be used outside a home or for recording or demo purposes. But that brings me to my main gripe.
For all its increased flexibility the style patterns are like some hideous curtains that you're stuck with but can't pretend you really like. As always, Casio throw every available musical style at you, from blues and rock to house and techno, as well as a plethora of ethnic styles I never knew existed. The German March I have heard of, and have no use for. If they could just concentrate on quality rather than quantity, I would accept far fewer styles. I know they exist, because I had a style pattern on a Ringway keyboard that was far superior to anything I've heard on a Casio. (Check Yellow Bus reverbnation.com/Zerm to see what I mean). On the one hand, you've got to hand it them, they are authentic and all inclusive, but they are also stiff and soulless at the same time. I think Casio had better watch out, because although they make flawless machines they like stylish style patterns and one day someone might just come along and provide some.
One or two other minor complaints. The Casio CTK-671 had step programing, a useful tool for the ham fisted, and it's not present on the WK, so you have to get a performance right or record again. A backwards step, anyway. The other thing is, I keep deleting individual tracks of recordings by accident. It's easily done,it's a bit difficult to explain here and you won't do it if you are vigilant but the set up of the multi-tracker sucks somewhat and Casio ought to redesign the whole thing, in my view.
Besides that, you ought to be able to save a song and export as an MP3, the sampler is only medium wave quality (8 bit I suppose) and the sound is just still, somehow, a little cold, even distorted if you slow the tempo right down. I'm being picky. I'm pretty happy with this machine but the next time I buy one I'm going to try and find something with a bit more warmth and soul.
I have been looking into a piano for practicing, or possibly even taking on gigs. I had very high hopes for this piano after reading all the reviews and seeing all the 5 stars. I was almost willing to buy it online without even trying it.... I'm glad I didn't.
I looked into a dealer and got the chance to play around with this piano. After two seconds of playing I noticed several little problems with this piano. The keys on this keyboard are much smaller than that on a full sized grand piano. The plastic that the keys are made of is a cheap and slippery plastic. When it comes to piano, sound is important, but the touch and feel is even more critical.
But by all means its not a bad piano; it just wasn't the piano I was looking for.
PROS:
670 different tones
152 built-in songs
SD memory card slot (best feature)
Light weight
CONS:
Size of the keys
Plastic of the keys is cheap and slippery
Keys aren't very weighted
Only 76 keys (not terrible, but not full-size)
Overall I would say this isn't a terrible piano especially for the price. But for serious musicians looking to further their ability and possibly gig, I would consider looking into the Casio PX-130 or maybe even higher models. This piano isn't terrible, but is more along the lines for beginners and intermediates.
Hope this helps!
