Casio CT-X700 portable keyboard

[ConnOrganOwner]

Hello all,

I recently received a brand new Casio CT-X700 portable keyboard (61 piano style keys, non-weighted) as a gift. It has 600 tones (i.e. instruments) on it and many of them sound phenomenal. In particular, it has several pianos and organs all of which sound incredibly realistic. In fact, you can almost heard the wind going through the pipes as you play. Moreover, the keyboard has a reverb effect and an equalizer as well. Years ago, Casio was known for inexpensive items and technology, but they have really improved since then. The CT-X700 also uses Casio's new AiX sound chip, which really makes a lot of these instruments sound great. The standalone speakers are good for what they are, but I would really like to hook this up to a larger sound system one day just to see if I can shake the room.

[Silken Path]

I'm listening to someone playing one on YouTube now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SruLiY6VlM0

Very nice for a portable. I bought a Roland because I fell into the deal - fellow had purchased it and needed to sell it to provide his kids Christmas. I got the box and the registration card with it. But... it's all metal and 55 lbs and was at the end of it's model run when I got it. I wanted something with heavier action to practice on.

So how's the Casio feel to play?

(I remember the huge calculator watches Casio used to make. Real space age tech, right on your wrist.)

[ConnOrganOwner]

I'm listening to someone playing one on YouTube now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SruLiY6VlM0

Very nice for a portable. I bought a Roland because I fell into the deal - fellow had purchased it and needed to sell it to provide his kids Christmas. I got the box and the registration card with it. But... it's all metal and 55 lbs and was at the end of it's model run when I got it. I wanted something with heavier action to practice on.

So how's the Casio feel to play?

(I remember the huge calculator watches Casio used to make. Real space age tech, right on your wrist.)

Casio's technology does go back a long time!

The high quality piano, strings, and organ tones, all of which I heard online before I got it, sold me on this instrument. It's a darn good deal for $175. There are also several guitar and world instruments available as well. It's a big upgrade compared to what I was using before, which was a Casio CTK-573 (137 tones with organ style keys). I believe the CTK-573 was manufactured around 2001 or 2002. It wasn't a bad keyboard for its time and was used frequently enough to the point where some of the keys became unplayable. Upon further self inspection, I discovered that some of the contacts were worn out or broken on the inside. Rather than have it repaired, I decided to upgrade to the CT-X700.

With the exception of being non-weighted, the CT-X700's keys look and feel just like a piano. They are built better and feel softer than the CTK-573. Both keyboards are touch response, although the feature can be disabled, and have the ability to auto-harmonize, record, split and layer instruments while also having the ability to transpose octaves. Several rhythms and songs are available on both as well. Both of them lack a pitch bend wheel, though, which isn't a big deal to me. One thing that I want to get for the new one is a sustain pedal, specifically for the piano tones. Never did get one for the CTK-573. The CT-X700 comes with an arpeggiator as well, which is something that is fairly new to me. I believe it also supports up to 32 registrations (4 setups x 8 banks) too.

I was surprised to discover that the CT-X700 is actually a few pounds lighter than the CTK-573, although I don't know the exact weight between the two. Both keyboards have 61 keys and are about the same size. I'm actually using my old keyboard stand, which I bought with the CTK-573, to hold the CT-X700 and it fits perfectly. It's not a problem, but I also noticed that the adapter for the CT-X700 is much larger when compared to the CTK-573. Both keyboards also have MIDI support and, as mentioned, can be hooked up to a larger sound system as well. The speakers on both instruments also do a pretty good job on their own.

Your Roland sounds really nice too. I once heard online that they were behind the manufacturing of some portable digital pipe organs. The C-190 is one of them and had a limited run back in 2005.

[Organfella]

I still have an old CT-360 which I purchased when I was younger - a lot younger. Kids have been playing on it for decades and it's still going strong albeit a little limited in versitality. However, I have not heard another of its era with an organ sound like it. How about coupling yours to a computer and set up a VPO? Perhaps it has a midi connector?

Nico

[ConnOrganOwner]

I still have an old CT-360 which I purchased when I was younger - a lot younger. Kids have been playing on it for decades and it's still going strong albeit a little limited in versitality. However, I have not heard another of its era with an organ sound like it. How about coupling yours to a computer and set up a VPO? Perhaps it has a midi connector?

Nico

I listened to a few samples of the CT-360 online and I have to say that it sounds pretty good for it age. My 2001 or 2002 CTK-573 lacked a pipe organ tone, but came with an average sounding church and reed organ. The drawbar and rock organs sounded the best out of all organ tones though. It does have MIDI support and so does the CT-X700. I never did hook up the CTK-573 to a computer and I have yet to do so with the CT-X700 as well.

In case you were interested, here's a list of all available organs on the CT-X700:

JS Organ
RTF FD Organ (these top two resemble something that you would hear at American baseball games)
Rock OD Organ
Tremolo Organ
Jazz Organ 1
DP Organ
Electric Organ 1
Gospel Organ
Electric Organ 2
Electric Organ 3
Percussion Organ 1
Full Drawbar (sounds like a Hammond)
Rock Organ 1
Jazz Organ 2
Electric Organ 4
Electric Organ 5
Percussion Organ 2
Click Organ
70s Organ
Rock Organ 2
Organ Pad
Pipe Organ 1
Pipe Organ 2 (both pipe organs 1 and 2 sound like a general setting on an actual pipe organ)
Chapel Organ
Pipe Organ 3 (this one resembles the "Tutti" setting)
Theater Organ

General MIDI tones include:

Organ 1
Organ 2
Organ 3
Pipe Organ (this organ tone sounds like something just below the "Tutti" setting)
Reed Organ


Josh