Casio CT-S1 RD Casiotone Keyboard (Red)

General

You're probably wondering whether you're looking at a keyboard or a bite-sized digital piano. The truth is that the Casio CT-S1 is a bit of both. Available in various colours, this 61-note keyboard features a minimal, digital-piano-style lay-out plus a bunch of surprising traits and functions under the hood.

The Casio CT-S1: Lots of Sonic Flavours

Casio have loaded the CT-S1 with 61 sounds of higher quality than you'd expect. The section of controls allows you access seven main categories of sounds from a piano, organ, synth and a handful of other instruments, and each category comes in four tonal flavours including modern and vintage. You even get to select that famous Mellotron flute heard in Strawberry Fields Forever and the synth-brass sound that characterises the Van Halen classic, Jump!, plus a fat stack of vintage Casio-synth sounds. Reverb, chorus and delay effects also come built in, while the velocity sensitivity can be set to one of three different curves or turned off completely.

There's More!

Casio believe musicians should be able to make music anywhere, anytime. This honourable belief is evidenced by the handle that's been integrated into the design of the CT-S1 as well as by the fact that the keyboard can run on the included power supply or six AA batteries. Also, even though it doesn't resemble a keytar in the slightest, it's equipped with a standard guitar-style strap button for gigs, and Casio have even built in a recorder, Bluetooth support (WU-BT10 Bluetooth Adapter not included) and two speakers. Add everything up, and the CT-S1 is easily worth your hard-earned cash.