Casio CTK-551 Keyboard

What the hell am I doing out in the middle of the woods with a Casio CTK-551 keyboard ? Well, for one thing, it runs on 6 D sized batteries; I can take this keyboard wherever I want-even on my camping trip.

I must tell you, and I don't mean to brag, when I play my music on this keyboard it sounds so good that mosquitoes come from miles around to hear my enchanting songs. To show their appreciation they leave me lots of red kudos all over my exposed skin.

This keyboard comes with an AC adapter, as well, for those times when my keyboard is lonely and wants to mate with a power outlet. Now, you're not gonna believe this but my keyboard is gonna tell you about its features. Check it out.

The Casio CTK-551

Hi cool dudes and bodacious babes! I'm the Casio CTK-551, but you can call me Casey, OK? Let me tell you about myself:

I have 36 white keys and 24 black keys.

♫Ebony and Ivory come together in perfect harmony.... ♫.

I just love playin' that song! I love to play 100 songs because I have a song bank with fully arranged songs that you can automatically play at the touch of a button. When this reviewer touches my buttons, I don't get mad-I put a smile on his face. Common, admit it.

My Take

I admit it. I like singing the lyrics to those songs which are contained in the Song Book that comes with the CTK-551.

The Casio CTK-551

My unit also comes with 100 keyboard tone selections and 100 rhythm selections. You can mix and match all kinds of sounds and rhythms. If you are a pianist or keyboard player, you don't really need the song bank-you can play your own music.

My Take

Yeah baby! My favorite rhythms are 70's rock, pop ballad, swing2 and beguine. I think it's so cool that I can adjust the tempo and press a button to simulate drum fills. My favorite keyboard tones are strings with piano, spacepad, and all the woodwind and brass sounds.

The tones and rhythms sound electronic rather than acoustic, but they sound clean and professional--no static or feedback.

The Casio CTK-551

Hey, let's not forget my unit's auto accompaniment capabilities. The LCD screen shows how the notes played would appear on the treble and bass clefs of written music. Finally, my unit is MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) compatible. You can connect me to another MIDI device and sound notes on both devices. You can even playback commercially available pre-recorded MIDI data.

My Take

I don't use the MIDI features, but I do enjoy using the accompaniment capabilities. For example, at the press of a button, I can set up a nice R&B jam, then play my keyboard part along with it. As I do this, I can see the notes being played on the LCD screen-it's pretty cool!

When I bought this keyboard, I was disappointed that there was only a one year warranty. However, I have used this keyboard for the last six years, and it has been 100% reliable.

Specifications

Keyboard: 61 standard-sized keys, 5 octaves
Tones: 100
Polyphony: 16 notes max (8 for certain tones)
Rhythm Patterns: 100
Tempo: Variable (236 steps)
Rhythm Controller: Start/Stop, Synchro/Fill-In
Accomp Volume: 0 to 9
Song Bank Tunes: 100
Controllers: Play/Pause, Stop
MIDI Terminals: In, Out
Sustain Terminal: Standard jack
Phones Output Terminal: Stereo standard jack
Output Impedance: 50 ohms
Output Voltage: 3.5 volts
Power Supply Terminal: 9V DC
Batteries: 6 D size batteries
Battery Life: Approximately 5 hours
AC Adapter: AD-5
Speaker Output: 2.0 Watts
Power Consumption: 9 volts, 7.7 watts
Dimensions: 38X15X6 inches
Weight: 12 pounds

Final ♫Notes♫

Ya know, I am beginning to think those mosquitoes are not really into my music. I think they are just here for the food-that's so typical! However, my pal Casey and me are definitely here for the music and I'll just keep on playing my Casio CTK-551 keyboard.

♫And it's all right now...I learned my lesson well...Ya see ya can't please mosquitoes so ya got to please yourself...la da da...♫