FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Keyboard Casio

Question:
For expensive keyboards, Yamaha has a much better reputation than Casio. But what about a $150 starter keyboard? Specifically, I'm comparing the Casio CTK-800 with the Yamaha YPT-300. Both have touch-sensitive keys, which is a requirement for me. I don't anticipate connecting it to a computer or doing anything fancy. I just want a good keyboard for learning piano. Are these two keyboards pretty much the same, or is one clearly better than the other?

Answer:
Just a newbie myself, returning to the piano over twenty years after around two years as a petulent prepubescent -- but I can't stress enough how important it will be for you to get the best available, and this Yammy P-90 looks like the best of the cheapest. By which I mean that it's the least expensive keyboard with real piano action, which is very important in getting your brain to map the proper levels of pressure onto your hands and fingers (and arms and shoulders, even!)...it'll be the difference between playing hardball and softball, I imagine. Sure it's $1K, but if you mean to really learn the piano, why waste time -- and money, for that matter (once you upgrade, since you're serious)...believe me, I really love all the voices available on other boards (like the trumpet! Can't understand why they left that out), but you want that realistic weighted keyboard action (graded, too, on the P-90: ever-so-slightly heavier in the bass compared to the soprano) most of all. Well, I leave it to the grogs (the vets) to explain the rest, but I just gotta pipe in here with my two cents...unless this is just a passing fancy (I trust you know the difference between love and infatuation by now!), you *need* to buy the most realistic keyboard around -- and if price is an issue, then this P-90 is the cheapest one available!