Midi Keyboard Reviews

Casio LK-100: A Good Deal?

Casio LK-100 Review

Our Casio LK-100 review. The Casio LK-100 is a great MIDI piano keyboard if you are learning to play because of its 3-step lesson program that is included. The keys light up during the lessons so you can play along easily and you can change the tempo of the song you are learning to make it easier to learn.
You can get a great price through this link at Amazon.com now.
This Casio keyboard is also good for the more advanced player who wants a good accompanying keyboard. It has 50 different rhythms and 100 tones to choose from.
Let’s look at some features:

Auto Accompaniment: Simply specify a chord and the keyboard automatically produces the matching rhythm, bass, and chord patters. One-touch fill-ins make accompaniments sound interesting and natural.
Easy-to-understand on-screen indicators help to simply keyboard play, even for novices
50 built in auto-accompaniment patterns
100 built-in Song Bank tunes for playback enjoyment or play-along practice
Transpose function instantly changes the key of the keyboard
Connecting to another MIDI device lets you sound notes on both this keyboard and the connected device by playing on this keyboard
Connect a commercially available microphone and you can sing along with Song Bank tunes
Great price available at Amazon.com

More Casio LK-100 review posts. Here’s what some current owners have to say.

Mozart “whisperwillow” says:

This is a great package for the price. This is an easy keyboard to learn to play for both children and adults alike. The Casio Key Lighting Keyboard LK-100 is as fun as it is practical.

The keyboard has 61 full-size keys. The lighted keys help beginners become familiar with the timing of the notes that follow one of the 100 built-in tunes from the keyboard’s song bank. A songbook (included) allows kids and adults to view the printed musical notes for each song. The key lighting feature can be turned off as desired. This is particularly important for advanced players who wish to use the instrument as a traditional keyboard.

The keyboard has 100 popular songs stored and they can be heard at the push of a button. Songs include Jingle Bells, as well as Happy Birthday to You and a variety of classical songs. Younger kids will be thrilled to hear a theme song from the Finding Nemo movie.

This feature-rich keyboard includes 50 built-in auto-accompaniment patterns (kids will feel like rock stars!). Advanced players will find it easy to change keys, and a microphone jack makes it a breeze to sing along with tunes. The premium package with the Casio LK100 is a great buy for the money.

This is a well-built musical instrument on which children and adults can really learn to play music.

Only negative thing is that it does have MIDI but in order to use this feature, you will need to couple it with a PC to use, since it doesn’t have a built-in disk drive.
Review paraphrased for length read full review here.

M Morrison says:

I have a 6-yr old who had been taking piano lessons. I initially wasn’t interested in all the “lighted, follow-along” song features, had just wanted a basic keyboard, but I’m so glad it came with all the bells and whistles–far from just playing her lessons, she actually plays with the follow along features, spending much more time on the keyboard than I ever anticipated.

I had been concerned about the comments made about the stand–while the keyboard does not secure to the stand, this is only an issue when you are moving it. Once the keyboard is in place, the weight of it makes it plenty secure.

This is not a full 88 keys and they are not weighted. Overall this a great value for the price especially if you buy the it on Amazon.

The Casio LK-100 is definitely a beginner to intermediate keyboard and not recommended for advanced players. I hope you like our Casio LK-100 review and have a chance to see our other reviews.

The Portable Yamaha YPT-270 Review

Yamaha YPT-270 Review

The Yamaha YPT270 keyboard is the perfect electronic MIDI keyboard if you want to play anywhere you go. It is powered by either a power adapter or six AA batteries. It has the standard great Yamaha piano sounds as well as drums kits, basses, guitars and a total of 375 great sounding voices and a portable grand button that brings up a great sounding piano without having to search the sound bank for it.

Amazon.com has the best price here.

The YPT-270 has the Yamaha Education Suite that can teach you how to play piano from using both hands at once to one hand at a time if you wish. It comes with 102 songs and 100 preset styles to play along with. This is a great learning tool. Amazon has a great package on sale now that includes the keyboard, stand and headphones.

Here are some features:

Number of keys: 61 (organ style)
400 instrument voices and 100 accompaniment styles
30 built-in songs for practice
Display: Custom LCD
Tone generating technology: AWM Stereo Sampling
Reverb: 9 types
Number of preset styles: 100
Amplifiers: 2.5W + 2.5W
Dimensions: 37.2 x 4.6 x 13.7 inches (WxHxD)
Weight: 9 pounds, 11 ounces
On sale here at Amazon.com

What People Say About The Yamaha YPT-270

Look at what current owners have to say:

Jon says:

This product is great. My son loves it. The only issue I had was the item was delivered in a conspicuous box so it may invite thievery. Make sure you’re home when it’s delivered. Also had a little bit of snow that day. Delivery driver left in sitting in snow with no plastic or covering to protect from damage. Luckily I came home shortly after it was delivered so no damage was done. There was also a covered part of my porch that the item could have been left at to protect it from the snow and prying eyes.
Review paraphrased for length. Read the complete review here.

JR says:

The programmed voices sound authentic, including the special effects and percussion. My preteen son loves to jam on it when getting to the piano is not appropriate due to noise levels. I hooked up a Bluetooth transmitter to the headphone jack and it works beautifully. I would certainly recommend this to a friend.

You can get a great deal on this keyboard through this link at Amazon.com.

If you are looking for a MIDI keyboard to use with a sequencing system or with external synths I would not recommend this one because it is not as advanced and doesn’t have the features you need for composing or sequencing. However, if you are looking for an easy to use portable keyboard the Yamaha YPT-220 is a good choice.

Read This Before You Buy The Yamaha EZ-200!

The Yamaha EZ200 is a great midi keyboard if you are just starting out. It has 100 songs that you can play along with and has a very good teaching system built in. The keyboard lights up the keys that you need to play while you are learning a song and it waits for you to find the right note. Very cool!

Amazon has a Yamaha EZ-200 package with a stand and headphones on sale here.

The piano sounds are standard Yamaha sampled sounds which sound great! Yamaha is one of the industry leaders in electronic midi keyboards as well as acoustic pianos so they know their stuff. This keyboard has expressive touch so when you strike a key harder it plays louder and when you strike a key light it plays softer. Don’t get this confused with weighted keys however. Weighted keys makes the keyboard feel like piano keys when you strike them. This is usually found in more expensive keyboards.

The EZ-200 has a large variety of different sounds including pianos, basses, drums, guitars, violins, brass and synth instruments. It has 367 sounds to choose from. It has true stereo sounds, 32 note polyphony, reverb, a metronome and built in accompaniment to play along with.

Let’s look at some features:

61 Full Size Keys
32 Notes of Polyphony
367 high-quality tones
Learn to play the “EZ” way instructional method
Stereo Speakers
MIDI in/out
On sale here at Amazon.com

Here’s what current owners have to say:

Dusty W.

I was a bit nervous about buying a keyboard via the Internet since I have never owned one before. However, I wanted to learn how to play the piano and had heard that this was a good one to start with from several different piano teachers. This is a great deal. The keyboard comes with a stand, headphones, and a power adapter. I was surprised to find out that the keyboard does not normally come with these features, (as they are traditionally sold separately), but this package comes with all of these features!

The EZ-200 keyboard comes with 100 built-in songs, (a part of the Yamaha Educational Suite), which you can learn to play along with and the piano sounds just like a high-quality grand piano. Best of all, the keyboard is very simple to use — and not complicated.

One thing that I am disappointed in is that it does not come with a USB connection. Instead, I had to buy a MIDI-connector for $40 dollars, so I could connect it to my Mac.
Overall, this is a great keyboard for getting started. If you are hoping to record your music, you might want to check into a more expensive Yamaha model with a USB connector.

Review paraphrased for length read the full review here.

Levy

This is a great buy. The piano is much more of a professional instrument than I thought it would be. It plays beautifully, has a wide range of synthesized sounds, and very easy access to the different functions. Included in the purchase you also get an easy-to-assemble stand, headphones, instruction book, and song book. I din’t think there is anything that can compare with it for value and quality.

Overall this is a great midi keyboard package for the beginning player. It has a great learning system and wonderful sounds. If this article helped you, you can find other reviews at Printsy.co.