My traveling practice keyboard setup!

HeartKeys · 2024-08-04T22:10:06+00:00

I’m over here in the Colorado mountains, and brought with me my portable keyboard setup, specifically for travel. This is my way of maintaining my PACT (play...

HeartKeys

I should've mentioned, that I brought my keyboard on a road trip in my car, and not a plane. Thus, easy to take with me. Otherwise, I would've brought nothing 🙂

WieWaldi

cheeeeee Is the action as good as the regular models with 88 keys?

No way. The CT-S1 and all other CasioTone models have a spring loaded action. The CDP-S160 uses a hammer action and plays in a different league.

Just think about it:

CT-S1: 61-keys = 4.5 kg
CT-S1: 76-keys = 5.3 kg
CT-S1 (88-keys theoretical) = ~6.0 kg (or 13 pounds)
CDP-S160 (88-keys) 10.5 kg

I think this gives a good description about all spring loaded key actions in this price range:

HeartKeys M-Audio Keystation 88. Terrible action but weights only 13 pounds, and powered by USB. And hey it’s 88 keys.

cheeeeee

WieWaldi

Thank you so much! This is very helpful for my decision.

Ostinato

MandM The GO: Piano is a very nice cheap and portable instrument. For people who like more variety in sounds there's also the GO: KEYS. Very comparable to the GO: Piano, but with less piano sounds and many more other sounds, such as e-piano, organ, strings, synths, marimba etc. Plus it has a fun built-in accompaniment mode and recording options. I think the keys of the GO: Piano are better weighted than those of the GO: KEYS though.

MandM

Ostinato Hi Ostinato,
I agree the GO: KEYS has more variety in sounds. I wish I could compare the action of the GO: Piano with the GO: KEYS. But I unfortunately own only the GO: Piano so I cannot compare. What I can say though is that if I had to rank the keyboards that I own, it would be GO: Piano (Spring) < Fantom-07 (Spring with better sensors ?) < Fantom8 (PHA-50). I might be wrong, but mechanically the Fantom-07 feels like the GO: Piano (both springs), but for me the playing experience is better on the Fantom-07. I am just guessing it could be better sensors on the Fantom-07.

The other thing that I did not expect is that initially I had a tough time playing the spring GO: Piano. Like being able to control the volume when I hit a key. Particularly the black keys were difficult for me to play since they are shorter (closer to the pivot point) and would sometimes be either too loud or too quiet. However, having played the spring Fantom-07 for about 2 years, it has become much easier to play the GO: Piano. Also switching between spring keyboards and the weighted Fantom8 (PHA-50) takes me now only little time to adjust.

Wish you a good week,

ShiroKuro

Sorry for the thread drift, but I have a question about this:

Bellyman Bosendorfer did extend that lower octave on down to the C below, which is kinda cool. Mostly, I see that covered up so that you can't play those notes.

Do you mean the keys that are all black? They're aren't covered up, right? As seen here:

Unless you're talking about a different piano?

Bellyman

ShiroKuro , yes, that's the piano. I've never seen one in person. I do recall of pictures where they had one of these on a stage but a little cheek block extension lookin' thing that covered them up and made it look like they weren't even there.

ShiroKuro

Yeah, I don’t think they’re covered, but I don’t know why those keys are all black. I will make a thread in the acoustic piano sub forum (so I don’t derail this thread anymore!)

ShiroKuro

Oops, sorry, a little more thread jacking …

@Bellyman you were right, those extra keys used to be covered!

The extra keys, which are all at the bass end of the keyboard (that is, to the left), are colored black so that the pianist can tell them apart from the normal keys of an 88-key piano. They were originally covered with a removable panel to prevent a pianist from accidentally playing the extra notes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_B%C3%B6sendorfer#:~:text=The%20extra%20keys%2C%20which%20are,accidentally%20playing%20the%20extra%20notes.

Interesting! I guess the black color makes sense, but it doesn’t make sense to cover them! Like, are you going to flip that cover off in the middle of playing?

thepianoplayer416

Yamaha PSS-A50 review from a music teacher. What kind of music can people play with just 37 keys?

WieWaldi

thepianoplayer416 Yamaha PSS-A50 review from a music teacher. What kind of music can people play with just 37 keys?

And the keys are NOT full size, they are 20mm mini keys. Or accordion keys if you want. A no-go for practicing piano.

PianoMonk

WieWaldi Hey, Wie, I've been thinking about getting the CT-S1, but then saw the CT-S400, and wondered if I'd actually use the extra features in the 400 at the expense of the better sound of the S1. Did you try the 400 before getting the S1? I had hoped I could find a video of someone playing jazz on the 400 using the accompaniment feature, but never found one. Any thoughts?

WieWaldi

PianoMonk I was just comparing Roland GO:Piano to CT-S1, and I didn't think very much about other Casiotones than the CT-S1. My only information was forums-content, YouTube clips, spec sheets and availabe transport bag sizes and their pricetags. After the Casio won over Roland, I had a short look to the other Casiotones and thougt, CT-S1 is the most minimalistic one: no display, only few sounds, and I like the look with the fabric on top. This is where I get the most piano-like experience for my money. And I thought it is the slimmest one with lowest weight. Ok, on last point I was wrong.

Jeremy See claims, CT-S1 has better piano sound over CT-400. And JPS did play them side by side. Not Jazz, but still, listen by yourself:

After using it for some time when I am at my parents place my conclusion:
Would I buy it again? yes.
Would I buy another one instead with my today's information? no.
Are 61 keys enough? Often yes, sometimes not.
Would I go for 73/76 key now? No, not worth the added bulkyness.
Is there a feature I am missing? Yes, a small display to see the bpm of the metronome. That's it, basically.

PianoMonk

WieWaldi Hey, Wie. I've seen that video, don't care for that reviewer, and didn't really cover what I was looking for. On the CT-S1, is there a way to record a piece, save it to a USB stick, and play it elsewhere, or load it into a DAW via midi? Not being able to save a recording to export is a deal breaker for me in either case.

thepianoplayer416

WieWaldi
Agree.
Not sure why a teacher would recommend a keyboard with 37 keys to a student when travelling. It's like the plastic toy keyboard I had at age 5 with barely 3 octaves. Even for composing music on computer, you need to octave up & down when notes are out of range. Anybody who would use this keyboard for practice would be a beginner.

After using a Piano de Voyage from France away from home, I wouldn't use anything else. Comes in 4 modules about 3 kg that fits into a suitcase which isn't all that heavy.

HeartKeys

at around the 12 min mark, she does acknowledge that it's pretty crappy for conventional practicing (scales, arpeggios, licks, dynamics, etc.), but can be useful for things like practicing chords, theory, or just plain fun.

WieWaldi

PianoMonk It has only a single headphone out and a micro USB-jack "USB to host", that allows to record digitally with a laptop (or a smart device). It has a USB-A port labelled as "USB to device" but I can't store my recording onto a USB stick. This is meant as port for wireless for MIDI & Audio. (buy an extra casio adapter).

PianoMonk

WieWaldi Thanks for the info, Wie. Too bad it can't store songs. Should be at least midi, if not wav. But, I guess they save those features for more expensive models.

Nightowl

I can see the appeal of that 37 key Yamaha, because at that size and weight it would be easy to transport and comfortable to have on your lap for an hour or two - something that might not be the case for slightly larger, heavier keyboards. The reviewer was very clear that it would not be suitable to practice grade 3 pieces on, but for a person like me, who is hovering between grade 1 and grade 2, it might be a fun size keyboard to use while on holiday, sat on a beach or in a villa somewhere. It has limitations but is a convenient way to practice while away from home, and the sound effects might be fun to experiment with. It also has 32 note polyphony - something lacking on toy keyboards. A nice extra to have, for someone who travels a lot (like Nav, who mentioned that he has a similar size keyboard which he takes on his travels).

WieWaldi

Nightowl The big downside are the mini-keys with 20 mm of width (white keys are 20 mm, whereas white keys on a full size keyboard are almost 24mm wide). This means if you practice there something with an octave, your muscle memory would hit a seventh when you are back on your main piano.

It is as she said, you can teach music theory, test chords and harmony, compose new melodies.
But I disagree to her about sight reading: If your eyes locked on sheet music, your fingers must be able to rely on equal distances between the keys.

Sophia

WieWaldi If your eyes locked on sheet music, your fingers must be able to rely on equal distances between the keys.

You know, it always amazes me how fast the brain adjusts though. The other day I played a friend's piano. Hers is probably close to a century old and used to teach, so probably got banged around a lot. Our Clavinova has super heavy action and hers is feather light, so she probably thought I was trying to hammer a nail in! But my point is, it took me 30 seconds to make mental adjustments to lighten my touch and sound "normal".

Same with my kitty keyboard - any time I play it, the first 3 seconds I will hit the wrong note, but then again my brain adjusts to the smaller keys. I'm not dismissing what you said 🙂 I'm just saying that it's probably a little less of a problem that it seems at first. For non-serious playing around I might add 😃

I still want another keyboard too... a little more serious one that is. The kitty keyboard is adorable but it can only sound two notes at once - quite useless for anything but a few meow meows!

iternabe

WieWaldi The big downside are the mini-keys with 20 mm of width (white keys are 20 mm, whereas white keys on a full size keyboard are almost 24mm wide). This means if you practice there something with an octave, your muscle memory would hit a seventh when you are back on your main piano.

I wish acoustic and digital pianos come in multiple sizes that can fit small-handed people like me without compromising sound quality and features. At standard size, an octave spans 6.5 inches (165mm, or 23.6mm per key). I read that Hailun makes narrower ones at 6.0 inches (21.8mm per key), and 5.5 inches (20.0mm per key).

There is also a fascinating video of one guy in Pennsylvania that retrofits grand piano with narrower keys.

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