I went to a local music store today to see what keyboards they had, and was able to check out this new Casio CTK-671. I was really impressed with this little keyboard. The sound quality of this board is way better than Casio's WK series. I remember reading somewhere in an article where it says the new CTK-671 has a sound set that used the MZ-2000 technology, and they were right! I'm a former owner of the MZ-2000 and I can honestly say I heard that big dogs voices come through quite well on the CTK-671. The piano actually sounded really good. The saxes were quite good too. I was confused though. I don't understand why casio didn't use the MZ-2000 voice technology on the WK series. The WK's have way more bells and whistles than the
CTK-671, yet the CTK sounds much better. The ONLY voice on the WK series that was taken from the MZ-2000 is a voice not even on the main voice list, but actually one of the special voices and that was one of the breathy saxes. I thought the CTK was almost perfect for the price range, and my only complaint about it was that it lacked a pitchbend wheel. I would recommend this board to any beginner who wants an affordable keyboard with good sounds for a low price. You can't go wrong with this one. You can also download new sounds, patterns, and songs directly to the keyboard from the internet... Nice little feature...

Squeak

Hi Squeak!

I actually purchased the CTK-671 for my daughter this fall. We took it to my house and played it next to the mz-2000 and the wk-1800. I owned both at the time. I took it back because is sounded so bad. I got her the WK-1800 instead.

The WK series has the breathy sax and flute on it. The piano sounds on the WK (Upper sounds past 200) are excellent. Not even the MZ has those. Also the Wk has some excellent piano styles that are not found on the MZ or the 671. I still own a WK-1800. I really like that board. I would not recommend the CTK671 to anyone over the WK series for beginners. Sound system in the WK series is very nice and did not compare to the CTK671. Too bad it had potential.

The CTK is sold as being able to download styles and songs from the net. It only holds 2 songs and if you download the songs into it,you can't download any styles. No memory. It was a big let down for me. I spent more money on the WK but its a much better sounding board. I did compare the sounds of the WK-1800 and the MZ side by side and I believe they did use those sounds on the WK series. They came out around the same time. Goes to show you we all have a different ear for sound. Mine may be getting too old ha-ha!

Take care,
-Linda

I thought the sounds were generally very poor but if you like them for the price it's not bad. The styles were terrible though when compared to Yamaha.

[This message has been edited by grahawk (edited 01-10-2002).]

LindaFus,
I guess it's really just a matter of opinion in regards to the sound quality of these two keyboards. I went back to that store today and to my surprise, he had the WK-1800 on display right next to the CTK-671. So I was able to do a side by side comparison. After doing the camparison today I find that I still favor the CTK... I think its sounds are much warmer than the WK. I tried all the pianos passed 200 on the WK as you suggested, but I still wasn't impressed. The sound set on the CTK uses the MZ technology and the WK only has a few voices like the flute, and sax. Also I think if the CTK-671 had the same speaker system as the WK's you'd really be able to hear the difference. Again, it's all a matter of opinion which we are all entitled to. I honestly consider my ear for a digital piano sound to be rather good because of my history with the instrument. I've been playing for 21 years, and actually my first set of keys wasn't a keyboard, but was a Baldwin Grand Piano. My parents realized at an early age I had an ear for music and they bought me a Baldwin Grand of all things to learn on. Even though I couldn't touch the pedals, my father made this great device that sat over top of the pianos pedals and he the device made it so that I could use the pedals. Also I spent at least 15 years working along side of my uncle who tunes, and restores pianos.. All this has I guess you could say fine tuned my ear.... Question to anyone else out there in regards to perfect pitch too. I noticed a posting about this not too long ago.. Anyone have this? I have perfect pitch and I can honestly say it's a pain in the but to have. I never took lessons on it, but just had the ear for it. I find it to get in the way most of the times..... I'll often hear something or someone playing, and having perfect pitch sucks, because you can easily pick up where the mistakes are made, where the average person cannot detect it... If I had the choice I would get rid of it, but I can't....

Squeak

In my opinion, the CTK-671 is the biggest bargain in our industry. I got my first ones in a few weeks ago and after playing it for a few hours I was blown away. I agree that the only thing missing from this keyboard is a pitch and mod wheel.
Did you know that you can program all the parameters of the DSP effect processor. This means I can even have a slow to fast rotary speaker leslie when playing the Jazz Organ sound in real time, just like the more expensive Yamaha and other keyboards. Did you know that just like the more expensive keyboards, I can split and layer and sounds I want and I can change their volumes, pans, octaves, effects sends and save them in 16 registration memories. The major difference I see in the WK 1630 and WK 1800 is that i have no control over editing the dsp effects and because of this the sounds called advanced sounds are so much better. Also, the sounds have much more dynamic filtering being used so like much more expensive keyboards, the CTK 671 has a much more realisitic sound. And the amazing thing.......$199.00. Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Squeak,

I guess we do have a different ear! My main interest in the CTK-671 was for a small portable scratch board for the family. We all have keyboards in my family and sometimes we like to play at eachothers homes without lugging some monster with us. For the price, it seemed a deal. I still did not like the sounds. I have owned alot of Casio keyboards and that one for some reason I did not care for.

George!

Yes, I played with the DSP settings on the CTK-671 they still did not make the board sound better to me.??? Again, I am no professional and I just buy what I like. Of course none of these boards compares to my PSR-2000! I really love playing that board! Take care,

-Linda