Anyone familiar with us and our YouTube channel will know that we generally keep our digital piano reviews focused on 88-note musical instruments with weighted actions – essentially, digital pianos that emulate acoustic pianos.
That said, in this review, we’ve got something a little bit different as we’ll be looking at a very popular 61-key portable keyboard with Casio CTK-2550. This is an easy-to-use, well-laid-out instrument that’s either going to be a perfect introduction to the whole world of music for a youngster or simply a great-sounding way for other beginners or experienced players of all ages to have fun with some music-making.
Casio CTK-2550 – A 61-Key Portable Keyboard Suitable for Beginners
Something that jumps out right away is that the Casio CTK-2550 lets you run it on battery power, meaning you don’t have to plug in the included AC adapter if you don’t want to. Having some flexibility with regards to the power supply is a definite plus.
We have 61 full-size keys here, but it’s important to point out that they are not touch-sensitive, meaning no matter how hard or soft you press the keys, the volume is always going to be the same, nor are they weighted, even if they are piano-style keys.
With that, we have to give some words of caution to parents who possibly aren’t musicians themselves, and aren’t really sure how important things like touch sensitivity and weighted keys are. If you’re looking for a practice instrument for your child to practice on at home while taking piano lessons, 88 weighted keys with touch sensitivity are essential.
There’s just no way around this. However, if you’re already experienced with piano and looking for a secondary instrument, or if you’re simply trying to ignite some creative spark in your child, especially with fun things like the new dance music mode for creating electronic dance music (more on that below), this is going to be a perfect instrument.
CTK-2550 – High-Quality Tones
- There are 400 different high-quality tones on the CTK-2550, including a variety of grand pianos, electric pianos, synths, and many other sounds. The sounds are very good in general, especially for the price, and having such a wide variety of sounds and textures is going to be great for exposing a youngster to music.
- The Polyphony is somewhat lean at 48 notes, but that’s fairly standard for the price point.
- There are 10 different Reverb settings to choose from, and certain sounds can have effects such as Flanger which can be added.
Let’s move on to the various arranger features/functions.
Casio CTK-2550 – Powerful Lesson Functions
Equipped with Intelligent Auto-accompaniment
The Casio CTK-2550 is equipped with intelligent auto-accompaniment, meaning it will follow you depending on the notes you play.
Chordana App
You can connect the CTK-2550 to the free Chordana Play App for iOS and Android devices which makes navigating the large selection of sounds easier and more enjoyable.
100 Presets
There are also 100 rhythms to choose from, including an assortment of dance music rhythms with different variations of drum beats
60 Song Bank Tunes
There’s a song bank with 60 preloaded songs, and you’ll definitely recognize some with titles like “Amazing Grace” and “Greensleeves.”
Dance Music Mode
The Dance Music Mode allows you to choose from a variety of rhythms, bass lines, and synth parts to create your own dance music loops.
The Dance Music Effect further enhances this experience, which is undoubtedly very fun. Stuck on a tour bus with a long ride ahead? Fire this up and you’ll easily kill hours of time playing around with the various styles of EDM.
Additional Features and Connectivity
- Other staple features like a metronome are covered, and there’s also a solid lesson function with a lesson system and lesson lite, including a voice fingering guide built-in as well.
- There’s of course a headphone output, and you can use the device’s headphone output as a line out if you want to connect to an amp for more juice.
- There’s also a port for a damper pedal, and an audio input, which is how you’ll connect to external devices. You can also load MIDI files of your favorite songs this way too.
- It includes a music stand, whereas a keyboard stand is extra if you’d like to add one.
Closing Thoughts
We hope you’ve enjoyed our look at the Casio CTK-2550. This isn’t the typical instrument we review over here at Merriam Pianos, but we definitely felt this one was worth our attention.
It’s actually quite a fun, diverse instrument with a lot to offer. Again, it’s not meant as an acoustic piano substitute for someone in piano lessons, but as a lightweight, compact, and feature-heavy keyboard, the CTK-2550 is a really nice offering.