Product Overview

While Casio has done an admirable job of breaking into the higher end digital market over the last several years, they’ve been more widely recognized as one of the big players in the entry-level and intermediate keyboard/digital piano market for quite some time. The Casiotone LK-S250 is one of Casio’s strongest efforts in this category.

If you’re an experienced pianist looking for a super portable secondary instrument, or even a beginner looking to see if learning piano is right for you, don’t sleep on the Casio LK-S250. With 61 touch-sensitive keys, 400 tones, and 77 onboard rhythms, the LK-S250 is absolutely loaded when you consider the price point.

While a 61 note keyboard is by no means a replacement for a weighted 88 note, digital or acoustic piano, the LK-S250 isn’t trying to be. Rather, it serves as an excellent complementary secondary instrument, solid MIDI controller, and a great tool to test the waters with a beginner.

The keys also light up when the lesson function is engaged to help in learning new songs, there’s a Dance Mode for creating and remixing EDM tracks, along with 60 built-in songs. It’s pretty fair to say that for $200 CAD, you’ll be hard-pressed to find another instrument offering as much as the Casiotone LK-S250.

Action

While the 61 note action is not weighted, it is touch-sensitive which is a refreshing feature for this price point. The touch sensitivity doesn’t mean a player is going to develop great piano technique on this instrument, but the benefit is that it can be used as a MIDI controller with some control over the velocity.

Most smaller keyboards in this price point do not offer any velocity sensitivity, so this feature alone makes the LK-S250 stand out in its class.

Piano Sound Engine

There are 400 total tones on here, which is of course a huge amount of variety. The quality of the different tones obviously isn’t earth-shattering, but when you consider that this instrument costs only $200 CAD, having 400 total tones is a great value. Add in 77 unique rhythms, an auto-accompaniment feature as well as a Dance Mode – the LK-S250 clearly has all kinds of sonic possibilities.

There are 48 notes of polyphony, which again, is really strong for the price point. There are some other keyboards in the price point that get overwhelmed at 10 notes, let alone 48!

Connectivity

There’s a surprising amount of connectivity present on the LK-S250. For starters, there is USB to host, a pedal jack, headphone port (stereo mini), audio in (stereo in), and even a ¼” mic input.

Notable Features

There’s a couple of other features worth noting, including the lesson mode. There’s a lesson feature with 60 total songs wherein the keys light up indicating the next note to be played. This could be pretty fun for a beginner.

There’s also a rhythm which is essentially an accompaniment feature that adds either a drum track or a full rhythm section backing track. There are 50 total rhythms, so again, quite a bit of variety here.

• 400 onboard sounds
• 48 note polyphony
• 5 watts of speaker power
• 61 note keyboard with full-size keys and key light-up system
• LCD Display
• Built-in handle for easy carrying
• 77 onboard rhythms
• Music Library: 60 songs
• Battery operated (optional)
• Compatible with Chordana Play
• Dance Music Mode
• AC power supply

Conclusions

If you’re looking for a capable yet affordable 61 note keyboard, make sure the LK-S250 portable keyboard is on your list.

Casio LKS250 Owner’s Manual

• [English] LK-S250 Owner’s Manual

Casio LKS250 Related Resources

• Casio LK-S250 Portable Keyboard Unboxing – 61-Key, Lighted Keys, Chordana Play