I have a Yamaha P-125 that I love, and am looking to add a portable keyboard not only as a couch/portable option (travel, low-key jam sessions, waterfront busking), but also to have something with additional sounds (guitars, basses, more e pianos, horns etc) to add to recordings I do on the P-125. And I've also thought I could use the basic arranger functionality to record simple backing tracks for use with the P-125 as well.
Casio CTS-300:
- The 200 is not velocity sensitive, but the voices on the 300 (older sound chip not the aix) really aren't very good; might grab a used one someday for taking to the beach but that's about it
Casio CTX-700:
- has Casio's latest Aix sound engine, surprisingly good piano and epiano sounds for the $, 32 registrations (good for jam sessions/busking)
- velocity sensitive articulation on acoustic instrument voices (play harder on bass get slap, etc)
- 6 track MIDI recorder
Yamaha NP-12/32:
- I rented one to try out and it would be ok as a travel board, but I don't think the price makes sense anymore; the NP-12 is the same price as the new PSR-E373 arranger, and has only 10 sounds (and MUCH lower quality ones), and a fraction of the functionality and connectivity - not sure why anyone would buy one of these now unless they drop the price considerably; it is still just a synth action so no benefit there. . .
Yamaha PSR-E373:
- really good upgraded piano sound inherited from some of their more expensive synths
- audio interface built into the USB to device port; this is an amazing feature, I use it on my P-125 all the time - the direct audio recordings are really good quality compared to via an external audio interface
- has articulated voices but you have to press a button at the same time . . . ugh why
- only 9 registrations, only 2 track MIDI recorder
Both about the same price, I think the Casio wins out on the busking/jamming front and the Yamaha on the recording front (because of the audio interface); leaning to the Yamaha but haven't decided for sure yet
Last edited by Piano Tone; 03/30/21 06:27 PM.
