Do all Casios suck or just the ones from my childhood?

[richter]

I want a MIDI controller with excellent keys (weighted, all that). Right now I'm looking at the Casio CDP-100.

It's a little more than I wanted to spend (was hoping ~$200), but the keys feel like magic. Just as good as the corresponding $700 Studiologic.

Thing is Casios are generally known to be shit. Also: no MIDI through

Anyway, thoughts? Thanks!

[Malcos]

For me, Casios were always poor value for money. For the same price you could always get a Yamaha with MUCH better sounds. That's what I remember from my childhood! I haven't seen many Casios around recently though.

[richter]

Yeah the sounds aren't the best, but I only need it as a MIDI controller.

[Yoozer]

The Casios from your childhood sucked; those from mine didn't because at that time Casio was imitating Yamaha's tricks on FM and several nice avenues in synthesis.

I want a MIDI controller with excellent keys (weighted, all that).

Also: no MIDI through

Anyway, thoughts? Thanks!

The lack of MIDI thru is not going to matter in the least, if you have a USB MIDI interface. MIDI thru is used when you're daisy-chaining synthesizers, like this:

synth 1 MIDI out > synth 2 MIDI in

synth 2 MIDI thru > synth 3 MIDI in

synth 3 MIDI thru > synth 4 MIDI in (and so on)

You don't put a controller somewhere in the middle of the chain because it does not make any sound - so there's no reason to let it receive MIDI in. You plan to use this as a controller, and while it has sounds, you still don't put it anywhere in the middle because once you work with software and you have a sufficiently big MIDI interface (just get a MOTU 5-port or something, that's enough) the technique of daisy chaining is like token ring on a gigabit network.

[richter]

I was using my last MIDI controller's thru with my MIDI NES. I've only got the *one* external device I use MIDI for so MIDI thru did the job nicely. I was hoping I wouldn't need a MIDI interface because last time the controller was all I needed.

So nobody has any experience regarding the quality of Casio keyboards? My Edirol PCR-50 had six broken keys after just one year, and I'm wondering if Casio products are any better nowadays.

[big giant circles]

For me, Casios were always poor value for money. For the same price you could always get a Yamaha with MUCH better sounds. That's what I remember from my childhood! I haven't seen many Casios around recently though.

This is actually not true. For the money, typically you typically get more out of a Casio than an equally priced Yamaha.

Casio simply appears to the home use market, where Yamaha typically steers more towards the pros. When the markets overlap (low end digital piano/keyboards) Casio is going to be just as good, and more affordable.

Plus, the Casio that my folks have had for the past 20 years still works fine, so that tells me they'll last a while.

[Malcos]

Casio simply appears to the home use market, where Yamaha typically steers more towards the pros.

Aha, I must be biased then! My original post is kind of redundant now that I look at it, as it was the keyboard you were interested in richter, not the sounds. My bad x2.

[big giant circles]

Aha, I must be biased then! My original post is kind of redundant now that I look at it, as it was the keyboard you were interested in richter, not the sounds. My bad x2.

Yeah, Casio doesn't make a pro-quality workstation like Yamaha, and that's where the BIG difference in sound quality will occur.

Pffft, that's what you get for spending all your time on school and career development and not as much time packing your brain with semi-usefull gear-snobbery and trivia.

[richter]

hehe, nah it's cool thanks for the info so far guys