****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
There is a strip of invisible type tape over the keys that needs to be peeled off. At first I thought something was wrong when the keys wouldn't press down. Besides the power adapter there is another cord - adapter to outlet - in the box. I almost missed it. The headphone jack is 6.35 mm - an adapter is required for a 3.5 mm headphone cord. I had one and put it in the pic but it is not included. Once the tape is removed and power connected initial start up is very easy. Press the red power button and the display should light up with "001StagePno". Next to the power button is the volume control - adjust clockwise and it's ready to go. The manual is pretty extensive. I expect I'll use some of the various piano, electric piano, organ, and string section tones most of the time. There are a lot of quality sounding options. The various bass tones which automatically are set down an octave and the split keyboard option are features I might use occasionally. I didn't need many of the features on this keyboard and although the compact aspect of 61 keys is handy I have room for an 88 key piano. But I decided even an entry level 88 key Casio or Yamaha keyboard was out of my price range at this time. Weighted keys were not a big factor for me as piano is not my 1st instrument and I mainly just pick out chords and melodies and use it for ear training. I chose this CTX 3000 over the similarly priced 76 key Casio WK 6600 and Yamaha PSR EW310 sacrificing some range for what I thought to be better tone generation at least per my online research. Further research since purchase has me suspecting the PSR EW310 main piano tone may be close to equal. The CTX 3000 has 64 note polyphony versus 48 for both the WK 6600 and PSR EW310. The CTX 3000 has a 12 watt amp, the WK 6600 6 watt + 6 watt, and the PSR EW310 2.5 watt + 2.5 watt. Speakers are CTX 3000 3.9 inches x 2, WK 6600 4.7 inches x 2 + 1.4 inches x 2, PSR EW310 12 cm x 2. One thing I didn't think about before buying is the weight of the item. This CTX 3000 weighs 15.2 lbs, the WK 6600 weighs 17.4 lbs, the PSR EW310 right about 12 lbs, and the 88 key weighted keys options such as the px1000 or Yamaha p45 and p125 weigh right about 25 lbs. The lower priced ctx700 is 9.5 lbs. If you're going to be moving the keyboard around some that might be something to consider.
