Synthkat

You're right about bang for the buck - that nothing comes close, seahps. With the CGP-700, Casio really did their homework on what was important to home users of a digital ensemble. All you have to do is look at the color screen navigation systems of the Casio CGP-700 versus the Korg Havian. The Casio has big, colorful, metro-style icons that invite you to jump in and start making music - while the Havian has a blocky text button interface that reminds me of the home-grown Windows programs of the 90's. But it just isn't Casio's great looks and ease of use. Important features like dual headphone jacks for lessons, an audio input with volume control, a dedicated tap tempo button, having the stand included in the price ($150 extra for the Havian), and an optional integrated 3-pedal board (Damper, Soft and Sostenuto). All in, the CGP-700 with stand and optional SP33 3-pedal board is literally half the price of the Korg Havian. To be fair, the Havian has many outstanding features the CGP-700 does not, such as a tone editor, about double the number of tones and styles, and song lyrics, a score generator with chords (Wow!) and jukebox, just to name a few. The Havian should be a good fit for a more technical user or performer with a bigger budget. However, for a total $875 for the CGP-700 and SP33, I do not feel that we made any important compromises for our grandsons - on the contrary, they now have a high quality digital piano ensemble that will be much used because it is a joy to play, sounds wonderful and will spark their musical imaginations.

A couple weeks ago I received a CGP-700 and a 3-pedal SP33 from Sweetwater Sound. Here's some background to provide the context for my choice of the CGP-700 & SP33 and my evaluation of it after some limited use: I bought the CGP-700 for our young grandsons. I have a home studio with a baby grand, a Rhodes 73, Technics PR 902 (arranger), Roland D-20 and Korg Karma and some wind instruments. Whenever our grandsons come to our home, the first thing they do is play the baby grand and then it's not long before they are up in my studio having fun on the electronic keyboards. Their favorite is the Technics PR902, which was a top-of-the line Digital Piano Ensemble in its time with 64-note polyphony, 2x120W output, a large screen and numerous advanced arranger functions. For the past year I have been looking for a digital piano that would give them the experience of a conventional piano with the sounds and arranger features of the Technics PR902. It had to be easy to play, sound great and within my budget of $1,000. Suffice it to say the CGP-700 at $800 plus $75 for the SP33 met all these expectations and then some. Where to start? The keyboard has excellent weighting and touch - different than the baby grand to be sure - but very solid with the benefit of a pitch bend wheel. The boys are already having fun with this - one plays while the other uses the pitch bender. The 40W amplification system is powerful enough for convincing sounds without having to hook up external amplification. The stand is easily assembled and solid. I highly recommend the SP33 optional 3-pedal unit which also adds to the stand’s structural integrity over the light weight damper pedal included with the CGP-700. Also, the dual headphone jacks and an audio input with a volume control are excellent features. Instead of a clutter of confusing buttons, the CGP-700 has a big, bright colorful screen that is very easy to use. I simply told our 5-year-old grandson what to do and he was able to navigate the menu to select rhythms and sounds he liked and then start the auto accompaniment without me showing him. Instant music! The 200 rhythms for auto accompaniment are very contemporary and provide plenty of variety. The ‘World’ category has some especially interesting stuff. There are 300+ ‘Presets’ – chord changes from popular songs of various music genres. However, you need to know the song the preset represents to play the melody. There’s a list of Presets accompaniments in the User Guide but nothing specific that names the song. Hopefully someone will come out with a songbook (respecting copyrights) or reference list for the Presets. The sounds on the CGP-700 are just incredible - especially the 84 synth sounds. These are big, fat sounds with 128 note polyphony that capture the essence of the past 4 decades of synth technology. Effects are easily added from the top Menu. The sax tones are quite good. I found the Rhodes electric piano sounds somewhat lacking, but I’m used to playing the real thing and therefore a bit more critical. The default one touch concert grand is outstanding. With 550 tones there is a lot to explore. I haven’t spent any time with the recorder - that will be the subject of another post. One test will be whether it is easy enough for the 5-year-old to lay down some tracks. I considered both the PX360 and PX 560 as they have the new color screens. However, the advanced features (256 polyphony, tone editor, etc.) are at the expense of the 40W sound system of the CGP-700. The CGP-700 met all of the high priority needs for a digital piano that our grandsons can play to develop their musical abilities all for an amazingly affordable price. In most areas the CGP-700 specs are better than the Technics PR902. The CGP-700 is a keyboard that will deliver an impressive performance in your home, in a church or on the road. Guess where grandpa is going to be spending his time once the grandkids are asleep? Casio really got this one right!