Good Price
There are 128 styles on board the CTK-650, each with a variation, fill, intro and ending. Styles comprise rhythm and bass parts, plus two accompaniment parts played generally over only two bars, though skillfully so. Overall, the standard of programming is high, with some exceptional drum programming in particular, and plenty of unusual styles in general. Styles of note would have to include: Groove Pop, Fusion (with its attractive slide bass part), 16-beat 2, Techno Pop, the boogie'n N'awlins Bar, Chicago Blues, R & B, Hip Hop, Rave 2, and some of the many ethnic styles like Sirtaki (a Greek rhythm), Guracha, Baion, Kivrak (full of eastern promise, and purring congas), and Zouk!? The chord recognition is good, without being spectacular, and you have a choice of Fingered (you play 'em), Casio (Casio plays 'em -- you just prod the odd note), or Full Range Chord, which is a sort of pianist mode, whereby the instrument interprets what you are playing over the whole keyboard in order to make its chord selection. It works very well. Or you can switch it all off and just accompany the rhythms on your own.
A nice idea that I've not seen before is the CTK-650's ability to mix and match style intros, variations, fills, and endings. In other words, you could set up the intro from Merenge to lead into the Zydeco style, for example. Some intriguing marriages can be brokered here. There is a small Play Sequencer, and you can balance the relative volumes of the styles to your own right-hand playing. Please note you will need to use your own power cable which shouldbe readily avaialble. I have currently batteries in the keyboard.
SPECIFICATION
KEYBOARD: 61-note, velocity sensitive
TONES: 128 GM Sound Set
POLYPHONY: 32-voice
STYLES: 128, with variations
EFFECTS: Reverbs, chorus, flanger, phaser, vibrato
SEQUENCER: One song at a time, real time
MULTITIMBRALITY: 16-part
POWER: DC 9V (6 D size batteries, AD-5 AC adaptor)
TONE GROUPS: (8 tones in each)
• Pianos
• Chromatic Percussion
• Organs
• Guitars
• Bass
• Strings/Orchestra
• Ensemble
• Brass
• Reeds
• Pipe
• Synth-Lead
• Synth-Pad
• Synth-SFX
• Ethnic
• Perc
• SFX
