Review: Does the Casio CT-X3000 Have the Best Sounding Piano?

Review:

Casio CT-X3000

$299 USD

Those of us familiar with economic theory will know the law of diminishing marginal returns. This economic theory predicts that once you reach a certain level of doing something, doing more will not result in a corresponding increase in quality or output.

This theory is also valid when applied to keyboards and pianos. A $100 keyboard may not sound very good, a $200 keyboard may sound twice as good as the $100 keyboard. However, a $1,000 keyboard is not going to have a piano sound that is 10 times better than the $100 keyboard.

The Casio CT-X3000, in my opinion, has the best piano sample in its price range, even when compared to the Yamaha PSR-E series keyboards. Typically, you would not be able to get a better piano sample than the CT-X3000 for just $299 USD. Unfortunately though, it is extremely underrated and doesn't get a lot of attention compared to the CT-X5000, CT-X700 & CT-S200.

Build Quality

The keys on the Casio CT-X3000 have a firmer touch than the competition and offer better control when playing piano pieces. However, I wish the CT-X3000 have gotten the matte and textured key surface from the Casiotone instead of glossy plastic. This will affect the playing experience as the glossy plastic keys will cause more slippage of the fingers while playing fast passages whereas the matte keys will provide more friction.

Built-in Features

At just $299 USD, you are getting most of what the bigger brother CT-X5000 has to offer, such as 800 tones, 235 rhythms, a 16 tracks song recorder, a style creator, an arpeggiator, a 42 part mixer and 128 user registration presets, while saving $200.

Out of the 235 built-in rhythms, many have been updated for more contemporary music. While there are many legacy rhythms that were just simply ported over to the CT-X3000, you will find more winners than losers in the rhythm section. You also get 4 variations and 4 accompaniment fills for each of these rhythms, which is unheard of within this price range. To get these number of rhythm variations on a Yamaha keyboard, you will have to pay at least $1,000 USD.

Sound

The CT-X3000 comes with 28 different acoustic piano tones as well as more than 40 different electric piano tones. Coupled with dual voice layering, the new AiX sound engine and more than 100 DSP & system effects, you get a massive palette to tweak and personalise the tones. While not all the voices sound great, the acoustic & electric pianos are unparalleled at this price point.

To take a listen at some of the voices and the arranger style of this keyboard,

Grand Piano

Mellow Piano

Piano + Strings

Arranger Style

I hope you have found this article useful in providing you with information about the Casio CT-X3000 and also did this underrated but amazing keyboard justice. Click on the links provided in this article to get the latest prices and updated information about the CT-X3000.

If you would like to learn how to play your Yamaha, Korg or Casio arranger keyboards with chords & rhythm accompaniment, do check out my proven step-by-step beginner keyboard course.