Review: Is Casio CT-X700 Still Worth Buying?

Review:

Casio CTX-700

$174 USD

The Casio CTX-700 keyboard was released in 2018 and has been 3 years since. Priced at $174 USD. I will be making an in-depth review of the features and functionality of the CTX-700 to help you make an informed purchase.

Key Actions

The CTX-700 comes with 61 full-sized touch-sensitive keys. The keys have a glossy surface, unlike the Casiotone CT-S1 which has matte surface keys.

If you prefer a keyboard that has more keys, check out my other recommendations to see if something suits you. You can also check out my beginner piano app as well as some beginners video courses and course materials available for you. At the same time, you check out this free 25 Piano lesson as well.

AIX Sound Engine

The CTX-700 comes with 600 tones with the AIX sound chip which is definitely a huge upgrade over the AHL sound chips on the CTK and CTS series keyboards.

Keyboard Splits

At the same time, these 600 tones can be split so that you get one voice on the right hand and one voice on the lower part of the keyboard.

Dual Layering

Apart from splitting the voices can also be layered with a press of a button. Unfortunately, the dual layers, as well as the split voices, cannot be adjusted. This means that you cannot adjust the volume of the layers as well as the split volume independently. This is something which the other keyboards from the competing brand can do very easily

If you require a keyboard that can layer more than 2 layers, check out my other recommendations to see if something suits you.

Rhythms

Besides the 600 voices, you also get 195 rhythms ranging from all kinds of genres from pop-rock jazz Latin, world music as well as music from India and piano rhythms.

For every rhythm, you get 2 different ending variations, 2 fill-ins as well as endings The rhythms are well programmed and are definitely pretty good in terms of their grooviness as well as a transition between the intro the variations, and the ending

Number Pad

One good thing about the CTX-700 is that there is a number pad for quick entry to get to a particular sound or rhythm that you want. This is a function that is missing in the Casio tone CTS which would be nice on the Casiotones. However, it would be better if Casio gave us a real dial wheel in addition to the number pads. It would make scrolling through the different sounds as well as the rhythm a lot quicker.

Arpeggiators

The CTX-700 comes with more than a hundred types of different arpeggiators you can use to spice up your electric dance music or your modern music and this is something that is not found in the competitors even though they might cost twice the price.

Auto Harmony Modes

If arpeggiators are not your thing the Casio CTX 700 also comes with 12 different auto harmony modes. What it does is that if you are playing a chord on your left hand, it will actually thicken up the sound and harmonize double triple, or even four notes on your right hand based on the cord that you are playing.

The CTX-700 comes with 30 different kinds of reverb as well as chorus effects. That you can apply to make your sound unique to you and sound the way that you want it to sound

Registration Memory

The CTX-700 comes with 32 registration slots for you to store your own voice as well as rhythm presets. This is actually a lot more than competitors of the same prices. There are 8 banks and in each bank, you can store up to 4 presets which gives you a total of 32 presets for instant recall when you are playing live.

Speakers

The speakers on the CTX-700 are not as powerful as the CTX-5000 but without saying the CTX-5000 costs a lot more compared to the CTX-700. The speakers of the CTX-700 have fabric covers and they attract dust and are more susceptible to being torn if you have some sharp object that happens to just run across.

This would have been better if it is not a cloth speaker grille but instead covered with a protective hard plastic you would definitely last a lot longer and would keep a cleaner look over a longer period of time.

If you prefer a keyboard that has more study and louder speakers, check out my other recommendations to see if something suits you.

Chord detection

You would be surprised at this price, you get 6 different chord detection modes for their accompaniment pattern in this keyboard. This is especially important for those who are taking the European exams. Like your Trinity keyboard exams people in Asia people in India as well in Europe, would definitely make use of these various modes when they are taking different levels of the exams.

Song Bank

This keyboard comes with 160 different songs and frankly, these songs are pretty old. It would be better if Casio made use of the memory space to do something more useful because even the loudest and worst app on the App store can do a lot better than the old songs which have not been changed for years.

Song Recorder

This keyboard also comes with an in-built song recorder that can record up to 6 individual tracks for each song that you are recording. It is a useful thing to have but nowadays people rather connect to a DAW for more full-featured functionality for music production.

This is definitely a feature that the competing brands absolutely do not have at this price point. Even those that have double the price of the Casio CTX0-700, do not include a six-track sequencer in their keyboards.

Other Features

On the rear panel, you get a 6.3mm output for your headphones or if you are connecting this to a PA system you can connect it use the stereo 6.3mm output. The CTX-700 runs through a power supply and you can also run it on batteries as well.

You also get an AUX input for you to plug in your mobile devices or computer music and stream this off the speakers on this keyboard. You also have a sustain input if you want to play your piano pieces you would definitely meet your sustain pedal input. You also have USB MIDI capabilities for those who want to connect to Applications on your computer or Andriod.

Here I have recommendations for speakers, headphones, microphones, and other connectivity devices which you might be looking for. You can also check out my beginner piano app as well as some beginners video courses and course materials available for you.

Conclusion

Now the million-dollar question. Is if this Casio CTX 700 is worth buying in 2021?

It is definitely worth buying at a hundred and seventy-four dollars and it is an absolute no-brainer. These days you can go out for a meal and spend more than that on your family. While this comes with a very decent AIX sound chip, it would be great if there is the ability to mix the volume of the duo layers as well as a split layer.

If you can get around that or you do not use that feature I think that is fine in fact a lot of my students are very happy with their Casio CTX-700. Loads of tones, we get 600 tones, 195 rhythms many of them a lot more contemporary than those found on competing brands. They are also definitely pretty well program especially when the transition between the rhythms as well. You get a very useful screen as well. I wish that the Casiotone CTS also had a more useful screen.

Frankly for just like thirty to forty dollars more than the Casiotone CTS-300 which also has touch-sensitive keys and portability is not your main concern. The Casio CTX-700 is actually a much much better choice. Things like a numeric keypad for quick entry and retrieval of your sounds as well as your rhythms and the 32 presets banks that you get are really a no-brainer.

I hope you found my review of the Casio CTX-700 useful. Do check out the links provided in this article for the latest and most updated information and prices of Casio CTX-700. Do also take a look at my other articles to find the best and most suited instrument for your personal need. Also, check out my Piano App and beginner keyboard course available for you.