Casio Casiotone SA-51 32-Key Portable Keyboard

I bought this so that I would have something to put in my lap and practice chords and chord progressions when I’m away from the piano. I’m still learning piano and need to do lots of drills to get every chord in every key burned into my brain. It fits that use case pretty well. 1) The keys are, well, not great but good enough, 2) it’s very small and light, 3) it can run either on AC or batteries, 4) there are some decent tones and 5) the built-in speakers are…not terrible. You will never think they sound great, but they’re not nails on a chalkboard.

Additional features include an octave button, so I can shift from one part of a piano keyboard to another. A metronome. A lot of rhythm patterns, most of which are too loud compared to what you’re playing, and pretty basic, but some are useful. The built-in songs are of no use to me, and you can only play them all in a specific order from first to last (though you can skip through them).

The good tones include electric piano, a couple of organs, vibes (remarkably good, considering) and an Indian instrument whose name I forget, but coupled with a Middle Eastern rhythm, lets me sound like the band for a Turkish bazaar. Also a strings-and-piano that, while not great, is surprisingly good for such a cheap instrument. If you are familiar with the evolution of Casio keyboard tones over the past 30+ years, I’ll just say that overall the tones on this keyboard are at least as good as, often much better, than a full-sized, much more expensive Casio keyboard from 25 years ago.

The keys are mini, and an adult has to learn how to play on them effectively if you don’t want to hit wrong keys constantly.

Cons: the keys are cheapy-cheap. We will see how long they last. The piano tone is only barely mediocre. Wish that could have been improved. No option for sustain. No Bluetooth, MIDI or even aux input. None of these really detract from my use case, so I’m satisfied.

Is it good for young kids? I’m not sure how long it would survive. If the kid doesn’t use it as a hammer, or use other things (including his/her own hands) on it as a hammer, it might be a good starting point. You can actually make pleasing music with it. I don’t know about you, but when I was 3, everything was a hammer. Everything, no exceptions. Hammer in the morning, hammer in the evening, all over this land. So maybe more like a (non-hammering) 6 or 7-year-old.

I got this as a birthday gift for my 8 year old son and he loves it. He has been using it for about 3 months now and he’s still enjoying it a lot. It’s light weight and compact, he carries it around everywhere he goes. The cable had to be ordered separately and is a good idea to purchase.

This particular keyboard is an excellent for kids who are beginning to explore music instruments. It’s very easy to play since the keys are just the right size. It’s comfortable to carry around. It performs very good in all categories. It also sounds great for its size. Battery life is also excellent.

Fantastic small keyboard.highly recommended