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Rating:  -
The Casio SA75 Keyboard with microphone is light, and has 100 different
musical tones. It's 37 keys are just big enough for using right hand, (melody), and left hand, (harmony), together. The different tones can put the budding composer into different moods...trying the same song on a "church organ", and on a "music box", can give a very different feeling to the music! Sound Number 60, the "Glass Harmonica", is especially intriguing. I don't know enough about electronic keyboards to know if this sound is one that is usually included in most of them -- but I do know that this "Glass Harmonica", is the same, or similar to, the sound of the "Armonica", an angelic sounding instrument, made of glass, which was invented by Benjamin Franklin. (Franklin and some others played this instrument to no detriment to themselves....but other people developed headaches and worse, from playing it, and it is largely unseen in most modern orchestras.)
The song bank, (demos), however, has 10 all-too-familiar songs. I wish that some non-familiar ones were there, as well!
I wouldn't expect to see the SA75 in any professional, (or even amateur) preformance. There are too few keys for real musical harmonies, and most instrumental sounds must be played separately. (Combining is only possible with pre-programmed split-sounds, (such as No. 98 - "piano/flute", or No. 99, "strings/oboe")....but these allow each instrument sound on exactly half the keyboard! I suppose to get an "orchestra effect", wherein many instruments are played together, would take a highly professional, (and highly expensive), instrument.
"Toy" piano keyboards are truly misnamed. They can be used, at least by composers, to very good effect. "Toy" piano keyboards, like the more advanced Casio SA-75 being reviewed here, are great for introducing children to music, to the sounds of different instruments, and to different rhythm patterns. But, if the 8-16 instruments given on
most "toy" piano keyboards, and the "recording" capability of up to 30 or so notes, is not enough to get the music composer, (of any age) "in the mood" to create a certain type of music,
and you want the 100 sounds, (plus 30 rhythms, or "patterns") -- plus the unlimited note recording capability, (through the "phones/output" jack on the back of this instrument, given here, and you don't mind the extra weight or size, (most "toy" pianos are MUCH lighter, and are only 17 -- or less -- inches long, whilst the SA-75
is 27.5 inches long, and about an inch and a half wider than most "toy" pianos), then I'd go for the "SA-75". I see it as a music composer's instrument only, and not one solely for performers. Yet, I'm not putting it down completely. I'm a music composer, (amateur right now...but who knows?)...and I like this instrument just fine!
P.S. FURTHER THOUGHTS..........The instrument sounds are mostly very authentic -- but some don't sound like what they should at all. The "00" number, ("piano"), sounds exactly like a real spinet piano, and I was interested to compare it's sound to that of the the "Honky Tonk" piano, (02) --- which sounded just about EXACTLY like our old upright piano at home, (and boy, does that bring back memories!), but "harp", (tone 47), though pleasant, sound more like the traditional "beautiful water-drip" sound, than any harp I have ever heard, at least. And, although an echo effect is usually pleasant, here it is annoying, at least to me. Maybe I haven't heard enough harp music...but the "harp" here did not sound like any harp I have ever heard. There are many other satisfying, (and dissatisfying) tones amongst the 100 given here.
This is a very light instrumemnt, as far as piano keyboards go. It is totally portable, and can be used with batteries, (5 AA), as well as with an adaptor. (The batteries, by the way, are housed within a neat, "slide in and out" cover. Far too many "toy" piano keyboards of my acquaintance have the batteries housed within a cover that must be screwed and unscrewed. Maybe this is a safety device, as "toy" piano keyboards are
mostly used by children. But the screws are often initially screwed in BY MACHINE, and it takes an overwhelming amount of energy, (which many people don't have), just to unscrew the battery case, and get started on these "toy" pianos. Not every "toy" piano keyboard has this problem, of course. And, thankfully, the Casio SA75 -- a beginning, pro piano keyboard, for the budding music composer, does not have it either.
Rating:  -
This was purchased as a birthday present for my son. He has been wanting a "piano" for quite some time. He loves the headset microphone that came with it. The melodies are nice - I wish there were more. The only reason I didn't give this a 5-star rating is because of the volume when you turn it on. It doesn't start off on low - which is a shock to the system and ears. You can turn the volume down, but it is still pretty loud. Since this is just a toy at this point, it was a great purchase. I will probably end up buying the adapter so we don't have to keep buying batteries for it.
Rating: -
This is a fabulous keyboard--excellent sound, when playing in "piano" mode, it sounds just like an actual piano is playing! It has lots of great extras and a tempo adjuster, we love it. My four star rating is only because it doesn't come with an A/C adapter so you have to buy one separately or use 5 AA batteries, which kind of stinks. Overall though, great product.
Rating: -
Though not a full keyboard, it satified my needs without taking up much space. Tone and quality were quite good.
Rating:  -
Bought this for my daughter's 9 th birthday. She absolutely LOVES it! She says she "can rock on like Hannah Montana." The headphone did not last a week, but the keyboard is a wonderful product.
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