Casio Lk-280 61-Lighted Key Touch Sensitive Portable Piano Keyboard

Wow. I own an Ensniq TS10, two Korgs, and a Roland keyboard, but THIS keyboard has the incredible ability to import ANY blues/jazz piano midi file (.mid) you can find on the internet, and play it in "teaching" mode, at your tempo, so you can learn it. For this reason alone, I rated this keyboard 5 stars, even though it was shipped with a loose connection mentioned elsewhere in these reviews. It's a simple fix. Take the time to browse the internet for the best blues piano licks you can find in midi format. If you find it, you can play it. Here's how to use the free MIDI sequencing program Aria Maestosa to format any midi file to light up the Casio LK's learning keys: Use of Aria Maestosa Midi Sequencer for Casio LK-280 “Learning Files” rev 12-20-15 The Casio LK-280's default factory setting is to have the teaching key-light up channel (Navi Channel in the Function menu) set to channel's “3” & “4”. The Navi Channel, selected in Casio's Function menu, is the one that determines which notes show up on the lighted keyboard. Specifically, Navi uses “paired” channels, so when the Navi Channel is set to channel “4”, then channel “4” is paired with channel “3”. It is only the notes present in channel 3 that will light up in the Casio LK for teaching purposes. The Casio will play the notes that are in channel 4, and that are in every other channel, but only notes on channel 3 will light up the keys. So, for each MIDI song you want to learn, use Aria Maestro to ALWAYS isolate the keys to be learned to channel 3. I will explain how below. I always set up 3 midi files for each song I export from Aria Maestrosa, and here's how I name each: First file: 01 LH 3 & 4, in which “01” is my song # (I keep the name short for the Casio's LCD screen), and the LH tells me I've placed the left-hand notes in channel 3. The RH notes are placed in a track that is designated as channel 4 (I'll explain how below). Both hands' sound will be be played, but only LH notes will be lit up for the student to learn. Second file: 01 RH 3 & 4, in which channel 3 contains the RH (right hand) notes and 4 contains the LH notes. RH notes can thus be learned. Third file: 01 Both 3 & 3, in which both LH and RH are in channel 3. The keys for both hands will light up at once. You can learn to play both hands together. Once you've exported these midi files from Aria Maestosa to your PC, you can place them on your Casio's SD card. Make sure you've “formatted” your SD card in the Casio, as formatting creates a required “MUSICDAT” file folder on the SD card. Place your midi files in the MUSICDAT folder for the Casio to read. To set up my 3 midi files for each song using the Aria Maestosa program, open the program and import your midi file of choice by dragging & dropping it from the file folder to the main window in Aria Maestosa. Isolate the TRACKS that have the best LH and RH piano parts that you want to learn. Aria Mestosa has a red button (mute) and a green button (solo) on the track bar of each track. Use "solo" to single out what each track is playing. You may find that both piano parts, left and right hands, are in the same track. In that case you can split the notes below middle C into the LH notes on another TRACK, and those above middle C into still another new track. To set a TRACK's channel in Aria Maestosa, use the main menu bar to choose “Settings”, “Channel Mgmt”, and “Manual”. On the right side of each track bar, a small square box with a CHANNEL number in it will appear next to the the “instrument box”. Click in the box to change the channel of the desired track(s) to channels 3 & 4. Once completed, choose “File”, “Export to MIDI”. NOTE: Any track you mute (small red light in track bar) will NOT be exported to MIDI. Likewise, any track you SOLO (green light in track bar) will be the ONLY track that will export to MIDI. Though it's useful to solo and mute some tracks to isolate the best LH and RH info to put on channel 3, I would suggest that when you prepare to export the MIDI file for use on the Casio LK, you leave no tracks soloed or muted. Run a test of what you've chosen for the left and right hands by playing the files on the Casio LK. If some of the bass notes or treble clef notes are above the Casio LK's range, they can't light up. If this happens, take the file back into Aria Maestosa and move notes as necessary, up (or down) an octave, so they fit the Casio's 61-key keyboard layout. Enjoy! BTW, heres a super MIDI (.mid) Blues file I downloaded, converted, and have the LK-280's keys lighting up instruction for: Do a search on "30 Must Have Piano BluesLicks.mid". It's free, and you'll be amazed. It's not your typical "beginner" piano instructional stuff, it is awesome!

I wanted to learn to play the piano but have no musical training. Within a couple of hours of setting this keyboard up, I was able to play the right hand part of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". It took me a couple of more hours to get the timing of the left hand to match up to the right, but now I can now play a song on a piano with only 4 hours of practice and no teachers. That impressed my wife, who grew up playing piano and the pipe organ at church. The songs range from very simple to extremely difficult, so you can pick and choose what works best for you. Probably the best part is the ability to slow down the song or have it only progress when/if you hit the correct keys. If I had this as a kid, I would be able to play all sorts of music today. If you have a kid, you can convince them that learning a song is like playing a game. The keys light up and you remember which ones they were and type them out in the same order and speed. "Follow the bouncing ball". The display screen shows you the actual notes on a sheet of music so you can learn to read music as well. It also shows you which fingers you should be using to hit each key. Unfortunately, the little screen is too dark. That is probably my biggest complaint about the keyboard. I plan to purchase Synthesia software to connect this with my computer after I exhaust the keyboard's features. Although, that might take a while. As for sound quality... this is what I would call a 'learning keyboard'. It sounds 'good enough' to learn to play the piano. If you want to perform at a concert, you'll need to upgrade to something considerably more expensive. If you want to show off your new skills to your friends and family, there are lots of accompaniment options and even a Karaoke feature. I am extremely satisfied with my purchase of the LK280.

While it took 3 different orders to finally receive the right Casio LK280 keyboard. Firstly, you have to be careful reading the reviews of the Casio keyboards since on the same web page you can choose from various models: the LK175, LK260 or the LK280. When viewing your model of interest, the reviews attached to your selection will unfortunately include the reviews for all 3 models. This seems to be a departure from Amazon's typical model of information. So, if you're not careful, you might be reading a wonderful review of the LK280 when you're thinking it's for the LK260, or a lesser expensive model. This is what happened to me. I ordered the LK260 thinking it had all the attributes I was interested in but they belonged to the Casio LK280. In fairness to Amazon, they did precede each review with the appropriate model number but in very small font. Again, this is a departure from the norm: one product and only reviews pertaining to that product. My LK260 keyboard order arrived safely packed in another protective shipping box but was promptly returned in favor of the LK280. That ordered, however, arrived without a protective shipping box. It was shipped in the manufacturer's 4-color commercial store shelf box. As you'd expect with heavy Christmas orders, the box arrived damaged with a gaping hole in its center. I returned the keyboard but not before contacting Amazon's Customer Care department. I spoke to the rep to register my concern and they investigated the shipping problem and apologized for the inconvenience and promised that my re-order will be packaged correctly (meaning in a protective shipping box, like they did with the model LK260 keyboard. After all, keyboards are a sensitive instrument). Unfortunately, my replacement LK280 keyboard arrived again without an outside protective box. However, no visible shipping damage to the container was evident this time. I unboxed the instrument and inspected it. No apparent damage was noted. I set it up, plugged it in and played it. The sound and feel of the keyboard was exceptional. I highly recommend it. I purchased the unit for my wife who wants to learn to play the piano and with keyboard lights, this one is a no brainer. This model has many tones (600 to be exact), lots of rhythm modes and built-in songs, plus a 6 track recorder. How cool is that? At this price of $200.00, it's a steal! Especially when you search around the internet, you'll find this model selling for $400.00!! Now if Amazon could get its packaging problem straightened out, great. Otherwise, it might be a hit and miss game. Good luck.

I don't like the sound of casio, but that's just me. it sounds different than yamaha products which I should have expected. it's not a bad sound. i grew up on yamaha though so i would rather get that. the lighting effect on the keys works perfectly and there's also a display in the middle that i (think) shows finger placement for the learning songs. i can't actually say much about it, as i have already returned this item. it was a good one, but not for me.

This has just about everything you could wish for in a starter keyboard. You can split the keyboard and have a different tone on the lower section, you can layer tones, add reverb, harmony, chorus, etc. There is a pedal jack so you can add a pedal for sustain. It has more than enough sounds, number 383 is my favorite, and I especially like the intros and endings that will give you a nice start and finish to whatever accompaniment you've picked. The only con, and it's not much of one, is that they do have finger exercises but the scales are not included in that. I was surprised that since it is a teaching tool this was not added into the exercise section, showing you the proper fingering for the scales. Having said that, this keyboard offers a lot for the money. If you are just learning, as I am, I don't think you can go wrong with this product.

This is a really sweet synthesizer; you can split the keyboard, sample, record, transfer to an SD card and load from the SD card as well. You can do enough dynamics with the touch sensitive keys and assign 'sustain" on a pedal, if you want to add one to your setup. The synth connects to the pc directly via USB (no need for midi-to-usb interfaces), but the connection does not work well with Windows XP. The SD card and the lighted keys are the real charmer though, and they work; you just need to change the midi to play the piano part on channels 3 and 4 and convert it t (free software for that available on the manufacturer's website). That is the really awesome part that makes buying this synthesizer well worth it. If the keys don't light (as was in my case at first) there's a loose cable inside that you just need to push in. If you have trouble with the SD card, formatting it with the synthesizer instead of your PC fixes that. Overall, exceeded my expectations.

Got this keyboard for my 12 year old son. It's a very nice instrument with great sound and lots of options. The three star rating, however, comes from the fact that three days after Christmas one of the white keys broke at the retention site and came out. Not sure if this is fixable or not yet. Seems kinda sad that the $30 keyboard we got him at age 4 is still going strong but the one costing almost ten times that lasted 3 days.

After spending five days exploring the menus, buttons and the myriad of tones and rythms on this keyboard, I already can play three songs! I had never played piano before, but the way this instrument is designed gives you confidence to practice alone and learn at your own pace. Highly recommended for beginners. Features like pedal port, SD card reader to play your favorite midi songs, internal memory for recording your performances, usb connection for PC or ipad, mic input for sampling or singing, audio output for earphones or connect it to external audio system, are very convenient yet hard to find together on entry level keyboards.

Easy to set up. Little window is hard to see. I would recommend.

Después de mucho comparar casi dos meses diferentes teclados, me decidí por el lk 280. No me arrepient eni por una fracción de segundo de mí compra. Tiene una muy buena variedad de piezas que aprender, puede elegir practicar la mano derecha, la izquierda o ambas para una canción. Se iluminan las teclas que debes tocar, y te indica que dedo debes usar para tocar, Si deseas otra cancion es muy fácil, crear un archivo midi, para aprenderla y ponerla en la tarjeta SD, usando software gratuito como anvil.Tambien tiene ejercicios para las manos y toda una biblioteca de acordes incorporados. Se conecta facilmente a la computadora con su puerto USB, El sonido es muy bueno y las teclas son semipesadas. Excelente teclado para aprender a tocar

Lo adquiri por motivos familiares y ha sido muy buena compra, nos divertimos con las pistas y aprendiendo, sobre todo la facilidad de seleccionar e incluso poder practicar con la luz de las teclas las canciones, ha sido una buena compra.

Arrived ahead of time and my grandson really enjoys it.

Es bueno para principiantes, sobre todo de acuerdo a su precio. Si buscan un teclado con un sonido más fiel y teclas con mucho mejor peso y calidad recomiendo alguno de la línea PSR gama alta de Yamaha. Vale la pena pagar el precio extra si es algo que en verdad les apasiona.