As with every zZounds order, this one arrived as promised, when promised. The Casio CTK-7000 was sold and discounted as a "blemish." One I've yet to find. It was part of my plan to retire 450 pounds of B3-type musical living room furniture and its 150 pound wooden traveling companion. My chiropractor is still in mourning. I knew Casio had come a long way in recent years. I also knew that even with the improved CTK-7000 series, they weren't entirely there yet when it came to running with the big ticket clonewheels. But once I fought my way through the manual and had it making sound, it was clear that whatever differences a trained ear might detect weren't worth the substantial difference in price. And with a few easy fixes, not even the purest of the purists had a clue. Unless you're doing arena tours, the average "recreational" keyboardist can play the CTKs where is and as is. Want that B3 sound? It's there. Have fun. The touch is fine, and the keys are pretty much where you expect them to be. And the onboard speakers are more than enough to get the job done. After 15 minutes or so, it all falls into place. If anything, this keyboard does too much. An insane amount of too much. So much, that it was a tossup between reading the Old Testament-length manual or waiting for the movie version to be released. I've only waved to the chapter on MIDI while passing through to the stuff at the back of the book. I figure my 25-key controller can handle it until I can devote a week or… read more so to all things MIDI. Along with the recording stuff. My lone gripe centers on the way the drawbars were designed. And I was aware of the problem prior to punching in my card number. They are incremental. Unlike the smooth flow found on the originals, when you extend the 7000's drawbars they do a step-by-step transition from one tone to the next. I understand this has been fixed with later models. Whenever I find this annoying, all it takes is a glance at the receipt I taped to the keyboard. The one with the price circled in red. Usually makes it all better. The CTK is fine for the kind of gigs we're now doing. The kind where payment tends to come in the form of an open bar tab rather than a check with commas. The kind where the bar manager can barely spell "B3" let alone notice you're longer playing one. Don't worry about the patrons. They aren't there for the organ music. Give the 7000 or one of its Casio kin a powered sub-woofer, a decent amp (crank down the treble and mids), a decent rotary emulator or, like me, go out and curbside yourself an unwanted spinet with a built in Leslie. Bring chainsaw. Then dare the Organ Guild to find the difference.

Sound
As mentioned in the review, split the signal out into a powered sub and a decent guitar amp. The sub adds punch to the bottom end and the mids. The built in Leslie effect is okay, but consider investing in a rotary stomp box or the real deal if you want the best sound.

Features
About half the settings will never leave the house. Most of the piano and organ presets are fine. And with the drawbars, the variety of tones is almost endless.

Ease of Use
To squeeze out the Casio's full potential means spending a ton of time with the manual. Ignoring most of the stuff this keyboard can do, I had it playing in a matter of minutes.

Quality
It's plastic. What isn't?

Value
Absolutely. If you're downsizing from a B3, the chiropractic savings will pay for the thing in a few months.

Manufacturer Support
n/a

The Wow Factor
Casio and "WOW" are seldom found in the same sentence. But there was no shortage of "WOW" once I had it up and running for its first sound check. Then came the "WOW." It's a Casio dressed in midnight black that doesn't look or sound anything like the toys Casio once produced. And there are no lighted keys. Not that I can find, that is.

Musical Background:
LBJ was president when I joined my first junior high band. A former touring musician who dropped out to get a degree and a job.

Musical Style:
Keyboard style has been described as old school funk. The kind that's the result of not being able to read a lick of music. read less