Casio CTL 1500AD Keyboard Review

We rated the Casio CTL 1500AD a 8/10. This instrument is a bit of a niche one- It is designed for EDM, but is also a beginner instrument. We wish this keyboard had a record function. However, the 100 built-in songs, 70 rhythms, and 50 dance styles will surely get students interested in music. The onboard lessons and Casio Music Academy are good learning tools to help beginners get started. Despite the one con, we still think this is a good instrument for kids.

Overview

The Casio CTL 1500AD is a low price entry level keyboard with some good sounds. It has a fairly decent piano sound but is really aimed at keyboard students interested in EDM (Electronic Dance Music). But note that there is no recording function, no pedal capability and it’s not possible to connect this keyboard to a computer. This puts it firmly in very young beginner territory.  

If you’re looking for a keyboard for a slightly more advanced piano student or EDM creator, you’ll want to go up a couple of steps. This is a really good first instrument for children just to get them interested in making music and having fun, especially with the built-in dance music rhythms. This has an auto-play function too, making it good for dance parties.  

Keyboard 

The keyboard is a 61 key non-weighted keyboard. The emphasis is more on assisted playing than learning classical piano. There is no touch sensitivity on this keyboard, so it’s not great for piano technique which requires some resistance from the keys. The keys are, however, full size, as in the same width as acoustic piano keys. 

There is an LCD screen which displays selected tones and settings as well as showing music notation. The front panel has clearly marked, simple to operate buttons. There is a 10-key numeric keypad too for dialing in numbers to get to a particular sound or value quickly. Some functions are accessed by a simple push of a button, others require holding a button down for a couple of seconds. Pressing two keys (“tone” and “rhythm”) at the same time will auto-select the grand piano sound. 

Sound 

Given the price point and the fact that this is an entry-level keyboard, the acoustic and electric piano sounds are pretty good. The synth horns and strings leave more to be desired, but if your interest lies in making EDM music this really would be a good starting point. 

Some of the dance track rhythms include: Techno, Digital Shuffle, Power Pop, Future House, Urban Dance, plus five types of Hip-Hop.  

Features 

50 dance music styles 

The on-board dance music styles include EDM, House and Hip-Hop with backing accompaniment.

70 additional rhythms

The 70 additional rhythms can be used more generally to accompany songs you enjoy playing. They include: Straight 8-beat, 16-beat Shuffle, various pop and rock, Big Band, Slow Swing and Jazz Waltz. There’s more than enough here to keep someone entertained.  

100 built-in songs

Some of the built-in songs that you can learn and play along with include: 

• For children: Twinkle Twinkle, Lightly Row, Oh When the Saints, Turkey in the Straw.  
• For older children or adults: Ode to Joy (Beethoven), The Entertainer (Joplin), Habanera (from Carmen) as well as some well known classics by Mozart and Chopin.  
• There’s also a selection of Christmas songs which Children would love. 

120 different voices (tones)

Tones include piano, electric piano, other keyboard instruments such as vibraphone and marimba, a selection of brass and reeds, guitars, synths and ethnic instruments. There is also a selection of drum kits that assign single percussion sounds to each key across the keyboard. At this price point, these sounds are not all particularly useful for anyone seriously creating music, but they are fun and a good starting  point for youngsters. 

The Casio Music Academy 

The purchase of any Casio keyboard or piano gives you access to Casio Music Academy which is an online course made up of tutorials and downloadable booklets. It would be fine to use the Casio Music Academy lessons with this keyboard as a beginning step to learning the piano. Keep in mind that anyone wanting to seriously study piano technique will eventually want an upgrade in touch quality, sound and the number of keys. 

Onboard lessons – “Lesson Lite”

In addition to being able to use all the Casio Music Academy resources online, you can use the “Lesson Lite” feature on the Casio CTL 1500AD. There are three types of tutorial help it can give you: 

• Voice Fingering Guide – a voice names the finger number that you need to play next. 
• Note Guide – the keyboard sounds the next note and you can find it by recognizing the tone. 
• Scoring – evaluates your performance 

Each of these functions can be turned on or off as you need. You can learn a song first just one hand, then the other and finally hands together. 

Transpose 

The transpose function goes from -12 – +12. This is a useful function for times when you’ve learned to play a song in one key but then you want to play it in another. Perhaps you have a singer who wants it one or two tones higher or lower. Just transpose the keyboard up or down by however many steps you need, then play the song exactly the same as you’ve learned it. It will sound in the new key. This saves you having to transpose everything in your head on the fly, which many people find difficult to do. In reality, given the level of this keyboard, it’s probably unlikely that this function would be used but it’s nice that it’s there. 

Fine tuning 

The fine tuning function detunes the piano in tiny increments so you can be in perfect tune with another instrument or playing along with a recording. 

Settings savings 

It’s worth noting that when you turn the Casio CTL 1500AD off, the volume, brightness of LCD screen and tuning settings that you’ve selected will be saved for the next time you switch on. The tone selection reverts to factory settings, however. 

Auto-off

There is an auto-off function after 30 minutes of no use, especially useful if you’re running from batteries. This function can be disabled. 

Specifications

• 61 key non-weighted, non touch sensitive keys with LCD screen.
• 32 polyphony 
• Speakers 2W X 2W 
• 4 types of effects 
• Auto-off setting (on or off option)

Who Is It Suitable For?

Beginner 

This keyboard is almost is the “toy” category being that it’s high on entertainment value and not so much on the quality of key response or quality of sound. 

This would make a great gift for a child from the age of four or five upwards. It would encourage a certain amount of creativity with the dance tracks and the on-board and online learning resources could be used as a start to learning the piano. As the learning is extremely self-led, it’s unlikely that it would be enough for long though.  

If you’re looking for a keyboard for a child over six who is starting – or has already started – to learn the piano – consider going for a keyboard that is more geared toward piano sound and action, such as the Casio LK-265 or the Yamaha P115. They are a higher price-point, but what you would get in terms of learning the piano well is immeasurable.  

Experienced and serious pianists 

This is definitely not the keyboard for anybody who is already playing the piano. They would find the keys’ lack of response frustrating and the electronic piano sound too uncomfortable on the ear, especially for classical music.  

Pros and Cons

Pros 

• Great gift idea for children aged 4 – 7
• For the price-point, large choice of rhythms, backings and instrument sounds
• Light, portable with the option to run off batteries

Cons 

• Lack of connectivity for pedal 
• No connectivity for computer hookup 
• No recording capability (only via external recording device) 
• Only 61 keys
• No touch sensitivity 

Quick View 

Conclusion

The Casio CTL 1500AD keyboard is a fun dance music-focused keyboard aimed at young children as a stepping stone to getting them interested in music. The on-board tuition would be sufficient to start with. If the child is really young, they’d probably require the assistance of a parent or older sibling to find their way around the online lessons as there are a number of booklets to download and read.  

That aside, the dance music itself would be great for dancing to, and for party music. A child interested in the idea of EDM could have a lot of fun making up their own dance music with the effects, but it is a shame that there is no internal recording capability so they could save their creations. 

The bottom line on the Casio CTL 1500AD is that it would make a great gift and probably give a lot of fun for quite a short time. It definitely isn’t a good choice for a child who is starting piano lessons as the lack of touch sensitivity and limited number of keys wouldn’t give the best start. If a beginner did start with this, an upgrade would be needed fairly quickly.

8Expert Score

We rated the Casio CTL 1500AD a 8/10. This instrument is a bit of a niche one- It is designed for EDM, but is also a beginner instrument. We wish this keyboard had a record function. However, the 100 built-in songs, 70 rhythms, and 50 dance styles will surely get students interested in music. The onboard lessons and Casio Music Academy are good learning tools to help beginners get started. Despite the one con, we still think this is a good instrument for kids.

PROS

• Great gift idea for children aged 4 - 7
• For the price-point, large choice of rhythms, backings and instrument sounds
• Light, portable with the option to run off batteries

CONS

• No connectivity for pedal
• No connectivity for computer hookup
• No recording capability (only via external recording device)
• Only 61 keys
• No touch sensitivity