CASIO CTK 3200 Keyboard In-Depth Analysis

The Casio CTK 3200 is a “cheap” keyboard for beginners who want to have contact with a keyboard instrument, but it is also a very good option if you want the keyboard to compose music with your computer.

Note that it is out of print and you should now look at our review of the Casio CTK 3500. There are no significant changes.

Despite being a keyboard for beginners it has several things that make it very popular and a bestseller in the whole world.

I’m sure you’ll be interested in…

If you are thinking of studying piano officially or want to go far with the piano as your primary instrument this should not be your first choice. It’s a good secondary keyboard for those people who want to transport it to rehearsals and already know how to play the piano. But if you don’t know if you want to play the piano and you’re very aware that it’s worth a lot to you for the first 2 years of learning then go ahead.

It has a price well below 100 euros and the truth is that for that price you can not put more benefits. We came to tell you why this keyboard is so popular.

It has 61 keys that are usually good enough for beginners and to play most musical pieces. It also has sustain pedal input to keep the note in time and USB MIDI output so you can use it as a MIDI controller. These things are the really important things on a keyboard for that price and we go on to detail and explain them below.

Bring a power supply for the network, although it can also be powered by batteries.

Sensitive Keyboard

One of the characteristics of a piano is that the keys have sensitivity. So if you press the harder key the musical note will sound louder. The Casio CTK 3200 is sensitive and has two pulsation sensitivities. But you don’t have the Hammer Action keyboard to simulate the weight of real piano keys. Touch is important if you want to study piano at a certain level.

Polyphony and sounds

It has a polyphonic memory of 48 voices. Which is not bad for the price it has although it is far from the 192 that can have the piano keyboards in the range of 600 euros. This is one of the aspects that defines the quality of the piano sound.

It has 400 sounds and 150 styles. Although deep down, a lot of them you won’t use later. They are very good to play but what matters are the sounds of piano and Jazz organ. This keyboard has a piano sound is simply ok.

Here’s a video for you to hear what it sounds like.

Connectivity and MIDI

This is one of the strong points of the keyboard. For its low price it has USB MIDI output. So you can use it as a MIDI controller and connect it to your computer. This is basic nowadays because it allows you, for example, to write a score while playing in real time with programs like Sibelius.

In addition to recording with music editing programs such as Cubase, Ableton can record tracks as MIDI, with all the note information stored in the track. So you can then export it to score and transport it to any instrument.

It also comes with a sustain pedal connector. This pedal allows you to keep the note in time even if the key is released. A very important expressive resource in an instrument like the piano. It’s a basic and very good thing to bring it in for its price. The pedal is not included.

It has mini sound jack input to connect for example your mp4 and play on top and headphones output to rehearse in silence.

Portability and speakers

This is a strong feature of the keyboard. It weighs only 3.5 kg, which makes it an extremely portable product as it also works with batteries (includes the mains adapter).

The keyboard has 2 speakers of 2 W. Enough to rehearse in acoustic with other musicians but if you want to play in open spaces or medium sized restaurants you will have to put an extra amplification.

Who is this keyboard perfect for?

Its price makes it very suitable for various purposes:

If you already have a piano technique, it will serve as a comfortable keyboard to take you to rehearsals and small performances in restaurants or similar if you have a low budget.
It’s ideal as a secondary keyboard to take to rehearsals even if you study with a better one.
Great for compositing and using it as a MIDI controller.
It has everything you need to get started with the keyboard. So it might be worth it if you just want to try if you like music. Then you’ll sell it easily second-hand.

It’s not good if you want to study piano at an intermediate or higher level. It’ll be too limited for you.

CASIO CTK 3200 vs Yamaha PSR E353 vs Yamaha PSR E363

The main competitor of the CASIO CTK 3200 is the Yamaha PSR E353 (and its new model the Yamaha PSR E363). Both are bestsellers and quite similar but there are differences between them.

Both support sustain pedals, are MIDI controllers, and have 61 touch-sensitive keys.

The polyphony of the Casio CTK 3200 is superior to that of the Yamaha PSR E353 since the Casio has 48 notes of polyphony and the Yamaha 32. This gives you quite a head start.

The CASIO is lighter than the Yamaha PSR E353, although the Yamaha has a built-in music sheet holder.

The Yamaha PSR E353 wins in that it has DUAL function to split the keyboard into 2 parts and share with the teacher. And the speakers are a little more powerful, 2.5 W each.

Yamaha also comes with a subscription to a powerful interactive piano learning app called Flowkey, which corrects what you play interactively while you play the exercises because it picks up what you play through the microphone.

They both have many different sounds, so we can say that in that both will fulfill any expectation and of course they bring metronome.

The Casio has a wheel that allows you to switch between sounds which is called PITCH BEND.

At the same price we would normally recommend to keep the Casio CTK 3200 for the superior polyphony although if you are learning on your own the free subscription of several months to Flowkey is a pass. That would make us recommend the Yamaha.

If you want you can watch our review of the Yamaha PSR E363 with another video for you to hear how it sounds.

Where to buy the CASIO CTK 3200?

At buscarinstrumentos.com we monitor prices in stores such as Thomann, Woodbrass and Amazon. Although it must be said that keyboards of this range the one that usually has them cheaper is Amazon. To see where to buy it at the best price take a look at the review of its latest model, the Casio CTK 3500. Anyway below you have the link to the Casio CTK 3500

View Current Price at Amazon.com

If you want to go to a piano keyboard that suits you to study and with Hammer Action keyboard we advise you to have a look at our review of the Yamaha P-45. But above all don’t miss our ranking with the best digital pianos of the moment.

For a similar price you have the following pianos and keyboards:

We hope you enjoyed this review and found it useful. Thank you for reading it!

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Jaime Echagüe

Hi! I'm Jaime Echagüe, a musician and an authentic fan of musical instruments. With this blog I want to give general information about musical instruments in an easy, direct and honest way. I hope you enjoy my website and that you find it very useful.