Customer Reviews

Casio LK-100 Lighted Keyboard with Premium Accessories Package

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We recently started suspecting that our 2 year old has perfect pitch, like her father and her grandmother before her. So all the little toy keyboards that she loved to play with which were all off-key were become problematic. However, it was almost impossible to find a toy keyboard that was actually in tune and not off key. We bought and returned probably a half dozen. Then, the grandparents stepped in and started laying pressure to buy her an actual keyboard. This was the result.

The keyboard has a wonderful sound and plenty of demo songs to keep young children busy. I love that it lights up and it helps illustrate the concept for children who are just learning about music and notes. The keyboard is lighter than I expected. And for the price, it was a good compromise over the toy keyboards. It's also great that it comes with a stand, headphones, and an adapter. Many of the high-end casio keybaords, for some reason, do not even include an adapter.

I do warn, however, that this is a beginner keyboard. It's good for exposing your child and just to test drive to see whether or not your kid's piano interest isn't going to be just a passing phase. However, the keyboard is not going to grow with any serious piano players. There is no touch sensitivity, which is so important to learning to play the piano adequately. And I was disappointed to see that there was no USB connectivity, which you can get with the slightly more expensive Casio models.

But, all in all, I'm satisfied that I'm getting my money's worth. But if you want more features and more piano-like sound/feel, then you'll have to pay more.

If you found this review helpful, please let me know!

This is a great package for the price. This is an easy keyboard to learn to play for both children and adults alike. The Casio Key Lighting Keyboard LK-100 is as fun as it is practical. It's an ideal learning tool for young pianists and a fun way to experience music.

The keyboard has 61 full-size keys. We love the keys' optional light-up function, and we enjoyed being able to immediately "play" the keyboard. The lighted keys help beginners become familiar with the timing of the notes that follow one of the 100 built-in tunes from the keyboard's song bank. A songbook (included) allows kids and adults to view the printed musical notes for each song. The tempo of the songs can be slowed as you learn to follow the keys, which is a nice feature. The key lighting feature can be turned off as desired. This is particularly important for advanced players who wish to use the instrument as a traditional keyboard.

We like the Casio Key Lighting Keyboard's high-tech look. A large LCD screen indicates function and song title. There is a tempo control, a volume slider, rhythm buttons and other controls. The Casio Key Lighting Keyboard's song bank is a fun feature. The keyboard has 100 popular songs stored and they can be heard at the push of a button. Songs include holiday favorites like Jingle Bells, as well as a peppy rendition of Happy Birthday to You and a variety of classical songs. Younger kids will be thrilled to hear a theme song from the Finding Nemo movie.

This feature-rich keyboard includes 50 built-in auto-accompaniment patterns (kids will feel like rock stars!). Additionally, users can choose a chord and the keyboard will automatically produce a matching bass, chord and rhythm. Advanced players will find it easy to change keys, and a microphone jack makes it a breeze to sing along with tunes. The premium package with the Casio LK100 is a great buy for the money.

The Casio Key Lighting Keyboard has plenty of bells and whistles to immediately attract children and adults. It's fun. It lights up. It plays music. The best part, however, is that the attraction doesn't end there. This is a well-built musical instrument on which children and adults can really learn to play music.

Only negative thing is that it does have MIDI but in order to use this feature, you will need to couple it with a PC to use, since it doesn't have a built-in disk drive.

I was in a Electronic store and noticed our 7 year old was missing. I saw a girl hunched on this keyboard playing the keyboard. The girl was playing very well and music sounded great.

That was our child!

Purchased from Amazon for their package deal pricing and accesories. Free shipping. The electronic store was slightly cheaper but did not include even the AC adapter and that's basically a hassle and extra cost. And kids do need the other accessories included with this product on Amazon.
So Amazon was the lowest cost option at end of the day.

MOST IMPORTANT: Due to the Advertised Features, ease of play, and sound quality of this product - our daughter loves to go play on this keyboard for at least an hour every day! That's what you wish for when you go looking for your first keyboard for children.

Only four keys will light at a time on the Casio LK-100, which is contrary to the product description on the CasioUSA website:

"Key Light System: Can be turned on and off (up to 10 keys can be lit at the same time)"

Yet, in the product manual, under Specifications, we find...

"Key Light System: Up to four keys can be lit at the same time."

Hmmm... The only Casio model I can find that has the capability of 10 lighted keys is the LK-270, which costs twice as much.

I do not fault the Amazon for their (incorrect) description "up to 10 keys can be lit at the same time" which echoes the manufacturer's description.

I suspect the 4-light limit may also be the cause of some confusion among the reviewers here who have stated that only 4 "notes" can be played at the same time. (Up to 12 notes can sound at the same time.) These reviewers are perhaps confusing "notes" with the number of keys that will light at the same time.

Actually 12 notes ("Polyphony 12 notes maximum") is a bare minimum these days. The LK-270 (again the more expensive model) has "Maximum Polyphony: 48 notes (24 for certain tones)" I suspect that more than one "voice" is layered into a single note for "certain tones". I presume the LK-100, similarly, only has 6 note Polyphony for "certain tones".

One last Caveat - This keyboard does not have "velocity" sensitivity, also known as "touch sensitivity". The only way you would know this is by comparing the product description of the keys with a higher model number, or by reading the reviews here. No touch sensitivity means you can't convey "expression" by hitting the key harder or softer. Even the higher LK models don't have true velocity dectection, only 2 levels plus OFF, which is better than nothing, I suppose.

I am giving this product a rating of 3 stars, based on the misleading product description. Even though it may be a great product I can't go any higher. For the good features of this product see the other reviews.

I wish manufacturers would be more forthcoming in the product descriptions. I'm starting to think I have to read the ENTIRE product manual before I buy anything!

PROS: Great deal for the money, sounds terrific and a good fit for my 6 year old who just started piano lessons. (Didn't want to invest a lot of money until he's taken lessons for a year). If you are looking for an inexpensive practice piano this is a good choice. CONS: 1) piano is not attached to the stand -- it simply sits on top of it so if you have rambunctious pets or several children you may want to invest in a sturdier model and 2) the music holder is very flimsy. These two factors not a big deal for me but may be important factors for busy households.

This keyboard is just a decent noisemaker for kids. I bought it so I would have a portable musical reference for a college music theory course.

Two complaints, one small, one huge:

No big deal, but the "tones" you can select from sound pretty weak, although there are a bunch to choose from so it's not hard to find something that sounds okay.

But it really irks me that you can't play more than four keys at the same time! If you have any experience with the piano you're going to find this shortcoming completely unacceptable.

Two bits of praise:

There is a digital display showing both the treble and bass clef staves. When you hit a key the display shows you where the pitch falls on the staves. Ingenious!

Very lightweight and portable.

Conclusion: Great for kids, but don't even think about it if you have been playing for any amount of time.

I just started learning the piano, so I purchased this because it was fairly priced and I can practice in my room in silence at night time without disturbing anyone.

I would definitely, DEFINITELY Recommend this to other people.

This one has a 3-step Lesson System to teach you how to play songs. There's a built in Song Bank of about 100 songs. The only thing is, they may not be the songs you'd like to learn how to play. This one has Jingle Bells, Joy to the World, Aura Lee, etc. I wish there's a way to buy and upload songs we do like to learn to play.

There are MIDI files (songs) for this, but the keyboard needs to have a disk drive so you can upload it. This one doesn't have that.

It makes it a good deal that this package includes a headphone, a stand, etc.

I bought this keyboard for my 9 year old daughter on the advice of an elementary school music teacher. She loves it and so does my wife, who plays with it also:)I would highly recommend it. It has too many bells and whistles for me to mention here. But I mostly recommend it because it is good quality and my daughter has been learning new songs all on her own because the keys light up and she can follow them.

The Casio keyboard was the "best" present for my 3 grandchildren, ages 11, 9 and 5 1/2. They can all play it. Plus they don't need any accessories as they felt it had everything they needed. Super gift.