Casio CTK-2400 review
The Casio CTK-2400 is a light, compact 61-key digital piano that has several features for both the piano student and the recording musician. First, let’s examine the absolute basics: this is a smaller keyboard at 40 x 6 x 16 inches and 11.3 pounds. This makes it very convenient for travel and placement, as it can fit right on your desk (which may be a necessity since it does not include a stand or damper pedal, but we’ll get to that a bit later).
Before we move forward with our review, please use the interactive table below to compare the CTK-2400 to some other keyboards in its class:
| Photo | Model |
|---|---|
 | Casio PX-S1100 |
 | Casio CDP-S360 |
 | Yamaha P-45 |
 | Yamaha NP12 |
 | Yamaha P-515 |
 | Yamaha NP32 |
 | Korg LP-380 U |
 | Yamaha DGX 670 |
CTK-2400 is Built for Beginners
The CTK-2400 also has a cool LCD display that shows a pair of hands for fingering, a treble and bass clef staff that displays the notes as you play them, as well as a mini keyboard that lights up the key(s) you’re playing.
With over 400 different voices and 150 rhythms, the CTK-2400 does not skimp on choices, either. It offers several types of pianos, organs, drums, etc. But the real star of the show has to be the sampling feature. This keyboard comes with a built-in microphone that allows you to record up to two seconds of sound and then use your sample as a voice for the keyboard.
Cool, huh?
This makes the amount of voices and sounds limitless, since you can create any sample you want, from whistling to blowing raspberries.
The polyphony count (or, the number of keys that can be sounded at once) is 48, which is pretty low if you’re planning on using this keyboard for advanced playing, but that is not really what the CTK-2400 is designed for. Like mentioned above, the CTK-2400 is a sampling keyboard, which an advanced classical pianist would most certainly not use.
This keyboard is aimed toward beginning students and players, as evidenced by all the educational features on the LCD display, as well as 20 songs in the song bank and an accompanying song book. This keyboard is also obviously aimed at people looking to delve into music production, with the sampling feature and USB/MIDI connectivity for easy connection to PCs or Macs.
One drawback of the CTK-2400 is the missing stand and damper pedal that I mentioned before. Though it’s not a big deal to head to your local music store and pick up a stand and a compatible damper pedal, with so many other keyboards and digital pianos including these two items (or at least the damper pedal), leaving those items out is a definite con.
Another possible drawback is that, while the keys are boxed-in, giving it the real look of a piano key, they are not weighted, which later on may make playing on a real piano challenging to the beginner because you wouldn’t have practiced on an instrument that is truly doing its best to replicate an acoustic piano playing experience.
And before moving onto our comparison section, please take a quick look at some keyboards that are best sellers online, and see how they compare to CTK-2400:
| BEST SELLERS |
|---|
| 1) Yamaha P-45 |
| 4) Casio CDP-S360 |
| 5) Casio PX-S1100 |
| 2) Yamaha P-515 |
| 3) Casio PX-S3100 |
- Comparison to the CTK-3200
So how does the CTK-2400 keyboard stack up against similar keyboards? Let’s first compare it to its cousin, the Casio CTK-3200.
First, the 2400 and the 3200 share a similar appearance, a black exterior and almost identical dimensions. They also share many features:
- 61 boxed-in piano style keys
- AHL (Acoustic and Highly-compressed Large-waveform) sound source responsible for realistic-sounding voices
- 400 voices and 150 rhythms
- 48-key polyphony
- Lesson function that allows the player to learn songs using the LC display
- Sampling function
- USB/MIDI option
- Auto-accompaniment
Some of the features the CTK-3200 has that the CTK-2400 does not are:
- Pitch-Bend wheel that allows for 0-12 semitones
- Music challenge game that tests the player’s knowledge
- 2 levels of touch-sensitivity
However, the CTK-2400 also has features that the CTK-3200 does not, mainly in the details of the sampling function. The CTK-2400 has a built-in mic while the CTK-3200 has an audio-input jack for recording samples. The maximum length of the sample is longer in the 2400, with the long-sampling function recording up to 2 seconds, and the short sampling function at up to 0.4 seconds.
The CTK-3200, by contrast, only allows up to 1 second of sampling time and a total of 3 samples versus the 2400’s capacity for 5 short samples and 1 long sample.
Finally, the CTK-2400 has 10 types of sampling tones while the CTK-3200 has none.
It is clear that the CTK-2400 is the winner if you’re looking for a sampling keyboard, versus the CTK-3200 which is a keyboard that offers sampling features. The 2400 has more sampling options, a built-in mic compared to the audio-in jack, and can hold way more samples than the 3200.
So if it’s a sampling keyboard you want, go for the CTK-2400. If it’s a beginner-friendly educational keyboard you’re looking for, while both would be great, the CTK-3200 relies a bit more on the playing aspect as opposed to the CTK-2400’s sampling focus.
- Comparison to the CTK-2300
Let’s now compare the CTK-2400 to CTK-2300 (which we’ve also reviewed here), another Casio keyboard family member. These two keyboards are almost identical in every way:
- Black exterior
- 61 piano keys with no touch sensitivity
- 400 voices and 150 rhythms
- 48 key polyphony
- USB/MIDI connectivity
- Sampling function
- Lesson function that allows the player to learn songs using the LC display
- Comes with music stand and song book
It seems the only main differences between the CTK-2400 and the CTK-2300 are the CTK-2300’s shorter sampling capacity of 1 second and up to 3 tones and, like the CTK-3200, the sampling function records using an audio-in jack, versus the built-in microphone of the CTK-2400. Another minor difference is the availability of the Music Challenge game within the lesson function on the CTK-2300.
- Comparison to the Yamaha PSR-e243
Now that we’ve discussed the similarities and differences between the Casio CTK-2400 and other Casio keyboards, let’s compare the CTK-2400 to another well-respected brand: Yamaha.
The first Yamaha keyboard we’ll compare with the CTK-2400 is the PSR-e243, a similar 61-key keyboard that is aimed at the beginning musician. Physically, it differs from the CTK-2400 in its size, weighing in at almost 9lbs—two pounds lighter than the CTK-2400.
Let’s take a quick look to compare the two keyboard’s similarities first:
- 61-keys, no touch sensitivity
- Lesson function (called the Yamaha Education Suite)
- USB connectivity
- Reverb effects
- Song Library
Now let’s look at some differences. The PSR-e243 has the following features that the CTK-2400 does not share:
- 385 voices, 100 accompaniment styles
- No sampling feature
- Sound controller app, as well as progress tracker app—iOS compatible
- Portable grand button
- Ultra-wide stereo sound
- Song playback continuously adjusted to player’s tempo
It seems the most critical difference between these two keyboards is the lack of a sampling feature in the PSR-e243. Another important difference is the PSR-e243’s iOS compatibility. Recent Yamaha keyboards seemed to all be equipped with this sound controller app that lets you control the keyboard from your iPhone or iPad, from changing the voice setting to playing with effects like pitch wheels.
So it seems that device connectivity is more the focus with the Yamaha versus the sampling and music production focus of the CTK-2400.
Both, however, are aimed towards the beginning student, the one who would most benefit from and use the lesson functions.
- Comparison to the YPT-240
The final 61-key beginner digital keyboard we’ll compare the CTK-2400 to is another Yamaha, the YPT-240.
Like the previous Yamaha, the YPT-240 has the Yamaha Education Suite function, as well as iOS compatibility, where you can use the sound controller app to control the keyboard’s settings. Like the other keyboards, there is no touch response, but the YPT-240 does have Master EQ settings, where you can customize the actual sound settings to your liking.
Overall this keyboard is very similar to the PSR-e243, so the differences between the CTK-2400 and the YPT-240 are pretty much the same as the lists above comparing the CTK-2400 and the PSR-e243.
Conclusion
Overall, the CTK-2400 is for the beginner who would like to explore the cool sampling features it has to offer. All of these keyboards would be ideal for any beginner, but for sampling, go for the CTK-2400. It is full of sound choices, has a built-in mic for sampling, and of all the keyboards, it holds the most data for sampling.
Please visit Digital Piano Review Guide for more up-to-date piano reviews!
You Might Also Like:
