Casio released a new Casiotone keyboard, the CT-FS1. Its main feature is Feel Sync, an app-connected mode that adjusts the notes you play so they match a song’s harmony in real time. The keyboard is available now through Casio and music retailers in the U.S.
In the Feel Sync app, users pick from a catalog of 70 songs or import their own MP3, WAV, or AIFF files. Streaming services aren’t supported. Casio says the keyboard adjusts what you play to fit the song’s chords and melody, and you control the rhythm and dynamics. You can also split the keys, with one half running Feel Sync and the other half playing normally. “Feel Sync lets people experience that feeling immediately with songs they love,” said Brian Piccolo, a senior general manager in Casio’s sound and innovation division. “Our hope is that the enjoyment becomes the motivation to learn those songs.”
The CT-FS1 comes in Midnight Black or Alpine White. The body and all 61 keys are the same color, so it's keyboard to leave out in the living room rather than store away. The top panel has no screen. It weighs just under 10 pounds and runs for about three hours on six AA batteries or plugs into the included AC adapter.
The CT-FS1 is built on Casio’s CT-S1. It has full-size touch-responsive keys, 61 tones from Casio’s AiX sound source (including a German concert grand piano), and bass-reflex stereo speakers. The included WU-BT10 adapter streams Bluetooth audio and connects to music apps over Bluetooth MIDI. On the back are an audio input, a headphone output, and a sustain pedal jack, though the pedal is sold separately.