Casio CDP 135 Review The Only Budget Piano You Need

The CDP series from Casio Digital Piano features :

• CDP (Compact Digital Piano)
• All CDP Series Digital Pianos has 88 Keys
• Scaled Hammer Action Keybed
• Well Balanced Performance and Value.
• Compact and Lightweight (Weighs under 26 Lbs)
• Budget Friendly Price Tag

Before diving in detailed analysis, I like to acknowledge that I used CDP 135 for more than a month in mid 2018 when one of my student purchased it.

So, all the details mentioned in this post are my personal experience.

Chances are that your experience may vary but its highly unlikely.

With that said here's a quick highlight with my thoughts on Casio CDP 135 :

** Note -- Casio CDP 135 is not available in most of the countries nowadays.

So here are some of the keyboards similarly like CDP 135 in the same price range so have a look at them.

Layout and Design :

As CDP 135 is an entry level keyboard and Casio has done a wonderful job in keeping the layout to minimum and only focuses on what required to be focused upon.

In simple words, Minimalist Interface = Less Confusion. (Which is really beneficial for beginners)

All the function buttons are on the top left of the keyboard.

The Buttons are :

• Power Switch
• Demo
• Function
• Dedicated electric piano button
• Metronome
• Hall
• Volume Knob

But minimalist layout does not mean less functions.

To access the other digital features like transpose, tuning, responsiveness.

You need to press the function key (on the interface) first, followed by the required feature key (piano key) you want to activate.

All the digital features are printed on top edge of the interface.

Unluckily CDP 135 comes in only 1 color Black, And I am also not a fan of matte finish, Instead, I prefer the glossy look like Priva PX S1000. But that's just my personal preference.

Keys :

The Keys of Casio CDP 135 is the best part of the entire keyboard.

It has 88 keys like an standard acoustic piano. Few years back the weighted action keys are crafted with spring key-bed.

The idea may look good on paper and feel good too for newbies who never experienced a Grand or Acoustic Piano.

But for experienced pianist its nowhere near the natural feel.

I mentioned the above fact because CDP 135 uses spring less mechanism to mimic the weighted keys experience.

The scaled hammer action makes the keys lighter on the right hand side (High Notes) and gradually increases towards the left (Low Notes).

The keys are also Velocity Sensitive (Touch Response) and you are allowed to control the responsiveness up to 3 levels or can completely turn it off when required.

As I said above the full size 88 keys feels firm and natural, I can very confidently say that Casio has done a wonderful job in mimicking the grand piano experience when it comes to keys of CDP 135.

Sound Quality of Casio CDP 135 :

Casio CDP series uses AHL (Acoustic & Highly-compressed Large-waveform) technology as its sound source.

The sound can be categorized as standard with mellow and bright expression in the tones.

As I said above The rest 3 electronic sounds are standard electric sound but one of sound that caught my attention is the more Rhodes sounds feeling, that I have not heard of in pianos in this price range.

Casio CDP 135 also has a harpsichord, strings, pipe organ (perfect for wedding or traditional celebration), jazz organ and other instrumental sounds.

However, I believe the AiR technology is better than AHL but in the end "You Will Get What You Pay For".

Hall Simulator Effect :

In short, It allows you to understand your music from an audience perspective.

It comes really handy in understanding and analyzing your music from a different perspective and further refine it.

There's not lots of options to choose the different venues which is found on the High-End Celvanio Series but still its quite useful in understand music and acoustic in greater details.

Modes, Digital Effects and Other Built In Options

As I mentioned above that I used Casio CDP 135 for around a month and I can sum up my experience as "Good".

I can very confidently say that CDP 135 is a really nice keyboard for the value.

The spring-less 88 Scaled Hammer Action Keys quite closely mimicked the Grand Piano experience.

The sound and its quality is also better than average.

The No-Nonsense minimalistic layout will surely help the beginners to focus only on the essentials functionalities.

Lack of few modes and voices disappointed us a bit but I hope Casio consider adding these in new models which follows the same price range.

And Lastly, CDP 135 is quite compact and lightweight despite with big speakers and full size 88 keys.

If you are a newbie and need a decent digital piano with natural feel, good sound in budget friendly price tag than Casio CDP 135 might be a good option to consider.

** Note - Check the availability first.