Hello people, I am going to buy me a new keyboard and by the price I am thinking about buying me a PSR 350 or if is possible a PSR 450, and also I have seen the new keyboards of casio among them the wk 3200 and 3700. but the truth I am somewhat undecided and I need a better recommendation to know exactly which of the two marks which serious the best by its functions and sound. thanks beforehand

greetings

Soundwise the Casio's will win the competition. But the styles from Yamaha are imho far better to play melodies on then the once from Casio. I've had the WK3000 and the MZ2000 and sold then again because I could only play decent songs with a hand full of styles, the rest I couldn't get the right rithm. But others will disagree. The best thing is to play the machines yourself and then make a choise.

You'll get far more value an bang for the buck with the Casio WK-3200/3700. The Casio will give you drawbars, voice editing, 76 keys with pitchbend and modulation, much better speakers, ability to load user samples such as user tones and user drum kit. The styles are a subjective issue. The sounds are also subjective, but personally I think the WK's are ahead of the 350/450. I used to own a PSR-550, and I dropped it for the Casio WK-3500. The newer 3200/3700 have improved sounds and twice the user sample memory (the 3500 sounds really good too and can be bought for around $330 on some sites) I'll be upgrading to the 3700 very soon.

Squeak

Here is an opposite opinion. I also have a Yamaha PSR550 and demoed the Casio WK3500 and I was not tempted to buy the WK3500. I was not that impressed with the voices and found the styles to be too busy. The exception were the organs, which were excellent with Leslie sim, 76 keys full sized keys, also good key feel. I plan on checking out the new WK3700 and Korg PA50.
Starkeeper

For me the sounds of the PSR-550 were too "soft". I felt they lacked "punch". I was very disappointed with the sax sounds on the 550. The only exception was the sweet tenor, but that sound was for slower type solos. The other saxes were just too "mushy" especially in the lower registers. I was also disappointed with the bass guitars as well as electric distorted guitars.

The piano was decent, but again I felt was very weak in the lower register. The drums were VERY disappointing. This wasn't just a problem islolated to the 550, but muih of the PSR line up.

The newer WK series are (in my opinion) well above the 350/450, and the discontinued 550. The power behind the WK is not only in the quality of samples but also in the effects section. The WK allows you to really dig deep into an effect and customize it. With the 350/450/550 all you can do is set the basic reverb, chorus, and DSP return level (which is global).

The WK has numerous parameters you can adjust within the effects. Plus the effects are really good (especially when you consider the price of the keyboard). I still have yet to hear an arranger keyboard produce the distorted wha effects found in the WK's. The PSR-2000 couldn't even produce this sound.

Plus with the WK's you can edit the voices. Be it basic synth paramters, it is still very nice to have the ability to do so.

In the end I think the WK's are more keyboard for the money. I think the PSR-450 is over priced. I played the 450 on several occasions and each time left unsatisfied.

Squeak