Alesis Recital 61 Review

The Alesis Recital 61 has 61 TRUE full size semi weighted keys, with 4 levels of touch sensitivity. While it is marketed as “semi weighted” I’m kind of assuming that just means “stiffer springs” as opposed to actually having weights inside, but I could be wrong (I might need to take this piano apart one day and have a look). But the action on the Recital is most definitely MUCH heavier feeling than synth action keyboards like the Yamaha’s PSR-E series or Piagerro series, or the Casiotone CT-S300. And while the Roland GO:Piano has a SLIGHTLY heavier feel than those prior 3 keyboards, and the Casiotone CT-S1 is SLIGHTLY heavier still (and I have described the CT-S1 as feeling “almost” semi weighted); the Recital still has a noticeably heavier and more . . . . “piano-like” key action and playing experience than any of these other keyboards.

And by “TRUE full-size keys” I mean an octave width of 164-165 mm.  I seem to be the only reviewer that ever notices or at least ever talks about this, but almost all non weighted synth action keyboards that say “full size keys” actually have a narrower octave width of 159-160 mm, and quite often slightly undersized and(or) oddly shaped black keys. 

For example, the black keys on my Casiotone CT-S1 are not only a mm narrower than the keys on the Recital, but they also have subtle rounded edges:

in contrast, the black keys on the Recital are pretty much the EXACT dimensions and flat boxy shape as the black keys on my Yamaha DGX670 piano.   It’s not a huge difference, and maybe more advanced players than I  have no issues transitioning back and forth between those 2 sizes, but I have to admit I always have found that to be challenging; I can get used to one or the other if that’s all I play, but going back and forth can be frustrating at times.   And since non weighted synth actions are very light and easy to press; I often end up grazing keys by mistake and sounding incorrect notes as a result.  So out of all the keyboards I listed above, the Yamahas and Casios all have narrower octave widths of around 159-160mm; only the Roland GO:Piano and the Korg EK-50 have what I call “true” full size keys with octave widths of 165mm.

So how do these feel to play for someone used to playing a fully weighted key action like on my Yamaha DGX-670 piano?    For me, the proper octave width and the heavier resistance definitely make the Recital 61 easier and smoother for me to transition to than any of the other keyboards I mention above.  And also note that the action on the Recital 61 is exactly the same as on the 88 key version of the Recital.  Ever since I got the Recital and started exclusively playing it or my Yamaha DGX, I can transition between those 2 very easily; if I go to play my CT-S1 or Yamaha PSR-EW425, I always start making mistakes, hitting keys by accident.

For voices, the Alesis Recital 61 has 10 really well chosen “bread and butter” voices, and for a piano at this low a price?  A whopping 128 notes of polyphony.  The 10 voices include the renamed but identical 5 voices found on the 88 key version of the Recital which are “Grand Piano, Electric Piano, Drawbar Organ, Synth and Bass”, and then Alesis really fills in some commonly used voice options by adding a second brighter piano, a harpsichord, a church organ, strings & a clavichord.   After having reviewed the 88 key version, I was quite excited to see this, especially the addition of the brite piano and strings, which are both voices that I can see myself using quite a bit; and anyone playing in a church will be happy to see the church organ added.   

Voices are super easy to select, split and layer, I will go over all of that in the next section of the review; but how do they sound?  Not bad at ALL, especially for the price.  The main grand piano that’s common to the 61 and 88 key versions of the Recital is totally ok, but the Brite Piano that’s only on the 61 is an awesome addition; I can actually see myself using this more often; it cuts through a mix much better than the main Grand Piano which sounds good, but is a tiny bit muddy.  The electric piano sound, which is meant to be a Rhodes, is pretty good as well, as with most budget level pianos, it could do with a bit more “bark” in the low end, but I have to admit when I enable both the reverb and the chorus on this voice?  I quite like it.  Now the main drawbar organ, especially with the rotary chorus effect enabled?    That voice is fantastic.   Here is a quick demo on the 10 voices on the Alesis Recital 61.

When it comes to user interfaces, my main sticking point is: can I see what my current settings are, and can I change the most common settings I need to change quickly and easily.

Even though there is no fancy screen or anything on the Recital pianos, I’ve always really liked the user interface, because it is SOOO dead simple to use.  Granted, part of that ease comes from the fact that there aren’t many sounds, and there are no extra features like rhythms.   But, you can just glance at the controls, and you IMMEDIATELY know what voice you have selected, whether the keyboard has been layered and/or split, and if so, what the layered voices are.  You also know whether you have reverb and(or) chorus turned on.  There are pianos that cost between $700 to $900USD like the Casio PX-S1100 or Roland FP-30X where you can’t even look at the piano and tell what voice you have selected and to select a voice . . . it’s a function key combination! 

So each voice on the Recital is labelled and easily selectable with a button; there is a label above and below each button so you press it once for the top voice (button turns green) or twice for the bottom voice (button turns red). 

Layering Voices: press the layer button, it turns green – you then select your main voice; then you press layer again and it turns red, then you select your second voice.  Then press layer once more and it turns amber and you’re good to start playing.  And note that you will see the 2 voices you have selected indicated while you’re in layer mode.  If you press Layer when it is amber, you exit layered mode.   

Split Mode: select your main voice first, then press and hold split while selecting your second (so left hand) voice. Release the split button and it will be lit and you are in split mode. And then just press it again to exit split mode.

And it’s also easy and intuitive to SET the split point – you hold down the split button and press the key where you want the split point.  And note that the Recital will remember the split point you set when you turn off the keyboard.

For both layered and split voices, you can adjust the relative volume of each, which is a fantastic feature at this price; but this is one of the settings that you unfortunately need to look up a function key combination in the manual in order to set.  BUT!  a super important thing to note here; unlike MANY pianos, including some that cost FAR more – the default relative volume settings for layers (the most common example is piano over strings) ARE TOTALLY USABLE RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX!  Here is a quick video with some layer and split examples.

So while it IS a cool feature to have the ability to edit relative volumes?  I probably never will, so  . . . these are function key combinations that WON’T annoy me, because . . . I won’t need to use them.   

And also, note that you can have split and layer modes enabled at the same time – the split voice will be in the left and both layered voices will be in the right.  

Now, there is also a lesson mode that splits the keyboard into 2 halves with the same voice and octave range, which is meant to have a teacher sit beside you, but . . . on a 61 key keyboard that only has one headphone output?  Probably not a feature that will see much use 😊

Now for effects, you can enable reverb and(or) chorus by just hitting the button once for Reverb (it turns green), a second time for just chorus (it turns red) and once more for BOTH reverb and chorus (it turns amber).  Nice and simple!  To choose between the 5 TYPES of reverb or chorus, you do need to use function key combinations. 

So now; the dreaded function key combinations.  While I do . . . well . . . DESPISE having to use function key combinations on a piano, the nice thing about the Recital is that there is only ONE that I see myself using on any kind of a regular basis, and it only requires that I remember 2 keys, so . . . while not ideal, it’s not too bad.   And, one nice thing about the function mode on the Recital is that instead of having to  hold down a function button while you simultaneously press your settings, you just press “metronome” and “lesson” at the same time to enter “function mode” and then you can let go and make as many settings adjustments as you like; once you’re done, you press them again to exit function mode.  Ok so here are the things you need to use key combinations for:

• Setting touch sensitivity (having this as a function key combination to be honest isn’t a big deal, since you do this ONCE and the keyboard will remember it when it’s turned back on)
• Transposing the keyboard – this is the on I do see myself using a lot – Alesis could have made the already good user interface that much better, by just adding a + and a – button to the panel for transposing up or down, press both to reset to the key of C, or something like that; so these are function keys I will either need to label on the keyboard or memorize
• For octave switching – there is an octave switch setting, but it only applies to the lesson mode, where the keyboard is split into 2 halves, each with the same octave – this was a bit of a letdown for me, because on 61 key keyboards, I often like to be down an octave; so to accomplish this now, I have to use the transpose keys instead and go down 12 steps which is an octave, and then reset to default to move back up; adding normal octave switching buttons to the panel would be a MASSIVE addition on the Recital 61
• You can adjust the relative volumes of split and layered voices, which could be handy, but as I mentioned, the piano over strings is great right out of the box, so I will probably never use that
• Setting metronome tempo and time signature (I’m fine with this, because I never use a metronome anyways) 😊
• Choosing reverb or chorus TYPES; while you can turn reverb or chorus on or off using the panel buttons, to change the TYPES you DO have to use function keys; this isn’t the end of the world to me, because I honestly don’t change these settings much on any keyboard I use anyways; and also, note that the keyboard WILL remember your reverb and chorus types when it restarts
• Turning pedal resonance on or off (this gets remembered when the keyboard is restarted); this is also ok for me because it only applies to the piano voices anyways, so I can leave it on

So for effects, the Alesis Recital 61 has 5 choices for both reverb and chorus, and there is also an optional pedal resonance for the piano voices (note that if you enable pedal resonance, it disables chorus; that’s ok for me because I never use chorus on a piano voice).  For reverb, there are 3 choices that are basically increasing amounts of reverb, and then there are 2 reverb delay options.  For chorus, there are also 3 choices with increasing amounts of chorus, then there a flange and a rotary option.  Since the keyboard remembers my effects settings, I’ve settled on the middle level of reverb as my default setting, and for chorus, while a bit of chorus sounds cool on the electric piano, the rotary sounds fantastic on the organ, so I’ve left that as the default and I only enable chorus when I’m using the organ. 

Now the Recital 61 also has “Pedal Resonance”; this is disabled by default, but can be enabled if you want a slighty more realistic piano playing experience, but note that when pedal resonance is enabled, chorus is disabled.  What is pedal resonance?  When you press down the sustain pedal on an acoustic piano, it lifts the dampers off ALL of the strings, which makes it possible for ALL strings to vibrate; so when you play 1 note which strikes that string with a hammer causing it to vibrate, any other notes that are harmonically related to that note will vibrate slightly creating a resonant sound.   Since I play one of the piano voices 90% of the time and never use chorus on a piano voice, I’ve enabled pedal resonance.

Here is a quick video on the reverb and chorus options, as well as pedal resonance:

For connectivity, the Alesis Recital 61 does quite well, although it is missing one feature that would be SUPER nice to have. On the back of the Recital we have:

• A ¼” headphone port
• A USB to host port for sending MIDI data to a device if you want to use the Recital as a MIDI controller
• A ¼” generic sustain pedal port
• L/R line out ports for connecting to external audio equipment like PA’s, amplifiers, mixers or audio interfaces – this is a very welcome feature and pretty rare at this price, especially for a super portable gigging option for things like busking; these ports will not only send a cleaner, higher quality signal to an amp than a headphone port will, but having these ports also means that the 20 watt speakers will still be active as monitors to help me hear myself.
  On almost ALL the other super portable keyboards I’ve tested, including my Casiotone CT-S1, I have to use the headphone port to connect to an amp which mutes the onboard speakers. It is a bit strange that these ports are RCA instead of the usual ¼” TR ports, but they still work the same and there are lots of cables and adapters out there; I bought a nice RCA to TR cable on Amazon for about $15.

The one thing I REALLY wish the Recital had is an aux in port; this would allow me to stream backing tracks in from my iPad to play along with. But not the end of the world, I can always use a portable mixer for that, or just use another port on my portable PA for the backing tracks.