This unit has a polyphony of at least 7 notes (you can play them all at the same time). One of the concerns of the similar Casio keyboard is that it has a maximum polyphony of only four notes. Someone learning more complicated chords, with a melody on top, would have a problem with the Casio.
This First Act keyboard has backup chords. When the feature is enabled, you can select major, minor, or dominant seventh chords by touching one or two of the lower octave of keys (see the online instructions if you can't figure it out). I haven't tried the Casio, but I didn't see anything in the writeup or the many reviews referring to such a feature.
Like the Casio, this keyboard starts up at full volume. But my feeling on that is if your kid can't figure out how to immediately lower the volume, he's probably too young for this. Perhaps a xylophone would suffice for now. But if you've got a prodigy :) go for it. You certainly can't beat the price. If someone with a musical background is there to give a child some pointers, he/she can get off to a very good musical start with this.
One other comment - I believe both companies make other electronic instruments for children and beginners, but I've always believed the one best instrument to learn music on is a piano (or keyboard). The whole 12-note concept is laid out before you like a diagram of music. I never really understood how anyone could grasp the whole idea beginning on a sax or a guitar. (Notice, you always see a composer or arranger seated at his piano).
Five stars for this one. I like it.
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Great Keyboard. I use it while driving to learn tunes for cover bands.
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