FARK.com: (6726485) From "Boop bleep TSHT dit boop bleep TSHT dit boop bleep TSHT dit boop bleep" to "Hullohullohullohullo..." the history of the Casiotone

(Some Guy)		From "Boop bleep TSHT dit boop bleep TSHT dit boop bleep TSHT dit boop bleep" to "Hullohullohullohullo..." the history of the Casiotone (generror.wordpress.com)		32
		More: Interesting, CASIO, YAMAHA, smart cards, Casiotones, TSHT, TSHT dit, Melody Calculator

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32 Comments (+0 »)

GreenAdder

2011-11-11 11:59:47 PM

The Casiotone keyboard really whupped a cheetah's ass.

Ghastly

2011-11-12 12:27:17 AM

Just a few from the many in my collection.

Casio MT-200: This was my first electronic keyboard. Never did find the PA-1 parallel port computer interface for it. Went crazy trying to find the interface or the schematics back in the 80s. I used to play this one in a punk band when I lived in Toronto in the 80s called "Only You Can Prevent Insanity". I'd run it through guitar effects pedals and modified it for pitch bend.

Casio CZ-101: This was my first MIDI synth. I still have it. Awesome synth that I've used on more recordings than I can count.

Casio SK-1: I have two of these. One I bought in 1985 when it first came out for $199. The other one I got recently at a Value Village for $5. My original one I've modified to put a full sized keyboard on it.

The MT-200, CZ-101, and SK-1 were the only ones I purchased new. Every other casio in my collection I found for under $20 (usually under $10) in a thrift store.

Casio EP-30: Kermit The Frog version of the SK-1. I have two of them. Very rare. Here Lola Internet goofing around with one run through a Korg Monotron.

Casio MT-140: Neat little PCM tone bank

Casio MT-240: Midi version of the MT-140. I chopped the keyboard off it and hacked it down into a small little package just slightly larger than its circuit board. I plan to circuit bend this one.

Casio SA-21: Lola internet demonstrates

Casio SA-1: Baby version of the SA-21. I find the SA series of synths to be a little lacklustre compaired to the MT keyboards.

I also have a couple of the Radio Shack licensed version.

Concertmate 700 (Casio MT-205): Just got this one. It has the advanced "Super Drum" system. I'm going to build a set of trigger pads for it. I was playing with it tonight.

Concertmate 350 (Casio PT-10): Has the same basic engine as the VL-1, including the famous DA DA DA rhythm.

I have a couple of other Casiotone keyboards but they're not here right now and I can't remember what their model number is. One is a really cool one with a small full sized keys keyboard.

They all make for awesome sample sources. This is a Korg Microsampler sample pack I put together using mostly samples from Casio keyboards, a Mattel Synsonics drum machine, and an Atari 2600 running Paul Slocum's synthcart.

I have a number of the Yamaha PSS portable keyboards too, but none of them are as cool as the Casio ones in my opinion. The Yamaha ones just seem... I don't know. Not quite as cheesey. Oh course my SHS-10 is pretty high on the cheese factor.

I also have this generic Chinese square wave synth called an MC-3A, which has great square wave sounds and analogue drums. It definitely ranks up high amongst my consumer grade keyboards. I'd call it Casio spirited.

Other Casio gear I have is an LD-80 Midi drum pad controller. shiatty drum machine, but makes for a decent drum controller. And of course the gem of my collection. My Casio AZ-1 strap-on midi controller which used to belong to none other than Thomas Dolby.

Charlie Freak

2011-11-12 12:27:54 AM

My first keyboard was a Casio PT-82 and it's still sitting on a shelf in my studio. When I was in about 4th grade, I would sit and play concerts with it for all the kids at daycare.

That's pretty much what I do today, 'cept with adults at clubs.

Ghastly

2011-11-12 12:46:16 AM

Oh yes! I almost forgot. I have a Casio PT-80 too. Awesome analogue rhythms on that little beastie.

GreenAdder

2011-11-12 01:34:45 AM

I have a large assortment of Casio and other keyboards that I rescued from garage sales and flea markets. I should make a point of cataloging them, because I'm not even sure what all I have.

But primarily, I use one of these:
i.imgur.com

One of these:
i.imgur.com

And sometimes one of these:
i.imgur.com

Ghastly

2011-11-12 02:03:31 AM

Monotron is fun. The new monotribe looks really cool. I contemplated getting a kaoscillator but I have the Korg DS-10 and the kaoscillator just didn't seem like it would be that much different. I do love the Korg gear though. My most recent was the Korg microStation. It's an excellent portable work station.

GreenAdder

2011-11-12 02:07:45 AM

Ghastly: Monotron is fun. The new monotribe looks really cool. I contemplated getting a kaoscillator but I have the Korg DS-10 and the kaoscillator just didn't seem like it would be that much different. I do love the Korg gear though. My most recent was the Korg microStation. It's an excellent portable work station.

The Kaossilator and the DS-10 have a lot of differences. Since I don't actually know how to play keyboards for shiat, it's nice to just tell the Kaossilator what key/scale I'm playing and just lay down clever background pieces or "keyboard solos" over my other instrument tracks. I primarily use the Monotron for filtering the bejeezus out of the Kaossilator, and for the occasional Theremin or laser gun sound effects. I'd still love to get my hands on a Korg Mini-KP.

TheHopeDiamond

2011-11-12 07:29:37 AM

I still have every Casio I've ever gotten - all the way back to the "Calculator that plays music."

Are they worth anything? Probably not. But they make me smile, and that's the main thing.

OlderGuy

2011-11-12 08:41:23 AM

Still have the CT 7000, still works..linked to 2 other keyboards via MIDI.. don't play it as much as I used to..work has been demanding lately. Lots of service calls and emergency repairs...

bglove25

2011-11-12 08:48:08 AM

So, you are all part of the 5% Nation of Casiotone?

Reverend Monkeypants

2011-11-12 09:25:35 AM

I've bought new the following, in order, back down through the ages
CZ-101
CZ-1
HT-7000
PX-100
The previa is all I have of Casio's now and at this point I only use it as the weighted key controller for my rig. The sounds are fine but I have like 100 pianos/rhoads/etc in my computer so...
O man how I wish I still had the CZ-1 and 101!

Reverend Monkeypants

2011-11-12 09:33:39 AM

Ghastly: Here Lola Internet goofing around with one run through a Korg Monotron.

That looks like a fun place to hang out. A new fan, you have one.

Joelogon

2011-11-12 10:54:29 AM

bglove25: So, you are all part of the 5% Nation of Casiotone?

5. 10. 15. 20. 25. 30. 35. 40. 45. 50...

Charlie Freak

2011-11-12 11:34:17 AM

Synth thread!

Aside from the PT-82, I've owned the following:

Casio CT-640
Yamaha PSS-
Yamaha PSR-510
Alesis DG-8
Hammond C2 w/Leslie 145
Korg Triton Studio 76
Yamaha Motif Rack ES (later traded)
Roland VK-8M (later traded)
Yamaha S90ES
Nord Electro 2 73 (later sold)
Nord Lead 2X
Roland Juno-106
Yamaha SY55
Yamaha DX-7
Roland Juno DI
Yamaha Motif Rack XS
Nord Electro 3 73

Plus a handful of Edirol controllers I mostly destroyed doing by doing palm swipes.

Jonesing for a Nord Stage 2, but that's going to have to wait for a while as I'm about to go pick up a Macbook Pro for my live rig so I can run Cubase rewired with Reason live through my Presonus Studiolive mixer. Also going to have to pick up a lighter controller so I can take the Motif Rack on the road and leave the heavy-ass S90 at home.

Anybody tried any weighted 88 controllers lately? Looking for something with great action.

GibbyTheMole

2011-11-12 11:47:19 AM

Ghastly

Wow! You're quite the Casiophile. I also have a CZ-101. It's a pretty capable little synth. When I was a gigging keyboard guy, I'd put a guitar strap on it & use a wireless so I could go out & schmooze with the crowd while played it.

I also still have a Korg DW-8000 (a terrific vintage synth from the late 80s) and a Roland JX-1. I'm mainly a guitar player these days, but occasionally I'll use keyboards for a track in the studio. When I do, I usually use freeware VST synths on an old Dell Inspiron notebook with the Korg as a controller. There's a staggering amount of terrific freeware VST synths available for download with sounds that rival any synth or sampler ever built. It's awesome.

Eventually I want to mount a MIDI pickup on one of my Strats & interface it with the notebook. I think that'd be kinda cool.

Ghastly

2011-11-12 12:01:55 PM

GibbyTheMole: Ghastly

Wow! You're quite the Casiophile. I also have a CZ-101.

I hear you're Casiotone.

Well I'm pretty Casiotone too.

I've been pretty impressed with all the software synths out there but in my heart I'm still a hardware kind of guy. I grew up in the era of seeing Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson on stage surrounded by an arsenal of keyboards like some wizard in a castle tower and always wanted to be like that.

The real thing I love about collecting these old casio keyboards is the built in rhythms. So cheesey, yet so useable. They all make for great sample sources. Sometimes as loop samples, sometimes as percussion instrument samples. The SK-1 was a good instrument to sample the percussion off of because its rhythm sequencer only plays one percussion sound at a time, so if you slow a rhythm down you can easily pick out and sample each individual drum sound.

phaseolus

2011-11-12 12:48:22 PM

I'm thinkin' of buying one of musiciansfriend's busted half price PX-330s and fixing it up and learning how to play.

But, you know, ADD, so I'll probably move on to some other cunning plan before I get around to actually doing this.

Ghastly

2011-11-12 12:57:47 PM

bglove25: So, you are all part of the 5% Nation of Casiotone?

bglove25: So, you are all part of the 5% Nation of Casiotone?

a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net

theorellior

2011-11-12 01:06:18 PM

Ghastly: And of course the gem of my collection. My Casio AZ-1 strap-on midi controller which used to belong to none other than Thomas Dolby.

Wow. That's really a cool find.

Ghastly

2011-11-12 01:09:54 PM

theorellior: Ghastly: And of course the gem of my collection. My Casio AZ-1 strap-on midi controller which used to belong to none other than Thomas Dolby.

Wow. That's really a cool find.

I love the AZ-1, it's a great controller. Of course by the time Thomas was done with it, it was in pretty rough shape but I've painstakingly restored it. The 5DIN midi connector on it is shot now so I'll have to replace it sometime. Nothing like rocking out on stage with a keytar, your foot on a monitor and the audience looking up your miniskirt.

Twitch Boy

2011-11-12 01:17:32 PM

My friend had one of those Tonebank keyboards that had like 100 different sound effects and a bunch of backing tracks.

The demo button played Together Forever by Rick Astley.

Casio was Rickrolling people before it was cool.

Whiskey Priest

2011-11-12 02:16:19 PM

Joelogon: bglove25: So, you are all part of the 5% Nation of Casiotone?

5. 10. 15. 20. 25. 30. 35. 40. 45. 50...

Never before did I think counting in 5's could be so groovy.

theorellior

2011-11-12 02:45:47 PM

Ghastly: Nothing like rocking out on stage with a keytar, your foot on a monitor and the audience looking up your miniskirt.

This immediately sprang to mind:

www.geekosystem.com

Ghastly

2011-11-12 02:59:52 PM

theorellior: Ghastly: Nothing like rocking out on stage with a keytar, your foot on a monitor and the audience looking up your miniskirt.

This immediately sprang to mind:

[www.geekosystem.com image 500x334]

That is the most AWESOME Venn Diagram EVER!

GibbyTheMole

2011-11-12 05:03:38 PM

Ghastly:

I like the old hardware synths as well, but I live in a small house, so gotta conserve on space. Among other various antique Yamahas, Moogs, Korgs & Casios I've owned, I used to have a Micromoog, which I still miss. It was a PITA, though. You had to let it warm up for 15 minutes before you played it so the oscillators could stabilize. And once in awhile it would make weird random farting noises, and sometimes there would be a gargling effect over the sound you were using. I finally got fed up & traded it in on the Korg, which is a much more stable synth.

I used to have big time lust for a Roland Jupiter-8 when I first started playing keys in the early 80s. My God, they were spendy, though! (up in the $5000 range back then) And no MIDI. Still can't afford one, but luckily I can get some similar sounds out of the softsynth.

Your pic reminds me: my wife has a minty SK-1 still in the box laying around. She never touches the thing. (much like her guitar and drums she wanted. Ha!)

poot_rootbeer

2011-11-12 05:45:38 PM

I bought a CZ-1000 in 1995 for $100.

Today, I could sell it for about $100.

I love depreciation-proof hardware.

LewDux

2011-11-13 02:18:41 AM

theorellior: This immediately sprang to mind:

www.geekosystem.com

Link (new window)

rdu_voyager

2011-11-13 07:00:01 PM

Ok, I'll be a keyboard snob. Casio keyboards sound like toys. Yamaha is where it's at.

// Own both.

Ghastly

2011-11-13 08:05:42 PM

rdu_voyager: Ok, I'll be a keyboard snob. Casio keyboards sound like toys. Yamaha is where it's at.

// Own both.

That's what makes the Casiotone keyboards so cool. I have pro gear for when I want non toy sounds. Casios are all about the cheese! Think, melty, processed cheese.

poot_rootbeer

2011-11-14 10:00:10 AM

rdu_voyager: Casio keyboards sound like toys. Yamaha is where it's at.

The linked-to blog post from last year specifically covers the '80s era, where everyone's portable keyboards sounded like toys. None of the digital synthesis methods that were attempted ever sounded very good coming out of a 3" speaker (although some, FM and Phase Distortion in particular, were pretty sweet if run through an analog effects chain and played through real amplification).

Yamaha came to the portable keyboard market through a century-long tradition of musical instrument manufacture. Casio had sold calculators and other small electronics for a few decades. Their priorities in instrument design reflect their histories.

GibbyTheMole

2011-11-14 11:17:06 AM

rdu_voyager

"Ok, I'll be a keyboard snob. Casio keyboards sound like toys. Yamaha is where it's at."

As Ghastly said, that's the idea. As far as vintage goes, I'm a fan of the Roland, Korg, & Oberheim sounds, myself. I like big, fat, lush sounds. Yamaha's certainly made some nice synths, tho.

Dezilith

2011-11-15 01:59:39 AM

No no no.

Its BLEEP BLOOP.

/I have acheivables!

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