Casiotone
Encyclopedia
Casiotone refers to a series of home electronic keyboard
s released by Casio
Computer Co. in the early 1980s.
These first keyboards used a sound synthesis technique known as Vowel-Consonant synthesis
to approximate the sounds of other instruments (albeit not very accurately). Most Casiotone keyboards were small, with miniature keys designed for children's fingers, and were not intended for use by professional musicians; they usually contained a rhythm generator, with several user-selectable rhythm patterns, and often the means to automatically play accompaniments. While the name "Casiotone" disappeared from Casio's new keyboard catalog when more accurate synthesis technologies became prevalent, their low cost and abundance made them fairly common fixtures in garage rock band
s.
The later, more professional range of keyboards, the CZ series
, used phase distortion synthesis
, which is mathematically almost identical to Yamaha
's frequency modulation synthesis
, although implemented slightly differently to avoid patent infringement.
After the release of famous Casio SK-1
in 1985, gradually PCM sample based tone generator became dominant in Casio keyboards line. After 1990s, most Casio keyboards utilize PCM tone generator or its variants.
Some early 1980s models in the PT series of keyboards, such as the PT-30, PT-50, PT-80 and PT-82, were not marketed under the Casiotone name. The name was revived again later for models such as the PT-87 (which is basically the same as the PT-82) which was again sold as Casiotone.
s above each key to teach the user how to play the song. Most keyboards came with one ROM Pack as standard, but a large number of additional packs, covering a wide range of musical genres, were available to purchase separately. The last ROM Pack model was the CT-840, which came out in 1990.
Electronic keyboard
An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
s released by Casio
Casio
is a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Casio is best known for its electronic products, such as calculators, audio equipment, PDAs, cameras, musical instruments, and watches...
Computer Co. in the early 1980s.
These first keyboards used a sound synthesis technique known as Vowel-Consonant synthesis
Vowel-Consonant synthesis
Vowel–consonant synthesis is a type of hybrid digital–analogue synthesis employed by the early Casiotone keyboards. It employs two digital waveforms, which are mixed and filtered by a static lowpass filter, with different filter positions selected for use according to presets...
to approximate the sounds of other instruments (albeit not very accurately). Most Casiotone keyboards were small, with miniature keys designed for children's fingers, and were not intended for use by professional musicians; they usually contained a rhythm generator, with several user-selectable rhythm patterns, and often the means to automatically play accompaniments. While the name "Casiotone" disappeared from Casio's new keyboard catalog when more accurate synthesis technologies became prevalent, their low cost and abundance made them fairly common fixtures in garage rock band
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
s.
Families
Old Casiotone keyboards came in three distinct families, separated by the method of synthesis.- Keyboards such as the CT-202 use Vowel-Consonant synthesisVowel-Consonant synthesisVowel–consonant synthesis is a type of hybrid digital–analogue synthesis employed by the early Casiotone keyboards. It employs two digital waveforms, which are mixed and filtered by a static lowpass filter, with different filter positions selected for use according to presets...
. The later model of this family, the MT-65, is one of the more well known and sought after models, as it also contains auto-accompaniment drum beats and bass lines.
- The famous VL-Tone VL-1 uses a method of sound synthesis based on the Walsh functionWalsh functionIn mathematical analysis, the set of Walsh functions form an orthogonal basis of the square-integrable functions on the unit interval. The functions take the values -1 and +1 only, on sub-intervals defined by dyadic fractions...
.
- Some other keyboards (such as the MT-35 and MT-45) use a combination of two different binary weighted numbers (1 and 64). The larger weight bit provides the fundamental, and the smaller weight bit provides the harmonic complexity.
The later, more professional range of keyboards, the CZ series
Casio CZ synthesizers
The CZ series were a family of low-cost Phase distortion synthesizers produced by Casio mid-1980s. There were eight models of CZ synthesizers released: the CZ-101, CZ-230S, CZ-1000, CZ-2000S, CZ-2600S, CZ-3000, CZ-5000, and the CZ-1. Additionally the home-keyboard model CT-6500 used 48...
, used phase distortion synthesis
Phase distortion synthesis
NOTE: any readers who are struggling to understand this text, here are links to the missing Figures A and B:NOTE: any readers who are struggling to understand this text, here are links to the missing Figures A and B:...
, which is mathematically almost identical to Yamaha
Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
's frequency modulation synthesis
Frequency modulation synthesis
A 220 Hz carrier tone modulated by a 440 Hz modulating tone with various choices of modulation index, β. The time domain signals are illustrated above, and the corresponding spectra are shown below ....
, although implemented slightly differently to avoid patent infringement.
After the release of famous Casio SK-1
Casio SK-1
The Casio SK-1 is a small sampling keyboard made by Casio in 1985.It has 32 small sized piano keys, four-note polyphony, with a sampling bit depth of 8 bit PCM and a sample rate of 9.38 kHz, a built-in microphone and line level input for sampling, and an internal speaker...
in 1985, gradually PCM sample based tone generator became dominant in Casio keyboards line. After 1990s, most Casio keyboards utilize PCM tone generator or its variants.
Some early 1980s models in the PT series of keyboards, such as the PT-30, PT-50, PT-80 and PT-82, were not marketed under the Casiotone name. The name was revived again later for models such as the PT-87 (which is basically the same as the PT-82) which was again sold as Casiotone.
ROM Packs
Some models sold from 1983 onwards included a cartridge bay to accept Casio ROM Packs which contained sheet music in a digital format. The keyboards could play the notes automatically, or (with the exception of the PT-50) illuminate LEDLEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
s above each key to teach the user how to play the song. Most keyboards came with one ROM Pack as standard, but a large number of additional packs, covering a wide range of musical genres, were available to purchase separately. The last ROM Pack model was the CT-840, which came out in 1990.