Why do you like CASIO instruments?

[musicaa]

Casio instuments are portable instrument as it is very light weight.I can place this instument anywhere I wish to play my keyboard.

[Chas]

The HT-6000 contains 2 PROMs instead of ROMs. May yours have died of bitrot? The rom dump can be found on elektrotanya.com, but if yours are faulty you will need someone with an eprommer to burn these on 2 eproms and replace the bitrotten PROMs with IC sockets for them.

When I got my own HT-6000, it had some cracked panel PCBs, so I had to solder wires to patch broken traces. May these have a general problem with mechanical tension during transport? (E.g. also the Casio KX-101 keyboard boombox PCB tends to shatter very easy when the instrument fell on its protruding switches. I fixed 2 with the same damage.)

 

I've no idea if one, or both, of the PROMS in my HT6000 has died. I suspect not, as I have Casios from their very first model (Casiotone 202) right up to 2 x XW's, with lots of 80's/ 90's Casios in my collection, and I've never had one die from a failed ROM/ PROM. Then again, there's always a first time and anything is possible with old electronics.

 

I wonder if it may be a failed/ cracked PCB panel as you suggested? I did take it apart quite comprehensively when it died, another reason for that was to try and fix a dodgy 'start/ stop' button on the front panel, but I didn't notice anything amiss. As mentioned, I have another fully working HT6000 so I'm not in need of getting it fixed in a hurry. With it's rarity though, it would be nice to get it fully working again. As I don't have the required skills to diagnose and repair electronics at this level, I'll wait to find a synth repairer and get it looked at/ fixed professionally.

[Lester Burnham]

I own two current model Casio digital pianos - an AP-245 (AP-250) and a PX-150 (bought when the promotion including the stand and pedal board was on). I've been delighted with both.

 

My main draw has been value for money - not cheap price, per se. Both of mine are entry level of both ranges, but I've been very happy with them, and consider it money well spent.

 

I like the action - in fact I'd say on the current Celviano and Privia range, that's delightful, especially as it's common throughout the range(s).

 

I bought the AP-245 cold - I hadn't had opportuinity to play it, or other models, when I purchased it (online). That's a decision I've been happy with, as since I've had several opportuinities to play pianos from other competing manufacturers, and it's reinforced it as being a good, if perhaps a bit lucky, decision.

 

It was being so happy with my AP-245, that very much made buying a PX-150 for an upstairs room, an easy decision.

[Ted Raven]

Hi all,

 

I own a CASIO CZ-3000 since end eighties. I like it for its interesting sounds built by an interesting synthesis engine. I mainly use it for backgrounds and melodies in breaks.

 

When I recognised that CASIO is building synthesizers again I just had to have one. Well, actually I hoped it would be an interesting piece. So I read the specs and I wanted it even more than before. So I got the XW-P1 which is a great toy to kill time and a great musical instrument as well. This one is definitely going onto stage.

 

See you

Ted

[pfontaine2]

I have owned quite a few Casio keyboards over the years.  I always appreciated that Casio could bring interesting music technology to the masses for a good price and excellent quality.  Even though I no longer have it, I really enjoyed having my CZ-101.  It was a breeze to program and I really enjoyed getting interesting new tones out of it.  I sold it during a purge about fifteen years ago and I've regretted it ever since, especially now that I'm making music again.

 

In order of purchase, I still have a Casio MT-100, SK1, HT-700, WK-7500 and XW-P1.  Each of these offer something that sparked my imagination at a price I could afford.  Also, I like the sound of the early Casio consumer keyboards over similarly priced Yamaha consumer keyboards.  I never really cared for Yamaha's 2-OP FM synthesis and thought many of their early keyboards sounded thin and uninteresting.

 

To be brutally honest and fair, I'm not a fan of everything that Casio has produced.  Casio's later PCM-based consumer keyboards sound terrible to my ears.  However, I appreciate what Casio has been able to produce over the years and I continue to be a big fan of their musical equipment.

 

In an earlier thread, I wondered aloud if a company like Casio could produce something like Teenage Engineering's OP1, given that the OP1 is clearly styled on Casio's VL-Tone keyboard though it offers so much "bang for the buck".  I'd love to see Casio produce something like the OP1 (or like Korg's Volca series) that had a couple different synthesis and sampling engines as well as an onboard sequencer and some effects in a very portable package.  I think something like this would sell like hot-cakes!

 

Thanks Casio for making my life a much happier and musical place!

Pierre

[CYBERYOGI =CO=Windler]

In order of purchase, I still have a Casio MT-100, SK1, HT-700, WK-7500 and XW-P1.  Each of these offer something that sparked my imagination at a price I could afford.  Also, I like the sound of the early Casio consumer keyboards over similarly priced Yamaha consumer keyboards.  I never really cared for Yamaha's 2-OP FM synthesis and thought many of their early keyboards sounded thin and uninteresting.

 

To be brutally honest and fair, I'm not a fan of everything that Casio has produced.  Casio's later PCM-based consumer keyboards sound terrible to my ears.  However, I appreciate what Casio has been able to produce over the years and I continue to be a big fan of their musical equipment.

 

In an earlier thread, I wondered aloud if a company like Casio could produce something like Teenage Engineering's OP1, given that the OP1 is clearly styled on Casio's VL-Tone keyboard though it offers so much "bang for the buck".  I'd love to see Casio produce something like the OP1 (or like Korg's Volca series) that had a couple different synthesis and sampling engines as well as an onboard sequencer and some effects in a very portable package.  I think something like this would sell like hot-cakes!

I also don't understand why Casio didn't add the 8 digit ADSR synth from VL-1 to all similar keyboard. Even without LCD it would be still easy enough to use. The PCM engine with me is a kind of hate-love; yes it sounds cold and less classic than the semi-analogue consonant-vowel hardware, but otherwise it has some unique timbres (likely "Triangular Wave Modulation" and program loop synthesis) and the hardware is a technical milestone because it runs a software synthesizer in a tiny self-contained 4-bit chip, that e.g. with SA-series has not more memory than a Commodore C64 with 64KB ROM cartridge and no hardware tone generator. I wrote here earlier somewhere about the awesome PCM synth patent text that can be found on Google patent search. Casio IMO particularly should make an SA-series re-release with all SA-20 and SA-35 sounds, SD-card slot, USB and fully editable parameters. But also a polyphonic VL-1 variant with some realtime controls, SD-card slot and USB would be exciting.