New release.... "Casiotone" is back!

[Guivannitonos]

 

Edited August 6, 2019 by Guivannitonos
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[Shad0wfax]

Despite Casio hasn’t unveiled the details yet, nor the manual, it seems that the new Casiotone series is based on the AHL chip. And taking into account the info and specs that Casio has offered, the CT-S300 seems to me suspiciously similar to the CTK 3500 model: both have 400 tones, 48-note polyphony, AHL sound chip, sensitive keyboard and pitch bend wheel, usb connection, audio in, sustain pedal jack… I’d bet that it’s basically a CTK-3500 re-packaged in a more compact and portable form factor. That would be not bad per se, as the CTK sounds pretty good and offers excellent value for money (here in Spain it costs around 150 euro), and this would let Casio keep the costs down to the max while offering a very interesting product.

BUT… the bad news is that, contrary to the US, here in Europe the new Casiotone series has been announced at a very high prices; the S300 model is offered (only reserve at this moment) at nearly 200 euro or even more, depending on the store. This makes absolutely no sense if you can get a CTK 3500 for less and it's already a very compact and light model. What is even worse, is that you can buy a CT-X700, with AiX thecnology, for less than a CT-S300!! This is absurd. I hope that retailers change this policy when the Casiotones are available.

[silverdude5]

Wow! This seems like an exciting option, and I appreciate everyone's posts. A concern-- if I were to use this as my primary MIDI controller in Ableton, would I be missing anything about my current controller (an Alesis v61)? A few things come to mind:

 

- no pads and dials.

- velocity. can this still transmit every velocity between 1 and 127? 

- octave-shift: how?

 

I've never thought about combining my little practice keyboard with built in speaker and my MIDI controller keyboard into one product, but if I could, that'd be awesome! Thanks! 

[Chandler Holloway]

Of the new Casiotones, the only model that doesn’t have velocity sensitive keys is the CT-S200. The LK-S250 and CT-S300 can send all velocity values from 0-127, but for MIDI control purposes I would recommend the CT-S300 since it has a pitch bend wheel.

 

Octave shift is available for all three models, but it doesn’t have dedicated controls on the front panel. However, if you want to be able to shift octaves up and down quickly while playing something, you can always pull up the Octave shift parameter in the function menu and leave the function menu open, allowing you to shift up or down on the fly.

 

On the topic of pads and dials, I think it would have been cool for them to include a “MIDI controller” mode that would allow the selection wheel to send an assignable MIDI CC value and the square panel buttons to act as drum pads (even if they weren’t velocity sensitive). However, I wouldn’t count on this feature being added via a firmware update or anything; it’s pretty rare to see Casio release firmware updates for models that don’t have some kind of onboard removable storage media like USB flash drives or SD cards.

 

Maybe if these Casiotones really take off, we’ll see a more advanced Casiotone release with MIDI controller features implemented more prominently. I would personally love to see DIN-MIDI supported on an entry level Casio in the near future, even if it has to be through the 3.5mm MIDI jacks that have started to become more popular lately because they save so much space (like on the Arturia Beatstep).

[MTapani]

And now Yamaha has released some new "Portasound" keyboards 😲

 

[Chandler Holloway]

That’s interesting. Given the proximity of the release dates, I’d say it’s very likely that both the Casiotone and Portasound revamps were conceived independently of one another and probably began development around the same time. Great minds think alike, as they say, but it helps that the Casiotones will come to market first.

 

Speaking of things I’ve only seen advertised internationally, there’s a fourth Casiotone exclusively listed on the Asia and European sites, the CT-S100. Like the S200, it lacks velocity sensitive keys. The LCD screen has been replaced by a row of category buttons and a tone 1/2 toggle switch. It also doesn’t seem to have an audio input, or dance music mode, but it still has USB-MIDI functionality. There is no panel sustain button or back panel damper pedal jack, but sustain is noted as being a “key select” option so I imagine you could toggle it with a Function + labeled key combo. Given the 32-voice polyphony and reduced selection of tones, effects and rhythms, I would guess that it’s using a cost reduced chipset based off of an older AHL board.

[Casiofun]

I was thinking the Casiotones would likely be AHL since that has been around longer and is cheaper.

[Chandler Holloway]

Alright, take 2! The owner’s manual for the CT-S200 has been released.

 

https://support.casio.com/storage/en/manual/pdf/EN/008/CTS200_usersguide_A_EN.pdf

 

If you look at the Tone List and compare it to that of the CTK-2550, you’ll notice that the Program Change and Bank select values match up exactly. This confirms earlier speculation that the Casiotones are AHL boards (or closely related to them).

[Easy E Hanuman G]

Can anyone help me figure out the recall feature? I can save a tone and rhythm but can’t figure out how to recall it or how many saved settings I can make.  Thanks. I have the CT S200

[Chandler Holloway]

41 minutes ago, Easy E Hanuman G said:

Can anyone help me figure out the recall feature? I can save a tone and rhythm but can’t figure out how to recall it or how many saved settings I can make.  Thanks. I have the CT S200

 

You can save exactly one set-up at a time.

 

1. Configure tone, rhythm, tempo, reverb effect, etc. to your liking.
2. Press the "My Setup" button and select save. Select Yes when it asks "Sure?" to save your setup for recall.
3. To recall that same setup later, press "My Setup" and select load. Select Yes when it asks "Sure?" to load in the previous settings.

If you want the CT-S200 to recall these settings whenever you power it on, you can go to the Functions list and enable "PowerOnMySetup."

 

For future reference, we have a designated section for questions about the CT-S models here. Better to keep all the information in one place rather than bumping old topics in the General Discussion section.

[Easy E Hanuman G]

Thanks so much.....that worked......

 

I was hoping that I could save more than one setting in the system, but that's ok.

 

I'll hop over to the correct forum group for future questions....this CT-S200 sounds amazing for $119 (my birthday Jan 19) and Im learning how to play for the first time.....pretty cool indeed!  Im a strummer by nature, so this is all new to me.