CT-S1000V Review Part 8 - BLUETOOTH Connectivity

[Chas]

Hey all,

 

Here's the penultimate episode of my CT-S1000V review series where I take a look at the Bluetooth feature, how to use it, and what you can use it for.

 

Enjoy! 

 

 

[Brad Saucier]

I want to encourage everyone to try Bluetooth MIDI.  If your Android or iOS phone or tablet, or Mac computer has Bluetooth, you should be set to try it.  It's actually very usable.  Bluetooth MIDI and audio perform differently.  Bluetooth MIDI latency is not really a problem.  It's hardly noticable, if at all.  

 

Bluetooth audio is where latency is very noticable.  

 

For sampling from Bluetooth into the CT-S500 and 1000V, it's pretty easy.  Just setup Bluetooth audio in preparation for sampling.  If you can hear audio through the keyboard speakers, you're ready.  Press menu, go to sampling and select "audio in".  It will start recording as soon as it detects audio.  Start your audio source.  That's it.  It's a very cool feature, something the old SK series would be jealous of.  

[Chas]

Good points Brad, and thanks also for pointing out that Bluetooth MIDI would be less susceptible to latency as it's not transferring anywhere near the amount of data required compared with streaming audio..

In my "studio" my main workstation DAW computer does not have Bluetooth, hence for me Bluetooth capability serves no purpose. Plus I am still oldschool and come from the era of recording studios where EVERYTHING was wired, and wireless mics and guitar transmitters were banned because of the risk of interference, as well as issues with sound quality loses. Even cellphones weren't allowed in the control room or near any audio equipment! Things may have changed since then (early 2010s), but I still adhere to the cables only rule when it comes to recording, plus as mentioned, I couldn't use Bluetooth with my main desktop even if I wanted to. 

 

Regarding sampling, yes, I finally figured out that you can sample AUDIO over Bluetooth, not transfer a WAV file as I originally thought. However, my main issue with sampling audio directly in to the S1000V was the absence of onboard sample editing ability, along with only being able to save the captured sample in a proprietary file format. I often reuse samples in other projects, and also modify and experiment with them by using audio editing tools., plus I also share samples with other musicians. I wouldn't be able to do any of this if I sampled audio directly into the S1000V because of the proprietary sample file format. Hence my recommendation of capturing and editing samples elsewhere, and then importing them into the Casiotone as a WAV file. If the sample was captured and modified by a cellphone/ tablet first and then transferred via Bluetooth, then that would make more sense. But as I do all my sample editing with my Desktop PC, it's just as easy to copy the modified sample file to a flash drive and simply import it into the S1000V as a WAV file.

As I've mentioned during my reviews, much of how I perceive the keyboard (any keyboard in fact) is based entirely on my own perspective, experience and how I try to use it within my normal workflow.  I'm just an average Joe that likely represents a similar experience that many others approaching the using of the S1000V in similar home studios would have.