casio's mt line of keyboards

[Jay C]

Hi

 

I was wondering what the abbreviation MT in, for instance, Casio MT-100 is referring to?

 

My CT-370 is a Casio Tone Keyboard so that's easy: CT=Casio Tone 😊

 

On the CZ line of synths, I believe I saw it somewhere named the Cosmo SynthesiZer (?)

 

Thanks.

 

Jay   🎹 

[pianokeyjoe]

That, is a good question! I too would like to know cause I am an avid collector of classic Casio keyboards of which I have mostly MT range keyboards. I used to try and guess Mid Tone or Mini Tone. Then the PT and VL range came up lol! Way to throw in a monkey wrench! Eitherway I am sure some one here will enlighten us

[Chas]

There was a discussion in a FB group a while back (I forget which), and the general consensus (guessing!) was that the model letters were mostly to do with the key size. This is how that would apply to the 80s Casios:

 

VL = calculator keys (Very Little)

PT = PeTite keys 

MT = Mid size keys 

CT = ConcerT size keys

SK = Sampling Keyboard 

HT = Hybrid Tone generation (note that both mid and full sized key models were called "HT".)

SA = Small?

DM = Double Mid/ Manual (keyboard)

 

The 80s "professional" range of Casios seemed to be less consistent consistent, though the "Z" does seem to indicate synthesiZer:

 

CZ = Cosmo SynthesiZer 

FZ = ? (Sampling) SynthesiZer

VZ = ? (IPD) SynthesiZer

RZ = Rhythm SynthesiZer

SZ = Sequencer SynthesiZer

AZ = ? (Keytar) SynthesiZer (though it was a midi controller keyboard and had no sound generation capabilities)

 

There was also the range of digital instruments:

 

DG = Digital Guitar

DH = Digital Horn

PG = Professional (midi capable) Guitar

 

From the 90s onwards the names were either a direct nod to the features and/ or form factor, or made no sense at all.

 

VA - Voice Arranger

GZ - ?? (it was a tiny Midi controller keyboard)

LK = Lighting Keys

MZ2000 = ?? but it was actually released in the year 2000

PX = Piano (with) Xtras

XW = Xtremely Wonderful (OK, I made that one up!)

 

As mentioned, a lot of these are guesses but they do seem to fit the category for each model range. There is also a lot of crossing over between models, with some CT models being very different looking full sized versions of an MT model, i.e. MT400V & CT410V, MT65/ 68 and CT405.

 

Sometimes it seems that Casio just made model names up as they went along!

Edited July 27, 2022 by Chas

[Chas]

And here's a Casio CZ1000 magazine advert showing that it was part of the Cosmo Synthesizer range.