Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

moog-lover · Post by **moog-lover** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 6:06 am

Have you ever heard about those semi analogue drums inside the Casio MT-52 and MT-400v? I always love them! Do you know any other Casio model with semi analogue drums?

Re-Member · Post by **Re-Member** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 8:18 pm

I have a Casiotone CT-310 which has an analog drum section. The keyboard sounds are analog as well, but there's really not whole a lot you can do to adjust the sounds besides add a little vibrato or amp release (which they call reverb, haha). Overall it has a very drifty VCO sound which really comes to life when you layer two recordings together.

moog-lover · Post by **moog-lover** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 2:58 am

interesting! i'll search for sounds of Casiotone CT-310.
amp release = reverb

it's very rare that mt-52 has semi-analogue drums in such a toy thing

rsaintjohn · Post by **rsaintjohn** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 3:30 am

My beloved Casiotone 405, with its fake woodgrain and warm sounds. Love it, will never get rid of it. May get up the guts to add MIDI someday, but cutting it will seem like a violation. It's still as lovely as Christmas morning. Might crack open the MT-65 instead.

Not me, not my video, but a video of just its rhythms:

Re-Member · Post by **Re-Member** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 5:58 pm

moog-lover wrote:interesting! i'll search for sounds of Casiotone CT-310.
amp release = reverb

it's very rare that mt-52 has semi-analogue drums in such a toy thing

Well, I just looked up a video of the MT-52 and it actually sounds exactly the same as the CT-310 I have. So maybe the CT-310 isn't fully analog... who knows? I got it about twenty years ago at a thrift store for $15. I remember wanting a JP-8000 at the time, but my parents were never going to pay for such a thing. I mowed lawns for a month and just ended up getting the Casiotone and some multi-fx guitar pedal instead. For several years, that was my own version of a "synthesizer"

rsaintjohn · Post by **rsaintjohn** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 11:24 pm

AFAIK, the Casio MT-65, MT-68, CK-500, MT-100, MT-45, MT-46, Casiotones 404, 405, 610, and 7000, CT-620, CT-605, CT-430, and, yes, the CT-310 all use the same chipset for the analog drums. There may be some others, but I think the MT-52 and MT-400V used a different method.

antilles · Post by **antilles** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:13 am

I have the Casiotone MT-65 which has a nice rythm section. Here's a video demo of it (not mine).

moog-lover · Post by **moog-lover** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 6:33 am

Good to remember the lovely woody Casiotone 405. It sounds better than a Yamaha CP 20 to me.

Good to Re-Member the CT-310!

Oh, interesting data rsaintjohn. I'll compare. Only a few ones had the "Super drums" feature, but it doesn't have to do with the chipset.

moog-lover · Post by **moog-lover** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 6:35 am

i love that mt-65 minimal design too.
everything in lowercase.

rsaintjohn · Post by **rsaintjohn** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 3:43 pm

moog-lover wrote:i love that mt-65 minimal design too.
everything in lowercase.

I thought I was one of the few that ever noticed that! The overall color scheme of the 65 (and the white and blue of the 45) still looks great today, especially in light of the fact that almost everything would go black and silver not long after.

Walter Ego · Post by **Walter Ego** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:26 pm

The MT-68 is identical to the 65, just different colors. It has the same rhythms and percussion sounds as the 400V, just not the ability to run them through a low pass filter. I'm not getting rid of mine anytime soon.

And don't forget the VL-1 with its analogue blips and bleeps. It's a different chip set but super cheesy analogue percussion if that's what you want. The SK-1 percussion is similar; I'm not sure if it's sampled or analog circuitry though.

There's a nice warm fuzzy quality about those sounds that I really like.

StepLogik · Post by **StepLogik** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 2:29 am

Check out the TableHooters website. Lots of tech details about the old casiotones.

moog-lover · Post by **moog-lover** » Sun Mar 22, 2015 7:13 pm

There's a lot of info in TableHooters. Everything but audio

AdamAnt316 · Post by **AdamAnt316** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 10:08 pm

The drums in the MT-68 are sweet, as are the auto-accompaniment and arpeggio features. Here's my MT-68 in action:

Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Re: Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Re: Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Re: Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Re: Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Re: Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Re: Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Re: Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Re: Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Re: Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Re: Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Re: Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Re: Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)

Re: Analogue Drums in Casiotone synths (MT-52, MT-400v, ..)