Casio Keyboard Hack Samples
I plan on using the parallax propeller to make a sampling keyboard. Hopefully the functionality will be based on the casio line of sample keyboards as well as the korg microsampler with the possibility of adding some of my own features. For the project I just mainly want to get to the point of playing a sample when the key (touch pad) is pressed and having polyphony (limited polyphony is fine.
Casio Keyboard Hack Samples Download
Even though they were dismissed as just “Toys,” their sounds have a unique quality that will add character to any mix. Royalty Free Sounds. Tempo-labeled Loops of vintage Yamaha PSS, PSR and Casio MT keyboards. Plus, Individual Drum Hits; Recorded LoFi through a Sound Blaster card. Sounds processed and mangled using 1990s computer technology. CASIO Keyboards - Keyed Instruments for Beginners and Professionals. Whole generations of musicians have already shown off their abilities and creativity on CASIO keyboards. Through their high sound quality and sophisticated technology, the electronic keyed instruments offer many ways to be used, making CASIO keyboards the standard equipment. Customers who buy a USB MIDI keyboard can rely on the proven quality and features of a compact CASIO keyboard at all times. Exclusive materials, and depending on the model up to 76 touch-sensitive keys in a piano look for soulful play, and convey a touch of luxury at an affordable price.
In honor of demonicsweaters.com’s first ever Casio Day, I’ve put together this little collection of free Casio VSTs and sound banks! This is a collection of 7 Windows based VSTs, 2 sound banks, and one Ableton instrument that are all either Casio emulators, sampled from, or Casio inspired. Each listing has an individual download link, as well as mirrors. There’s also a rar file of all the plugins and sample packs together at the bottom of the post! Enjoy!
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Target Casio Keyboard
First up is the classic and mega-cheesy VL tone! Here’s a nifty and very realistic free plugin called the VL1
Number two is what looks like one seriously awesome Casio CZ style emulator, The Kassiopeia!
For number three we’ve got the Plastique, an HT-700 inspired plugin. This little plugin is quite cool. Not really exactly like an HT, but has some great sounds and very useful. Still definitely has the Casio vibe too.
Number four is my own Mothman Z3000. This is another CZ type plugin. I modeled it specifically after the CZ-3000 with some slight differences. It comes bundled with 3 other Mothman synths. ALL FREE!
Number five, Casiopia. This is yet another CZ inspired 8 voice polyphonic synth. I’ve posted all the different CZ plugins because each has their own character and sounds.
Number Six – Cheapo-Tone, this is another VL inspired plugin, but instead of using samples, this one is a true software synth with digital oscillators to create the tones. You can also create your own patches from scratch and save them. Very cool!
Number Seven – Casio PT-10 Sound Pack. Here’s a 17mb soundpack from Seaweed Factory to be used in Ableton or anything really. There are sounds and loops included.
Number Eight – Casiotone CT-101 Ableton Instrument. This is an ALP file to use in Ableton which is nice other than just having raw samples to work with.
Number Nine – The undeniable classic Casio SK-1 (Sample Set) Unfortunately there’s not a plugin out there yet that emulates the sampling feature of an SK-1, but there’s some pretty good sound sets of the other built-in sounds, like this one.
Number Ten – Freon Surfer FZ. Last but not least is this really cool plugin that isn’t an FZ emulator, but rather drum samples that were captured from the Freon Surfer preset of the Sonic Charge MicroTonic software drum machine using the Casio FZ-20M, then made into a plugin with variable 9khz or 36khz sample rates, time stretched, and overdrive settings.
Well there you have it, 10 free plugins and sound sets that are all Casio! Now you have enough casio plugs to create a whole album using nothing but Casio sounds. Hmmmm… I just might do that!
If you want to cut to the chase and get everything at once, I’ve made a handy dandy rar file of everything in this post to download all at once!
Casio Keyboard Hack Samples
Enjoy!
Not content to rule the world of digital watches, Casio also dominated the home musical keyboard market in decades past. If you wanted an instrument to make noises that sounded approximately nothing like what they were supposed to be, you couldn’t go past a Casio. [Marwan] had just such a keyboard, and wanted to use it with their PC, but the low-end instrumented lacked MIDI. Of course, such functionality is but a simple hack away.
The hack involved opening up the instrument and wiring the original keyboard matrix to the digital inputs of an Arduino Uno. The keys are read as a simple multiplexed array, and with a little work, [Marwan] had the scheme figured out. With the Arduino now capable of detecting keypresses, [Marwan] whipped up some code to turn this into relevant MIDI data. Then, it was simply a case of reprogramming the Arduino Uno’s ATMega 16U2 USB interface chip to act as a USB-MIDI device, and the hack was complete.
Now, featuring a USB-MIDI interface, it’s easy to use the keyboard to play virtual instruments on any modern PC DAW. As it’s a popular standard, it should work with most tablets and smartphones too, if you’re that way inclined. Of course, if you’re more into modular synthesizers, you might want to think about working with CV instead!