Casiotone

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Casiotone refers to a series of home electronic keyboards released by Casio Computer Co. in the early 1980s. These first keyboards used a sound synthesis technique known as Vowel-Consonant synthesis to approximate the sounds of other instruments (albeit not very accurately). Most Casiotone keyboards were small, with miniature keys designed for children's fingers, and were not intended for use by professional musicians; they usually contained a rhythm generator, with several user-selectable rhythm patterns, and often the means to automatically play accompaniments. While Casiotone keyboards were discontinued when more accurate synthesis technologies became prevalent, their cheapness and abundance resulted in their being widely used by garage bands.

Casiotone keyboards came in three distinct families, separated by the method of synthesis.

Keyboards such as the CT-202 use Vowel-Consonant synthesis. The later model of this family, the MT-65, is one of the more well known and sought after models, as it also contains auto-accompaniment drum beats and bass lines. The distinctive sound of these keyboards is frequently heard in the Homestar Runner Macromedia Flash animations.

The famous VL-1 uses a method of sound synthesis based on the walsh function.

Some other keyboards (such as the MT-35 and MT-45) use a combination of two different binary weighted numbers (1 and 64). The larger weight bit provides the fundamental, and the smaller weight bit provides the harmonic complexity.

The later, more professional range of keyboards, the CZ series, used Phase distortion synthesis, which is mathematically almost identical to Yamaha's Frequency modulation synthesis, although implemented slightly differently to avoid patent infringement.

[edit] References in Popular Culture

In the song "Over and Over" by the electronic band Hot Chip, the word Casiotone is spelt out.
The name is featured in the name of electronic band Casiotone for the Painfully Alone.
In the song "Casiotone Nation" by the band Soul Coughing on their album Ruby Vroom, lead singer Mike Doughty repeats the line, "The 5% nation of Casiotone" along with mentioning other "5% nations" of fringe interests such as Pay-Per-View, Nipple clamp, corduroy and many others.