Casio SK-1

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Casio SK-1 with the Realistic Rap-Master, both sold by RadioShack.

The Casio SK-1 is a small sampling keyboard made by Casio in 1985.

It has 32 small sized piano keys, four-note polyphony, with a sampling bit depth of 8 bit PCM and a sample rate of 9.38 kHz, a built-in microphone and line level input for sampling, and an internal speaker. It also features a small number of four-note polyphonic preset analog and digital instrument voices, and a simple additive voice.

All voices may be shaped by 13 preset envelopes, portamento and vibrato. It also includes a rudimentary sequence recorder, preset rhythms and chord accompaniment. The SK-1 was thus an unusually full-featured synth in the sub-$US100 home keyboard market of the time.

The SK-1 has been used by a few major recording artists for its simplicity and lo-fi sound. It became very popular in the late 1990s among the circuit bending crowd, though the SK-1 was being modified as early as 1987 when Keyboard Magazine published an article on adding MIDI support[1]. The synthesizer was one of the first pieces of equipment that Autechre had when they began recording music. Musician and score composer Michael Andrews featured a circuit bent SK-1 heavily in the Me and You and Everyone We Know musical score.

The Radio Shack version of the Casio SK-1 is called the Realistic Concertmate 500. The Casio SK-1 is considered the little brother to the Casio SK-5.