Incredible. I had this same keyboard when I was six. Someone gave it to me as a present I guess. I haven't heard that Greensleeves tune off the ROM in literally 36 years. My mind is blown. Thank you.
Same here 😮 I actually was watching the office show and Dwight was playing that song and made me remember this keyboard have no clue how I manage but found the model and then came to see if there was a vid and here I am mind fkn blown
I remembered these as a kid and just picked one up recently, CIB. When googling info on it, I ran across this early 8-Bit Guy review! Anyhow, having purchased similar modern keyboards for my kids, I must say that this 80's "entry" level unit from Casio completely blows away today's junk found in the kids aisle at Target. It's built like a tank (and in Japan) and has a heft and quality to it that today's similar keyboards don't have. I get the limitations, but it does a good job entertaining and has that killer 80's analog synth sound that's hard to duplicate in such an instrument. Great piece and glad I finally got one after all these years.
I had a PT-100 when I was a kid and I noticed that its demo song played notes that were lower than what you could play on the keyboard, especially with Casio Chord enabled. But at least it is polyphonic and has a more reasonable octave range, plus it has some really cool multi-pulse square wave sounds.
I had it too, as the demo song it played the Mozart Piano Concert cycling available instruments at every verse, but I remember you could change everything while it was playing, raising and lowering the tempo and altering the rhythm and instrument played with the slider selectors. Also Casio Chord Keys were on the actual keyboard, taking the space of the first octave and could be activated optionally with a slider, subtracting the whole first octave of notes
OMG! _Thank you_ for this great review! The PT-80 was my very first keyboard-I remember putting on "concerts" for my mom with one of the ROM Cards. Later, I "upgraded" to a Casiotone CT-380. Man, I wish I still had both of them! Bravo!
Man, this brings back great memories. I saw this keyboard on a video from your main channel and it instantly reminded me that we had this. I'm pretty sure it was my sisters as she was 8 years older than me but my brothers and I quickly claimed it and used it more than her. Thanks for doing this review.
This was my first electronic keyboard too. I remember getting it around 1980, several years before the SK-1 came out, if memory serves, around 1985. That little keyboard cost me $90 dollars, in 1980, and the store I bought it from went out of business close to 30 years ago! I managed to make some decent music with it, at least by kid standards, playing it through a Radio Shack analog reverb box. I think I still have my keyboard from childhood. No surprised that it was analog. I really enjoyed the video. Brought back good memories. Keep making more.
Sorry to correct you, but no way this was in 1980, this model debut was in 1984. In 1980 you could buy only vl tone and casiotone 201. There are no fully analog Casios. There are all hybrid - digital oscillator and analog circuits (except the fully digital ones).
I was a kid in the 80's and my brother had this keyboard. I went my whole life always thinking about the experience playing with this Casio that had the colorful lights to teach you the songs and up until now I still hum some of the songs and the fills it could do lol finding your video was a real trip!
Blessed Sir...I was Blessed To have That Very Same Key 🔐 Board 🛹...My Dad bought it for me from This Store 🏬 called " MAKRO"Back in The Early 80'S... I eventually gave it to my Brother Because He was really interested in Playing Keys...I am almost 53 Yrs of age now & just came across your Vlog ...Keep Up The Great Wrk Chief...❤️⛪🎼😎🔝🌎⭐🇺🇸🤗☮️🙏.
I had what must have been the revised model of this as a kid. The PT-82. Same Greensleeves and red/green lights on keyboard. What a blast from the 1980's. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
I had SO much fun with this thing as a kid. It was frustrating to play only one key at a time, but I loved the songs and had a ball learning them, or just monkeying around with the different sounds. I think I had a couple of other cartridges, including one with Beatles songs.
Bro this was my FIRST keyboard, word is bond! Christmas, 1985, my Mom bought it at McDade's.. I still remember EVERY rhythm, yo.. Rock, Disco, etc.. And it was a hell of a tutorial machine, LOVED IT
hi, I made a similar choice back in the day. My dad took me to my local store and I chose the Yamaha DX27 over the Juno60, reason.. again because of all the buttons and real kind of sounds.. but was fooled in the store as the DX was running though some effects that i didnt know of either back in the day so the sounds sounded great.. when I got it home you can imagine the dead sound I got until I got my 1st MicroVerb :) then it all come alive again. I still didn't even understand the thing of multitimbral either so I used to bounce the track on an old AKAI 4000 reel to reel :)
Very cool. I got this when I was a kid as well, I'm sure right around the same time as you. I played it a lot. I eventually became a musician (mostly guitar, but eventually some keys as well), and I really do think this Casio was the beginning of that. I'll never forget those built in songs. Greensleeves over and over. Wish I still had all this stuff, but if I did, I'm sure I'd be appalled at what it actually sounded like!
I remember trying this in a store about 1982-1983, and like you I was annoyed about it being monophonic while Yamaha keyboards were already polyphonic (but bigger and more expensive). The chip itself seems to support 6 voice polyphony plus drum sounds, but letting the player only play one note at a time simplifies the electronics quite a bit because that way you only need to scan the keyboard for one key in a matrix-style which could give "false positives" if certain keys were pressed together like on some computer keyboards, while polyphony would have required more complex wiring, and probably the chip didn't even support that though it does play back pre-sequenced polyphonic sequences like the chords and the ROM songs. I think Casio started its keyboard line with the VL-1 which was actually a calculator at first and then expanded it as much as they could, eventually arriving at the PT-80, but still doing the same style of keyboard scanning. But about the instrument sounds... back when this was released, all keyboards sounded quite synthesized... the sampling keyboard came a bit later (in 1986) as far as I remember, when there was the Amiga computer out which also supported sampled sounds. Keyboards that really sounded like real instruments across the board didn't appear until the early 1990's.
Keyboards prior to the early 90s needed external amplification to really make their sounds come alive, with the right type of amplification system, some of the sounds on those pre 90s keyboards sound really really good, for example, I regularly gig with a Yamaha ps-55 and a concertmate 680, coming through my 250 watt Gallien-Kreuger bass amp, those two keyboards sound like a million dollars
I still have my original Casio PT - 80 from Christmas, 1985. I hooked my guitar pedal board through the output port and bused the signal into my amp. Using slight digital delay and distortion, the 16 beat is pretty funky sounding. Keying the "chords" and switching them around while playing guitar along is fun. Makes for a metronome accompaniment.
This was my first keyboard as well, I got it for my birthday at People's restaurant near Bannister Mall (RIP) in Kansas City. I loved that thing, despite it's flaws. I loved taking the ROM chip out & hearing the boop it makes when you hit the keys. I also imagined the keys as robots with red eyes (& apparently no torso). Looking back, it must've been pretty junk if those were my fondest memories of it...
I can really relate to David's thoughts about his first keyboard! I got mine for my 6th birthday; a green/blue Bontempi ES3100. Sound is very similar to this Casio... and I loved it back in the days. I learned to play the main melody of "Für Elise" on it and it convinced me to go further in music. Unfortunately, I don't own it anymore for about 15-20 years or so. Would have loved to open it up to see what's under the hood. Love your channel!
Looked up Casio White Keyboard because I remember the tape w/ a rating system that my friend had. I’d given up looking up the keyboard I had as a kid because there were just too many... ONLY TO FIND IT ON THIS VIDEO!!! My dude, you’re amazing! :)
I´ve traveled back in time to the 80s while watching this video. I also chosed this keyboard back at the time (christmas gift if I remember well). The reason is plane and simple... the techy aspect with the lights, the rom slot, self-teaching modes, etc. You have not mentioned it in the video but it was rating your performance after playing the songs in the ROM (just like modern singing games). It was cool that I bought a second ROM with rock songs which was way more interesting that the default ROM (which was exactly the same you have shown). As you said, we realize now that it did not sound well at all but back at the time I did not even notice it. Anyway, the memories are good (I expent a lot of time trying to learn to play it). While I learn to play the final countdown with some style ... the PT-80 helped me to figure out something important ... I have no talent at all for music... hahahaha
Can't remember if I had the 80 or the PT-30 back in the day. But like you, I was attracted by it's features. Especially the chord section! What I did was cram it's output through a Yamaha CS-10 synth and shape the chord sound with the patch sound of the CS-10. Wasn't too bad. And then chop it up with a triggered LFO was pretty cool.
I'm more of a full sized fan as I like the looks and sounds as well as actually having playing them in school which gives me a nostalgic attachment to them but watching these is turning me around into thinking some of the little ones can also provide some good sounds in their own right dispite not having the speaker umph and feature depth of the full sized ones. Watching you and the medium and small keyboards makes me think differently about my biost to the big ones and got me thinking you really need a combination of all 3 for a powerful electronic keyboard only band sound.
I had both of these! The PT-80 was my first, and drove my mother and sister crazy playing Greensleeves!! And the SK-1 was soooo cool with the sampling ability! I had so much fun making songs out of farts and burps. :P
wow this brings back so many fond memories. I had one of these in the mid 80’s, I was about 7. I got a couple more rom cartridges later, I remember one had Brazil on it, and the other the theme tune to Fame
The Casio PT-80 was the first keyboard I ever owned. The MT-210 was the second one and the SK-1 was the third keyboard I owned. The PT-80 Actually had realistic sounding monophonic synth tones. Now I own the CT-X 3000 keyboard. Casio has come a long way since the early eighties.
My first "keyboard" was a Bontempi Organ I got for Christmas in 1977. I took to it rather well, which in 1979 led to me getting a Yamaha spinet piano for Christmas, which still sits at my parents house and hasn't been tuned since around 1991.
best Casio PT series keyboards i tried (and owned both for a few years together) were / are PT-31 & PT-50 imo ... they compliment each other very well and i used a couple of Super 8mm film cartridge cardboard boxes underneath the PT-31 to act as the upper keyboard section for the PT-50 as the lower keyboard ... sold both ages ago of course (and got higher grade Casio keyboards on the MT and later regular size CT keyboard series) but still have one RAM cartridge as well as a digital to analog converter unit that fits into a compartment at the bottom of both instruments for storing music data on tape ... i'd certainly be getting both again someday to add to my more professional instruments today as i have some old music data done on those two Casio machines i'd like to work on again ...
for a "bass track" you could run the keyboards output into an "octaver" fx pedal that can add a sub-octave to the actual signal fed into it. our bass player uses one in combination with a distortion pedal to compensate for the loss of low end caused by the distortion - the processed signal then goes through a cross-fading volume pedal so he can have the dry bass signal or blend in as much distortion as he wants - really cool setup
Good point about the second voice. I never really thought much about it until now. Also, thank you! For the longest time, I was trying to place this keyboard my dad had when I was a kid. Turns out it was the SK1. :)
I used to play those auto-chords that you never used thru a cheap guitar chorus, and it sounded amazing (to my young ears) Thanks for the trip down memory lane with this one :)
I'm sure you have this planned already, but I'd love to see you take a closer look at the SK-1, I love that thing! Have you ever done any circuit bending on these old keyboards?
+8-Bit Keys As a sampler I think the VSS-30 is superior to the SK-1, you can overlay samples, manually adjust the ADSR (rather than choose from a selection of envelopes) and it has a selection of effects such as echo. That said the VSS is less sensitive to picking up sounds, so you need to play stuff louder. presets wise, they're about equal. rhythm/chords wise, definitely prefer the SK-1, nice range of rhythms and like the scales you can apply (at the fast end of the keyboard).
I've considered buying one of these in the past, yet I was concerned about it being monophonic. Thanks for the review. I think the 'autochord' section is pretty neat, really. Not great enough for me to purchase one, and I can't imagine using the ROM card. Ever. Thanks for reviewing this!
Great vid as always. This was my first keyboard as well. There was a shop in town that had all the latest tech. Commodore Vic 20's the latest box boxes and of course the entire Casio portatone range. I used to plug this into the mic in on my twin cassette player and turn the gain right up to make distorted electro beats, or so I thought.. Coincidently enough I also ended up with an SK1 as my first sampler some 7-8 years later My next one was an Ensoniq EPS 16, that was better hahaha
I'm glad I found this video. I bought one of these yesterday at an estate sale, I thought the speaker was going bad because the way it sounded, but it may just sound bad as it is.
The Casio PT-20, Pt-30, and the PT-50 have a transposed button to move up or down. I don't know about any other PTs. It seems that after by the Pt-80s the transpose buttons went away, and after the that instrument the chord buttons disappeared as wel. The ROM packs didn't appear until after the PT-30, although I *think* the PT-30 had a similar pack you could RECORD onto! I have never owned a PT past a PT-10, yet I heavily would consider getting one just as toy. The best I've seen as far as a performance is the videos done on a PT-50. I would like to have an earlier PT keyboard, as they seem somewhat more versatile. I always enjoy the videos on this channel!
This was my very first keyboard, as well. I think Old Folks at Home was another name for Swanee River. I had also gotten the Disney ROM cartridge, as well. I hated the one note polyphony, but I still played it. A lot!
I added midi to one of these recently and it has to be said these old PT/MT boards are very very strange fish with that sort of automation added. In a really good way. Love all the old casio boards and to a lesser degree the yamahas. The more recent SA46 is quite an impressive little thing too for what it is. Like a deluxe and very polished version of the SA1. Worth a go if you haven't tried one :)
Reminds me of my SK-10 which I even tried to mod when I went into my teens. The Casio obviously didn't stand a chance and I've broke some modular-analogue part inside and it was not only out of tune at some point, it just died. Really loved sampling part and the demo and felt frustrated it was limited to 4 tones at once. Not that I knew how to play anything, I just wanted to press my arm along the keys to produce cacophony!
I've got a PT-87 that I've had forever. Used it for some electric piano and celesta melodies way back. Old back then. But a couple weeks ago I plugged it into my guitar rig... Let me explain. The first in the chain is the electro-harmonix guitar monosynth pedal. With it, the monophony of the keyboard keeps it tracking perfectly, and basically turns it into several other synths, aside from being able to blend with the original sound wet/dry-style. I also have an expression pedal hooked up so I can manipulate certain variables by foot or hand (as I only need one to play). From there the pedal chain has overdrive, octave-fuzz, a noise gate, and stereo delay, and stereo reverb pedals. And a decent looper with overdubbing capabilities. In this context I think it can still have some use :)
I think the lack of bass was due to the size of keyboard and its speaker, unable to repoduce bass. I also wonder what was the price of sk1 in 1984 compared to pt80. I assume pt80 was low end and cheap because it was definitely for kids and technology similar to first generation Casios (digital oscillator combined with analog circuitry), and the sk1 was a digital sampler so very expensive technology at that time.
Wow me and my sisters were given this second hand in about 1987, it had no rom cartridge and sounded terrible but I learned to play the Star Wars theme and Final Countdown on it so I liked it. Had almost forgotten about it until I saw this video :)
When I was a kid, we had a Bontempi organ, which had just the single instrument-sound and a limited set of chord-keys. We had a book of songs we could play, and that was all we ever played on it
My dad has one of these and I just google searched it and found this video, tank you! All my life I thought that it just had one song but now I know it have 4!
I really enjoy your channel It make me thing how much hapiness this instruments gave in childhoog and then connected to make what we are today I have a yamaha pss-390
oh my god I remember using some keyboard similar to this with this red/green LEDs above the keys. this was in 1987 I think and back then having one of these in Poland was luxury :) friends from school came over to me just to play on the keyboard....
I must have missed this video a few years back, because I just got one and happen to find this video while researching it! (The PT-82) Amazingly it works perfect, the only downside is it looks like someone was rough with it. Black marks all over it and something plastic broken inside. Mine came with the "beginer's" cartridge.
Just found this great episode. The PT-80 also was my first keyboard, when I was a kid. I also was so annoyed by playing only one note at the same time. The funny thing: I'm from Germany, and I was also wondering about the songs on the ROM cartridge. Why did Casio put THESE old, boring and annoying German folk songs on the cartridge?? Awesome episode. Thank you. I also enjoy your 8-Bit Guy channel. Greetings from Cologne / Germany!
Sounds like highpassed pulse waves, so not only did they not give you any bass notes, but they also took out what little bass you would have got from the harmonics. I also looked at the waveforms, and the envelopes are quantized like an NES, which is cool.
I saw this and seriously wondered where I had seen you before. I thought I was crazy for a good few minutes. But of course, eventually I realized that you did a video on old school graphics. Which is great! Yeah so check out that video, other people.
The reason for the keyboard's treble range is actually really simple. The inbuilt rhythms along with the chord keys were for playing the bass sections so there was no need for the bass range on this machine. (Notice I used the word machine as opposed to instrument as it really never was one of those.)
Pretty funny that the keyboard I own, semi pro Casio WK-110, uses an instrument called Celesta. Sounds like an upgraded version of the sound of the same name here
I had that same keyboard in black/ dark grey color here in germany! Man, that sounds really strange nowadays. But back then, I also was jealous when someone had a yamaha keyboard... on the other way, I was happy to have something to play music with.
Incredible. I had this same keyboard when I was six. Someone gave it to me as a present I guess. I haven't heard that Greensleeves tune off the ROM in literally 36 years. My mind is blown. Thank you.
Same here 😮 I actually was watching the office show and Dwight was playing that song and made me remember this keyboard have no clue how I manage but found the model and then came to see if there was a vid and here I am mind fkn blown
I remembered these as a kid and just picked one up recently, CIB. When googling info on it, I ran across this early 8-Bit Guy review!
Anyhow, having purchased similar modern keyboards for my kids, I must say that this 80's "entry" level unit from Casio completely blows away today's junk found in the kids aisle at Target. It's built like a tank (and in Japan) and has a heft and quality to it that today's similar keyboards don't have. I get the limitations, but it does a good job entertaining and has that killer 80's analog synth sound that's hard to duplicate in such an instrument.
Great piece and glad I finally got one after all these years.
I had a PT-100 when I was a kid and I noticed that its demo song played notes that were lower than what you could play on the keyboard, especially with Casio Chord enabled. But at least it is polyphonic and has a more reasonable octave range, plus it has some really cool multi-pulse square wave sounds.
I had it too, as the demo song it played the Mozart Piano Concert cycling available instruments at every verse, but I remember you could change everything while it was playing, raising and lowering the tempo and altering the rhythm and instrument played with the slider selectors. Also Casio Chord Keys were on the actual keyboard, taking the space of the first octave and could be activated optionally with a slider, subtracting the whole first octave of notes
Yeah especially strings were nice on this series (i had the bigger one of these 3,5 octaves)
OMG! _Thank you_ for this great review! The PT-80 was my very first keyboard-I remember putting on "concerts" for my mom with one of the ROM Cards. Later, I "upgraded" to a Casiotone CT-380. Man, I wish I still had both of them! Bravo!
In some alternate universe high riding cars are rolling around with tweeters blasting "Feel the TREBLE Treble treble... How HIGH can you GO?"
Man, this brings back great memories. I saw this keyboard on a video from your main channel and it instantly reminded me that we had this. I'm pretty sure it was my sisters as she was 8 years older than me but my brothers and I quickly claimed it and used it more than her. Thanks for doing this review.
I'm all about that treble no bass
This was my first electronic keyboard too. I remember getting it around 1980, several years before the SK-1 came out, if memory serves, around 1985. That little keyboard cost me $90 dollars, in 1980, and the store I bought it from went out of business close to 30 years ago! I managed to make some decent music with it, at least by kid standards, playing it through a Radio Shack analog reverb box. I think I still have my keyboard from childhood. No surprised that it was analog. I really enjoyed the video. Brought back good memories. Keep making more.
Sorry to correct you, but no way this was in 1980, this model debut was in 1984. In 1980 you could buy only vl tone and casiotone 201. There are no fully analog Casios. There are all hybrid - digital oscillator and analog circuits (except the fully digital ones).
I owned one. My dad had bought me. Can't believe so many years have passed by. Thank you for bringing up the subject.
It's my first keyboard back to 1985 when I was child. Thanks to my mother, rest in peace mah ❤
I was a kid in the 80's and my brother had this keyboard. I went my whole life always thinking about the experience playing with this Casio that had the colorful lights to teach you the songs and up until now I still hum some of the songs and the fills it could do lol finding your video was a real trip!
Blessed Sir...I was Blessed To have That Very Same Key 🔐 Board 🛹...My Dad bought it for me from This Store 🏬 called " MAKRO"Back in The Early 80'S... I eventually gave it to my Brother Because He was really interested in Playing Keys...I am almost 53 Yrs of age now & just came across your Vlog ...Keep Up The Great Wrk Chief...❤️⛪🎼😎🔝🌎⭐🇺🇸🤗☮️🙏.
I had what must have been the revised model of this as a kid. The PT-82. Same Greensleeves and red/green lights on keyboard. What a blast from the 1980's. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
I had SO much fun with this thing as a kid. It was frustrating to play only one key at a time, but I loved the songs and had a ball learning them, or just monkeying around with the different sounds. I think I had a couple of other cartridges, including one with Beatles songs.
*starts watching*
"yousician is the best way to ler..."
*Skips ad*
God fuck yousician, it is such bullshit and sucks for guitar.
I KNOW ITS FUCKING CRAP. THE AD AND THE APP
You need money Right now Google -Did you mean: ERROR - AD NOT SKIPPABLE
or just get opera which has a built in VPN and AD blocker
I have ad block now :D
Best Christmas present ever got mine in 84 I was just happy to have a keyboard at 9 years old
These videos are sweet, keep 'em coming!
I dunno why, but your videos are really addicting. I find myself binge watching them!
I remember this one when i was a child. It might be so bad but helped to learn a little bit of piano playing
nice man i own a pt-30 and still having fun with it
Bro this was my FIRST keyboard, word is bond! Christmas, 1985, my Mom bought it at McDade's.. I still remember EVERY rhythm, yo.. Rock, Disco, etc.. And it was a hell of a tutorial machine, LOVED IT
hi, I made a similar choice back in the day. My dad took me to my local store and I chose the Yamaha DX27 over the Juno60, reason.. again because of all the buttons and real kind of sounds.. but was fooled in the store as the DX was running though some effects that i didnt know of either back in the day so the sounds sounded great.. when I got it home you can imagine the dead sound I got until I got my 1st MicroVerb :) then it all come alive again. I still didn't even understand the thing of multitimbral either so I used to bounce the track on an old AKAI 4000 reel to reel :)
Very cool. I got this when I was a kid as well, I'm sure right around the same time as you. I played it a lot. I eventually became a musician (mostly guitar, but eventually some keys as well), and I really do think this Casio was the beginning of that. I'll never forget those built in songs. Greensleeves over and over. Wish I still had all this stuff, but if I did, I'm sure I'd be appalled at what it actually sounded like!
I remember trying this in a store about 1982-1983, and like you I was annoyed about it being monophonic while Yamaha keyboards were already polyphonic (but bigger and more expensive). The chip itself seems to support 6 voice polyphony plus drum sounds, but letting the player only play one note at a time simplifies the electronics quite a bit because that way you only need to scan the keyboard for one key in a matrix-style which could give "false positives" if certain keys were pressed together like on some computer keyboards, while polyphony would have required more complex wiring, and probably the chip didn't even support that though it does play back pre-sequenced polyphonic sequences like the chords and the ROM songs. I think Casio started its keyboard line with the VL-1 which was actually a calculator at first and then expanded it as much as they could, eventually arriving at the PT-80, but still doing the same style of keyboard scanning. But about the instrument sounds... back when this was released, all keyboards sounded quite synthesized... the sampling keyboard came a bit later (in 1986) as far as I remember, when there was the Amiga computer out which also supported sampled sounds. Keyboards that really sounded like real instruments across the board didn't appear until the early 1990's.
Keyboards prior to the early 90s needed external amplification to really make their sounds come alive, with the right type of amplification system, some of the sounds on those pre 90s keyboards sound really really good, for example, I regularly gig with a Yamaha ps-55 and a concertmate 680, coming through my 250 watt Gallien-Kreuger bass amp, those two keyboards sound like a million dollars
I still have my original Casio PT - 80 from Christmas, 1985. I hooked my guitar pedal board through the output port and bused the signal into my amp. Using slight digital delay and distortion, the 16 beat is pretty funky sounding. Keying the "chords" and switching them around while playing guitar along is fun. Makes for a metronome accompaniment.
" bused the signal "
What does that mean, bused?
@@ColtraneTaylor routed.
You’re welcome.
@@bachrocktheamericahatersan5799 With a guitar cable?
@@ColtraneTaylor cable with an adapter. You’re welcome….. again.
@@stephenadamsmusicalinterpr4203 Thank you!
This was my first keyboard as well, I got it for my birthday at People's restaurant near Bannister Mall (RIP) in Kansas City. I loved that thing, despite it's flaws. I loved taking the ROM chip out & hearing the boop it makes when you hit the keys. I also imagined the keys as robots with red eyes (& apparently no torso). Looking back, it must've been pretty junk if those were my fondest memories of it...
I can really relate to David's thoughts about his first keyboard! I got mine for my 6th birthday; a green/blue Bontempi ES3100. Sound is very similar to this Casio... and I loved it back in the days. I learned to play the main melody of "Für Elise" on it and it convinced me to go further in music. Unfortunately, I don't own it anymore for about 15-20 years or so. Would have loved to open it up to see what's under the hood. Love your channel!
My childhood keyboard was a Yamaha PSR-240 full sized keyboard. I still use it today for recording music.
The Look of the keyboard and it's simple features are just Neat! Love The video!
Great video. Nice to be learning so much.
Looked up Casio White Keyboard because I remember the tape w/ a rating system that my friend had.
I’d given up looking up the keyboard I had as a kid because there were just too many...
ONLY TO FIND IT ON THIS VIDEO!!! My dude, you’re amazing! :)
Plot twist: The person that got the keyboard from the garage sale resold it on eBay and now David has it :P
EDIT: Grammatical Error
I´ve traveled back in time to the 80s while watching this video. I also chosed this keyboard back at the time (christmas gift if I remember well). The reason is plane and simple... the techy aspect with the lights, the rom slot, self-teaching modes, etc. You have not mentioned it in the video but it was rating your performance after playing the songs in the ROM (just like modern singing games). It was cool that I bought a second ROM with rock songs which was way more interesting that the default ROM (which was exactly the same you have shown). As you said, we realize now that it did not sound well at all but back at the time I did not even notice it. Anyway, the memories are good (I expent a lot of time trying to learn to play it). While I learn to play the final countdown with some style ... the PT-80 helped me to figure out something important ... I have no talent at all for music... hahahaha
Now there is a hidden voice in my head telling me to kill Lorelei.
Good double puns
Omae wa mô shindeiru, Lorelei!
Can't remember if I had the 80 or the PT-30 back in the day. But like you, I was attracted by it's features. Especially the chord section! What I did was cram it's output through a Yamaha CS-10 synth and shape the chord sound with the patch sound of the CS-10. Wasn't too bad. And then chop it up with a triggered LFO was pretty cool.
I'm more of a full sized fan as I like the looks and sounds as well as actually having playing them in school which gives me a nostalgic attachment to them but watching these is turning me around into thinking some of the little ones can also provide some good sounds in their own right dispite not having the speaker umph and feature depth of the full sized ones.
Watching you and the medium and small keyboards makes me think differently about my biost to the big ones and got me thinking you really need a combination of all 3 for a powerful electronic keyboard only band sound.
my grandma actually has one still, she bought it when it was released :D
I had both of these! The PT-80 was my first, and drove my mother and sister crazy playing Greensleeves!! And the SK-1 was soooo cool with the sampling ability! I had so much fun making songs out of farts and burps. :P
wow this brings back so many fond memories. I had one of these in the mid 80’s, I was about 7. I got a couple more rom cartridges later, I remember one had Brazil on it, and the other the theme tune to Fame
The Casio PT-80 was the first keyboard I ever owned. The MT-210 was the second one and the SK-1 was the third keyboard I owned. The PT-80 Actually had realistic sounding monophonic synth tones. Now I own the CT-X 3000 keyboard. Casio has come a long way since the early eighties.
My first "keyboard" was a Bontempi Organ I got for Christmas in 1977. I took to it rather well, which in 1979 led to me getting a Yamaha spinet piano for Christmas, which still sits at my parents house and hasn't been tuned since around 1991.
I love the new intro! :)
+Ccs4646 - It's the same intro from the last episode.
8-Bit Keys No I mean this one now has graphics, so thats what I like.
+8-Bit Keys I love this channel so far
best Casio PT series keyboards i tried (and owned both for a few years together) were / are PT-31 & PT-50 imo ...
they compliment each other very well and i used a couple of Super 8mm film cartridge cardboard boxes underneath the PT-31 to act as the upper keyboard section for the PT-50 as the lower keyboard ...
sold both ages ago of course (and got higher grade Casio keyboards on the MT and later regular size CT keyboard series) but still have one RAM cartridge as well as a digital to analog converter unit that fits into a compartment at the bottom of both instruments for storing music data on tape ...
i'd certainly be getting both again someday to add to my more professional instruments today as i have some old music data done on those two Casio machines i'd like to work on again ...
This was one of my favorite things in the 80s. I still hum the 4 songs in that rom pack!
for a "bass track" you could run the keyboards output into an "octaver" fx pedal that can add a sub-octave to the actual signal fed into it.
our bass player uses one in combination with a distortion pedal to compensate for the loss of low end caused by the distortion - the processed signal then goes through a cross-fading volume pedal so he can have the dry bass signal or blend in as much distortion as he wants - really cool setup
Could that second "hidden" voice be driven directly by circuitry in the ROM cart?
The Garden of Eatin that's what I was thinking
Interesting thought. Maybe it's just one of the chord voices.
Good point about the second voice. I never really thought much about it until now.
Also, thank you! For the longest time, I was trying to place this keyboard my dad had when I was a kid. Turns out it was the SK1. :)
I used to play those auto-chords that you never used thru a cheap guitar chorus, and it sounded amazing (to my young ears)
Thanks for the trip down memory lane with this one :)
That celeste sound made me jump. My doorbell sounds exactly like that.
I'm sure you have this planned already, but I'd love to see you take a closer look at the SK-1, I love that thing! Have you ever done any circuit bending on these old keyboards?
+NBpianoman - Oh Yes.. I have a whole review and some performances planned with the SK-1.
+8-Bit Keys The Casio SK-1 was one of the first keyboards I ever played/ Speaking of samplers, recently bought a Yamaha VSS-30 from eBay.
+dronespace What do you think of it?
+8-Bit Keys As a sampler I think the VSS-30 is superior to the SK-1, you can overlay samples, manually adjust the ADSR (rather than choose from a selection of envelopes) and it has a selection of effects such as echo. That said the VSS is less sensitive to picking up sounds, so you need to play stuff louder. presets wise, they're about equal. rhythm/chords wise, definitely prefer the SK-1, nice range of rhythms and like the scales you can apply (at the fast end of the keyboard).
Any news on that SK-1 video? i had a look on your channel but could only find the Lemmings video (also very cool, played a LOT of lemmings as a kid)
5:00 The Simpsons’ Cape Fear parody episode used that joke with Sideshow Bob’s ‘Die Bart Die’ tattoo :)
Thanks to this keyboard I changed my mind and discovered the wonders of the guitar...Cheers Casio.
I've considered buying one of these in the past, yet I was concerned about it being monophonic. Thanks for the review. I think the 'autochord' section is pretty neat, really. Not great enough for me to purchase one, and I can't imagine using the ROM card. Ever. Thanks for reviewing this!
Honestly I like the PT 80 a lot, the sounds, while not the greatest or most realistic, are really neat in their own right
I don’t think his blanket assertion that the sounds are “bad” will age well.
Great vid as always. This was my first keyboard as well. There was a shop in town that had all the latest tech. Commodore Vic 20's the latest box boxes and of course the entire Casio portatone range. I used to plug this into the mic in on my twin cassette player and turn the gain right up to make distorted electro beats, or so I thought.. Coincidently enough I also ended up with an SK1 as my first sampler some 7-8 years later My next one was an Ensoniq EPS 16, that was better hahaha
I had one of these as a kid. I remember playing along with those rom cartridge songs all the time.
I had a PT 87 as a kid and fuckin' loved it. To me it seemed like the one to have back during the keyboard/synthesizer craze of the 80's...
I'm glad I found this video. I bought one of these yesterday at an estate sale, I thought the speaker was going bad because the way it sounded, but it may just sound bad as it is.
The Casio PT-20, Pt-30, and the PT-50 have a transposed button to move up or down. I don't know about any other PTs. It seems that after by the Pt-80s the transpose buttons went away, and after the that instrument the chord buttons disappeared as wel. The ROM packs didn't appear until after the PT-30, although I *think* the PT-30 had a similar pack you could RECORD onto! I have never owned a PT past a PT-10, yet I heavily would consider getting one just as toy. The best I've seen as far as a performance is the videos done on a PT-50. I would like to have an earlier PT keyboard, as they seem somewhat more versatile.
I always enjoy the videos on this channel!
Congratz on 40K subscribers!
This was my very first keyboard, as well. I think Old Folks at Home was another name for Swanee River. I had also gotten the Disney ROM cartridge, as well. I hated the one note polyphony, but I still played it. A lot!
I added midi to one of these recently and it has to be said these old PT/MT boards are very very strange fish with that sort of automation added. In a really good way. Love all the old casio boards and to a lesser degree the yamahas. The more recent SA46 is quite an impressive little thing too for what it is. Like a deluxe and very polished version of the SA1. Worth a go if you haven't tried one :)
Hi. Do you have any schematic or link how to add midi in on this keybord? Pleeeease :)
Reminds me of my SK-10 which I even tried to mod when I went into my teens. The Casio obviously didn't stand a chance and I've broke some modular-analogue part inside and it was not only out of tune at some point, it just died.
Really loved sampling part and the demo and felt frustrated it was limited to 4 tones at once. Not that I knew how to play anything, I just wanted to press my arm along the keys to produce cacophony!
I've got a PT-87 that I've had forever. Used it for some electric piano and celesta melodies way back. Old back then.
But a couple weeks ago I plugged it into my guitar rig... Let me explain.
The first in the chain is the electro-harmonix guitar monosynth pedal. With it, the monophony of the keyboard keeps it tracking perfectly, and basically turns it into several other synths, aside from being able to blend with the original sound wet/dry-style. I also have an expression pedal hooked up so I can manipulate certain variables by foot or hand (as I only need one to play).
From there the pedal chain has overdrive, octave-fuzz, a noise gate, and stereo delay, and stereo reverb pedals.
And a decent looper with overdubbing capabilities.
In this context I think it can still have some use :)
Nice review! Waiting for next one. :)
I upgraded my PT-80 with MIDI-OUT just to practice electronic and programming. Now it is so much fun to play!
My friend had one of these. I had a Casio SK-5. I was jealous of the lights.
My first keyboard..was about to get it for 3yr old - I like how the lights help you learn the songs..UNTIL I heard the SK 1. Sounds so much better.
i used to have this one as kid back in the 80s.frustration was immense
I think the lack of bass was due to the size of keyboard and its speaker, unable to repoduce bass.
I also wonder what was the price of sk1 in 1984 compared to pt80. I assume pt80 was low end and cheap because it was definitely for kids and technology similar to first generation Casios (digital oscillator combined with analog circuitry), and the sk1 was a digital sampler so very expensive technology at that time.
My first keyboard when I was 10 years old. I am so happy with it.
WAIT! You can speek German? Please make a little video in German or give us an example! Greets from Germany!
Dafür! :-)
ja, das wäre cool ^^
Pleace in german
Dafür bekommst du viele likes
Hi kann auch deutsch sprechen
Wow me and my sisters were given this second hand in about 1987, it had no rom cartridge and sounded terrible but I learned to play the Star Wars theme and Final Countdown on it so I liked it. Had almost forgotten about it until I saw this video :)
When I was a kid, we had a Bontempi organ, which had just the single instrument-sound and a limited set of chord-keys. We had a book of songs we could play, and that was all we ever played on it
My dad has one of these and I just google searched it and found this video, tank you! All my life I thought that it just had one song but now I know it have 4!
I wish there were more channel looking in detail at music and instruments!
I had that keyboard as a kid. I remember ordering two more of the ROM cards too. RO-262 "Country Greats" and RO-356 "Disney Movie Magic".
WOW!!!!!!!Thank you so much my dear friends.
This is the first electronic keyboard I had.......
I have two keyboards related to this; the PT-280 and the PT-380. I don't have the heart to part with them though. Too many fond memories.
I really enjoy your channel
It make me thing how much hapiness this instruments gave in childhoog and then connected to make what we are today
I have a yamaha pss-390
I heard the band Duster supposedly used the drum machine setting Beguine on this keyboard for the song Irato
oh my god I remember using some keyboard similar to this with this red/green LEDs above the keys. this was in 1987 I think and back then having one of these in Poland was luxury :) friends from school came over to me just to play on the keyboard....
RIP Lorelei
I really love your wiring job. What exactly is holding the cables in place?
I must have missed this video a few years back, because I just got one and happen to find this video while researching it! (The PT-82) Amazingly it works perfect, the only downside is it looks like someone was rough with it. Black marks all over it and something plastic broken inside. Mine came with the "beginer's" cartridge.
The drums sound amazing. Very 808'esque and pretty much like 50% of current music.
Just found this great episode. The PT-80 also was my first keyboard, when I was a kid. I also was so annoyed by playing only one note at the same time. The funny thing: I'm from Germany, and I was also wondering about the songs on the ROM cartridge. Why did Casio put THESE old, boring and annoying German folk songs on the cartridge?? Awesome episode. Thank you. I also enjoy your 8-Bit Guy channel. Greetings from Cologne / Germany!
My first keyboard as a kid as well. Wow Greensleaves brings me back!
Sounds like highpassed pulse waves, so not only did they not give you any bass notes, but they also took out what little bass you would have got from the harmonics. I also looked at the waveforms, and the envelopes are quantized like an NES, which is cool.
Lorelei, they make nice open air concerts there
I had that keyboard..... as a kid. Brings back memories
I played this a lot whenever I went to my schoolmate's home. My first keyboard was Casio PT-20.
I saw this and seriously wondered where I had seen you before. I thought I was crazy for a good few minutes. But of course, eventually I realized that you did a video on old school graphics. Which is great! Yeah so check out that video, other people.
The reason for the keyboard's treble range is actually really simple. The inbuilt rhythms along with the chord keys were for playing the bass sections so there was no need for the bass range on this machine. (Notice I used the word machine as opposed to instrument as it really never was one of those.)
Though this isn't music related too much...I still love the music...nice and catchy. Not to mention, the best part if all: FREE!
He's come a long way.
Pretty funny that the keyboard I own, semi pro Casio WK-110, uses an instrument called Celesta. Sounds like an upgraded version of the sound of the same name here
I had that same keyboard in black/ dark grey color here in germany! Man, that sounds really strange nowadays. But back then, I also was jealous when someone had a yamaha keyboard... on the other way, I was happy to have something to play music with.
When you first turned on the "Rock" rhythm, I was waiting to hear "In the Air Tonight" start playing. :-)
I still have mine with his original case, manuals and 3 ROM packs and love it until thia day!!!!