S
seilerbird
Guest
Not one that you type on, but one you make music with. I purchased a Casio WK-500 76 key synthesizer last month and I have been having a blast with it. 670 tones, 200 rhythms, 150 songs built in, USB interface and an SD card slot. Here is a list of the amazing set of features:
76 piano-style keys
Touch Response (2 sensitivity levels, off)
48-note polyphony (maximum)
670 high-quality tones including stereo grand piano tones
200 rhythms including 77 ethnic rhythms and 20 patterns for piano play
Rhythm Editor: 10 user rhythms
Auto-accompaniment
152 Song Bank tunes, including 50 Exercise phrases
Song Expansion: 10 songs maximum, approximately 320 KB total
Music Preset (305 presets)
Registration (8 banks x 4 sets for 32 setups)
One Touch Preset (200 presets)
Digital Effects: 10 reverbs, 5 choruses
Preset Scale (16 scales)
Scale memory (4scales)
Recorder: 6 tracks x 5 songs, 1 lesson song, approximately 12,000 notes total
Metronome
Auto Harmonize (12 types)
Arpeggiator (90 types)
Rhythm / Song Bank Controller
Musical Information System (Backlit LCD)
USB port for computer connection
GM level 1 compatible
1/4" Line outputs
SD Card Slot
Pitch Wheel
Speakers: 12cm x 2, 5cm x 2 (amplifier: 6W + 6W)
Comes with song book, music stand, and AD12 ML adapter
Batteries: D-size x 6 (not included)
This is quite a contrast to the first synth I owned. It was a Paia P 4700/J that I bought in 1978. It was in kit form, like a Heathkit and took me a week to assemble. It was a modular design that had to be patched with these wires to make it create a sound. It took about 15 minutes to change from one sound to another sound and there were no instructions on how to get it to make any sound in particular. It was a true digital device and consumer digital devices were extremely rare in the 70s. This was 5 years before CD players hit the market. The keyboard plugged directly into a digital to analogue converter and the rest of the unit was analogue. It had waveform generators, filters, sequencers, envelope generators and a bunch of other modules I have forgotten. It looks like ancient history compared to the WK-500 but at the time it was pure magic. Now I have 670 different tones available at the push of a button. In between these two gems I have probably owned another dozen different synths and I have loved them all. Too much fun.
Of course the most amazing thing about these two synths is the price. The Paia cost me a bit over $1000 and the Casion was $179 with free shipping, and I didn't have to put it together.
76 piano-style keys
Touch Response (2 sensitivity levels, off)
48-note polyphony (maximum)
670 high-quality tones including stereo grand piano tones
200 rhythms including 77 ethnic rhythms and 20 patterns for piano play
Rhythm Editor: 10 user rhythms
Auto-accompaniment
152 Song Bank tunes, including 50 Exercise phrases
Song Expansion: 10 songs maximum, approximately 320 KB total
Music Preset (305 presets)
Registration (8 banks x 4 sets for 32 setups)
One Touch Preset (200 presets)
Digital Effects: 10 reverbs, 5 choruses
Preset Scale (16 scales)
Scale memory (4scales)
Recorder: 6 tracks x 5 songs, 1 lesson song, approximately 12,000 notes total
Metronome
Auto Harmonize (12 types)
Arpeggiator (90 types)
Rhythm / Song Bank Controller
Musical Information System (Backlit LCD)
USB port for computer connection
GM level 1 compatible
1/4" Line outputs
SD Card Slot
Pitch Wheel
Speakers: 12cm x 2, 5cm x 2 (amplifier: 6W + 6W)
Comes with song book, music stand, and AD12 ML adapter
Batteries: D-size x 6 (not included)
This is quite a contrast to the first synth I owned. It was a Paia P 4700/J that I bought in 1978. It was in kit form, like a Heathkit and took me a week to assemble. It was a modular design that had to be patched with these wires to make it create a sound. It took about 15 minutes to change from one sound to another sound and there were no instructions on how to get it to make any sound in particular. It was a true digital device and consumer digital devices were extremely rare in the 70s. This was 5 years before CD players hit the market. The keyboard plugged directly into a digital to analogue converter and the rest of the unit was analogue. It had waveform generators, filters, sequencers, envelope generators and a bunch of other modules I have forgotten. It looks like ancient history compared to the WK-500 but at the time it was pure magic. Now I have 670 different tones available at the push of a button. In between these two gems I have probably owned another dozen different synths and I have loved them all. Too much fun.
Of course the most amazing thing about these two synths is the price. The Paia cost me a bit over $1000 and the Casion was $179 with free shipping, and I didn't have to put it together.