Casio VL-1 user reviews ( 8/10) - 4 user reviews

• 04/05/11

  mooseherman's review "Great little dinky Synth"

  Characteristics

  This is a two and a half octave analog synth that was made by Casio. While it was originally very cheap and didn't really hold up to a professional level, it's child-like, toy-sounding qualities lend an endearing and interesting charm to music. In fact groups such as Talking Heads have used it and it's sounds have been featured on several hit records and singles despite their absurd quality.
  
  It has five voices as well as a sequencer, and inexplicably, a calculator. There are vibrato and tremolo effects but there are no other effects. There is a drum machine with ten basic patterns to choose from.

  Utilization

  There isn't really a whole lot that can be done with this five-voice, two and a half octave synth. If you are looking for a simple, kind of dumb-sounding melody or a lo-fi drum machine, this is a good choice. Otherwise this isn't really a great keyboard at all. It certainly isn't going to give you many options, and there is no way to learn how to play on this thing.

  Overall Opinion

  The sounds are the farthest thing from realistic you can imagine. They have names like guitar, piano, flute, and violin, but unlike a mellotron which actually comes close to approximating those sounds (at least in the case of flutes and violins), these sounds don't even remotely approach their "sources". That being said, sometimes, especially nowadays in lo-fi indie rock and "twee" genres, sounds like this are actually desirable. So there is a certain kind of value in this machine assuming you are looking for a very specific aesthetic.

  I like the cheesiness of the sound (for lack of a better word). I've heard these sounds and others like them used on lo-fi recordings with good results, and I've also heard them used on major label records as a nice contrast to a full-bodied sound. I won't say that this is something to learn how to play on, nor is it an acceptable alternative to a really good analog synth or keyboard. But it does have a purpose. I don't know how much these are running for nowadays but I'd say if you can find a cheap one it'd be well worth it. Casio has upgraded in the years since, but while their sounds have gotten more realistic, they still aren't good, but they've also lost the charm of these types of sounds.
  Did you find this review helpful?yesno

• 12/15/10

  Carlos Jon's review ( translated ) Improve this translation

  Characteristics

  Everything has been said.
  
  
  
  I specify a time and resistance to shock quite fantastic.

  Utilization

  Same. Everything is super simple.
  
  
  
  Maybe just at editing. but once we caught that one (or almost) the entry of this code was really interresting, it was all captured: X0099900
  
  X = 1 to 9 has to see you to your taste.

  Overall Opinion

  Roooooooh. It's so ... POWERFUL!
  
  
  
  Seriously, in the treble, the Casiotone is a sword of Nintendo masturbator. but for low ... Baoum.
  
  
  
  Exit Mario, Welcome to the Cheap's Old Groove (Example: Try Tapper 50099900)! You couple with one or two other synths for leads.
  
  
  
  We note in passing that the casio marry very well together. SK1 is not the yucky example.

  Is the king of Casio synths. The Big Boss.
  
  
  
  VLTone first on the throne of music Lo Fi Electro
  
  
  
  Essential tool to all artists who want to fuck a grain to his music: Electro, Rock, Pop, Experimental (Go on a distortion and a delay in flute or violin ...)
  
  
  
  Hey! You can tell that you experience the Elvis Casio, actually.
  Did you find this review helpful?yesno
• 03/07/07

  soopalonyon's review ( translated ) Improve this translation

  Characteristics

  - What type of keyboard (synth, piano ...)? How many octaves?
  
  What a strange question! The VL-1 has a unique feel, inimitable for performing glissandos murderers, fingers immediately feel in harmony with the cosmic machine and regularly produce unintentional marks that are dictated by the user's deepest unconscious . With the VL-1, the most mediocre musician is changed to a smuggler whose lightning energy leading researchers of the laboratory Casio have not yet managed to solve the mystery. How many octaves? How much?? But you must open your spirituality as a poppy flower in the dew of spring to see that the octave is a measure of narrow, low earth which is transcended when your fingers begin to dance on the slider to transpose and notes to jump start such cheerfully nihilistic these frogs in the Amazon over the foaming river.
  
  - What controllers (pitch, modulation, sustain ...)?
  
  Do come back more on the implementation. Let us not dwell either on its natural wha-wha (already mentioned by other adventurers). We have one LFO sync with hypnotic rhythms of the instrument.
  
  - What connection (Audio, MIDI, Pedal ...)?
  
  Here again we must understand that this instrument has been designed to survive for centuries to come. What will remain of it after twelve o'clock jargon meteorites, atomic explosions and giant locusts will be shot down on our old earth? I say to you: at lunchtime will be a dead language, dialect indecipherable to future dominant species, mode of communication completely obsolete, symbol of our civilization in decline. The only concession to the present time these demiurges Funky Casio is to be resolved is the audio output so narrow that it masks the sensitivity of the beautiful built-in speaker. Forget the connections that bind us to our vulgar modern! Let's be ready to answer the call of the eternal spheres which revolve in this wildly interstellar space.
  
  - How many sounds, effects? What styles? Are they edited?
  
  The sounds that can come out of this gem are infinite. Chants that would strip nostalgic tears to a dock by the stridency pale Bulgarian wolves howling. Everything is within reach of your hand, my friend, provided you are willing to sacrifice years of your life to reflect on the magic numbers that can tame this beast timeless.
  
  - Via a utility Mac / PC?
  
  I repeat, no concession to the present. Like ancient Rome, the empire of Bill G. one day collapse. While the VL-1 Solar sing his symphony on the smoking ruins.
  
  - What is polyphony? ...
  
  No polyphony, forget the agreements of Western music, free your mind.

  Utilization

  - The general configuration is it simple?
  
  What is the absolute simplicity, may, for the tortured and morbid brains that we have seen as an insurmountable mystery. But patience, O traveler.
  
  - Publishing of sound effects or is it easy?
  
  The magic numbers, remember. Pythagoras would be the wise, apparently, VL1 dreamed of the sixth century BC.
  
  - The manual is clear and sufficient? ...
  
  I have misplaced the manual for several years. But a community of explorers was formed and was able to share his discoveries through the web. I was able to introduce me to the secret sealed in these figures that make the animal more docile when whispers in his ear.

  Overall Opinion

  - The sounds they are suitable to your style of music?
  
  The question is: will I be strong enough, free enough to experience the heartbreaking beauty of these unique sounds? Only did I not too stuck in my era?
  
  - Are they realistic?
  
  Another question asked wrong: this machine is inimitable. What would it need to be compared to instruments that will end all in museums?
  
  - The effects are they effective and responsive?
  
  You defeated effects, they are just window dressing. When an evening of nostalgia these trifles will take you by the throat, pours your tears on the VL1 while stroking its speaker, effects you will use only organic.
  
  - The expression is good? (Response to velocity, aftertouch to)?
  
  Another criterion moved. Expressionism is the closet for years. Make the leap forward you need.
  
  - What are the sounds you prefer, you hate ...?
  
  As an outgrowth of VL1 you find your soul. It becomes your mirror. Do you love or hate in yourself you will meet.

  - How long have you use it?
  
  It was in 1983 or 84, I do not know very well. At the time, my grandfather had brought back from a perilous journey in the East. It was my first instrument.
  
  - What is so special that you like most and least?
  
  This ivory white, this disproportion between the size and the effects it produces.
  
  - Have you tried many other models before buying it?
  
  As I said, it touches on his old my little fingers were learning.
  
  - How would you rate the quality / price?
  
  This instrument is priceless. It would be a crime to do business. I'm going to write this at the UN to suggest that they be classified as protected species.
  
  - With experience, you do again this choice? ...
  
  How to respond? It was he who chose me instead. All my destiny then it is found under his benevolent protection.
  Did you find this review helpful?yesno
• 06/19/06

  Jeremy R's review ( translated ) Improve this translation

  Characteristics

  Two and a half octaves. Buttons of type "calculator" (no velocity, no aftertouch, of course).
  
  
  
  We can still transpose an octave up, or down an octave.
  
  
  
  Six stripping sounds (piano, fantasy, violin, flute, guitar, ADSR). No effect. No editing of sound, except the last (ADSR) that "program" by entering an 8 digit code.
  
  
  
  1 + speed voice polyphony independent also has a voice polyphony (only one "plic", "plop" and "Chak" at a time).
  
  
  
  There is a small built-in sequencer very practical and clever. It's so simple and clever that I can not find words to describe its operation.

  Utilization

  Not too easy to use. No need to book.

  Overall Opinion

  Sounds completely stripping. Sounds worse than Nintendo or Commodore (more kitsch, actually). No realism. No expression. It's like playing on a calculator.
  
  
  
  The sounds are used in electronic music kitsch.

  The model I have is a replica of the VL-1 by Realistic (Tandy made for the stores, which went bankrupt in the 90s). But it is exactly the same synth.
  
  
  
  It has a function calculator extremely useful to its accounts.
  
  
  
  I use this synth for over 20 years. It is indestructible. I have no idea of ​​the price, I was 2 or 3 years old when my father bought it. I always wonder why he bought it elsewhere, I will ask him ... Finally, I'm not complaining!
  
  
  
  It can be found for a crust of bread, so why deprive yourself? Finally do not put more than 20 euros anyway.
  Did you find this review helpful?yesno

• Page: 1