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moosers
Published on 07/11/10 at 21:54
The Casio SK-1 is a small sampling keyboard that is one of the first of it’s kind. It has become somewhat of a revered keyboard over the years, although I’m sure it’s makers didn’t think that it would ever be. It’s general characteristics include connection jacks for microphone and line inputs, as well as for an output. On the bottom it has a battery compartment and a tuning knob as well. It’s got two and a half octaves of mini keys and a built in speaker and microphone.
UTILIZATION
Using the Casio SK-1 isn’t too difficult, but there’s a good amount that you can do with the keyboard that I’ve never touched. I’ve only really used it for it’s basic sampling, which is what I’m sure most users will be doing as well. It’s easy enough to record your voice using the built in speaker and play it back with the keyboard, but it also has a ton of cheesy built in sounds, rhythms, and a demo song. I can’t really speak to how easy it is to get in depth with the SK-1, but it’s easy to use the basic features for sure. The manual has everything that you’d need to know about the SK-1, but I never had a need to look at it much.
OVERALL OPINION
As far as I know, the Casio SK-1 is one of the first of it’s kind in terms of being a sampling keyboard. It’s a lot of fun to play around with, but for what I do I’m not sure it has any real musical value. Beyond the sampler, the built in sounds that it has are pretty cheesy, but I guess they are kind of cool in their own way, although I couldn’t see myself using any of them for serious purposes. It isn’t too difficult to find the SK-1 as it is to find some of these other older sampling keyboards, so if you want an ancient sampler, the SK-1 is a great place to start looking.
UTILIZATION
Using the Casio SK-1 isn’t too difficult, but there’s a good amount that you can do with the keyboard that I’ve never touched. I’ve only really used it for it’s basic sampling, which is what I’m sure most users will be doing as well. It’s easy enough to record your voice using the built in speaker and play it back with the keyboard, but it also has a ton of cheesy built in sounds, rhythms, and a demo song. I can’t really speak to how easy it is to get in depth with the SK-1, but it’s easy to use the basic features for sure. The manual has everything that you’d need to know about the SK-1, but I never had a need to look at it much.
OVERALL OPINION
As far as I know, the Casio SK-1 is one of the first of it’s kind in terms of being a sampling keyboard. It’s a lot of fun to play around with, but for what I do I’m not sure it has any real musical value. Beyond the sampler, the built in sounds that it has are pretty cheesy, but I guess they are kind of cool in their own way, although I couldn’t see myself using any of them for serious purposes. It isn’t too difficult to find the SK-1 as it is to find some of these other older sampling keyboards, so if you want an ancient sampler, the SK-1 is a great place to start looking.