Tried two different ways to record a beat on a 90s Casio keyboard and wow what a difference

I picked up a Casio SK-1 at a garage sale last month for 5 bucks. At first I was just using the preset drum patterns and mangling the demo songs, which was fun but kinda boring. Then I figured out you can tap your own rhythm into the memory bank one hit at a time, no quantizing at all. The timing is all over the place but it gives these crazy off-kilter loops that sound like a robot having a seizure. Has anyone else messed with those old keyboards just for the wonky beats?

2 comments

2 Comments

tessa_kim316d ago

I mean, I kind of have to disagree with you there. The whole point of those old Casio samplers is they're so cheap and lo-fi that the bad timing and crunchy sound is what makes them interesting. I've messed around with an SK-5 and the unquantized beats sound way more alive than anything you can get from a modern drum machine with perfect grid snapping. That messy, human feel is the whole appeal to me.

lily51116d ago

Mike tried recording a beat on his SK-1 at 2am and woke up his whole apartment building.