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Output impedance = 6 K ohms, Output voltage = 2 V (RMS)
Power
3-way AC/DC power source; – Home AC outlet: 100, 117, 220 or 240 V (plus minus 10 V), 50/60Hz, with optional AC adaptor AD-1 – DC: Batteries: Five D-size manganese dry batteries. Battery life = Approx. 18 hours. – Car battery: with car battery adaptor CA-1
The Casio Casiotone CT-370 is a light, portable, but surprisingly sturdy, well-built keyboard produced during the late 1980s. Like all members of the Casiotone family, this instruments features many sounds and auto-accompaniments. The CT-370 can be powered via DC adaptor, or by six D-size batteries.
To the left of the panel we find a single speaker. Two (one on each side) would have been better, but there are many other Casio models that are stereo. Under the Casio logo lays a green and white message: “Pulse Code Modulation” – this is to remind us that the CT-370 is based upon PCM samples. In the 1980s, this was still a big deal. Following to the right there’s a series of five sliders: Power on/off, Main Volume, Accompaniment Volume, Rhythm Volume, and Chord type. While the first four are self explanatory, the fifth slider allows you to choose the way your keyboard is set up: you can have the full keyboard dedicated to one sound, with no left side auto-accompaniment, or you can set up two types of accompaniment, and the Casio chord feature (a simplified auto-accompaniment, where you press two keys and you get complex chords – useful for beginners).
Continuing to the right, there are three red buttons: these are the Synchro/Fill-In, Start/Stop, and Intro/Ending controls. They allow the user to: start the rhythm/accompaniment as soon as you touch the keyboard, start/stop the rhythm, and finally create a brief introduction, or finish in style with an automated ending. Very, very useful for performing live. Two grey buttons are dedicated to the tempo: faster, and slower.
A series of ten grey buttons allows you to choose the rhythm, while a lone blue button toggles between two settings, to access the remaining ten rhythms. The same for the Tone section.
Finally, two green and a yellow button that strangely are not well labeled: the first green button allows us to mix and match any two of the preset tones, for a whopping 210 tone bank. The second green button is the auto-harmonize, which harmonizes the right hand to the chord you’re playing on the left. And lastly, the yellow button is dedicated to the demo song.
The keyboard itself feels pleasantly light, and while this may be very bad for piano sounds (especially since it’s not dynamic), it’s perfect for organ or synth sounds. The back of the unit is very Spartan, with only the power connection, a 1/8″ mono output, and a tune knob.
This is not a bad keyboard, and now it may be even considered “PCM vintage” is there were such a thing 😉 The tone mix feature adds a lot to the overall sound – even though it obviously cuts the polyphony in half to five voices (hey! that never stopped the Prophet-5 😀 )
Today, the Casiotone concept is still going strong, with the CTK-series.
Casio CT-370 audio demos
The Casio Casiotone CT-370 factory demo (“Night Birds”, by British group Shakatak. A very similar version of this demo is also featured in the Casio CSM-1 module (CSM-1 DEMO SONG) , and it sounds pretty similar – I suspect the on-board ROM is based on the same samples)
The GM sounds are pretty much the same as all the other GM sets in the world, so I’m not recording examples of this bank.
Initialize the Yamaha DJX
Data Initialization All data can be initialized and restored to the factory preset condition by turning on the power while holding the highest (rightmost) white key on the keyboard. “CLr Backup” will appear briefly on the display.
Thanks to the blindfolded Goddess of Luck, I won this keyboard in a raffle at a Mars Music (great store unfortunately no longer in existence) Keyboardist Night years ago. It is comparable to the Casio CTK-601. This is a useful auto-accompaniment keyboard, capable of some respectable sounds and rhythms. It sits at the lower end of the EM-series, but holds its own compared to its bigger brothers and sisters.
Roland EM-10 audio demos
Roland EM-10 specs
Other useful features found in this keyboard include:
Metronome button
Transpose button
Chorus/Reverb on-off button
Arrangement mixer
Style Manipulator (a great feature, allows to mute/add parts and exchange parts with other on-board styles, effectively mixing and customizing your own rhythms
Keyboard velocity on-off button
One Touch button (automatically recalls preset accompaniment and sound setting suitable for the style chosen)
“Intel”ligent harmony button (adds harmony to the solo voices, played automatically as you play the melody)
“Organ” mode (EM-10s’ for “split” section L+R)
Variation button that allows to recall variations of the standard GM set on board, for many sounds (i.e., pressing preset tone A57 (SyBas101) and then the Variation button, allows to get access to variation sounds “SyBass3” and “SynthBs1”
Powerful on-board speakers
Colorful panel scheme.
This keyboard is both GM (General MIDI) and GS (General Standard), and features “Style Morphing” (style manipulator).
Bottom line: an inexpensive keyboard with quality GM sounds, interesting rhythms, and all-around fun to play – perfect for the beginner, intermediate player, or for piano-bar, and entertaining at family parties.
A great little keyboard! Best Buy used to sell these for very little money, and I got one new. Its set of General MIDI sounds is pretty good, and the synthesizer section offers a great way to shape your own sounds very easily.
