Casio MT-40
Encyclopedia
The Casio Casiotone
MT-40 is a musical keyboard
, formerly produced by Casio
and originally developed for the consumer market. It is 9 voice polyphonic, with 37 main keys and 14 smaller bass keys. Eight notes may be played on the main keys, and one note on the bass. The bass section has one timbre, and the main section has 22, assignable to one of four presets. Like most small Casio keyboards, it also has a drum section with 6 different beats, a tempo knob, and a "fill" button. The fill button plays sixteenth note pulses of either the "snare" or "kick" as long as it is held down. Production started in the early 1980s and ceased shortly thereafter. The successor of the MT-40 came with a gray case, and was sold as the MT-41.
The keyboard is a prime candidate for modification through circuit bending, owing to simple circuits and a series of smaller potentiometers inside for factory adjustments, there are two examples of circuit bent units on Youtube, which have been built by S-CAT. The relative scarcity of these makes bending relatively risky, and most are left as stock.
The MT-40 had a built-in pattern based on the Eddie Cochran
song "Somethin' Else". Because of this, a synthesizer version of the song's bassline ended up as the basis of one of the most popular dancehall
music riddim
s of Jamaican music - the Sleng Teng
riddim which started the "Digital Reggae" revolution in 1985.
It has also secured a niche in indie music. It occurs occasionally in songs by The Magnetic Fields
, and is featured prominently on most of Emperor X
's album Tectonic Membrane/Thin Strip on an Edgeless Platform. Its thin fuzz can be heard on lesser known Australian indie band Turnstyle
's top 20 single Spray Water On The Stereo. In the UK, The Farmer's Boys
, who were signed to EMI and beloved of John Peel, used it on a number of singles and album tracks - with an ironing board as a keyboard stand.
Casiotone
Casiotone refers to a series of home electronic keyboards released by Casio Computer Co. in the early 1980s.These first keyboards used a sound synthesis technique known as Vowel-Consonant synthesis to approximate the sounds of other instruments...
MT-40 is a musical keyboard
Musical keyboard
A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a musical instrument, particularly the piano. Keyboards typically contain keys for playing the twelve notes of the Western musical scale, with a combination of larger, longer keys and smaller, shorter keys that repeats at the...
, formerly produced by Casio
Casio
is a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Casio is best known for its electronic products, such as calculators, audio equipment, PDAs, cameras, musical instruments, and watches...
and originally developed for the consumer market. It is 9 voice polyphonic, with 37 main keys and 14 smaller bass keys. Eight notes may be played on the main keys, and one note on the bass. The bass section has one timbre, and the main section has 22, assignable to one of four presets. Like most small Casio keyboards, it also has a drum section with 6 different beats, a tempo knob, and a "fill" button. The fill button plays sixteenth note pulses of either the "snare" or "kick" as long as it is held down. Production started in the early 1980s and ceased shortly thereafter. The successor of the MT-40 came with a gray case, and was sold as the MT-41.
The keyboard is a prime candidate for modification through circuit bending, owing to simple circuits and a series of smaller potentiometers inside for factory adjustments, there are two examples of circuit bent units on Youtube, which have been built by S-CAT. The relative scarcity of these makes bending relatively risky, and most are left as stock.
The MT-40 had a built-in pattern based on the Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran
Eddie Cochran , was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the...
song "Somethin' Else". Because of this, a synthesizer version of the song's bassline ended up as the basis of one of the most popular dancehall
Dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
music riddim
Riddim
Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word "rhythm," but in dancehall/reggae parlance it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song. Thus, a dancehall song consists of the riddim plus the "voicing" sung by the deejay. The resulting song structure may be taken for...
s of Jamaican music - the Sleng Teng
Sleng Teng
Sleng Teng is the name given to the first fully computerized riddim in Jamaican music. The riddim, which was created by the collaboration between King Jammy and Wayne Smith, was titled "Under Me Sleng Teng". However, in this case Wayne Smith was the one who had found the computerized sound in Noel...
riddim which started the "Digital Reggae" revolution in 1985.
It has also secured a niche in indie music. It occurs occasionally in songs by The Magnetic Fields
The Magnetic Fields
The Magnetic Fields is the principal creative outlet of singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt...
, and is featured prominently on most of Emperor X
Emperor X
Emperor X is a pop/noise/folk music project headed by American musician C. R. Matheny. The project often performs and records with little more than Matheny on an acoustic guitar and a dynamic microphone, but sometimes also employs large groups of musicians on percussion instruments, various...
's album Tectonic Membrane/Thin Strip on an Edgeless Platform. Its thin fuzz can be heard on lesser known Australian indie band Turnstyle
Turnstyle (band)
Turnstyle were an indie band from Perth in Western Australia.-Biography:Turnstyle formed in January 1995 as a four-piece with Adem Kerimofski , Paul Fanning, Colin Reeves and David Elieff....
's top 20 single Spray Water On The Stereo. In the UK, The Farmer's Boys
The Farmer's Boys
The Farmer's Boys were a British band from Norwich, England. They formed in the early 1980s and were briefly called 'Bang Goes My Stereo' before changing their name to The Farmer’s Boys.-History:...
, who were signed to EMI and beloved of John Peel, used it on a number of singles and album tracks - with an ironing board as a keyboard stand.