Casio CTK-601

-No software upgrade that I know of, so I guess I have v1.0 (if anybody knows of one, please let me know.)
-The 128 multi-sampled General MIDI presets are quite good, most of, if not all, are classics making this a great GM board. It also has 8 drumkits (StandardSet, PowerSet1, PowerSet2, VoiceSet, SynthSet, JazzSet1, JazzSet2, and an OrchestraSet) The 64 preset synth tones are quite usuable save for maybe a couple.
-Editing patches is straight pretty forward. The only problems I have with the process are these:(1)All of the Amplitude Envelopes, or "Amp.Set" as the manual calls it, are preprogrammed. The only control the user has is over attack and release. The ones they added are good enough but if they were going to do it they should've included a graph or chart explaining what each different setting does. (2)The Pitch envelopes, or "Pitch Set", are the same as the Amplitude envelops; preprogrammed with few editable parameters, but still very capable. (3)It is not possible to make custom drum maps or use the sampled drum sounds in a sound. (If anyone is interested, I am assembling an index of all the Amp.Set's and PitchSet's. Email me for more info.)
-The manual is good, explains all of the functions well and is quite reader friendly. It's possible to learn this synth from the manual alone (i.e. without having the synth to work with.)

-24 voice polyphony seems weak, but it works well enough. It can handle 16 channel sequences from my PC fine. 61 velocity full size plastic synth keyboard action I like it ok, but I prefer semiweighted, but anyone with any skill should be able to play on these keys. No after touch. In addition there are 6 non-velocity sensitive drum pads that trigger the bass drum, snare1, closed hi-hat, open hi-hat and the toms on notes A and D, repectively. Another of this boards weak points is the pitch bend, rather than a wheel or knob it has two buttons; one to bend the pitch up and one to bend it down. It wouldn't be too bad if the speed of the bend were programmable, but that is, unfortunately, not the case. The bend range can be set anywhere from 1 to 12 semitones though. One assignable pedal (Sustain, Soft, Sostenuto or Rhythm Start).
-The effects are one of this boards biggest weaknesses. There are three different reverbs (Hall, Stage, Room). You select a reverb by pushing the [REVERB] button until You get the one You want. They do respond to SysEx messages though.
-No upgrades available.
-Regular GM features, sends NoteOn and NoteOff (rather than a NoteOn with a valule of zero.) The biggest problem by far on this keyboard is in it's way of sending/playing of transpose messages. Rather than transpose it however many steps, it does a pitchbend down to the appropriate note (there isn't a gliss to the note, but it sounds muddy if transposing down or really bright if transposing up). It does respond to internal transpose commands correctly though. Almost all of the parameters are SysEx editable and it can send/receive MIDI Bulk Dumps and Sends.
-The on-board sequencer is useful as a sketchpad. It can only hold two songs and 5200 notes total. There are 6 channels of either real-time (no quantization though) or step sequencing (when entering chords in step squencing, it allows You to quickly enter up to 18 different types of chords by holding down the root and the key marked for the type of chord you want). I don't believe the sequencer records SysEx, but it can record from another keyboard. It's power as a sequencer is limited by only four things; the small number of channels, the lack of a loop function, it's small storage capacity (to save stuff, a SysEx dump is required), and it's lack of an internal battery (that is, whenever you unplug it for more than 15 seconds or so, it loses all of the songs and patches progammed into it, reverting it back to factory settnigs). Overall the sequencer is usable and quite easy to use.

-Almost all of the instruments sound good I would say they all sound good, but I there are probably a couple bad ones I've forgotten.
-It would work well for most types of music. Certain types like industrial, trip hop, drum'n'bass, and ambient could be foreseeably difficult.
-The presets are fairly static, but with some creative programming it's possible to make it feel mroe responsive.
-No selectable velocity curves, no after touch (it responds to after touch like it and other boards respond to a mod.wheel).

-I only had it quit on me once and that was after a careless youngster knocked it off the stand. The fix was only about $40 and was ready the same day, so it couldn't have been something too horrible.
-Definitely, I've never had it crash on me (I think it's much too simple to do that). I would have no qualms about transporting it without a case too, which I've been doing ever since I got it way back in 1997 (although I would NOT strap it to the roof of my car or let it bounce around in the back of my truck/trunk).

-Never dealt with them, but I am going to try to get a schematic, complete MIDI and SysEx implementation chart and a tech manual. (In addition to the Amp.Set and PitchSet charts, I'm working on a librarian and editor for Windows, Email me if you would like to contribute).

-If it were suddenly gone, I'd probably try to find one at a decent (under $100) price or go with a new setup that I've been saving for anyway (the Kurzweil K2600, if you must know).
-I've had it for 4 years now, was my first programmable synth. I also own a Roland D-110, D-20 and a PC with tons of MIDI and Audio software. I have access to (and use whenever I can) my schools Kurzweil K2500 and a friends Korg Triton.
-I love the ease of use. I dislike the lack of real two 1/4" mono line-outs (rather than the one stereo headphone out) and the cheap speakers they threw in there, I would rather have better MIDI implementation, a backup battery, more sequencer memory, anyone of those would have been a good thing to put in rather than the decent but (for me) pointless speakers.
-This was the best (nay, the only) keyboard with a sequencer and programmable tones available new for under $300.
-Once I worked with it for about 3 hours, I was using the sequencer extensively, I didn't dabble in the synth editing much until I was using it for about a year, but I understood it all from the first 5 minutes that I owned it. One of the easiest keyboards I've ever used.
-I've heard that this keyboard is just like Casio's WK-1300, but without the backlit display, without the 76 keys and without the pitchbend wheel and after using one, I have to agree. For the price I see these (the CTK-601) go for ($85-$130), I believe they are a terrific value for a beginner looking for a decent sequencer/synth workstation or anyone looking for a good scratchpad.
-For more info on this board (and any other electronic musical stuff), check out http://www.sonicstate.com/ look under the SynthSite.


*THIS REVIEW WAS LONG AND DRAWN OUT, IF I'VE LEFT SOMETHING OUT, OR I'M UNCLEAR, OR IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTION AT ALL, PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO EMAIL ME. ALSO, IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN EDITOR/LIBRARIAN SOFTWARE OR AMP.SET AND PITCHSET CHARTS GET IN TOUCH.

*I CAN'T STRESS ENOUGH HOW PERFECT THIS KEYBOARD WAS FOR ME TO LEARN ON REGARDING BASIC MIDI, SEQUENCING, AND SYNTH PROGRAMMING KNOWLEDGE. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT TO ANY BEGINNER LOOKING FOR A KEYBOARD.