Cascio WK 3300

[Snowman999]

Go ahead laugh. It's a toy. A junk keyboard. I don't know. I just bought it today at a rummage sale for $5. That's right five dollars. It seems to have a 16 track sequencer in it. The coolest thing (I've only played it for about 5 minutes) it has the clefs in the screen. When you play the keyboard it shows on the proper clef line. If you have a particular instrument, and you play too low or high, the keys are dead. For five bucks it should be fun.

When I was looking for the manual to download, I noticed it sells for about $200. A used one just sold on ebay for $150.

That's what I call a BARGAIN!

 

[Ponder5]

The ONLY thing that matters is what comes out of your speakers and what gets laid onto the track.

These things are capable of a couple of really sterling sounds, or certainly serviceable for multi-voiced layers to other tracks. So while a top-flight, mega money sampled articulated string sound is taking lead and maybe 2 deep, this thing could simultaneously be running deeper parts and no ear alive would know the difference - all in the real time over midi.

Now sure, they can also make thin, cheap, junk sounds - and believe me, friend, there's a place for that, too - but don't ever dismiss it or apologize for it.

There's a host of these things in different configurations and varying degrees of usefulness. It's a wise resource to exploit right now. What you'll soon learn is that it's much more a question of TALENT, not so much hardware.

 

[mjbphotos]

The Casio WK (Work station) series are an oft-ignored keyboard series. I've got a 1st gen WK-500 that's 12 years old, and just now starting to 'act up'. The piano and organ sounds are fairly good, it has MIDI, and L & R audio out jacks unlike most keyboards in the under-$500 range. I just ordered a WK-7600, after I compared features and sounds to a similarly priced Yamaha and Korg.

 

[Snowman999]

My very first synth was Cascio SK-1. I lost it along time ago. It still SELLS on ebay. That's insane. I've played a little with this WK and it's fun. I'm looking forward to delving a little deeper.

There are many that turn their noses up to cascios, or cheap guitars. But, I just point to Johnny Ramone who used a cheap guitar his entire career. He used to carry it in a shopping bag, he didn't have a case when they started. Jimmy Page says his Dan Electro a Sears guitar was his standard in the recording studio.

It doesn't matter what you have, it's what you can do with it that counts.

I have a friend who went into Sam Ash for an hour, and came out with a perfect duplicate of the Enigma hit at the time, and he did it all on the Korg M1. Which I loved that keyboard. There are sounds on that, you still hear today.

 

[mjbphotos]

Picked up my WK7600 this afternoon. All the sounds are so much better (12 years)!! The pianos, organs, strings and brass are so much more real, and I haven't even begun to create my own patches (something you could not do on the WK500). Now, when layering, you can adjust the volume of each layer independently, as well as setting other parameters such as pan, chorus, reverb. The drawbar organ sounds are pretty good, and you can control the rotary effect slow-fast, with the push of a button like a real Leslie control, and you can hear it speed up/slow down, not just 'instant' on/off.
The keyboard has a much more solid feel to it, and is quieter too.

 

[Snowman999]

Picked up my WK7600 this afternoon. All the sounds are so much better (12 years)!! The pianos, organs, strings and brass are so much more real, and I haven't even begun to create my own patches (something you could not do on the WK500). Now, when layering, you can adjust the volume of each layer independently, as well as setting other parameters such as pan, chorus, reverb. The drawbar organ sounds are pretty good, and you can control the rotary effect slow-fast, with the push of a button like a real Leslie control, and you can hear it speed up/slow down, not just 'instant' on/off.
The keyboard has a much more solid feel to it, and is quieter too.

Enjoy it. I'm still playing with mine. I haven't even figured out which button moves the sounds up and down.

 

[mjbphotos]

One thing I found out - despite the description I had read someplace, the WK7600 does not act like an interface and send digital audio though USB, only MIDI.