Casio CT-S1000V

Casio have announced the new CT-S1000V keyboard with vocal synthesis:

• 61 full-size touch response keys plus pitch bend wheel
• 64 voice polyphony
• 3 assignable knobs for controlling modulation, effects, filters, and more
• 800 AiX-powered Tones and 243 full accompaniment Rhythms
• Advanced Tones (including vintage keyboards
• Editable DSP effects (100 effects)
• Split and layer (Upper 1/2, Lower 1)
• Powerful bass-reflex stereo speaker system with surround effect
• Two 13cm by 6cm speakers, 2.5W per channel
• Audio sampler and 6-track MIDI recorder (sequencer)
• Audio sample format: WAV, 44kHz, 16-bit, stereo
• Vocal synthesis with personalized lyrics via the free Lyric Creator app
• Vocal format: 44kHz, 16-bit, mono
• Bright backlit LCD display with easy, intuitive interface
• Strap pins for playing anywhere
• 1/4″ line outputs to connect to mixers, PA systems, etc.
• Class-compliant USB-MIDI connects to the free Casio Music Space iOS/Android app
• Includes WU-BT01 Bluetooth MIDI/Audio adapter
• Optional 6xAA battery power (AC adapter and music rest included)
• Weight: 10 pounds
• $449.99 USD (street)

Quoting the Casio web site:

The CT-S1000V does what no other keyboard can do: Speak or type your lyrics into the free Lyric Creator app for iOS/Android, transfer them to the CT-S1000V, and play the keys to hear your words come alive. Choose from multiple vocalist models, and adjust age, vibrato, portamento and other parameters in real time. It can produce choirs, robotic sounds, vocoder-like textures, and more. You can even create a custom vocalist based on an audio recording.

Availability — “Coming soon”.

Please see my pre-announcement post for more pictures and information. I also have posted a list of recent Casio patents related to sound synthesis and vocal synthesis.

Vocal Synthesis

According to Casio, you can create lyrics using their tablet-/phone-based Lyric Creator app, transfer them to the CT-S1000V, and play them using the keys. You can dynamically change characteristics like age, gender, portamento and vibrato in real time. Of course, you can mangle the sound with DSP effects, too. The front panel knobs are assignable for real time control.

NOTE mode chooses how the lyrics play-back when keys are pressed. You can play a word or syllable with each key press or you can play choral harmonies. PHRASE mode follows your timing. Legato gestures change note (pitch) while the phrase is playing. You can also select a syllable with your left hand and use your right hand to play it.

Lyric Creator lets you edit, save and share lyrics. Lyrics can be imported from MusicXML files.

Casio CT-S500

Casio have announced the new CT-S500:

• 61 full-size touch response keys plus pitch bend wheel
• 64 voice polyphony
• 3 assignable knobs for controlling modulation, effects, filters, and more
• Editable DSP effects (100 effects)
• Audio sampler and 6-track MIDI recorder (sequencer)
• 1/4″ line outputs to connect to mixers, PA systems, etc.
• Includes WU-BT01 Bluetooth MIDI/Audio adapter
• Bright backlit LCD display with easy, intuitive interface
• 800 AiX-powered Tones and 243 full accompaniment Rhythms
• Advanced Tones (including vintage keyboards)
• Splits and layers (Upper 1/2, Lower 1)
• Powerful bass-reflex stereo speaker system with surround effect
• Two 13cm by 6cm speakers, 2.5W per channel
• Strap pins for playing anywhere
• Class-compliant USB-MIDI connects to the free Casio Music Space iOS/Android app
• Optional 6xAA battery power (AC adapter and music rest included)
• 10 pounds (4.7kg)
• $379.99 USD (street)

Available now!

Quick reaction

Watching the Casio release video stream, the artist demonstrations are exciting. At these price points, Casio are going to sell a ton of these. I am so glad they included the “Advanced Tones”, that is, all the pianos, vintage keys and other instruments which created so much interest in the CT-S1. Hope they slash street prices on the CT-X series because the new S-series models blow them away.

Copyright © 2022 Paul J. Drongowski

Update: Here is the latest information about the CT-S500 and CT-S1000 from Casio.

After visiting the U.S. Patent and Trademark site, I normally do a deep dive into a few patents. Given the upcoming announcement of Casio’s new keyboards (Casio CT-S1000V and CT-S500), time is of the essence. Thus, here is a short list of the most relevant recent Casio patents:

11,094,307    8/17/2021  Sound generation 
10,937,404    3/ 2/2021  Sound generation, three contact switches 
10,909,958    2/ 2/2021  Chord accompaniment 
10,825,438   11/ 3/2020  Vocoder 
10,825,434*  11/ 3/2020  Voice synthesis 
10,825,433*  11/ 3/2020  Voice synthesis (MIDI) 
10,810,981*  10/20/2020  Voice synthesis 
10,803,844   10/13/2020  Picture/image generation in sync with music 
10,789,922*   9/29/2020  Voice synthesis 
10,629,179    4/21/2020  Voice synthesis 
10,616,688    4/ 7/2020  Speaker box 
10,559,290    2/11/2020  Waveform transfer 
10,515,618*  12/24/2019  Waveform compression 
10,490,172*  11/26/2019  Enlivement data (expression) 
10,475,425*  11/12/2019  Waveform play-back and sound generation
10,474,387*  11/12/2019  Waveform transfer (ring buffering) 

If you’re short on time, you might want to start with the starred (“*”) patents. Clearly, Casio have invested heavily in voice and instrument synthesis!

Of course, the usual caveats about patents and patent applications holds. Just because a company stakes out its intellectural property (IP) turf with a patent, does not mean they will build the technology into a finished product. Beware when drawing inferences!

A little background and context are needed. Please keep these points in mind when reading the Casio patents.

Casio have moved to a new generation of synthesis:

• Acoustic and intelligent Resonator (AiR) sound source.
  • Multi-dimensional Morphing (changing volume and tone characteristics with variations in touch and passage of time).
  • Lossless audio compression.
  • Resonance system (string resonance, open string resonance, damper resonance, Aliquot resonance).
• Acoustic and intelligent Xpression (AiX) sound source.
  • High performance DSP effects and EQ.
  • Higher waveform memory capacity (more waveforms, longer waveforms).
  • Amplifier and vintage effect modeling.

AiX evolved from AiR. AiR first appeared in Casio digital pianos. AiX first appeared in the CT-X series of portable keyboards. Both technologies are based on a new, proprietary, large scale integrated (LSI) processor. The Casio CT-S series, including the new models, exploits AiX technology.

Casio have always relied upon a very high degree of functional integration. Previously, a wide range of products were based on the custom uPD800468P-012 processor. This processor was a sizable beast with 180 pins integrating major functions like digital-to-analog (DAC) and analog-to-digital conversion (ADC). The main clock ran at 48MHz. This may seem slow to people accustomed to personal computer technology, but the low clock speed is power efficient — small power supplies and/or battery operation and no fans or heat sinks. You don’t really want to lug around a PC power supply and all of its cooling elements, do you?

The uPD800468P-012 has been replaced by a new LSI processor with even more pins! The CT-S1 main board is positively sparse. Where did all of the other components go?

Slight digression. Casio and Yamaha are manufacturing juggernauts who slug it out in portable keyboards and digital pianos. Entry-level products are notoriously price-sensitive and both companies work hard to wring cost out of entry-level (and mid-range) products.

Casio are pushing in other dimensions, not just LSI. With more waveform memory capacity, they have added “Advanced Tones” such as the new piano, clav, and organ samples in the popular CT-S1. They have also developed a horizontal bass-reflex speaker system for slim-line instruments. The system incorporates a new speaker box and elliptical speakers. Finally, Casio have developed their own low-latency Bluetooth audio and MIDI protocol.

For further information, I highly recommend the behind the scenes interview with the CT-S1 development team. Not only will you learn about the CT-S1, you’ll get a feeling for the “contact sport” of product engineering as the team try to balance conflicting design concerns.

[I hope that Casio don’t mind that I have reproduced a few of their pictures here.]

Copyright © 2022 Paul J. Drongowski