Casio VL-1
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The VL-1 was the first synthesizer of Casio's VL-Tone product line, and is sometimes referred to as the VL-Tone. Released in 1980,[1] the VL-1 is notable for its kitsch value among electronic musicians, due to its cheap construction and its unrealistic, uniquely low-fidelity sounds.
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[edit] Sound
Its sounds were mostly composed of filtered squarewaves with varied pulse-widths. Its piano, violin, flute and guitar timbres were nearly unrecognizable abstractions of real instruments. It also featured a "fantasy" voice, and a programmable synthesizer which provided for choice of both oscillator waveform and ADSR envelope. The synthesizer was programmed by entering a number into the calculator section's memory, then switching back to keyboard mode. It had a range of one and a half octaves.
[edit] Features
The VL-1 featured a small LCD display capable of displaying 8 characters. This was primarily used for the calculator function, but also displayed notes played. As well as this, the VL-1 also had changeable tone and balance, basic tempo settings and a real-time monophonic music sequencer, which could play back up to 99 notes. There were also 10 pre-loaded rhythms which utilized just three basic drum samples.
[edit] Voices
[edit] Rhythms
- March
- Waltz
- 4-Beat
- Swing
- Rock-1
- Rock-2
- Bossanova
- Samba
- Rhumba
- Beguine
[edit] Notable uses and appearances
- The VL-1 received some fame when the German band Trio used it in one of their songs, "Da Da Da". They used the Rock-1 rhythm preset and the Piano voice.
- The same rhythm preset features in the first half of The Man Whose Head Expanded by The Fall, only to be cut short by Mark E. Smith's command to "turn that bloody blimey space invader off".
- Industrial artist Monte Cazazza uses the VL-1's drum patterns on both sides of the Stairway to Hell / Sex Is No Emergency single (1982).
- The music video for Thomas Dolby's hit "She Blinded Me With Science" shows a group of schoolchildren holding VL-1s during a dream sequence.
- The VL-1's "fantasy" voice is the only sound on the cover version of Roy Budd's theme tune for Get Carter which is featured on the Human League album Dare. The instrument is also used on the hit single "Open Your Heart".
- Le Casio, the final track on the album Vehicles and Animals by Athlete prominently features the VL-1's 'Fantasy' voice.
- The VL-1 is used by death industrial act Brighter Death Now.
- The Rock-1 and Rock-2 rhythms are heard on the track Stop/Start by The Assembly
- Boom Boom Boom Boom by the Vengaboys starts with a rhythm that is identical in sound to the Rock-1 rhythm
- The progressive electronica band Yip-Yip often uses the VL-1's distinctive beats.
- Fergie's "Clumsy" also uses one of VL-1's beats.
- On older Sakata (Australian rice cracker company) advertisements, the Rock-1 rhythm is used as a backing beat.
- In one Homestar Runner cartoon, Strong Bad creates a "crazy cartoon" called "Sweet Cuppin' Cakes", in which he appears as a character, but with a VL-1 as a head.
- The Rock-2 rhythm is used in the track "Toneflow" by Polaroids of the Pyramids
- The Rock-2 rhythm is used in the track "Who was That" by Deee-Lite.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Holmes, Thom. Electronic and Experimental Music (Routledge 2002, ISBN 0-415-93644-6), p.218
