Casio CTK-691 and WK-3000 - an appreciation

[LX88]

I have to write about this

 

I got a Casio 5 octave CTK-691 roughly 10 years ago. I have used it as much as any board I have ever had and have had as much fun with it as any instrument I have had.

 

Some snobs may cringe, but it depends on how deeply you may have gone into the editing. I have used a 691 on many recordings, along with it's big brother, the WK 3000 which I have had for 3 or 4 years.

 

One of the go to sounds on the 691 and 3000 is the TREMELO PIANO. Out of the box it sounds OK but there are a couple things I did to it to make it really work for me.

 

First I knocked it down one octave in the edit mode and combined it with an ACOUSTIC BASS split, which I knocked down two octaves.

 

Then I turned the touch sensitivity OFF. The thing no longer "barks". It just has a sweet EP that sounds somewhere between a Rhodes and a Wurli.

 

I also slowed the Tremelo down a bit. I find that I like the Casio tremolo A LOT, and tend to prefer it to the ping pong pan effect that many EP emulations strive for ( ala Yamaha Motif etc.)

 

With a moderately good ( but not too good ) pair of phones, this thing sounds relatively amazing to me. I practice on it all the time and because it is so light and small, it goes everywhere- and has taken one hell of a beating, but it still ticks.

 

Some other great sounds on the Casio is its VIBRAPHONE, which records incredibly well. I also like the VELOCITY FLUTE ( another go- to solo sound for me), and many of the saxophones which are also very good considering this is a 10 year old instrument. You could probably multi track a sax section with this and have it come off surprisingly well.

 

I also have used the DRAWBAR ORGAN quite a bit. The main sound that I use is the lower manual "808000000" setting. This is because the percussion on the Casio isn't real good. Plus I need a patch that will cover left hand bass, and so far I have not been able to make the drawbar organ do an upper lower manual " split".

 

Also I don't use the default leslie sim. The slow leslie effect I use is the Casio DSP " STEREO PHASER" which produces a more natural sounding slow leslie if you tweak it somewhat.

 

Another cool thing to do is to layer this lower manual setting with some of the Casio synth patches.

 

This is a brief overview of some of the things I do with these two Casios. I would be curious to know if anyone else is as crazy as I am and also digs the older Casios.

[Joe Muscara]

You may want to share this on casiomusicforums.com - there are a lot of people there who are big fans of all things Casio keyboards, including the older ones. Some people there have huge collections, dozens of models.

[Dana.]

I would be curious to know if anyone else is as crazy as I am and also digs the older Casios.

Am I as crazy as you? Probably not. But I dig the older Casios; in fact, I just bought a SK-1 and CZ-101.

[Bossbandbob]

Before I bought my real Hammonds, I got my first Intro to drawbar organs on a WK-3800. With its tweak-ability and using the 'mellow' EQ setting, I got some really decent sounding organ patches. I even used it a few times as my 'hammond' on some early cover band gigs and even got a few compliments on the organ tone. Eventually, although slow speed wasn't bad, I realized that the fast Leslie sim was not cutting it so I moved on...

[Ashville.Guru]

Nostalgia. My first board with 61 full-size keys was a CTK-3000, and I still have it around.

 

I used it exclusively as a controller with a laptop, though . Which it was very good for. Velocity sensitive, pitch wheel, and best of all - aux inputs so I could route the laptop's sound to use it's internal speakers . Light as a feather, and ran on batteries. Used it on stage on many occasions. And I paid just around $120 for it.

 

Not a fan of the action, though (same as the WX-P1). And I could never find an internal sound that was usable. But at that price, who can complain...!

 

- Guru

[DulceLabs.com]

I just bought a SK-1

 

I sold my SK-1 back in 1990 and regret it to this day. But... Casio has just brought back one-touch sampling in a few keyboards. Definitely not the cuteness of a SK-1, but I played with one at Summer NAMM and it was a lot of fun... has 61 keys with USB MIDI for $100 street - not too shabby.. I think the Mrs. is grabbing me one on Black Friday.

[Dana.]

I sold my SK-1 back in 1990 and regret it to this day.

There are plenty on eBay.

 

With the built-in speaker, it's perfect for coming up with melodies on the fly: record, play it back, record it with my phone, done.

[Bossbandbob]

Did Casio have a 61 key version of the WK-3700 or 3800 with drawbar organ buttons(CTK?)? I think that the WK-3700 still had the midi out ports.

[Baldwin Funster]

Did Casio have a 61 key version of the WK-3700 or 3800 with drawbar organ buttons(CTK?)? I think that the WK-3700 still had the midi out ports.

 

CTK900 has most of the same engine and effects as the WK3XXXs but no wheels or drawbar buttons If I remember correctly. You have to scroll around to set the drawbars. And it has no button to change the leslie speed. I tried workarounds and they were clumsy. It doesn't have a line out so you have to use the head phone output which is kinda noisy. If your looking for a smaller 61 key version of the WK it will be a little disappointing.

[bluzeyone]

I made a considerable profit, not to mention tons of fun with ctk and WK through the years. You said it right. Out of the box they aren't that great, but once you set them up they are extremely powerful. I still use a WK-7500 to flesh out song ideas and practice. My "go to" on it are the A.C. , E.P. warm pad layers. All hotrodded of course . A little bummed you can't layer splits on the left but like previous WKs but I'll live.

[Bossbandbob]

Did Casio have a 61 key version of the WK-3700 or 3800 with drawbar organ buttons(CTK?)? I think that the WK-3700 still had the midi out ports.

 

CTK900 has most of the same engine and effects as the WK3XXXs but no wheels or drawbar buttons If I remember correctly. You have to scroll around to set the drawbars. And it has no button to change the leslie speed. I tried workarounds and they were clumsy. It doesn't have a line out so you have to use the head phone output which is kinda noisy. If your looking for a smaller 61 key version of the WK it will be a little disappointing.

 

Thanks Kas

As I'm playing in 2 bands and two diiferent practice spaces and 2 different houses I just want something light and cheap for mostly 'organ' home practice above my PX-5s. I wouldn't use the Casio's Leslie anyway as I have a Vent. I see the CTK900 does have midi ports as well.

[CEB]

I played CZs back when they were current. The CZ1000 then the CZ1.

 

The Casio piece I find most interesting in the current stable seems to get no attention here. The XW-G1 can do some neat stuff.

[DulceLabs.com]

 

The Casio piece I find most interesting in the current stable seems to get no attention here. The XW-G1 can do some neat stuff.

 

I think the reason for that is the demographic here. The XW-P1 tends to draw the gigging / cover keyboardist as it has the drawbar organ mode.

 

The G1 is more for DJ's, EDM and experimental music, sampling, etc. Very good for making your own beats and grooves. The real-time controls for the solo synth on the G1 also makes for some pretty funky sounds. (The same controls are now available for the P1 via the iPad app).

 

[video:youtube]

 

 

 

[CEB]

Ralph is having some fun on this one.

 

[video:youtube]

[CEB]

 

The Casio piece I find most interesting in the current stable seems to get no attention here. The XW-G1 can do some neat stuff.

 

I think the reason for that is the demographic here. The XW-P1 tends to draw the gigging / cover keyboardist as it has the drawbar organ mode.

....

 

You are right about the forum having the wrong demographic about this board. Most the forum members play Grandpa music because ...... We are Grandpas.

 

I'm not a grandpa but that is just because my oldest isn't getting the job done. I want grand babies as long .... as they can support themselves and don't move back home.

[Shamanczarek]

I have had the WK-3800 for many years and still use it as a supplemental keyboard on stage. As a Tonewheel Organ emulator it isn't the best but it is very versatile for Combo Organ-type sounds processed through the Synth section. I can get very convincing Vox/Farfisa/Lowrey/Gibson sounds which many very expensive keyboards can't do. For me this capability alone would be worth the price but it also does passable Wurly/Rhodes/Harpsichord along with a multitude of Synth waves which can be tweaked and layered to cover almost any type of Synth sound. Then there are a lot of usable Strings/Woodwinds/Brass sounds. Not bad for a keyboard I paid $300 for new.

[Bossbandbob]

Looks like the CTK-691 mentioned in the OP has internal adjustable Drawbars as well. Is the 900 the newer model?

 

I had a 3800 and borrowed a 3700 for awhile, and with tweaks and a Ventilator could get some pretty decent "Hammond " sounds, and yes, I could get a nice "House of theRising Sun" sound as well. Using fast fast speed with a dry organ signal, even with the Vent, always sounded a bit weird and Phasey due to some overemphasized harmonic beating emanating from the keyboards.

[Baldwin Funster]

Looks like the CTK-691 mentioned in the OP has internal adjustable Drawbars as well. Is the 900 the newer model?

 

I had a 3800 and borrowed a 3700 for awhile, and with tweaks and a Ventilator could get some pretty decent "Hammond " sounds, and yes, I could get a nice "House of theRising Sun" sound as well. Using fast fast speed with a dry organ signal, even with the Vent, always sounded a bit weird and Phasey due to some overemphasized harmonic beating emanating from the keyboards.

CTK900 is newer. After using the vent with an XK3c, I could never really warm up to the wk3800/vent combo when I had the WK. The RT20 actually sounded better with the casio for me.

[Bossbandbob]

Just won a CTK-900 on Ebay for 50$ last week. Price is sure right! Should be fun for a back up band practice/home practice 'organ.' I can set up some DB organ presets and use it with my Vent, or Line 6 Rotomachine. besides organ, I'm sure it has several other usable voices on board, light and easy to transport.

[LX88]

I really wish that percussion volume on the CTK stuff wasn't so loud. But loud percussion is a peeve of mine with a lot of clones.

 

As said in the original post, " Stereo Phaser" in the DSP settings should get some nice chorale leslie if you turn " Manual"option to a higher setting in the DSP.

 

But I get a lot of mileage out of just the 808000000 sound I get with the stereo phaser leslie, which has been great for practice and working parts out.

[Bossbandbob]

The CTK-900 arrived in good working condition. Although it needed a good cleaning as it seems the guy who sold it to me ate his lunch on it it regularly. Gross! The drawbar organ sounds pretty much the same as my WK-3800 did and can be tweaked the same way. Interestingly, I compared both my Line6 Rotomachine and Vent with it and it seems that the Rotomachine actually may sound a little better with this keyboard. Neither one sounds that great on the fast setting but that's to be expected from a keyboard this cheap and old!

[Brad Saucier]

After the year 2000, many of the sounds and features that were found in the WK and CTK series were handed down from the flagship MZ-2000 model. The WK and CTK's inherited enough MZ-2000 DNA to become really good keyboards. Unfortunately, some of the MZ magic has yet to return in new models. Casio's drawbar mode made it's debut here and still manages to be the most full featured and versatile one they made. In true Casio fashion, the entire MZ was a tweaker's dream and quite remarkable when you dig in.