Synth Site |  Casio |  Casiotone MT-205

I'm not an expert but judging from the other reviews on this site, I'd say this is pretty much a standard '80s Casio. You've got 12 whole sounds to pick from (piano, vibraphone, and the like...). Not suprisingly, none of these sound anything like the real thing. You have to have an especially keen imagination for the "human voice" which sounds more like a violin sound than anything. The one exception to this is the pipe organ, which sounds pretty close to one of those high grade electric organs you find in many church basements.

It seems that, if you have 'em, you can hook up a set of drum pads to this bad boy. If you don't have these, it comes with many built in drum accompaniments (which all sound pretty sweet).

Also included are 12 harmonic accompaniments which can all be modified umpteen different ways with five dip switches on the face.

Don't know if it's worth mentioning, but this unit claims to have Pulse Code Modulation (sounds technical) and stereo sound. Runs on 6 AA batteries. Seems like if I tried hard enough, I could break it but it will survive normal use. As for aesthetics, just think '80s. Dark grey with pastel colored buttons.

Don't expect to pay too much for one of these. I saw somebody trying to sell one for about $40 on ebay, but things weren't going too well for him, so expect to pay less. My guestimate is $10 at a pawn shop.

Overall, I had a few hours of fun with this thing and came up with some interesting little beats. If you're into the 80's sound and happen upon one of these, it might be in your best interest to pick it up.