Casio VL-TONE: Super nostalgic lo-fi synth from 1979 + FREE SAMPLE LIBRARY

'Here I have two rocks I found in my backyard. I wonder what they'll sound like through the Mood and Microcosm.'

This thing, a Christmas gift when I was six or seven, sparked my life-long love of music. Thank you.

goddamn i love lo-fi synths

We’re arriving in the mail with this one 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

OMG !!!!! The YouTube algorithm has done me right... !!! So random, yet so wonderful And thank you for this video I have been wondering and looking for references to this for the past years... Could not remember how to find it. I grew up with this and was lucky to experience it, but never really took advantage of it and never realized it's capabilities... I wish I still have it now so I could share it with my kids...

I was given one by my dad in 1981, but over the years I lost it somewhere. I recently bought one to make up for the loss and I won't lose it again. BTW, if you own one of these try entering your birth date in the ADSR (YYYYMMDD or DDMMYYY), it's your sound!

I got the same one when I was 7. So nostalgic memory. I still remember the demo song. The melody doesn’t go away after 40 years.

This keyboard was my mothers, it was not only her keyboard for her choir practice, but also it was our calculator. She bought it new in '81 and it was in continuous use until 2002. A sound investment. My Grandmother also had the same keyboard. I discovered the ADSR functions in high school but didn't really understand what it was doing, just bashing random numbers in it was magic.

Wow. I had two Casio keyboards as a kid and this was one of them, they were both tiny and super fun to mess around with. Literally the sound of my childhood. Hearing you make fun music with them was a nice reminder of that, and you taking the time to not just make a sample library of it but give it away for free is a wonderful thing.

Wow! Many thanks for the nostalgia David. The VL-TONE was my first synth. My dad bought it for me when I was around 6-7 in Sweden. Will never forget those sometimes eerie sounds. And, of course, that built-in demo song. Never cared much about the drum presets, but that one-key-play sequencer function was quite clever too - I've never seen anything like it since, outside the Casio-lineup.  Also, that flute with fx definitely had some Boards of Canada vibes. Excellent video per usual. :)

Just bought my VL-1 and I’ve been obsessed with it since my laptop broke. Super fun little nugget

That little opening jam felt like a certified Strong Bad classic 😄

Really enjoy videos like this, there is so much to discover about the history of synths and other electronic instruments

Your set-up, sound, and everything in this video is healing and that's amazing! Thank you.

You made something so magical, this is really cool!

1:40 Also the beat to Have a nice life's `Holy Fucking Shit: 40,000`, funnily enough.

Love the videos! I'm always fascinated with all the instruments you bring out for us, tysm!

Great video! Back when I was a student, Kwai Chang Caine had his flute. I had my VL-Tone and would hang out under railway bridges to get the best reverb. I also used to jam along to the TD American tour album with it. After growing up and losing my Casio somewhere in my adult life I recently got one on E-Bay and the magic is still there. This morning I was listening to Epsilon in Malaysian Pale in the local coffee shop (first time for a while) and in the middle of it, your video post showed up. I took this as sign and am happily noodling with my VL-Tone again. Thank you!

I had one of those as a kid. Have to ask my parents if it still exists. Thanks für taking me back 🙂

Don't show this to Teenage Engineering! They will reissue it with a huge price tag!