Ultimate Casio SA bending guide.

[Timodon]

Got me an SA-1 and I'm planning to stick in the voltage drop, glitch and feedback mods as well as a line out. I'm looking for some advice though as space is really at a premium inside these things/ I'm wondering if anyone has successfully and cleanly removed the speaker grill. I think I'd like to do this as it would give me space for my pots and switches but I'm not sure how to do it without making a mess of it. Anyone got any thoughts?

[JohnnyLongarms]

I need to keep my eyes out for something in this line!!

[Timodon]

They're fun to bend!

- Scream, Glitch and voltage drop all successfully installed, just the filter to do (and maybe the pitch bend if I can work out how to substitute the crystal for a hex schmitt oscillator). One bit of advice I'd give any nooby looking to get busy with an SA - the way the battery compartment is designed makes it a pain in the arse to keep opening and closing to test your bends are working as you install them. Luckily the SA-1 will run off a 9 volt so I hooked up the spring and the big positive jumper  to one and found it worked fine with the back off. sometimes need to press the circuit board down as you press the keys but it's a lot more doable this way than either trying to hold all four AAs in place or opening and closing every time you test something.

[Bogus Noise]

I usually use a battery holder and a couple of crocodile clips, and solder a temporary on switch onto the circuit for the extra convenience factor. I do this on a lot of projects actually, makes it easier for testing voltage drops and often means you can  put a big chunk of casing to one side while you're working on it.

[Nixot]

The hidden sounds will make a difference - The Casio SA-8's buttons correspond to buttons 0, 1, 2, 3 and 6 on an SA-1. The hidden sound switch will give you an extra button 4, making you 11 sounds better off.

[samspike]

You can get 100 (instead of 25) sounds from the SA-8 - in other words, there are 75 hidden sounds in the SA-8

see http://www.casperelectronics.com/finished-pieces/casio-sa-keyboards/
-- see Comment 9 from PHOBoS

I have tried this it works.

However unless you have a compelling reason to have the sound numbers the same as the SA-1, I would suggest that you do NOT renumber the existing tone buttons as PHOBoS advises.  Instead re-order the SA-1 sound list to match the button labelling system.

Thus:

Tone 1 button stays as tone 1
Tone 2 button stays as tone 2
Tone 3 button stays as tone 3
Tone 4 button stays as tone 4
Tone 5 button stays as tone 5

New buttons:

Tone 6 is a push-to-make button connecting pins 26 and 15 on the OKI
Tone 7 is a push-to-make button connecting pins 25 and 11 on the OKI
Tone 8 is a push-to-make button connecting pins 25 and 13 on the OKI
Tone 9 is a push-to-make button connecting pins 25 and 14 on the OKI
Tone 0 is a push-to-make button connecting pins 25 and 15 on the OKI

Now the two digit tone numbers 11,12,13,14,15... upto 55 are unchanged from the descriptions on the original front panel, but the new buttons allow access to the additional sounds.

The sounds using this number scheme are :-

[samspike]

00      STRINGS/OBOE
01      TRIANGLE
02      CONGA/AGOGO
03      COWBELL/CLAVE
04      TOM
05      BASS/PIANO
06      ROCK DRUM
07      SWING DRUM
08      BASS/TRUMPET
09      PIANO/FLUTE
10      ACCORDION
11      PIANO
12      ELEC PIANO
13      HONKY-TONK PIANO
14      HARPSICHORD
15      PIPE ORGAN
16      JAZZ ORGAN
17      ELEC ORGAN
18      CHURCH ORGAN
19      STREET ORGAN
20      CLARINET
21      BRASS ENS
22      WARM BRASS
23      TRUMPET
24      TUBA
25      ENGLISH HORN
26      BRASS HIT
27      WIND ENS
28      OBOE
29      BASSOON
30      BRASS-STRINGS
31      SAMBA WHISTLE
32      WHISTLE
33      QUENA
34      FLUTE
35      BAGPIPE
36      FLUTE-VIB
37      OCARINA
38      HARMONICA
39      CHORUS
40      SLAP BASS
41      STRINGS
42      WARM STRINGS
43      VIOLIN
44      VIOLIN-PIANO
45      JAZZ GUITAR
46      CELLO
47      ELEC GUITAR
48      MUTE GUITAR
49      METAL GUITAR
50      PEARL DROP
51      GLASS HARMONICA
52      FANTASY
53      WAW VOICE
54      TWINKLE ECHO
55      COSMIC DANCE
56      METAL LEAD
57      CATHEDRAL
58      PLUNK EXTEND
59      POP LEAD
60      SHAMISEN
61      ELEC BASS
62      WOOD BASS
63      SNARE BASS
64      UKULELE
65      MANDOLIN
66      BANJO
67      SITAR
68      HARP
69      TAISHOKOTO
70      SYNTH-BASS
71      SYNTH-PIANO
72      SYNTH-CELESTA
73      SYNTH-CLAVI
74      SYNTH-ACCORDION
75      SYNTH-LEAD
76      SYNTH-BRASS
77      SYNTH-REED
78      SYNTH-STRINGS
79      SYNTH-GUITAR
80      TYPEWRITER
81      AIRPLANE
82      AMBULANCE
83      INSECT
84      EMERGENCY ALARM
85      TELEPHONE
86      LASER BEAM
87      COSMIC SOUND
88      CAR HORN
89      COMPUTER SOUND
90      WADAIKO
91      VIBRAPHONE
92      MARIMBA
93      CHURCH BELLS
94      BELLS
95      ETHNIC PERCUSSION
96      GAMELAN
97      AFRO PERCUSSION
98      SAMPLE PERCUSSION
99      MATSURI

[samspike]

One other thing, PHOBos also advises you can add demo's by adding push-to-makes between OKI pins: 24-15, 24-16, 24-17.

I think he might have made a slight mistake (or I have wired it up wrong), since I did this, and while getting demos from these, one of them is the same as demo already available.  I haven't yet investigated if this is my wiring or his mistake.  Whenever I get round to it (may be some time), I'll post here.

[Nixot]

Feedback installed. However, instead of a distortion, nothing happens for the first half of the potentiometer turning and for the second half, firstly the sounds make a few loud blips as I play them, and when it is full there's just a constant whiny thin square wave that bares no resemblance to the notes I pressed or the instrument I'm using. Surely it should just sound overdriven and self-oscillate at the highest setting? I'm using a 1K potentiometer connected in series to a 1K trim, like on the diagram. Do I need to adjust the trim?

[Timodon]

No the feedback mod doesn't really work like that - it's more like a distortion with a tuneable feedback/ synth-like tone that fights against the notes you play, sometimes in a pleasingly glitchy way. Think of it as being in the same family of effects as the fuzz factory/ diabolical fuzz burglar/ truly beautiful disaster etc. (if you know those effects)

I'll be honest I prefer the version of this mod that you get on the MT205 - the feedback tone goes higher and doesn't completely destroy the sound of the keyboard in the way that the SA1 seems to. Also the actual distortion on the sounds is warmer and more musical whereas on the SA-1 it's a pretty harsh, fizzy sounding distortion - although you can still get some pretty cool sounds with the SA-1 depending on which of the presets you're using.

[lookdadnotunes]

Hi,

I'm new here, currently bending a casio SA-8.
I'm going to install the extra tone buttons as described by PHOBoS and samspike on the Casper website.

Just wondered if anyone had tried to re-wire the drum-pad buttons for the extra tone numbers?
I was thinking about cutting the traces and using them, as I don't really want the drum pads. Do you think  i'd be better off just putting in new switches for the extra tones, is rewiring the drum switchess likely to be very fiddly and more hassle than its worth?


thanks

Bob

[jamiewoody]

did anyone see the video i made for mine?

[Dylan]

Sorry for resurrecting this thread, but instead of pissing everyone off by making yet another SA thread, I thought I'd just post here.

Anyway, fellow board member, and totally awesome guy, Electroyd sent me an SA-8, I bookmarked this thread for the awesome schematic posted. When I hooked up the "Glitch Randomizer" I don't get the kind of glitch we all know and love from the SA keyboards. Instead of the ambient mix of sounds, I mainly get quick bursts of the different keyboard voices. This is cool and all, but I was really hoping for that ambient mix of sounds.

I opened the thing up and poked around, eventually finding something that gave me the ambient mix, but it quickly drained the batteries, and then it kind of killed the keyboard for a couple hours.

Has the kind of glitch that I got (the random voice spurts)? And would you know how to get, or want to let me know how to get the normal glitch everyone else has?

Also, has anyone had any problems with the "Hidden Sounds" switch on the SA-8? When I hooked it up, I got the effect of the 5th Switch on the first and fourth key.

Thanks in advance.

[jamiewoody]

i tested that bend, and that was the kind of "glitch" i got too. i didn't hear what was so special about it, so i left it out.

try hooking up a vactrol or a vco to it. poke around and experiment with that and you will get some unique tones. there should be one or two body contacts in there.

maybe take it a step or 2 beyond what the norm is doing, and make a lowpass vcf and hook that up to the output jack/speaker.

[Simon Vactrol]

I'm having the same problem with mine the sensitive body contact only works..and not so well.. with alkaline batteries.
i think that is the real problem...like with cameras..some batteries especially from pound shops or similar have no strength to keep that level of power to make it crash proper(on the main rocks)..
for the hidden sound i guess those could be located somewhere else..by following the  ultimate schematics posted..i have had the same problem no hidden sound but instead a reliable 5switch...best solution?..i guess is take the situation under control and with patience look for the treasures..it could also b cos of the year is been re lased..sometime those beasts are slightly different....gonna take out mine from the to do box and see if i can help...



Sv