page_title: Casiotone
section_title: ROM Packs
hierarchical_section_title: Casiotone / ROM Packs
caption_attribution_description: English: ROM Pack (RO-301 - POPULAR HITS) from my Casio PT-80 keyboard, which was made around 1982. The ROM was made in Japan in 1983. It includes songs such as 'Moon River', 'The Entertainer', 'Scarborough Fair', and 'Danke Schön'. Picture taken with a Motorola RAZR V3.
context_page_description: Casiotone refers to a series of home electronic keyboards released by Casio Computer Co., Ltd. in the early 1980s. In 2019 the series was revived with the launch of three new keyboards. Casio claims that the Casiotone 201 was "the first electronic keyboard with full-size keys that anyone could afford".
  The first Casiotone keyboards used a sound synthesis technique known as vowel-consonant synthesis to approximate the sounds of other instruments. Most Casiotone keyboards were small, with miniature keys designed for children's fingers, and were not intended for use by professional musicians; they usually contained a rhythm generator, with several user-selectable rhythm patterns, and often the means to automatically play accompaniments. While the name "Casiotone" disappeared from Casio's new keyboard catalog when more accurate synthesis technologies became prevalent, their low cost and abundance made them fairly common fixtures in garage rock bands.
context_section_description: Some models sold from 1983 onwards included a cartridge bay to accept Casio ROM Packs which contained sheet music in a digital format. The keyboards could play the notes automatically, or (with the exception of the PT-50) illuminate LEDs above each key to teach the user how to play the song. Most keyboards came with one ROM Pack as standard, but a large number of additional packs, covering a wide range of musical genres, were available to purchase separately. The last ROM Pack model was the CT-840, which came out in 1990.
caption: ROM Pack
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