Off Topic: The pure pleasure of a classic Casio Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Off Topic: The pure pleasure of a classic Casio Tone it up. Feature by Martin Robinson Editor-in-chief Updated on 12 Oct 2021 Some people covet vintage Gibson guitars, pristine Roland drum machines or an original Fender amp handwired by Leo himself, but I've spent the past 18 months researching and collecting humble Casio keyboards - partly because they're actually affordable, but mostly because they're downright awesome. There's a parallel, I'm sure, with one of my favourite video game companies somewhere in there. Toshio Kashio, a younger brother in the family behind one of Japan's most famous exports, repurposed the calculators he'd built to accommodate his amateur musicianship, making it possible to play simple melodies on them before they eventually blossomed into full-sized keyboards, just as Gunpei Yokoi once took those LCD displays and repurposed them for something more playful. Casio, though, always seemed to embrace a more egalitarian, open-armed philosophy that's hard-wired into its hardware - indeed, it's the foundation of their success, the ubiquity of their keyboards making them an understated yet phenomenally important part of modern music history. You've heard the distinctive pre-set beat of the as it opens up The Fall's 'The Man Whose Head Expanded' before being sneerily dismissed by Mark E Smith, but the Casio sound goes beyond those tinny beeps - the insistent 'Sleng Teng' rhythm that Wayne Smith discovered as a preset on the MT40 that would go on to become a cornerstone of modern dancehall, while the scratchy sampling of the SK1 was an integral part of Portishead's early sound. Subscribe to Eurogamer to read this article Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More Features Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Feature What games get wrong about horses And what they could do about it. 28 Feature Shout out to all the Overwatch supports - where would we be without you? Merci. 55 Latest Articles Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 4 Genshin Impact Path of Gleaming Jade dates, login event rewards Including other anniversary rewards and how to claim them. Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store