Looking for Casio CTK-601 MIDI info

[japper]

I have an older Casio CTK-601 keyboard and I am looking for information on how the set this keyboard up to receive MIDI data from another device.

The user's manual shows how to set up the keyboard to output to the MIDI but doesn't contain information on how to set up the keyboard to receive and play MIDI input signals.

Does anyone know where I can obtain this information of how to set up a Casio model CTK-601 to receive MIDI input data?

Thanks for any help with this request.

 

[Ted Nicoson]

japper

Sorry ! I was not able to find much info on the 601- just a photo of its front panel, so I am going to have to make some assumptions. Typically, keyboards of this genre were, by DEFAULT, 16 channel/16 part multi-timbral MIDI receiving devices with at least a GM voice bank, that did not require any real "set up", so to speak, on the MIDI receiving side. You just connected the output of a sequencer or PC DAW to its MIDI-IN port and sent a GM file to it. On the MIDI send side, you have set up options to tell the keyboard whether you want the keys to send MIDI signals to the MIDI-OUT port and what channel you want them sent on, but the MIDI-IN side is pretty much a wide open receiver waiting for signals on up to 16 channels. Don't confuse these "16 channels" with the "6-Track" sequencer, as that is just a limitation for the internal recorder. The sound module circuitry can certainly receive on all 16 MIDI channels.

Good luck and enjoy the "601" !

 

[japper]

Thanks for the info Ted.

I am building a laser harp with a MIDI output and need a way to test it...

I have this old keyboard laying around so I thought I would give it a try.

I made a MIDI cable and will give it a try tonight...

thanks again

 

[happyrat1]

Oh man! You built a home brew laser harp? Way kewl. You gotta post pics and vids in here once you have it up and running.

Did you use different color lasers for the white and the black notes and does it respond to height of interruption or only on and off when you break the beams?

How much did it cost in parts? I'd imagine with a well supplied scrap box it would cost less than $100 to build. Commercial units start around $500 and up to about $1000.

Got an url for where ya got the plans?

Inquiring minds wanna know

Gary

 

[happyrat1]

BTW, just for FYI in case you didn't realize, the MIDI OUT on your Harp connects to the MIDI IN on the Casio.

 

[japper]

I had a German exchange student living with me last year who was a musician and I was trying to get him interested in electronics so we decided that a laser harp would be a good project to build.

Instead of totally reinventing the wheel, I did some searches online and came across a few designs like Jean Michel Jarre's framless laser harp but this looked to be too costly with the laser used and the galvanometer mirror set up.

And then I found and was impressed with Chris Ball's Laser Harp Mark iii design on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKAZhhargLg

I contacted Chris and have been creating some documentation on how to build one for < $300.

Mine is very similar to the one that you see in the link provided except I chose not to use the lighted buttons and my frame is made of PVC pipe instead of the fabricated wood frame that he uses. This was to keep the costs down and to make it easy to build. Also, using a PVC frame keeps it light enough that I added a brad hole nut on the bottom of the case so that it can be mounted to a camera tripod...

Also, I did layout a PCB for this with through hole parts to make it easy to build and salvaged the lasers out of some laser cat toys that I bought at Walmart...

I hope to wrap up this documentation up in a few weeks once my harp is totally operational.

Because this is Chris's design, you will need to contact him for more info as I respect his work on this. I will leave it up to him if he wants to share the documentation that I am preparing for this device, but he mentioned that he wanted to take my documentation and maybe turn it into an instructible...

Cheers

BTW: I figured that the harp would be connected to the keyboard MIDI-IN, just wasn't sure if there was anything special I needed to do to set up the keyboard to accept the MIDI input... thanks

 

[happyrat1]

Actually at most there might be one setting in the CTK's menus to enable MIDI (OFF/ON) but otherwise if the controller is MIDI compliant it should work just fine.

 

[japper]

Thanks thoughts on the CTK...

I got a chance to play around with it tonight and if I plug the laser harp into the MIDI IN, the notes played on the laser harp play on the keyboard without having to set anything.

I have a few issues to resolve on the laser harp yet but all of the options appear to work like in the video I placed to link to in my last post. Did you see the video? pretty cool device actually...

The only thing left to resolve on mine is a few intermittent notes yet...

cheers

 

[happyrat1]

You should also be able to control voice characteristics using the Keyboard's controls as well as the harp's.

I noted in the video you linked that the design has limited control. functions vis a vis switching voices and voice characteristic controls.

If you are using a programmable microcontroller as the MIDI "brain" of your harp design, it should be possible to assign a full range of functions and controls to various knobs and switches and turn it into a really kick ass full blown MIDI instrument and more than just a laboratory curiosity.

Either way, kudos on a job well done. You really should shoot and post a video of the controller on youtube once you have all the bugs kicked out.

Gary

 

[Csiplaci]

Actually at most there might be one setting in the CTK's menus to enable MIDI (OFF/ON) but otherwise if the controller is MIDI compliant it should work just fine.

Hello Gary! I just found this post and it might be a solution to my problem. I use the CTK 601 with the Cubase program as a midi keyboard. I pressed something on it in the dim light, and since then it hasn't given a signal. I don't have a description, so I don't know where the MIDI on/off can be done. Thank you if you can help.

Laci (from Hungary)

 

[happyrat1]

Hello Gary! I just found this post and it might be a solution to my problem. I use the CTK 601 with the Cubase program as a midi keyboard. I pressed something on it in the dim light, and since then it hasn't given a signal. I don't have a description, so I don't know where the MIDI on/off can be done. Thank you if you can help.

Laci (from Hungary)

I don't own one and my best guess would be MIDI Tx.

Try google for a manual.