Simply astonishing Casio SK1 mod

Michael Stein has created the ultimate hacked SK1, turning it into a white slope-fronted synth with a patchbay and a joystick. He says: "I am very excited to have finished this project and I am having lots of fun with it. I am proud and would like to show it off." More pictures: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. (thanks, Shawn)

Posted by Tom Whitwell.

Comments:

really cool! it would look even better if the small remaining piece of the SK-1 faceplate was redone in white too.

# posted by

c. leepa : 11:04 pm

Awesome work.

Does Mr. Stein have a website or contact info?

I'd love to hear about more of his work.

Going along with the white faceplate idea, this would have been amazing if done with the super rare Barbie pink SK1.

# posted by

Doc Pop : 11:29 pm

damn, thats cool. I was gonna do something similar to my friends SK-1 but now I won't be "the first" even though I doubt this one is the first to do this.

great job by the modder, looks sweet!

# posted by

Nate MC : 12:03 am

one Question..why??

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:07 am

I can't believe it. What a pro job. I want one.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:22 am

Having played with circuit bending quite a bit in the past, I've got to wonder when the big manufacturers, ie Roland, Yamaha, Korg, Behringer (ugh), will make a stab at a piece of the 'modding market'.

# posted by

FieryLungs : 1:18 am

Wow. That is amazing.

# posted by

matrix : 4:24 am

Good God.
When can I expect this to be E-bayed?

# posted by

Anonymous : 5:22 am

u r a huge nerd. the truth will never get old.

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:19 am

The guy over at Casper Electronics did a very similar project a while ago called the Super SK-1.

http://www.casperelectronics.com/finishedpieces/casper-sk1/

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:04 pm

why not !!!!

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:59 pm

Simply beautiful...

Regarding the white face, he might have tried using the SK-10, which came in factory white. Might not have been as bendable, though.

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:50 pm

http://www.kingcapitolpunishment.com/sitebuilder/images/main_pic_2-853x645.jpg

Is a similar super sk idea, with a built in bend sequencer.

But this piece really goes beyond that.

# posted by

Doc Pop : 6:57 pm

I agree, it's phenomenal crafting, but could someone clue me as to WHY any person would want to expend all that time and energy, not to mention expense; upon a silly 8 bit sampler that was obselete by the time it was popular? I bought my 6 year old son one as a toy back in about 1990.

I'm guessing here, but it must be the same kind of impulse and creativity that drives hotrodders to customize a horrible, stupid and inefficient US car of the 1950's or '60s and treat it with tender, loving care that they wouldn't bestow on their wife or child.

# posted by

Anonymous : 4:34 pm

What's with all the hating on an SK1 mod? It's bending friendly due to DC power, there are a lot of established mods out there to work from, and some people just _like_ them.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:46 am

What's with all the hating on an SK1 mod? It's bending friendly due to DC power, there are a lot of established mods out there to work from, and some people just _like_ them.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:47 am

I think this piece shows a tremendous amount of passion! nice work!

# posted by

Anonymous : 5:50 am

Well, one persons toy is someone elses indispensible tool. Almost none of my tracks are without some sweet SK-1 :-)

# posted by

Anonymous : 8:56 pm

SPLOOOJ!!
Whew!! Someone pass a tissue, I made a mess over here!

Seriously, that is like a dream come true!

Sell me one!!

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:10 pm

Oh Yeah - LET'S HEAR IT!!

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:13 pm

This makes me want to get into bending. Awesome work.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:24 am

Michael, how do we get in contact with you? There is no contact info on your blogger profile that I can see?

You can email me about selling a unit, I'd appreciate that.

yoyogenius at hotmail.com

# posted by

Doc Pop : 8:39 pm

I have an sk1 that has been waiting to be bent for some time now. First I saw the Tablebeast mod, then I saw the Casper electronics SK1 and now this. Consider the gauntlet well and truly thrown.
Nice work dude!
To those who ask why, you really need to hear the sound these things make with a little tinkering.

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:20 pm

I own a Casio Sk-1 that i found in the basement on top of the washing machine in a house i was cleaning out, needless to say i was more excited about that then i was the g4 iBook and 2 gig mp3 player i found there too,
it even has the original battery cover!!!!

sadly one natural key has a big chip missing and one black key is broken off, (though i managed to find the key i wasn't able to put it back)

my dad had an sk-1 and then he traded it for an sk-5 when i was around 4 or 5, and i loved that thing, and now i have one,

im not shure if i want to bend it or not but i want to replace the keys,

i could easily mod it but i want to keep it original,

what you have created looks awesome and im sure it sounds just as awesome,

the only way Casio could have made this keyboard cooler is if it had 1 or 2 more octaves and better polyphony, i need to find someone to sell me some keycombs or just a piece of a white and black one.

ok im longwinded so i shut up now X) happy playing!

# posted by

Anonymous : 11:27 pm