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I'm on a kick lately....I picked up this Schylling Mini Piano at a toy store for $10...(the red one in the picture). It's what I used on my grandaddy cover on the 90s comp. After that I found the other two in the picture in the dollar store. Unfortunately the yellow one does not have working black keys, but does have a very cool portamento sound. The blue car shaped one has a working headlight that lights when a key is played.



I just won an auction on eBay for this vintage toy electric reed organ.....from a video of a similar thing on youtube it looks to be not much different than a melodica only with a powered fan to bellow air instead of blowing, which is great because I use a melodica for our acoustic stuff but am asthmatic.



I know they're not "toy pianos", but I also just picked up a yamaha yc30 combo organ yesterday locally, and I'm probably going to be in the market for a realistic concertmate mg1 soon

I get the feeling this is going to be a growing interest for me....anyone else have some cool old keyboards?

you will totally love this: http://www.miniorgan.com



my first instrument was a casio VL-1. I still have it. loev it.

Yeah I've browsed that many times.

Forgot to mention I own one of those stylophone reissues too.

I have been buying old casio keyboards, the pt 20 and pt 1...they are pretty much the same only the pt 20 can play chords while pt 1 is mono phonic...

Though certainly on the "analog" side of toy keyboards, toy pianos are lovely little things when used well in context. I remembering buying The Cure Plays Out when it was first released and digging how one got used during the shoot of MTV Unplugged on "Letter to Elise".


The cool factor beats the out of tune-ness of the thing.

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casio sa2, it's fun. the electric piano setting together with some guitar sounds cool

i've got an old casio SK-1 and an original stylophone that seems to have something wrong with it and sounds pleasantly hideous. i think my sister's old bontempi chord organ is still in my parents' loft, the kind woolworths used to sell in the late 70s. they're rubbish though. i think joy division used one on 'atmosphere'.

I have a bigger reed organ with the chord buttons, a stylophone, a melodica and a really old Casio classic that has been rebranded something else (the one from that strongbad cartoon, all the same demos).

I'm constantly on the look out for toy keyboards in charoty shops and the like. I've found some really good ones in the past but lots of shops don't take them anymore because they can never be sure if they work or not. Surely it's not too much effort to just turn it one and check?...

black keys only, they're so small

ohyeahfuzzbear wrote:I'm constantly on the look out for toy keyboards in charoty shops and the like. I've found some really good ones in the past but lots of shops don't take them anymore because they can never be sure if they work or not. Surely it's not too much effort to just turn it one and check?...

my SK-1 was £5 from oxfam. nearly shat myself when i saw it on the shelf. i kept thinking the old dear behind the counter was going to double check and ask for £50, i practically threw the money at her face and snatched it from her old wrinkly hands.

I've always been a fan of the Casio keyboard that also had the on board calculator. Can't think of the name right now. The NAILS used one for the compu-rhythm sound in 88 LINES ABOUT 44 WOMEN. Too cool.

stewart wrote:

ohyeahfuzzbear wrote:I'm constantly on the look out for toy keyboards in charoty shops and the like. I've found some really good ones in the past but lots of shops don't take them anymore because they can never be sure if they work or not. Surely it's not too much effort to just turn it one and check?...

my SK-1 was £5 from oxfam. nearly shat myself when i saw it on the shelf. i kept thinking the old dear behind the counter was going to double check and ask for £50, i practically threw the money at her face and snatched it from her old wrinkly hands.

i remember being in the market for one a few years back, and they were srsly like $100+. really? a little sampling keyboard is over $35? no thanks, i'll figure some other way to do it.

christ they're fun, though.

mongoose69 wrote:I've always been a fan of the Casio keyboard that also had the on board calculator. Can't think of the name right now. The NAILS used one for the compu-rhythm sound in 88 LINES ABOUT 44 WOMEN. Too cool.

It's the VL1 I think...mages mentioned it in this thread.

paul_ wrote:I have a bigger reed organ with the chord buttons

I am hoping to get a Farfisa pianorgan/organtone/royal artist soon. They look rad, which one do you have?

I have an old Casio and Yamaha, cheap jobs but quite impressive. Used to have a Yamaha CS1 and a Korg MicroKorg.
Love keyboards (80's kid innit), it would be my choice instrument after electric guitar.

trew that.

I never mentioned in this thread, but this was my first musical instrument, my brother gave it to me when I was 4 because I used it way more than he did.

Yamaha Portasound PSS-480



I still have it but one of the lower keys broke off the hinge...still works and fits on there but I have to be careful I don't lose it. Also the adapter input is wonky and needs to be resoldered and as it is it only works on batteries.

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Its demo sequence is probably further ingrained in my memory than any other piece of music I've ever heard

Nick wrote:

this was the first instrument that was ever bought for me save for like toy harmonicas and kazoos and whatnot. i think i was in 6th grade. loevd the hell outta that thing. . . even played in very shortlived garageband with it. richard marx covers and chariots of fire renditions ensued. . .

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dots wrote:

Nick wrote:

this was the first instrument that was ever bought for me save for like toy harmonicas and kazoos and whatnot. i think i was in 6th grade. loevd the hell outta that thing. . . even played in very shortlived garageband with it. richard marx covers and chariots of fire renditions ensued. . .

PORTASOUND BROS!

I actually just dug mine out of the garage tonight and bought some batteries for it....have been playing bad covers of 80s pop songs with the auto accompaniment nonstop since.

too lazy to list all of them but i have two SK-1s; however, the Casiotone MT-70 & the Casio SA-38 are the ones i use the most.