Casio Casiotone CT-401 Vintage 1981 in Superb Condition Made in Japan

This Casio Casiotone CT-401 from 1981, made in Japan, is in excellent condition, inside and out.

A classic among classics, the Casiotone 401 is a Preset synthesizer and was the first from Casio to offer an auto-accompaniment section that continued to feature on later models. There are 14 Preset sounds including: Organ Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Trumpet, Violin, Cello, Piano, Harpsichord, Celeste, Accordion, Electric Piano, Frog, and Funny. Those last two are basically synthesizer-type sounds, but Casio obviously had fun with the naming of those. In addition to the Preset sounds, there is a built-in Drum/Rhythm section with 16 Presets such as Rock, Bossanova, Waltz, March, Samba, and Mambo styles.

The exterior of the keyboard is extremely well-constructed of metal and plastic.

The 49-keys are full sized.

The switches and rocker-switches have that organ-style that was so prevalent among compact keyboards in the 70s and 80s.

A large built-in speaker is all you need to hear yourself playing with CT-401. However, there is a mono 1/4-inch output on the back, as well as an external audio input (to feed some external audio to its speaker). There are also a headphone jack and three foot-switch / sustain jacks.

There are four switches to turn on Vibrato, Vibrato Delay, Sustain and Hold.

You can choose one of the Preset Rhythm patterns for some groovy drum percussion to play along with – the drum sounds are reminiscent of the Roland CR-machines. It also has a Fill-In button to trigger drum fills, and a tempo adjustment knob.

The CT-401’s “Casio Auto Chord” section is the highlight of this instrument. It can be used like a normal chord-memory feature, where holding down one of the left-hand keys will play a chord that you have stored to its memory. The Auto Chord function can play in a staccato or continuous sustained mode, or it can be switched to “Fingered” mode, in which the chord has a rhythm to it, as well as a sort of walking-bass line. The Auto Chord section can be synchronized to the Rhythm section, as well. With these features you could play a lively rhythm part with just one finger on your left hand, and solo along with it on the right hand.

A quintessential 80s Casio synth!