Casio SK-1 Ableton Live Pack

The Casio SK-1 is beloved by musicians for its vintage charm and unique lo-fi sounds. Those flavors are perfectly captured in the Casio SK-1 Ableton Live Pack. In addition, the SK-1’s sound is taken to new modern levels with the power of Ableton Live. As one of the first affordable sampling keyboards, the 1985 Casio SK-1 is still loved by musicians and producers today. There’s a charm and nostalgia to the SK-1’s lo-fi sound.

I’ve sampled all the sounds the SK-1 has to offer: the 8 Presets, 11 Additive Synth sounds detailed in the manual, the 11 Rhythm Patterns, each individual drum sound, and even the noises from the power button and switches, as well as wire noises when plugging a cable into its input.

Each of the SK-1’s instruments and additive synth patches were multi-sampled to ensure the authenticity of the original sound. I built them into complex instrument racks that give you control to take the sounds to new modern levels. You can sculpt the ADSR envelop to create everything from pads and plucks to basses and leads. There’s a low pass filter and envelop to build movement into the sounds. The vibrato control was carefully dialled in to mimic the SK-1’s own vibrato setting. For some additional sound design power, I’ve added tremolo, delay, and reverb.

Each instrument has an initialized preset for pure SK-1 goodness, a pluck/stab preset for punchy and percussive notes, a pad/swell preset for long evolving textures and foundations, and a special custom preset for even more sonic diversity.

Part of the charm of the SK-1 is its old-school drum sounds. I sampled each individual drum hit to create a playable drum rack. The pads labelled “OG” are the original sounds from the SK-1. The other pads are processed copies of those sounds that give you even more rhythmic options.

The nonmusical noises of the SK-1 are also part of the experience, so I sampled them too. Pops and blips from the power switch make for interesting percussion sounds. There are even some cable buzz sounds from when a cable is inserted into the SK-1’s line input.

The Casio SK-1 FX rack allows you to use the same effects in the instrument racks on any sound you like. Quickly add vibrato, tremolo, delay, and reverb to any sound in any project. Then dial the effects in to taste.

Pack Contents:

• 21 Instrument Racks with 83 Presets.
• 2 Drum Racks
• 2 Audio Effect Racks
• 11 SK-1 Rhythms

Total Number Of Files:

• 36
• 699.2 MB

Software Requirements:

• Ableton Live 10.1 Intro or higher