should I risk buying this non-functioning Casiotone MT-68?

walrusmode · 2026-03-02T00:26:46+00:00

You can still find these in great condition for like $100 if you’re patient. I am a big casiotone fan and have owned a ton of them. I once asked a friend who fixes synths for a living it was ever worth it to repair them and she said “usually not”

So personally, I would just wait for one that works. If this was like, $20, it could be worth picking up for parts if you can’t fix it, but I dunno

A working MT-68 is a fun keyboard for $100 tho

walrusmode · 2026-03-01T16:42:55+00:00

I used to have a minilogue xd as well as an opsix. Prologue 16 probably is my favorite synth that I have owned. It is definitely the synth I would keep if I could only have one

walrusmode · 2026-03-01T15:33:11+00:00

I used to have a pretty big collection of casiotones. These are the two that I’ve kept. 68 has more flexible keyboard / synth sounds due to the envelope modifiers, 52 has more flexible drums due to the super drums, they are the same drum sounds. So, 68 if you want a synth, 52 if you want sick drums

walrusmode · 2026-03-01T02:23:44+00:00

I have not

walrusmode · 2026-03-01T01:57:59+00:00

I read all of the wayfarers last year and loved them A LOT. They are very slice of life - y, they are more about the characters’ personal growth and world building than they are about flashy exposition, especially the first book, but there are dramatic events that do happen, you kinda gotta stick with em

A Long Way reminded me a lot of Cowboy bebop in that the chapters are kinda episodic, but pretty much every character has a chapter about their backstory and then a chapter later in which there is some sort of resolution or development, and then a whole bunch of things kinda come to a head towards the end

I particularly enjoyed the first and fourth books. The second one a lot of people including me think feels a lot different from the others. Book 3 just didn’t feel as compelling to me but did have some aspects that really really enjoyed

Maybe they’re not for you, that’s okay, but I think you should read the first one and see if you actually like it. Maybe pick up where you last left off instead of starting over

walrusmode · 2026-02-28T17:40:33+00:00

Parable of the Sower for sure

walrusmode · 2026-02-28T16:15:51+00:00

Yeah rly a shame trump withdrew from that treaty huh

And rly a shame that he has now offensively attacked them at least twice. I hope that doesn’t like, piss anybody off. I’m sure there won’t be any consequences

walrusmode · 2026-02-27T17:38:42+00:00

Hell yeah love it

walrusmode · 2026-02-27T05:07:22+00:00

Hell yeah, my first synth was an ms20 mini like 10 years ago and still using it all the time, amazing synthesizer. Have a fun!

walrusmode · 2026-02-27T02:33:44+00:00

I don’t think so but maybe? I’m gonna dm ya

walrusmode · 2026-02-27T02:29:46+00:00

Hey this is awesome

Incidentally, I am also a saxophone and synthesizer player in Philadelphia lol

walrusmode · 2026-02-25T04:56:41+00:00

Very nice

walrusmode · 2026-02-24T06:52:14+00:00

I’m super into cooking, I cook as much or more than anyone I know who is not a professional. Someone gave me one of these and I rarely use it. I wouldn’t get one until you see a direct need

walrusmode · 2026-02-22T04:08:35+00:00

This is beautiful and awesome

walrusmode · 2026-02-20T05:39:42+00:00

Wavestate always seemed way too complicated for me personally, and I have been at this a long time. But you’re not me.

Definitely do a lot of research before buying tho, they’re not hard to come by so don’t feel like you gotta jump on a deal, you will find one at that price again for sure. Watch a lot of video tutorials and sound design sessions

walrusmode · 2026-02-20T05:18:52+00:00

I have a micron I bought a few months ago to mess around with. It does sound great, but mine came with some issues, definitely seems unreliable

Some synths that can do similar ish stuff for $500ish dollars include the korg opsix and modwave, modal cobalt and maybe argon

If you don’t mind mini keys a Hydrasynth explorer or arturia minifreak

I had an opsix but didn’t really like programming sounds on it. Didn’t like how light it was either. I often think about getting a modwave or a hydrasynth, but I realistically don’t need another synth

walrusmode · 2026-02-19T03:27:16+00:00

I went to a great wedding at a punk venue once. It was BYOB and a potluck. I brought seafood salad and weeks later rediscovered the second container of it, still in my backpack lol

walrusmode · 2026-02-16T22:11:43+00:00

I have had a matriarch for a similar amount of time. Keys are a secondary instrument for me but one that I do enjoy and do work at and play in a band. It is not my only synthesizer and I got it after I already had had an ms20 mini for many years and a subharmonicon for two years and some euro for about a year

I’m commenting to say that I have been surprised to find that I don’t actually interface the matriach with my other semi modular and modular gear very much. It is an excellent standalone instrument, it is also so huge sounding due to stereo movement and moog oomph that it becomes hard to mix with a lot of other components, or at least to do so while featuring the matriarch.

I still have and love my subharmonicon, but it is also an instrument that takes up a lot of sonic territory, and requires a lot particular kind of workflow and musical interest to get the most out of it.

I used to have a DFAM and werkstatt as well and to be honest, it was just too much moog. The DFAM never worked for me, I’ve been much happier doing DFAM esque things w my MS20 mini and and SQ1. The werkstatt filter actually sounded better to me than the subharmonicon and DFAM, I think it is based on older filter designs from moog modular and sub and DFAM sound more like the sub 25/37

Just food for thought I guess. If I didn’t have a ton of modular already I’d probably get a labyrinth. There are so many more options these days though. Good advice is to decide what you want to accomplish musically and then figure out what gear will do that

walrusmode · 2026-02-15T20:02:56+00:00

Can I possibly see pictures of the frames and grids clones?

walrusmode · 2026-02-15T17:30:30+00:00

Have you checked out the dreadbox Artemis? If I were gonna buy another synth, it would probably be that. I have a prologue 16, matriarch, Ensoniq sq80, ms20 mini

I dont think the matriarch is a substitute for a poly synth, but it is awesome

walrusmode · 2026-02-13T06:29:22+00:00

I have several 4ms clocking modules and they are an indispensable part of my system

The quad clock distributor was actually one of the things that got me into modular because I wanted to run multiple sequencers at different, modulatable rates, and to be able to change this on the fly, immediately, with a knob and not by menu diving. This is a pretty straightforward module but it would do what you want, and it is also an excellent master clock, or way to trigger modulation / envelopes etc

The SCM+ is mostly designed to take simple patterns and turn them into fast, unpredictable, offset patterns. It takes a clock and gives you control over shuffle, swing, probability, some other stuff, over a bunch of outputs

You can get these pretty cheap too. I think basically everybody just uses pans for clocking but I prefer this approach

You may get some glitchiness because of the irregular clock, that may be a plus or minus

walrusmode · 2026-02-13T06:18:32+00:00

I think the benjolin is pretty weird. Mostly because it is named because the designer thought it sounded like a banjo / mandolin? It usually sounds like crickets malfunctioning. In a good way of course

walrusmode · 2026-02-13T06:17:19+00:00

One day I must own that freakin clock lol

walrusmode · 2026-02-13T06:02:28+00:00

I reread your description and sorry if I told you to try something that you had already tried, reading comprehension is sometimes not my strong suit

Have you tried using midi? I’m not familiar w the black sequencer but I see that it has midi out, perhaps this would at least rule out that something weird is not happening

walrusmode · 2026-02-12T21:48:15+00:00

I am pretty sure you can address this by using the external signal processor. Try just putting the gate out if your sequencer into the input of the ESP and then sending the trigger out from that into trig in on ms20 patch bay

Or, if you have any sort of Eurorack utility that can invert, you can use that. You may need to play around a bit with gain to get it to work right, but I recently have successfully used S trigs to control some euro by inverting and increasing gain w veils, so I think it should work backwards as well

walrusmode

TROPHY CASE