Casio M-10 (c. 1980–1981)
Little is officially documented about the Casio M-10. What survives comes almost entirely from early-1980s hobbyist magazines, where the Casiotone M-10 was a favorite target for do-it-yourself mods. Polyphony (November 1980, p.10) described it as an instrument that permitted up to 29 different instrument voices, selectable and programmable into four presets. The keyboard output straight binary, which was then converted to analog.
The modification articles are where the M-10's innards get interesting. A November 1980 piece by Richard Wolfson, "Add Voices to your Casio M-10," walked readers through expanding its voice set. By March 1981, Polyphony (p.16) was running Robin Whittle's "Creating the SUPER Casio M-10." The project involved cutting a trace between pins 3 and 9 underneath the TC40H074P IC - the chip that divides the 4.536688 MHz master clock down to 1.134172 MHz for the main chip. The same issue (p.15) documented more mods adding octave drop, hold, and sustain via three switches and three diodes. The vibrato, voice, and volume controls lived on a small switch panel. The magazine also warned that the M-10 contained many static-sensitive parts, so patience and careful wiring were required.
Known specs from the period record:
- Up to 29 selectable instrument voices, programmable into four presets
- Straight binary keyboard output, converted to analog
- Master clock 4.536688 MHz, divided to 1.134172 MHz for the main chip
- Front-panel controls: vibrato, voice, volume
No production years, official pricing, or factory specifications have surfaced in the Archive's records. The dates above bracket the period articles in which the M-10 is known to appear. If you own one and have original documentation, the record could use it.
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