RAP-1 Rapman
The world's 1st rap keyboard


Th
is is one little Casio keyboard that I remember fondly from the early '90s!!  Rap was at the top of its popularity then, and this fun keyboard allowed anybody to become instant rappers :-)

This 32-key keyboard offers 25 preset tones, including piano, horns, guitar and sound effects; 30 Rap patterns, including rap, rock, house and more; a scratch disk that gives you control of up to four different scratch sounds by turning it with your hand, and three effect pads - three buttons on the console that give you one-touch access to a selection of exciting sound effects.

One of the best features of the Rapman is the Voice Effector function:  this changes the pitch of the sound being input through the microphone.  Yes, there's an extra-cool Casio EM-4131 mini-microphone included!

The on board speaker is powerful enough for home use, but there's an 1/8" output too, for when you need to kick it up a notch.


 

 

Casio Rapman audio demos

 

Tones

Stream all tone demos below

Tone name with audio demo My comments
11 BRASS ENS Superb synth brass, very contemporary
12 ECHO BRASS With the classic Casio pseudo-reverb/echo
13 FLUTE Delightful tone
14 SYNTH-REED Classic early '90s Casio.
15 SYNTH-LEAD Nice hard lead.
21 PIANO Cool and laidback piano tone.
22 VIBRAPHONE Realistic!
23 ELEC ORGAN Another classic early '90s Casio sound.
24 WAW VOICE Superb tone with rising pitch on the attack
25 WARM STRINGS Curiously analog sounding.
31 ELEC BASS Awesome bass guitar sound!
32 METAL GUITAR The perfect techno lead!!! Sample this and you're set for classic early 90s techno
33 SITAR Vaguely eastern
34 CHURCH BELLS Very nice
35 BELLS Classic "ice attack" sound
41 PERCUSSION Casio percussion, that is...
42 GAMELAN Very new age
43 AGOGO Nicely sampled Brazilian classic
44 BAND HIT-BRASS HIT You can also find these on the three pads
45 ORCHESTRA HIT Classic techno orchestra hit
51 VOCODER Incredible!!!  The best sound on the Rapman
52 TWINKLE ECHO Lovely echoed synth
53 CAR HORN Yep.
54 AMBULANCE Yes.
55 EMERGENCY ALARM sci-fi

Rap Patterns

Stream all rap pattern demos below

 

Pattern name with audio demo My comments
1 BEAT 1 Solid rhythm, perfect for rapping over
2 BEAT 2 Variant of the above
3 BEAT 3 One more variation
4 BEAT 4 Nice and funky
5 BEAT 5 Superbly done shuffle, with the 808 style percussion
6 BEAT 6 Classic '80s pattern
7 BEAT 7 More TR-808 inspired goodness
8 BEAT 8 808 in 16ths
9 BEAT 9 With huge fills
10 BEAT 10 Standard 8-beat
11 BEAT 11 Excellent break!
12 BEAT 12 Nice 16th pattern
13 RAP 1 Awesome - this also includes bass and horn stab
14 RAP 2 Superb - this is funky and features bass and Clavinet
15 HEAVY RAP Not so heavy though.
16 HIP-HOP 1 Very groovy
17 HIP-HOP 2 Typical rhythm in vogue back when.
18 HIP-HOP 3 Awesome percussion arrangement!
19 HIP-HOP 4 Lovely
20 MELLOW RAP Dreamy
21 ROCK 1 and roll
22 ROCK 2 Inspired by a famous song - right now I can't remember the title of it.
23 FUNK 1 More '70s funk for you
24 FUNK 2 Outstanding for break-dancing actually...
25 FUNK 3 James Brown'ish
26 FUNK 4 So cool!
27 R & B Complex and cool
28 HOUSE 1 Well...
29 HOUSE 2 Better.
30 HOUSE 3 Ok.

 

Casio Rapman Voice Effector demo

 

Voice Effector demo

 

Casio Rapman video demo

In Real Video format Casio_Rapman.rm
 

Casio Rapman specifications

 

Year of release:  
Polyphony:  
Sound generation method:  
Preset memories  
MIDI:  
Sound expansion capabilities:  
Sequencer  
Arpeggiator  
Effects  


 

Casio Rapman pictures (click on thumbnails to enlarge)

           

       

Casio Rapman manual

available at Casio New Zealand

Links

 

SITE Type of resource DESCRIPTION
www.casio.com home page  
     

Casio RAP-1 Rapman review with audio demo