There is only one DM, the DM-100. If you are a nerd, DM stands for ‘Dungeon Master’ ala 80’s role playing games, if you are an ultra hep cat then of course you would know that DM stands for ‘Double Manual’.

Double Manual is organ speak for two rows of keys, not a Torana refitted for teaching people how to drive. The concept of two rows of keys is utterly brilliant and going through 80’s synth magazines it appears that manufacturers and users of synths went to great lengths to pooh-pooh the double or triple manual concept, mainly to create a distinction that synthesisers were NOT organs.

Phooey, organs are cool. I have yet to hear a synthesiser with a lovely sandy beatbox like a Farfisa organ - and wood veneer and the need for four people to carry the thingjusts adds to the hep factor. Synths were cool in the 80’s then the manufacturers lost their way - particulaly in the late nineties when no-one at Roland seemed to be able to think of single new idea.

(addendum: after further research… the DM-100 is a piece of crap! It is EXACTLY an MT-540 on the lower manual MINUS midi, for Pete’s sake. The upper manual sampler is ULTRA crap - except it allows you to tune the samples. Get an SK-1 or SK-5 and an MT-540, or CSM-1, buy some contact glue and glue them together - you will have a vastly superior machine for the fraction of the cost/rarity. Those Casio collectors who paid top dollar for the DM-100… SUCKERS!)

Okay so is the DM-100 a throwback to the original Casiotone Casio’s of the very early eighties - with the home organ sounds and look except now with double manual? Not really, the DM-100 actually compises of an SK-5, the second of the casio home sampling keyboards, as the upper manual (top row of keys) and a MT-540 variant for the lower manual (er, bottom row of keys).

Needless to say such a useful and desirable Casio is ultra rare and of course I don’t have one. :^(

Reading what others have to say the upper maunual SK-like part as four memory slots, (but no persistent storage, switch it off and the samples are gone - like the SK-1, this is SOOOOOO crap Mr Kashio) with the feature of putting different envelopes and reversing the sample. The preset sounds seem to be the lamest ones of the SK series. (this is also SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO crap Mr Kashio)

The lower manual is a 12bit PCM sound set, 210 sounds.. Just like my MT-540 -except the Dm has TWO jazz organ sounds -hmmm, tasty. Also it appears to have the ultra cool bass sound. I know that late 80’s PCM tones are pooh-poohed a bit in the Casio affiacanado community, they lack the vast breadth of the later tonebanks (like the SA-1, last weeks Casio of the Week) but these sounds are not without their charm. Oh and the 210 number is a little bit of a furphy - you see any two sounds can be combined, thats how 20 sounds can be 210!!

I have dusted off my MT-540 and have been playing with it all day - in fact it will be back in my show replacing the song I did on the Yamaha SHS-10, since I long ago kicked the Yamaha habit. Yes the sounds are thin, but are unlike any other instrument and whack em through some crap effects pedals and I reckon it’s pretty darn hot. (Check back here in a week or two for a MP3 of the Song “TINTF:Casio Style” for proof)

Though the instrument set is different the accompaniement section seems identical to the MT-540, which is quite a weird set of rythmns - all very busy and only a couple that even remotely come close to swinging. The drum sounds are quite punchy and sound great through a bit of compression - the kick can make its way through the cacophony of other very happy sounding percussion sounds.

The DM-100 despite these limitations is still extremely desirable - I reckon there would be heaps of features under the hood ready to be unleashed if you can weild a soldering iron - and the fact of having two casios using one speaker, one power supply and not needing to be gaffa taped together is utterly brilliant. If you are prepared to mess up the insides or have effects units to stick it through this can be quite a charming machine in an ultra clean cheesy digital kind of way.

It probably didn’t sell due to being two crippled Casios and therefore had quite a short run, one the greatest shames of the 20th Century.