keyboard software media

This page lists my collection and general info about music cartridges and other original software media for electronic musical instruments. Not listed here are media those were neither sold separately nor interchangeable among multiple instrument models, nor later standardized media like diskettes or CD-ROMs. Most info about copies I don't own was compiled by myself by reading ads and eBay. Also many thanks to Tim's great website www.crublenet.co.uk for his own list, which helped me to fill some gaps.

Important: Do not ask me where to buy new software for your keyboard. Most of these media have not been made anymore for decades, and I also don't know where to find them. Try eBay, but even there they are rarely offered separately, but usually come only together with a used keyboard.

Casio barcode music

Casio barcode score sheets (officially named "Bar-Coded Music", or "MS memory"?) were a technology to scan digital music data from special barcode songbooks into the internal sequencer memory of a keyboard using a barcode pen. The use of that pen needed training and worked poorly under bad lighting conditions. Also the quality of this music was bad, because it consisted only of a monophonic main voice with optional simple standard accompaniment. Despite the songs contained neither rhythm nor instrumentation data and you had to scan up to 2 full pages of barcode rows for some of them, most melodies were disappointingly short. Casio barcode score sheets were introduced with the Casio MT-70 and VL-5 (the latter even without any accompaniment) and fortunately soon abandoned in favour for the by magnitudes better ROM-Pack technology. This shortlived barcode format was only supported by Casio VL-5, MT-70, Casiotone 501 (CT-501) and Casiotone 701 (CT-701).

In the ancient home computer magazine "Your Spectrum" (Issue 4, June 1984) was an article about connecting a Sinclair ZX Spectrum home computer with the barcode reader input of a Casio VL-5. This article contains a BASIC program and many technical details about the data format of the Casio barcode songbooks, and it says that the same program works also with the Casio MT-70. The article can be found here.

The Casio barcode data format is described in the US patents 4422361 (general) and 4437378 (with key lighting). According to US patent 4464966 Casio also planned barcode programmable rhythm, which AFAIK was never released.

barcode score sheets from Casio MT-70

This stack of separate barcode sheets came with the lesson book that ws shipped with my Casio MT-70. The barcode sheets itself have neither release date nor copyright marks but only page numbers, and the corresponding human readable musical score is in the lesson book. A bit bizarre is that most songs are marked "traditional" or "folk song" despite at least some of them are not that old. Possibly Casio attempted to circumvent to pay royalties to their genuine composers. The melody voice of these songs works also with my Casio VL-5, but the chord voice shows only an error.

These are the 14 songs sorted by page number:

  1. Symphony No.9 in D minor, "Choral" (by L. v. Beethoven)
  2. From the New World (by A. Dvorãk)
  3. Jingle Bells
  4. When the Saints Go Marchin' In (American folk song)
  5. Russian folk song
  6. Sonata (by W. A. Mozart)
  7. 500 Miles (American folk song)
  8. Tom Dooley (American folk song)
  9. Aura Lee (English Air)
  10. "Red River Valley" (Traditional)
  11. American folk song
  12. The House of the Rising Sun (American folk song)
  13. Jamaican Farewell (Jamaican traditional)
  14. [2nd page]
  15. Cielito Lindo (Mexican traditional)
  16. [2nd page]

"Bar Code Score Book" from Casio VL-5

This barcode songbook came with my 2nd Casio VL-5. Unlike the Casio MT-70 barcode sheets, it is not a stack of loose pages and the barcode tracks include no chord voice (which is not supported by the VL-5) and thus consist only of a monophonic main voice. The songs come with human readable score and marks for the intended manual settings for preset sound, preset rhythm, sustain, tempo and balance.
  1. Romance De L'Amour (Old Spanish Song)
  2. Cielito Lindo (Traditional)
  3. Sonata (by W. A. Mozart)
  4. Red River Valley (Traditional)
  5. From the New World (by A. Dvorãk)
  6. K A T I-O W A (Russian Air) [name written in cyrillic letters]
  7. Santa Lucia (Italian Folk Song)
  8. Jingle Bells (Traditional)
  9. When the Saints Go Marchin' In (American Folk Song)
  10. The House of the Rising Sun (Traditional)
Type number: "022A SA" (followed by 5 kanji characters), Printed in Japan.
 

Commercially available barcode songbooks were sold as a 2 book set (indicated by printed price tag, initially 9.95$ with notice "Higher outside U.S.A."); one contains the songs as barcodes, the other as human readable musical score (labelled "Easy Play Speed Music™", including a version in simplified notation). They were also available separately (US price tag initially 4.95$). All of them were copyright by Sight & Sound International Inc. On the outside of english language barcode songbooks stands Casiotone Bar Coded Music Publication. While all these books include a chord track (that is not for VL-5), only few had the notice "for VL-5 and all other models", which hints that not all barcode songs are compatible with it. (This may be a ram capacity issue.) Unlike those shipped with the keyboards, the barcode songs in the books have proper individual copyright notices. Nowadays all of them are extremely rare, because they obviously sold poorly (or were discarded later) by primitive tone quality and awkward use.

MCA-003-B: "Beatles"

score book: "201"
  1. All My Loving
  2. And I Love Her
  3. Can't Buy Me Love
  4. Eleanor Rigby
  5. Goodbye
  6. Help!
  7. Here, There and Everywhere
  8. Let It Be
  9. Michelle
  10. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
  11. When I'm Sixty-Four
  12. Yesterday
(p), © 1982 Sight & Sound International Inc.

MCA-004-B: "Best Sellers"

score book: "202"
  1. Cabaret
  2. Calcutta
  3. Don't Cry Out Loud
  4. How Sweet Is It (To Be Loved By You)
  5. I Got A Name
  6. Jean
  7. The Look Of Love
  8. Midnight Blue
  9. Misty
  10. Sunrise, Sunset
  11. (Hey, Little Girl) Wives And Lovers
  12. Yesterday Once More
(p), © 1982 Sight & Sound International Inc. Mine came shrinkwrapped (no addons).

MCA-005-B: "Latin"

score book: "203" (US price $5.95)
  1. Amor
  2. Be Mine Tonight (Noche De Ronda)
  3. Besame Mucho
  4. Brazil (Aquarela Do Brasil)
  5. El Cumbanchero
  6. Frenesi
  7. Green Eyes (Aquellos Ojos Verdes)
  8. Magic Is The Moonlight (Te Quiero Dijiste)
  9. Mas Que Nada (Pow, Pow, Pow)
  10. Perfida
  11. Tico Tico (Tico-Tico No Fuba)
  12. You Belong To My Heart (Solamente Una Vez)
(p), © 1982 Sight & Sound International Inc. On the back stands the retail price "0595" (5.95$). Mine came shrinkwrapped and fortunately included advertisements "Introducing Speed Music Plus" (lists 24 score books) and "Casio Music Book Club" (PCA-MBC) that lists 24 barcode songbooks (each 11.95$, i.e. more expensive).

MCA-006-B: "Country"

score book: "204" (US price $5.95)
  1. Crazy
  2. Detroit City
  3. Drivin' My Live Away
  4. Green Green Grass Of Home
  5. Hello Walls
  6. Here You Come Again
  7. King Of The Road
  8. Kiss An Angel Good Mornin'
  9. My Elusive Dreams
  10. Nine To Five
  11. On The Road Again
  12. Smoky Mountain Rain
(p), © 1982 Sight & Sound International Inc. On the back stands the retail price "0595" (5.95$). Mine came shrinkwrapped with the same ads like MCA-005-B. Also page 1 in the music score book is an ad for those 24 "Speed Music Plus" score books.

MCA-V01-B: "Golden Oldies"

like MCA-015-C?, score book: "213"
  1. Ach Du lieber Augustin
  2. After The Ball
  3. Are You Sleeping? (Frere Jaques)
  4. The Band Played On
  5. Be Kind To Your Web-Footed-Friends
  6. A Bicycle Built For Two - Daisy Bell
  7. Camptown Races
  8. Carnival of Venice
  9. Dixie
  10. Du, Du Liegst mir im Herzen
  11. For He's A Jolly Good Fellow
  12. Frankie And Johnny
  13. Give My Regards To Broadway
  14. Hail Hail The Gang's All Here
  15. Happy Birthday To You
  16. Hello! My Baby
  17. A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight
  18. I've Been Working On The Railroad
  19. Listen To The Mockingbird
For VL-5 and others. (p), © 1982 Sight & Sound International Inc. Mine came shrinkwrapped and included a loose score sheet MCA-015-H "For All Bb Instruments" (8 pages) with regular sized notes of the songs, including "Dixie Land" (missing in the score book). Another loose page "Casiotone 701, Easy Instructions - Program and Play" (MCA-BCI) says that the score sheet is intended for practise to simultaneously accompany the barcode song on a Bb wind instrument (trumpet, clarinet, soprano sax or tenor sax). And fortunately it particularly came with a colour printed advert (PCA-BCI) listing all at that time existing or planned barcode music sets and boasting about that "unique bonus" wind instrument score sheet that likely never got included again.

MCA-V05-B: "Top Pops"

like MCA-002-C?, score book: "218"
  1. Star Wars
  2. Love Story
  3. Moon River
  4. Spanish Eyes
  5. The Way We Were
  6. You Light Up My Life
  7. Rhinestone Cowboy
  8. Snowbird
  9. Song From Moulin Rouge
  10. Wonderland By Night
  11. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
  12. You Belong To My Heart
For VL-5 and others. (p), © 1982 Sight & Sound International Inc.

MCA-106-B: "Musik die jeder kennt"

score book: "FSM-106"
  1. Abends in der Taverne
  2. Die Nacht ist nicht allein zum Schlafen da
  3. Du gehst durch all meine Träume
  4. Glaube mir (Answer Me)
  5. Glutrote Rosen (Blaa Roser)
  6. Kauf Dir einen bunten Luftballon
  7. Komm zu mir heut Nacht
  8. Mama
  9. Schenk mir Dein Lächeln, Maria
  10. Übers Jahr, wenn die Kornblumen blühen
  11. Wer wird denn weinen, wenn man auseinander geht
  12. Zwei in einer großen Stadt
This German language barcode songbook has no price tags. (Once I saw it on eBay with a Casiotone 701.) Instead of "Casiotone Bar Coded Music Publication" it has the poorly translated notice "Balken Code Melodien für Casiotone". (p), © 1982 Sight & Sound International Inc. The music score book has in the simplified notation additional light blue notes for monophonic accompaniment. My specimen is in poor condition, full of water damage and fungus stains.
 
The following 24 Casio barcode songbooks were mentioned in the advertisement sheet "Casio Music Book Club" (PCA-MBC) of 1982 that came e.g. with my MCA-005-B. The suffix "-C" possibly only indicates the increased retail price printed on the books or stands for a set (barcode + music score book). I have added numbers of corresponding music score books from the "Introducing Speed Music Plus" advert. Because not all songs were listed, I included those from book photos of the (likely older) advert "Introducing the revolutionary new language of music" (PCA-BCI) that came with my MCA-V01-B.

MCA-001-C: "Super Songs"

like MCA-V04-B, score book: "217"
  1. After The Lovin'
  2. Born Free
  3. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
  4. Feelings
  5. For Once In My Life
  6. Georgia On  My Mind
  7. I Believe In Music
  8. If
  9. Make The World Go Away
  10. Nadia's Theme
  11. More
  12. Speak Softly Love (Love Theme From "The Godfather")
For VL-5 and others. (p), © 1982 Sight & Sound International Inc.

MCA-002-C: "Top Pops"

(like MCA-V05-B)
(VL-5 compatible)

MCA-003-C: "Beatles"

(like MCA-003-B)

MCA-004-C: "Best Sellers"

(like MCA-004-B)

MCA-005-C: "Latin"

(like MCA-005-B)

MCA-006-C: "Country"

(like MCA-006-B)

MCA-007-C: "Award Winners"

score book: "205"
  1. Blue Hawaii
  2. I Am Woman
  3. I'm Popeye The Sailor Man (Disco Version)
  4. In The Ghetto
  5. Last Dance
  6. Alley Cat
  7. Baby, Don't Get Hooked On Me
  8. On Broadway
  9. Put Your Hand In The Hand
  10. Rainy Days And Mondays
  11. We've Only Just Begun
  12. Y.M.C.A.

MCA-008-C: "Classics"

score book: "206"
  1. Can-Can
  2. Clair De Lune
  3. Czardas
  4. El Choclo
  5. Entry Of The Gladiators
  6. Hungarian Dance No.5
  7. Menuet In G
  8. "Minute" Waltz
  9. Spring Song
  10. Tales Of The Vienna Woods
  11. Toreador Song
  12. William Tell Overture

MCA-009-C: "Easy Favorites"

score book: "207"
  1. Alouette
  2. Beautiful Brown Eyes
  3. The Entertainer
  4. Greensleeves
  5. Hava Nagila
  6. La Paloma
  7. Londonderry Air
  8. Maori Farewell Song
  9. Marianne
  10. Melody Of Love
  11. Michael, Row The Boat Ashore
  12. My Wild Irish Rose
  13. Santa Lucia
  14. Scotland The Brave
  15. When The Saints Go Marching In
  16. Skater's Waltz

MCA-010-C: "Pop Hits"

score book: "208"
  1. Babe
  2. Have You Never Been Mellow
  3. I Won't Last A Day Without You
  4. It's Going To Take Some Time
  5. Last Time I Saw Him
  6. With You I'm Born Again
  7. Sir Duke
  8. Still
  9. ...

MCA-011-C: "Singalong"

score book: "209"
  1. April Showers
  2. Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee
  3. Bye Bye Blackbird
  4. By The Light Of The Silvery Moon
  5. If You Were The Only Girl In The World
  6. I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover
  7. It Had To Be You
  8. Oh! You Beautiful Doll
  9. Pretty Baby
  10. Smiles
  11. Tip Toe Thru' The Tulips With Me
  12. When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
(Thanks Bruce for complete song list.)

MCA-012-C: "Partytime"

score book: "210"
  1. Beer Barrel Polka
  2. Blue Skirt Waltz
  3. Let Me Call You Sweetheart
  4. Me And My Shadow
  5. Pennsylvania Polka
  6. When The Red, Red, Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along
  7. ...

MCA-013-C: "Light Classics"

score book: "211"
  1. Billboard March
  2. Bridal Chorus
  3. Come Back To Sorrento
  4. Dark Eyes
  5. Humoresque
  6. Jolly Coppersmith
  7. O Sole Mio
  8. Song Of India
  9. Wedding March
  10. Blue Danube
  11. ...

MCA-014-C: "Latin Hits"

score book: "212"
  1. Adios
  2. Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy)
  3. The Breeze And I
  4. Granada
  5. Guantanamera (Lady Of Guantanamo)
  6. Love Me With All Your Heart (Cuando Calienta El Sol)
  7. Maria Elena
  8. ...

MCA-015-C: "Golden Oldies"

(like MCA-V01-B)
(VL-5 compatible)

MCA-016-C: "Remember"

score book: "214"
  1. Bill Bailey
  2. Won't You Please Come Home
  3. I Love You Truly
  4. In The Good Old Summer Time
  5. Little Brown Jug
  6. London Bridge
  7. O Susanna
  8. Polly Wolly Doodle
  9. Scarborough Fair
  10. ...
(VL-5 compatible)

MCA-017-C: "Music Collection"

score book: "215"
  1. Al Di La
  2. Alabama Jubilee
  3. Daybreak
  4. Drinking Song (from "Student Prince")
  5. Les Bicyclettes De Belsize
  6. Mack The Knife
  7. Morningside Of The Mountain
  8. Quando, Quando, Quando
  9. Puff (The Magic Dragon)
  10. Sweet Georgia Brown
  11. Tea For Two
  12. Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again
(VL-5 compatible. Seen on eBay with number "MCA-VD3-B"(?), ©Sight & Sound International Inc. On front stands "Complete Package $9.95", on the back "$4.95", both with note "(Higher outside U.S.A.)".)

MCA-018-C: "Kenny Roger's Greatest Hits"

score book: "216"
  1. Coward Of The Country
  2. Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer
  3. Long Arm Of The Law
  4. She Believes In Me
  5. Starting Again
  6. Sweet Music Man
  7. Lucille
  8. ...

MCA-019-C: "Inspirational"

score book: "219"
  1. Amazing Grace
  2. Battle Hymn Of The Republic
  3. Bringing In The Sheaves
  4. In The Sweet By And By
  5. Jesus Loves The Little Children
  6. Kumbaya
  7. Rock Of Ages
  8. Whispering Hope
  9. ...

MCA-020-C: "John Denver"

score book: "220"
  1. Annie's Song
  2. Back Home Again
  3. Fly Away
  4. Follow Me
  5. I'm Sorry
  6. Perhaps Love
  7. Rocky Mountain High
  8. Some Days Are Diamonds (Some Days Are Stones)
  9. Take Me Home Country Roads
  10. ...

MCA-021-C: "Best Of Willie Nelson"

score book: "221"
  1. Are You Ever Coming Home
  2. Bloody Mary Morning
  3. Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
  4. Country Willie
  5. Crazy
  6. Heaven And Hell
  7. On The Road Again
  8. Sad Songs And Waltzes
  9. ...

MCA-022-C: "Pop Country"

score book: "222"
  1. (Hey, Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
  2. Behind Closed Doors
  3. Country Sunshine
  4. Daytime Friends
  5. Funny Face
  6. Have You Ever Been Lonely? (Have You Ever Been Blue?)
  7. Heartaches By The Number
  8. He'll Have To Go
  9. Is Anybody Goin' To San Antone
  10. It Was Almost Like A Song
  11. Stop And Smell The Roses
  12. Top Of The World
(Seen on eBay with number "MCA-022-B", © Sight & Sound International Inc.)

MCA-023-C: "Christmas"

score book: "223"
  1. Auld Lang Syne
  2. Deck The Hall
  3. The First Noel
  4. God Rest You Merry Gentlemen
  5. Jingle Bells
  6. Joy To The World
  7. O Christmas Tree
  8. Silent Night
  9. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
  10. ...
(VL-5 compatible)

MCA-024-C: "Love Songs"

score book: "224"
  1. Call Me (Theme From "American Gigolo")
  2. I Honestly Love You
  3. Love Boat (Theme)
  4. Tangerine
  5. Danke Schoen
  6. Theme From "Ice Castles" (Through The Eyes Of Love)
  7. L-O-V-E
  8. ...
The likely older advert "Introducing the revolutionary new language of music" (PCA-BCI) additionally lists as "Soon To Be Released" the following barcode songbooks. It is unknown if these ever went into production, when it proudly promised "for the exciting CT-701 and all future Casiotone bar code instruments..." - but there were none.

These barcode songbooks were likely released with slightly different name (see above).

  • "Kenny Rogers"
  • "Inspirational"
  • "John Denver"
  • "Willie Nelson"
  • "Country Pops"
  • "Country Hits"
  • "Christmas"
  • "Love Songs"
But these could not be identified:
  • "Beatles #2"
  • "Henry Mancini"
  • "Stevie Wonder"
  • "Disco Hits"
  • "Chicago"
  • "Big Band"
  • "Jazz Greats"
  • "Polkas / Waltzes"
  • "Dixieland / Ragtime"
  • "Bluegrass"

Casio ROM-Packs

ROM-Packs are cartridges those contain digital music data similar to MIDI files stored on a ROM IC. They were used by older Casio keyboards; most of them had a "melody guide" key lighting feature. ROM-Pack musics were usually nicely arranged and old ones often came with a musical score book, that also properly lists the original composers and release years of the songs. The musics consist of a main voice, a 2nd voice (called obligato) and a couple of rhythms with standard accompaniments including breaks and fill-ins. The ROM-Pack format was introduced first with the Casio MT-800 keyboard, and all ROM-Packs were apparently published by Sight & Sound International Inc. The cartridges employs the same conductive carbonized silicone rubber connector that is used in many LCD wrist watch displays. Also a user programmable "RAM-Pack" version of these cartridges came out (Casio RA-1), but the only instrument that could use them was the Casio PT-50.

The ROM-Pack data format is described in the US patent 4624171 and (later) 33607. For pinout and hardware info also see here.

RO-201: "Fun With Your Casio Keyboard"

  1. You Are the Sunshine of my Life
  2. Misty
  3. Yesterday Once More
  4. When the Saints Go Marching In
  5. Star Wars
  6. Sir Duke
  7. Air for the G String [should be "Air on a G String"]
  8. Sunrise, Sunset
  9. Feelings (_Dime?)
  10. Greensleeves
  11. Love Me With All Your Heart (Cuando Calienta El Sol)
  12. Ciribiribin
  13. More
  14. Brazil (Aquarela Do Brasil)
  15. Adios
This cartridge has a "not for sale" notice and was shipped with the first Casio ROM-Pack keyboards like Casio MT-800 and PT-50. It is quite strange that these old instruments were shipped with a 15 song cartridge, while later Casio keyboards came with ROM-Packs with each only 4 songs, despite the price of ROM capacity certainly didn't increase over the years. In the manual of this cartridge mentions that it was released in 1983 by Sight & Sound International Inc. and advertises several other ROM-Packs with also each at least 14 songs. Unlike my other ROM-Packs, the RO-201 has a shiny sheet metal bottom instead of the usual black plastic one.

According to Tim's website, in Japan the MT-800 and PT-50 were instead shipped with RO-101 and RO-102.

RO-204: "Supergroups"

  1. Tijuana Taxi
  2. Still
  3. Proud Mary
  4. Colour My World
  5. California Girls
  6. If
  7. The Boy From New York City
  8. All Out Of Love
  9. Babe
  10. Hard To Say I´m Sorry
  11. This Time I´m In It For Love
  12. Only The Lonely
  13. Daydream Believers
  14. Goodbye Stranger
  15. Make Me Smile
  16. Eye In The Sky
  17. The Logical Song
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1983 by Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R204-B)

RO-251: "How To Play Your Casio ROM Keyboard" (instructional ROM)

This one contains multiple differently complex tracks and variants of the same melodies for play training. Unfortunately the song names are not printed on the cartridge and I am missing the score book. In a prospect was the following list: This is what I heard on the cartridge itself (I am not sure about some of the song names and thus took them from above):
  1. Beautiful Brown Eyes
  2. accompaniment training for 3
  3. Marianne
  4. arpeggio training for 5
  5. Skaters Waltz
  6. Du, Du, Liegst Mir Im Herzen (plays a bit wrong?)
  7. Chopsticks (piano tune)
  8. intro training for 9
  9. When the Saints Go Marchin' In (complex version with plenty of obligato stuff and fill-ins)
  10. My Wild Irish Rose
  11. Michael, Row The Boat Ashore
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1984 by Sight & Sound International Inc. Also a version from 1987 exists? (seen on eBay)

RO-252: "Film Classics"

  1. Fame
  2. For Your Eyes Only
  3. Up Where We Belong
  4. Gonna Fly Now [same like "Eye of the Tiger"?]
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1986 by Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R252-B)

RO-253: "Pop/ Rock"

  1. Thriller
  2. Don't Be Cruel
  3. It's Still Rock and Roll To Me
  4. Karma Chameleon
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1984 Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R253-B)

RO-255: "Rock On"

  1. Listen To The Music
  2. Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
  3. Ventura Highway
  4. Slow Hand
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1984 by Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R255-B) Also my used Casio PT-180 came with it, but it was likely no default accessory. Tim's website mentions a 1986 release.

RO-257: "Super Songs"

  1. Tijuna Taxi
  2. Colour My World
  3. The Boy From New York City
  4. Hard To Say I'm Sorry
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1986 by Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R257-B). Tim's website (and eBay) mentions a 1985 release.

RO-261: "Pop Selection"

  1. The Entertainer
  2. Eye In The Sky
  3. Goodbye To Love
  4. We've Only Just Begun
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1986 by Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R261-B).

RO-265: "Pop Superstars"

  1. Phil Collins: Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)
  2. Bruce Springsteen: Born In The U.S.A.
  3. Madonna: Holiday
  4. Tina Turner: We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1986 by Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R265-B). My copy is (p) 1988.

RO-266: "Songs for Children"

  1. Alphabet Song
  2. Farmer in the Dell
  3. I'm a Little Teapot
  4. I've Been Working on the Railroad
  5. Mary Had a Little Lamb
  6. Old Macdonald
  7. Ten Little Indians
  8. This Old Man
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1986 Sight & Sound International Inc. Tim's website mentions a 1988 release.

RO-268: "Golden Hits"

  1. Mona Lisa
  2. Moon River
  3. A Time For Us (Theme From Romeo And Juliet)
  4. Speak Softly Love (Love Theme Fom "The Godfather")
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1987 by Sight & Sound International Inc. Tim's website mentions a 1986 release (also eBay).

RO-270: "Christmas"

  1. Jingle Bells
  2. Silent Night
  3. Joy To The World
  4. Here Comes Santa Claus
  5. Silver Bells
  6. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1988 Sight & Sound International Inc. Most of the arrangements have a wonderful trashy "small church organ" appeal that reminds to christmas fair orchestrion music or (depending on the keyboard) an old home organ in an American wedding chapel. This is not the overused flat ironed pop xmas muzak stuffs you hear everywhere as elevator music. Not all songs use rhythm, and even the others don't play rhythm all the time constantly but rather drum like a Salvation Army's band than average slimy "easy listening" CDs.

RO-274: "Hot Pop 'N' Rock"

  1. Dancing In The Dark
  2. King For A Day
  3. These Dreams
  4. Walk Of Life
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1987 Sight & Sound International Inc.

RO-280: "Star-Studded Rock"

  1. The Final Countdown
  2. Here I Go Again
  3. Livin' On a Prayer
  4. You Belong to the City
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1988 Sight & Sound International Inc.

RO-281: "Chartbusting Pop"

  1. Heaven is a Place On Earth
  2. Moonlighting
  3. Savin All My Love for You
  4. Who's That Girl
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1989 Sight & Sound International Inc. Tim's website mentions a 1988 release.

RO-301: "Popular Hits"

  1. Speak Softly Love (Love Theme From "The Godfather")
  2. Moon River
  3. Love Story ("Where Do I Begin")
  4. The Entertainer
  5. The Way We Were
  6. The Song From Moulin Rouge
  7. We've Only Just Begun
  8. Scarborough Fair
  9. Born Free
  10. Have You Never Been Mellow
  11. I Won't Last A Day Without You
  12. It's Going To Take Some Time
  13. Snowbird
  14. Wonderland By Night
  15. The Look Of Love
  16. L-O-V-E
  17. Cabaret
  18. Danke Schoen
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1983 Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R301-B)

RO-302: "Latin"

  1. Amor
  2. Besame Mucho
  3. El Cumbanchero
  4. Frenesi
  5. Green Eyes
  6. Magic Is The Moonlight
  7. Mas Que Nada
  8. Perfida
  9. Tico Tico
  10. You Belong To My Heart
  11. The Breeze And I
  12. Coo Coo Roo Coo Coo Paloma
  13. Amapola
  14. Alla En El Rancho
  15. Guantanamera
  16. Granada
  17. Maria Elena
  18. Sway
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1983 by Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R302-B)

RO-351: "Best Of Carpenters"

  1. Only Yesterday
  2. Rainy Days And Mondays
  3. Please Mr. Postman
  4. Hurting Each-Other
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1985 by Sight & Sound International Inc. Tim's website mentions a 1984 release.

RO-353: "Beatles"

  1. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
  2. Michelle
  3. P.S. I Love You
  4. Let It Be
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1984 by Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R353-B) My used Casio CT-805 came with a copy marked "(p) 1986".

RO-354: "Pop Themes"

  1. Live For Life (Vivre Pour Vivre)
  2. From Russia With Love
  3. Aquarius
  4. Baby Elephant Walk
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1987 by Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R354-B). Tim's website mentions a 1985 release.

RO-355: "Jazz Standards" (aka "Great Standards")

  1. On The Sunny Side Of The Street
  2. Georgia On My Mind
  3. Left My Heart In San Francisco
  4. Memories Of You
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1984 by Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R355-B). My "Jazz Standards" copy is (p) 1985.

RO-356: "Disney Movie Magic"

  1. When You Wish Upon A Star
  2. Some Day My Prince Will Come
  3. Heigh-Ho
  4. La-La-Lu
  5. Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo
  6. Chim Chim Cheree
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1986 by Sight & Sound International Inc. Tim's website says that Japanese versions exist as RO-356 and RO-356D.

RO-551: "World Songs"

  1. Unterlanders Heimweh [wrong, real title "Yama No Ongakuka"]
  2. Greensleeves
  3. Die Lorelei
  4. Old Folks At Home
All these musics have a great and complex orchestrated arrangement. This cartridge has a "not for sale" notice and was shipped with later small  ROM-Pack keyboards including Casio PT-80, MT-18, PT-82 and PT-87.

Interesting is that the name "Unterlanders Heimweh" is obviously wrong; it seems to the Japanese "Yama No Ongakuka", which is not a German folk song, despite this melody was also the "German folk song" demo of VL-Tone 1 and various Casio pocket calculators (e.g. my ML-90). A badly detuned short clip of the melody was even used in the "rating" sound effects of the Casio PT-82 "melody guide" play teaching feature, and later the melody appeared as one of many songs in various "song bank" keyboards.

Blatantly based on the RO-551 version was the title theme and background music of the Atari VCS2600 lightgun game prototype "Shooting Arcade" (©1989 Axlon / Atari). While the demo tune of my Casio MT-36 in its manual is also named "Unterlanders Heimweh", this tune is a rural folk waltz that strongly differs from the VL-1 melody. Also the Elite MC2200 has among its many demos one labelled "UMTERLANDERS AEIMWEH" (regard the typo), and Letron MC-38 includes it too (misspelled "UMTERLANDERS HEIMWEH); both melodies correspond to the MT-36 demo and not VL-1. The MT-36 melody is definitely the genuine documented "Unterländers Heimweh" (means something like "Lowlander's Homesickness", regard the 'ä'), alternatively known as "Drunten im Unterland" (means "Down in the Lowlands", ©1835 by Gottfried Weigle, seen on YouTube with German lyrics).

Later I had bought a Citizen - Melody Alarm clock with 8 polyphonic tunes including the RO-551 melody, which in its blurred manual photo was listed as "Musician of the Mountain", which appeared to be a translated title of the Japanese children song "Yama No Ongakuka" (Mountain Musicians). After hours of websearch in different languages I thought that the original German title of this folk song was "Ich bin ein Musikante", which is a traditional children's game song about a musician, involving vocal imitation and miming of the many instruments he plays. But the melody clearly differs; also in YouTube "Unterlanders Heimweh" examples with RO-551 melody I found no other hints of origin than Casio and nothing with German lyrics. Another such song is "I Am a Fine Musician", which has yet another different melody. But finally a youtuber identified that it had indeed German origins; in a children's song book "Kinder-Gärtlein" of 1841 there was the folk song "Das Lied vom Musikanten" (The Song of the Musician) which had indeed an almost identical melody like the VL-1 demo, but with additional middle part and a few different finishing notes, and also lyrics about vocal imitation of musical instruments. It exists in an older songbook of 1838, and among centuries melody and lyrics apparently mutated into many variants. (The full story see here.) The earliest related melody was likely Mozart's Allegro in F (KV. 1c) from Nannerl's Music Book (1759-64), but they all somewhat differ.

So it has to be concluded that the "original" of the RO-551 melody is the Japanese children song "Yama No Ongakuka" (about forest animals playing different instruments on a mountain), which was based on the barely known German folk song "Das Lied vom Musikanten" and accidentally was misnamed by Casio as "Unterlanders Heimweh" (without 'ä' umlaut) until it got known worldwide under this wrong name. Generally Casio in their early products (e.g. barcode songbooks) applied the term "folk song" or "traditional" quite sloppily - possibly as an excuse when they didn't know the author or even to avoid paying royalties. Thus their "German folk song" indications must be taken in doubt.

RO-554: "Family Songs"

  1. When the Saints Go Marching In
  2. Santa Lucia
  3. Long Long Ago
  4. Ach Du Lieber Augustin
  5. The Stagecoach
  6. Air on the G String
This cartridge has a "not for sale" notice and came with my Casio MT-28 and MT-88. Some songs are quite short. Apparently it was also shipped with Casio PT-180 (shown on its box and seen on eBay).

RO-555: "Home Melodies"

  1. When the Saints Go Marching In
  2. Air on the G String
  3. Jingle Bells
  4. Chopin's Nocturne
  5. March from "Nutcracker"
This cartridge has a "not for sale" notice and was apparently shipped with my Casio SK-8.

RO-556: "DH Songs & Rhythms"

  1. When The Saints Go Marchin' In
  2. Chopin's Nocturne
  3. Air On The G-String
  4. I Have Lost The Doh Of My Clarinet
  5. rock
  6. disco
  7. 16 beat
  8. swing 2 beat
  9. swing 4 beat
  10. samba
  11. bossa nova
  12. beguine
  13. tango
  14. march
  15. slow rock
  16. walz
  17. rock with fill-in
  18. disco with fill-in
  19. 16 beat with fill-in
  20. swing 2 beat with fill-in
This was a dedicated special ROM-Pack that originally came with the MIDI saxophone Casio DH-800 Digital Horn (seen on eBay, I don't own one). Unique is that additionally to 4 songs it contains 16 preset rhythms. Also normal ROM-Pack keyboards can play these (keyboard main voice always defaults to "trumpet" (or its equivalent) preset sound but then you can select others). In most keyboards (e.g. PT-82) you can start accompaniment, but the accompaniment stops after each bar, so you have to quickly re-press them; rhythms with fill-in stop accompaniment before each fill-in. Only in the ancient MT-85 (MT-800 hardware) all normal rhythms end after only 6 bars and those with automatic fill-in after the 3rd repeat of the fill-in, but already in PT-50 they run ok (behave like PT-82). In CT-840 you can only use fingered chord accompaniment (because chord and ROM-Pack mode is a combined slide switch) and the fill-in button (doesn't affect automatic fill-ins) doesn't work. But in MT-88 you can even make accompaniment run perfectly (continuously) by selecting the "chord guide" mode.

RO-581: ?

  1. The Dog Policeman
  2. Goat Letters
  3. Doraemon's Song
  4. Jingle Bells
  5. Dragonfly's Glasses
  6. My Way
This Japanese cartridge (text in Kanji, JASRAC number "T-370807") likely was originally shipped with Casio PT-280. I bought mine from the same eBay vendor like my PT-280, and also Tim writes that he saw it on a Yahoo Japan auction with this keyboard. All songs beside 4 and 6 are Japanese children's songs; English titles mentioned by Tim are loose translations. The intro of song 1 is known from the arcade videogame Frogger.
 
The following cartridges are mentioned in an advertisement in the manual of the ROM-Pack RO-201 that came in 1983 with my Casio MT-800. The ad mentions also a "Casio International Music Club" where people could subscribe for mail ordering info about new Casio music products and software (including new ROM-Packs). Note that these old ROM-Packs contained 14 to 18 songs each, while later ones had way fewer. Unfortunately the ROM-Pack number is not mentioned there (where present, I saw them on eBay).

RO-301: "Popular Hits"

RO-302: "Latin"

RO-303: "Easy Listening"

  1. A Time For Us (Love Theme From "Romeo And Juliet")
  2. Calcutta
  3. Fascination
  4. Green Green Grass Of Home
  5. I Believe In Music
  6. Mona Lisa
  7. Perlenfisher (Song Of The Perl Fisher)
  8. Spanish Eyes
  9. Strangers In The Night
  10. Top Of The World
  11. Goodbye To Love
  12. Bless The Beast And The Children
  13. An Old Fashioned Love Song
  14. Call Me (Theme From "American Gigolo")
  15. Ben
  16. Nadia's Theme (The Young And The Restless)
  17. Diary
  18. Beyond The Reef
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1983 Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R303-B) 

Tim reports on his website that the advertised song 14 "Call Me" does not exist on his cartridge; also the song list of an eBay article didn't mention it, so possibly it was omitted by Casio by lack of ROM space or copyright issue. Such a version on eBay had this track list:

  1. Top Of The World
  2. Calcutta
  3. Fascination
  4. Green Green Grass Of Home
  5. I Believe In Music
  6. Mona Lisa
  7. Song Of The Perl Fisher (Perlenfischer)
  8. Spanish Eyes
  9. Strangers In The Night
  10. A Time For Us (Love Theme From "Romeo And Juliet")
  11. Goodbye To Love
  12. Bless The Beast And Children
  13. An Old Fashioned Love Song
  14. Ben
  15. Nadia's Theme (The Young And The Restless)
  16. The Diary
  17. Beyond The Reef

"Rock On"

  1. The Beat Goes On
  2. (Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher And Higher
  3. I Dig Rock And Roll Music
  4. Lonely People
  5. Never My Love
  6. Mr. Bojangles
  7. Peaceful Easy Feeling
  8. You're Sixteen
  9. Escape (The Pina Colada Song)
  10. Him
  11. My Special Angel
  12. The Old Songs
  13. Ventura Highway
  14. Slow Hand
  15. Swayin' To The Music (Slow Dancin')
  16. Undercover Angel
  17. In The Midnight Hour
  18. Listen To The Music
Not to be confused with the later RO-255 of equal name, which contains only 4 songs.

"Movie Themes"

  1. Days Of The Wine And Roses
  2. Secret Love
  3. The Summer Knows (From "Summer of '42)
  4. Theme From A Summer Place
  5. Evergreen (Love Theme From "A Star Is Born")
  6. Goodbye Girl
  7. Song From "10" (It's Easy To Say)
  8. Athur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)
  9. Can You Read My Mind? (Love Theme From "Superman")
  10. Chariots Of Fire
  11. Eye Of The Tiger (Theme from "Rocky III")
  12. Theme From "Superman"
  13. A Time For Love (From "An American Dream")
  14. I'll Wake You Up When I Get Home (From "Every Which Way But Loose")
quote:
MANY NEW ROM PACKS TO FOLLOW

Something for everyone... a complete selection of today's most popular song greats!
CLASSICAL - POP - JAZZ - ROCK - COUNTRY - WESTERN

The following additional ROM-Packs were listed in the advertisement sheet "Casio ROM Pack Library - With supplied music books" from 03-1985. Note that these all contain far less songs than the older ROM-Packs and many even contain only a subset of older ROM-Packs songs.

RO-251: "How To Play Your Casio ROM Keyboard" (instructional ROM)

RO-252: "Film Classics"

RO-253: "Pop/ Rock"

RO-254: "Movie Pops"

  1. Arthur's Theme
  2. Eye Of The Tiger
  3. Can You Read My Mind
  4. The Summer Knows
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1983(?) by Sight & Sound International Inc.

RO-255: "Rock On"

RO-256: "Top Pops"

  1. Love Story
  2. Scarborough Fair
  3. Have You Never Been Mellow
  4. Top Of the World
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1986 by Sight & Sound International Inc.

RO-257: "Super Songs"

RO-258: "Latin Hits"

  1. El Cumbanchero
  2. Sway (Quien Sery)
  3. Guantanamera
  4. Tico-Tico
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1986(?) by Sight & Sound International Inc.

RO-259: "Pop Hits"

  1. Fascination
  2. Songs Of The Pearl Fisher
  3. Besame Mucho
  4. An Old Fashioned Love Song
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1985 by Sight & Sound International Inc.

RO-260: "Music Collection"

  1. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
  2. Feelings
  3. Brazil
  4. Mona Lisa

RO-261: "Pop Selection"

RO-351: "Best Of Carpenters"

RO-352: "All-Time Movie Hits"

  • Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
  • Somewhere, My Love (Larn's Theme from "Doctor Zhivago")
  • Never On Sunday
  • The Shadow Of Your Smile (Love Theme from "The Sandpiper")
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1984 by Sight & Sound International Inc. (MCA-R352-B) Tim's website mentions a 1985 release.

RO-353: "Beatles"

RO-354: "Pop Themes"

RO-355: "Jazz Standards" (aka "Great Standards")

RO-356: "Disney Movie Magic"

RO-552: "Classic"

  1. Chopin's Nocturne
  2. Schubert's Serenade
  3. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1
  4. Scene From "Swan Lake"
No © text. (seen on eBay)

The following additional ROM-Packs were mentioned on eBay, e-mails or websites:

RO-101: "The Hit Parade"

(19 tracks)

RO-227: "When You Wish Upon A Star and other Disney Movie Songs"

RO-262: "Country Greats"

  1. Drivin' My Life Away
  2. Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue
  3. Nine to Five
  4. On The Road Again
Listed on Tim's website as (p) 1986.

RO-263: "Hymns & Gospel"

  1. Oh Happy Day
  2. He´s Got the Whole World in His Hands
  3. Will the Circle Be Unbroken
  4. Amazing Grace
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1986 by Sight & Sound Inc. (MCA-R263-B). Also version from 1988 exists? (seen on eBay)

RO-264: "Pop Country"

  1. Could I Have This Dance
  2. (There's) No Gettin' Over Me
  3. Take Me Down
  4. To All the Girls I've Loved Before
Listed on Tim's website as (p) 1986.

RO-269: "Rhythm & Blues"

  1. Caribbean Queen (No More Love On the Run)
  2. Emergency
  3. How Will I Know
  4. Night Shift
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1986/1988 (seen on eBay).

RO-271: "Beatles No.1 Hits"

  1. Eight Days a Week
  2. Hey Jude
  3. Penny Lane
  4. Yesterday
Listed on Tim's website as (p) 1986.

RO-272: "Rock & Roll Classics"

  1. (Sittin’ On) the Dock Of the Bay
  2. Bad Moon Raising
  3. Respect
  4. Chantilly Lace
  5. I’m Walking
This cartridge was sold separately (seen on eBay). Tim's website mentions a 1987 release.

RO-273: "Best Of Motown"

  1. I Hear a Symphony
  2. I Heard It Through the Grapevine
  3. My Girl
  4. My Guy
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1988 (told by e-mail). Tim's website mentions a 1987 release.

(Note that most of the songs of these 4 song ROM-Packs are a subset of the older 18 songs ROM-Packs.) Tim's website mentions a 1987 release.

RO-275: "Today's Superstars"

  1. Greatest Love of All
  2. Overjoyed
  3. Rhythm of the Night
  4. What's Love Got To Do With It?
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1988 Sight & Sound International Inc (seen on eBay). Tim's website mentions a 1987 release.

RO-276: "TV Tunes"

  1. Theme from Hill Street Blues
  2. Theme from Cheers
  3. Theme from Dynasty
  4. Theme from St. Elsewhere
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1987 Sight & Sound International Inc (seen on eBay).

RO-277: "When You Wish Upon A Star and Other Disney Movie Songs"

  1. When You Wish Upon A Star
  2. Some Day My Prince Will Come
  3. Heigh-Ho
  4. Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
  5. Whistle While You Work
(p) 1988 Sight & Sound International Inc (seen on eBay).

RO-278: "Songs Of Sesame Street"

  1. Green (Bein' Green)
  2. Rubber Duckie
  3. Sesame Street Theme
  4. Sing
(p) 1988 Sight & Sound International Inc (seen on eBay). Listed on Tim's website as (p) 1987.

RO-279: "Solid Gold Rock & Pop"

  1. All I Need is a Micracle
  2. Back in the High Life Again
  3. La Isla Bonita
  4. Land of Confusion
This cartridge was sold separately, (p) 1988 Sight & Sound International Inc (seen on eBay).

RO-282: "New Kids on the Block Greatest Hits"

Listed on Tim's website, same like RO-559 (retail version).

RO-357: "Classic" (?)

RO-451: "Chinese Folk Songs [1]"

  1. (Tong Nian) During Childhood
  2. Endless Everloving
  3. Lover's Tear
  4. Perfularia
Listed on Tim's website. Pack title and tune titles are in Chinese, with English translations of the tune titles given in the booklet. His example came from Thailand, so this pack may have been released more widely across Asia.

RO-452: "Most Popular Songs"

  1. On The Sunny Side of the Street
  2. Georgia On My Mind
  3. I Left My Heart in San Francisco
  4. Memories of You
Text in Chinese, (p) 1983(?) (seen on eBay).

RO-453 II - "Arabian Nights"

  1. Touba
  2. Bahlam Bik
  3. Awal Marra
  4. Owlly Hagah
Text also in Arabian.

RO-456: "Beautiful Arabian Music"

  1. Asmar Arab (Composed by T. A. Hakeem)
  2. Ayooh (Composed by M. Abdu)
  3. Magadeer (Composed by S. Omar)
  4. Nasheed Alwatan (Composed by S. Omar)
This cartridge was shipped with Casio SK-8A (seen on eBay).

RO-553: "Have Fun with Hopsie!"

  1. Hopsie's Song
  2. The Flower Song
  3. The Strawberry Song
  4. Mountain Climbing
  5. Butterfly
  6. Dance of a Little Bird
  7. Cuckoo
  8. Camptown Races
  9. Jump!
  10. Frog Chorus
  11. Snowy Night
  12. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Listed on Tim's website as (p) 1984 - apparently only released in Australia.

A Guide to the Casio Keyboard
Music for Little Ones
Let's Play the PT-80

Supplied with stickers for the PT-80 to help children use the ROM and booklet.

RO-557: "Family Collection"

  1. When The Saints Go Marching In
  2. Air on the G String
  3. The Stagecoach
  4. Jingle Bells
  5. Chopin's Nocturne
Listed on Tim's website. This cartridge was apparently shipped with Casio PT-280. Info submitted by RollingEyeball.

RO-558: "DH Tunes & Rhythms"

This one may be another(?) special ROM-Pack for the DH-800 (seen on eBay, likely a typo, see below).

RO-558: "Kids Selection"

  1. Ai ai!
  2. Picnic
  3. Jingle Bells
  4. Beneath The Great Chestnut Tree
  5. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
This cartridge was apparently shipped with the Casio KS-03 Kids Sound Keyboard (see Casio SK-8, told by e-mail, seen on eBay).

RO-559: "New Kids on the Block Greatest Hits"

  1. Step by Step
  2. (You've got it) The right stuff
  3. I'll be loving you (forever)
  4. Cover Girl
Listed on Tim's website as (p) 1990. He says it was bundled with a CT-840 keyboard. It is the only ROM he saw published by "Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation" (apart from RO-560, which seems to be exactly the same).

RO-560: "New Kids on the Block Greatest Hits"

Listed on Tim's website as (p) 1990, same like RO-559.

The following Japanese ROM-Packs are listed on Tim's website. I have no further info on these and only included them for completion. They were apparently only sold in Japan. Please ask Tim if you have questions on this.

RO-101: "The Hit Parade"

(19 tracks)
This cartridge was shipped in Japan with Casio MT-800 and PT-50.

RO-102: ?

(18 tracks)
This cartridge was shipped in Japan with Casio MT-800 and PT-50.

RO-107: New Music [3]

(15 tracks)

RO-110: "Easy Listening"

RO-117: ?

(15 tracks)
This cartridge was sold on Japanese website Digimart together with Casio MT-88.

RO-119: ?

RO-124Y: ?

(20 tracks)

RO-125E: "Ballads"

(20 tracks)

RO-128P: "Oldies"

(20 tracks)

RO-157: ?

(4 tracks)

RO-158: ?

RO-159: "Children's Songs [2]"

(6 tracks)

RO-163: "Pops"

  1. Thriller
  2. I Like Chopin
  3. They Don't Know
  4. 99 Luftballons
Tim writes, on his copy the title ("Pops") is in Katakana only, and track names in Japanese with English in small letters beneath.

RO-167K: "Children's Songs [6]"

(10 tracks)

RO-170A: "Animation Themes [5]"

(8 tracks)

RO-172G: ?

(4 tracks)

RO-174Y: ?

(5 tracks)

RO-176Y: "Young Hits [5]"

(6 tracks)

RO-182B: ?

(6 tracks)

RO-186T: ?

(13 tracks)

RO-188Y: "Young Hits [6]"

(5 tracks)

RO-190K: "Children's Songs [12]"

(5 tracks)

RO-581: ?

RO-582: "DH Tunes & Rhythms"

(20 tracks)
This cartridge was shipped with the Digital Horn Casio DH-280. Tim writes that song 1..5 are demos and 6..17 are rhythms only. 19 and 20 play single notes - probably for tuning.

RO-606K: ?

RO-613A: "Greatest Hits (8)"

Asia-release only.

RO-614Y: ?

Tim writes, he saw it on a Yahoo Japan auction with a Casio PT-82.

RO-702: "Sound Kids 'Excitement'(?) [2]"

(10 tracks)
The cartridge is made of red plastic. By its name I expect that it was made or even shipped with the Casio KS-03 Kids Sound Keyboard (rare red SK-8 toy variant).

RO-801F: "Fusion"

  1. All About You
  2. Sabana Hotel
  3. Omens of Love
  4. ?
  5. ?
  6. Truth
Listed on Tim's website as (p) 1990 for use with Casio Digital Horns. Price in 1990 was 2400 Yen.

RO-804M: "Digital Horn Lessons"

(18 tracks)
Listed on Tim's website as (p) 1990 for use with Casio Digital Horns. Price in 1990 was 2400 Yen.

Yamaha PlayCards

PlayCards are musical score cards made of cardboard with printed musical score on its front and a magnetic data tape strip at its lower rim that contains digital music data similar to MIDI files. They were used by Yamaha's early key lighting keyboards, and each card contained (usually) one song. The PlayCard System was introduced first in 1982 with the Yamaha PC-100. Despite the technically simpler media, the capabilities and complexity of PlayCard musics was very similar like its competitor Casio ROM-Pack. The tempo and arpeggio volume of PlayCard musics had to be set manually through analogue sliders, therefore the intended slider setting was printed on the cards. Because Yamaha unfortunately removed the arpeggio feature from their later PlayCard keyboards, the arpeggio volume mark was omitted on later PlayCards. According to the PC-100 manual, also double sided PlayCards for longer songs exist (both sides had to be scanned before start), however according to Tim's website none have been found (only some with 2 separate songs on both sides).

Beside home keyboards also some home organs (Yamaha Electone CN-1000 and MR-1) supported PlayCards. Yamaha even released for MSX computers the PlayCard reader CR-01, that was connected through a small stereo plug with the cartridge Playcard Program UPA-01. On a standard MSX sound chip it played only the 3 main channels, but on computers with Yamaha FM synth unit (like Yamaha CX5M) it could render them perfectly with chords. A karaoke-like self-contained PlayCard player was the Sanyo DP10 (basically a PC-100 without keys).

Each PlayCard has an identification number below the tape strip. Some cards were re-released with different numbers (small changes turned the lowest digit from 0 into 1).

The Yamaha PlayCard system concept is split among a variety of US patents, including 4413545, 5144875, 4466324, 4454797, 4387620, 4587878, 4406203 (details see here). Interesting is that the note data was compressed to save space.

PlayCard set from Yamaha PC-100:

This PlayCard set came with my Yamaha PC-100. The white cardboard envelope has the type number "8202" and the cards show arpeggio setting.

PlayCard set from Yamaha PC-1000:

This PlayCard set apparently came with my newer Yamaha PC-1000. The cyan cardboard envelope has the type number "8305" and the cards show arpeggio setting. Bizarre is that although the songs correspond to PC-100, all ID numbers are increased by 1 and some print details changed (i.e. typos were replaced with eh other typos?).
  • 10000311: Morning Train <9 to 5> (Composed by Florrie Palmer)
  • 10000281: Do-Re-Mi (Composed by Oscar Hammerstein II & Richard Rogers)
  • 10000321: Edelweiss (Composed by Oscar Hammerstein II & Richard Rogers)
  • 10000131: Aloha Oe (Hawaiian Traditional)
  • 10000061: Green Sleeves (Irish Folk Song)
  • 10000091: Cielito Lindo (Mexican Traditional)
  • 10000371: Summertime (Composed by Du Bose Heyward & George Gershwin)
  • 10000351: Night Fever (Composed by Barry(Gibb), Robin(Gibb) & Maurice Gibb)
  • 10000141: When The Saints Go Marching In (American Folk Song)
  • 10000211: Killing Me Softly With His Song (Composed by Norman Gimbel & Charles Fox)
  • 10000361: I Could Have Danced All Night (Composed by Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe)
  • 10000291: Take The "A" Train (Composed by Billy Strayhorn)
  • 00000002: (a head cleaning card)
    • My other PC-1000 apparently had another white cardboard envelope "8201" with the older card set like PC-100. This set also came with Yamaha PC-50 (seen on eBay).

    PlayCard set from Yamaha PCS-30 (Evergreens):

    Apparently the Yamaha PCS-30 was originally shipped with only 6 PlayCards those mention no arpeggio setting. I wondered why I had 2 incomplete basic sets with almost the same doublets, so I concluded from eBay that it came with only these 6 cards from the PCS-500 set. It was released in a blue cardboard envelope (told by Tim and seen on eBay), and another variant on eBay was mentioned as "Evergreens", which apparently came in a plastic bag with front sheet picture like the optional sets. Tim claims that the PCS-30 initially came with the same 12 card set like PCS-500.

    17-610: PlayCard set from Yamaha PCS-500:

    This PlayCard set from 1984 came with my Yamaha PCS-500. Its cardbox envelope has the type number "17-610(1)"; the cards mention no arpeggio setting.

    17-610: PlayCard set from Yamaha PCR-800:

    This set is the same like with my PCS-500, except that the envelope type number is "17-610(4)".

    additional card sets:

    Additional PlayCards were sold in packages of 6. Every package came in a transparent plastic bag with paper front sheet. The individual cards had each a transparent plastic envelope and were stuffed together into an additional red printed paper bag. The card print design often differs between sets, which helps to sort them. The front sheet of later sets had a set number ("PLAYCARD ##") while older sets had only a name, thus I included the small number next to the "printed in Japan" label as their ID. Also my PCS-30 manual mentions them, so they seem to be the offical set ID.

    These are the complete sets I have.

    17-541: (1) The Best Of The Beatles

    This PlayCard set is ©1982 by Yamaha Music Foundation; the cards show arpeggio setting. Front sheet number "(2) 17-541".

    17-542: (2) Best of ABBA Songs

    (missing package) This PlayCard set is from 1982; the cards show arpeggio setting.

    17-543: (3) Best of Richard Clayderman

    (missing package) This PlayCard set is from 1982; the cards show arpeggio setting.

    17-544: (4) Screen Themes 1

    (missing package) This PlayCard set is from 1982; the cards show arpeggio setting. The "Star Trek" theme is from the original 1960th series.

    17-547: (7) Popular Hits 1

    This PlayCard set is ©1982 by Yamaha Music Foundation; the cards show arpeggio setting. Front sheet number "(2) 17-547".

    17-548: (8) Latin Favorites 1

    (missing package) This PlayCard set is from 1982; the cards show arpeggio setting.

    17-549: (9) Latin Favorites 2

    This PlayCard set is ©1982 by Yamaha Music Foundation; the cards show arpeggio setting. Front sheet number "(3) 17-549".

    17-551: (11) Easy Classics 1

    (missing package) This PlayCard set is from 1982; the cards show arpeggio setting. "Dance Of The Hours" strongly differs from that internal demo of Yamaha PCS-30 (more rhythm with drum solo) and Casio MT-800 (lacks the interlude). "Minuet" and "On The Beautiful Blue Danube" cards mention the strange hint "* Watch the blinking lump of "SYNCHRO START" and follow it when you start singing." despite they include no lyrics. "On The Beautiful Blue Danube" differs from the same song on card 10002730.

    17-552: (12) Popular Hits 2

    This PlayCard set is ©1982 by Yamaha Music Foundation; the cards show arpeggio setting. Front sheet number "(2) 17-552".

    17-553: (13) Popular Hits 3

    This PlayCard set is ©1982 by Yamaha Music Foundation; the cards show arpeggio setting. Front sheet number "(2) 17-553".

    17-555: (15) Great Standards 3

    This PlayCard set is ©1982 by Yamaha Music Foundation; the cards show arpeggio setting. Front sheet number "(2) 17-555".

    17-558: (18) The Best Of John Denver

    This PlayCard set is ©1982 by Yamaha Music Foundation; the cards show arpeggio setting. Front sheet number "(3) 17-558".

    17-563: (23) The Best Of Elvis Presley

    This PlayCard set is ©1982 by Yamaha Music Foundation; the cards show arpeggio setting. Front sheet number "(3) 17-563". alternative versions:

    17-577: (37) Country & Western 2

    This PlayCard set is ©1983 by Yamaha Music Foundation; the cards show arpeggio setting. Front sheet number "(1) 17-577".

    17-578: (38) Polka 1

    (missing package) This PlayCard set is from 1984 without mentioning arpeggio setting.

    17-614: Easy Playcard

    This PlayCard set is ©1982 by Yamaha Music Foundation; the cards show arpeggio setting and came with PortaSound key stickers. Front sheet number "(1) 17-614".

    17-644: Lieder zur Weihnachtszeit

    This PlayCard set is ©1983 by Yamaha Music Foundation; the cards show arpeggio setting. Front sheet number "(1) 17-644".

    17-691: Deutsche Stimmungslieder

    This PlayCard set is ©1984 by Yamaha Music Foundation/ Hal Leonard Pub. Corp.; the cards mention no arpeggio setting. Front sheet number "(1) 17-691".

    Volkslieder

    (missing package seen on eBay) This PlayCard set with German folk songs is from 1982; the cards show arpeggio setting.

    (German songs 2)

    (missing package) This unknown PlayCard set is from 1982; the cards show arpeggio setting.

    incomplete sets:

    The following loose PlayCards were shipped with my Yamaha PCR-800, PC-1000 etc.; they stem from many different looking card sets. Of these sets I have only the cards indicated by a black dot; those with trailing empty dot are missing. I concluded the corresponding sets for each card by the PCS-30 manual and ads.

    17-550: (10) Favorite Disney Songs (Disney's Collection)

    This PlayCard set is from 1982; the cards show arpeggio setting.

    17-557: (17) Christmas Songs 1

    This PlayCard is from 1984; the cards show no arpeggio setting.

    17-559: (19) Best of Paul McCartney

    This PlayCard is from 1982; the cards show arpeggio setting.

    17-561: (21) Christmas Songs 2

    This PlayCard is from 1984; the cards show no arpeggio setting.

    17-564: (24) Best of Beach Boys 1

    This PlayCard set is from 1982; the cards show arpeggio setting.

    17-567: (27) Broadway Musical 2 (Annie)

    This PlayCard set is from 1983; the cards show arpeggio setting.

    17-570: (30) Mixed Pops 1

    This PlayCard is from 1983; the cards show arpeggio setting.

    17-571: (31) Sing Along Favorites

    This PlayCard set is from 1983; the cards show arpeggio setting.

    (German songs 3)

    This unknown PlayCard set is from 1984; the cards lack arpeggio setting.
    The following additional PlayCards are mentioned in the advertisement "More PlacCard Music For You" from February 1984, that I found in my "Lieder zur Weihnachtszeit" package. (I re-sorted these and added the ID numbers of loose cards I got.) 

    17-542: (2) Best of ABBA Songs

    17-543: (3) Best of Richard Clayderman

    17-544: (4) Screen Themes 1

    17-545: (5) Great Standards 1

    • Night And Day
    • Days Of Wine And Roses
    • As Time Goes By
    • 10000630?: Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
    • 'Round Midnight
    • Theme From Summer Of '42

    17-546: (6) Great Standards 2

    This PlayCard set is from 1982 (seen on eBay).
    • Ebb Tide
    • 10000570: Over The Rainbow
    • The Shadow Of Your Smile
    • Singin' In The Rain
    • Somewhere My Love
    • It Was A Good Time

    17-547: (7) Popular Hits 1

    17-548: (8) Latin Favorites 1

    17-549: (9) Latin Favorites 2

    17-550: (10) Favorite Disney Songs (Disney's Collection)

    • 10001100: Someday My Prince Will Come
    • 10001110: It's A Small World
    • Feed The Birds
    • Chim Chim Cher-ee
    • Mickey Mouse March
    • When You Wish Upon A Star

    17-551: (11) Easy Classics 1

    17-552: (12) Popular Hits 2

    17-553: (13) Popular Hits 3

    17-554: (14) Popular Hits 4

    • Endless Love
    • For Your Eyes Only
    • Just Once* (This Masquerade)
    • Just The Way You Are
    • Physical
    • Private Eyes
    The ad has the footnote: "In some cases, "Just Once" will be replaced by "This Masquerade"." (It is unknown whether this was done for popularity or copyright issue in some countries.) The Yamaha PCS-500 manual only mentions the latter. The changed set likely was also named "Greatest Songs" (mentioned on eBay).

    17-555: (15) Great Standards 3

    17-556: (16) Easy Classics 2

    • Ode To Joy
    • The Wave Of the Danube
    • Nocturne
    • Air From Orchestral Suite No.3
    • Plume In The Summer Wind
    • Slavonic March

    17-557: (17) Christmas Songs 1

    • Silent Night
    • Jingle Bells
    • 10001501: Rudolph, The Red-nosed Reindeer
    • Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
    • Joy To The World
    • O Come, All Ye Faithful

    17-558: (18) Best of John Denver

    17-559: (19) Best of Paul McCartney

    • 10001730: Band On The Run
    • Ebony And Ivory
    • Jet
    • Listen To What The Man Said
    • My Love
    • Silly Love Songs

    17-560: (20) Jazz  Standards

    • Tenderly
    • Body And Soul
    • My Funny Valentine
    • I Left My Heart In San Francisco
    • You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
    • Les Feuilles Mortes (Autumn Leaves)

    17-561: (21) Christmas Songs 2

    • The Christmas Song
    • Frosty The Snowman
    • Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
    • Here Comes Santa Claus
    • 10001521: Les Anges Dans Nos Campagne
    • O Tannenbaum

    17-562: (22) Great Standards 4

    • Sunny
    • Love Is Blue
    • People
    • The Third Man Theme
    • Till
    • Try To Remember

    17-563: (23) Best of Elvis Presley

    17-564: (24) Best of Beach Boys 1

    • 10002431: California Girls
    • Fun, Fun, Fun
    • Good Vibrations
    • 10002461: Help Me Rhonda
    • I Get Around
    • 10002481: Wouldn't It Be Nice

    17-565: (25) Best of The Carpenters

    • I Won't Last A Day Without You
    • Only Yesterday
    • Rainy Day And Mondays
    • Top Of The World
    • We've Only Just Begun
    • Yesterday Once More

    17-566: (26) Broadway Musical 1 (My Fair Lady)

    • Get Me To The Church On Time
    • The Rain In Spain
    • I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face
    • On The Street Where You Live
    • With A Little Bit Of Luck
    • Wouldn't It Be Lovely

    17-567: (27) Broadway Musical 2 (Annie)

    • 10003150: Easy Street
    • I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here
    • It's The Hard-Knock Life
    • 10003180: Maybe
    • Tomorrow
    • You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile

    17-568: (28) Best of Barry Manilow

    • Copacabana
    • Even Now
    • I Made It Through The Rain
    • Ships
    • Weekend In New England
    • When I Wanted You

    17-569: (29) Best of Billy Joel

    • Don't Ask Me Why
    • Honesty
    • It's Still Rock And Roll To Me
    • 10001900: My Life (by Billy Joel)
    • Piano Man
    • She's Always A Woman

    17-570: (30) Mixed Pops 1

    • 10002810: The Dock Of The Bay
    • Give Me The Night
    • I Am Woman
    • I Go To Rio
    • An Old Fashioned Love Song
    • Windy

    17-571: (31) Sing Along Favorites

    • Brother John
    • 10003390: Auld Lang Syne
    • Happy Birthday To You
    • You Are My Sunshine
    • 10003430: Michael, Row The Boat Ashore
    • Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home

    17-572: (32) Gospel 1

    • Peace In The Valley
    • He
    • Turn Your Radio On
    • Wing Of A Dove
    • How Great Thou Art
    • Whither Thou Goest

    17-573: (33) Country & Western 1

    • Nobody Likes Sad Songs
    • Release Me
    • Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town
    • Little Green Apples
    • Crazy
    • Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue

    17-574: (34) Best of Hank Williams

    • Cold, Cold Heart
    • I Saw The Light
    • I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
    • Hey, Good Lookin'
    • You Win Again
    • Your Cheatin' Heart

    17-575: (35) Swing Time 1

    • Honeysuckle Rose
    • I'm Beginning To See The Light
    • It's Only A Paper Moon
    • All Of Me
    • Moonglow
    • You Turned The Tables On Me

    17-576: (36) Hawaiian Favorites 1

    • Now Is The Hour
    • The Hawaiian Wedding Song
    • Sleepy Lagoon
    • Pearly Shells
    • Tiny Bubbles
    • Quiet Village

    17-614: Easy Playcard

    These additional PlayCard sets were listed in Yamaha PCS-30 and PCS-500 manual:

    17-541: (1) The Best Of The Beatles

    17-577: (37) Country & Western 2

    17-674: Step-By-Step Learning Playcard 1

    • Exercise 1 - Up and Down
    • Exercise 2 - Skip
    • Exercise 3 - For Both Hands 1
    • Exercise 4 - For Both Hands 2
    • Exercise 5 - Short Scale
    • Exercise 6 - A Melody
    (Contents by Tim's website.)

    17-675: Step-By-Step Learning Playcard 2

    • Exercise 1 / Finger Drill
    • Exercise 2 / Waltz
    • Exercise 3 / London Bridge
    • Exercise 4 / Michael Row the Boat
    • Exercise 5 / Jingle Bells
    • Exercise 6 / Ode to Joy
    • Auto Bass Chord System Guide [has a 7th card?]
    (Contents by Tim's website.)

    17-688: Step-By-Step Learning Playcard 3

    • Exercise 1 / Daisy's Waltz
    • Exercise 2 / Long Long Ago
    • Exercise 3 / Ghost Samba
    • Exercise 4 / The Covered Wagon is Coming
    • Exercise 5 / Walking Cat Blues
    • Exercise 6 / Gavotte
    (Contents by Tim's website.)

    These additional PlayCard sets were listed on Tim's website:

    17-579: (39) Female Vocalist's [sic] Hits 1

    • Blessed Are The Believers (Anne Murray)
    • Deja Vu (Dionne Warwick)
    • Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) (Helen Reddy)
    • Somebody's Knockin' (Terry Gibbs)
    • What Kind Of Fool (Barbra Streisand)
    • My Heart Belongs To Me (Barbra Streisand)

    17-581: (41) Screen Themes 2

    • Far From Over
    • Maniac
    • Star Trek III - the Search for Spock
    • Terms of Endearment
    • The Summer Knows
    • Up Where We Belong
    (submitted by Susan Herrera.)

    17-583: (43) Children's Songs

    • Der Fuchs
    • Sur Le Pont d'Avignon
    • Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
    • Swanee River
    • Yankee Doodle
    • Camptown Races

    17-584: (44) Popular Standards 2

    • Autumn In New York
    • It's Only a Paper Moon
    • Misty
    • Someone To Watch Over Me
    • Stella by Starlight
    • Wives and Lovers

    34-010: (10) [Japanese]

    • Ballade Pour Adeline 
    • Nocturne
    • Penelope
    • Souvenirs D'enfance
    • Music Box Dancer
    • 13 Jours En France

    34-051: (51) [Japanese]

    • no Bara no Echiyudo
    • Invitation
    • Second Love
    • Kohaku Iro no Omoide
    • Koibito mo Nureru Machikado
    • Long Distance Call
    (Packaged in a booklet, set title unknown.)

    Matsuda Seiko [Japanese]

    • Garasu no Ringo
    • Sweet Memories
    • Rock'n Rouge
    • Jikan no Kuni no Alice
    • Tengoku no Kiss
    • Hitomi Ha Diamond
    (6 Matsuda Seiko songs, original set title unknown.)

    The following additional PlayCard sets were mentioned on eBay:

    Greatest Songs

    • Endless Love
    • For Your Eyes Only
    • This Masquerade
    • Just The Way You Are
    • Physical
    • Private Eyes
    This set was apparently the renamed successor of "Popular Hits 4" (song "Just Once" replaced with "This Masquerade").

    Evergreens

    (came with Yamaha PCS-30, see here).

    Yamaha MusicCartridges

    The Music Cartridge was the Yamaha counterpart of Casio's ROM-Pack. But unlike the latter, it was only used a short time from 1995 to 1997(?) in medium and higher grade home keyboards (Yamaha PSR-230, PSR-320, PSR-330, PSR-420, PSR-520, PSR-530, PSR-620 and its oriental version PSR-A3); these all had General Midi with velocity sensitive fullsize keys, nice sound quality and menu adjustable parameters - none of them were toy-like. The only models with key lighting (LED row) were PSR-230 (I own one) and PSR-420. A hacker told me that the internal data format of the nicely arranged music is based on General Midi, and likely identical with music files for Yamaha diskette drive keyboards, those were introduced at that time (PSR-620 had both) and soon replaced them. Also "style" cartridges with only accompaniments (no songs) were made. Normally each cartridge contains exactly 6 items (songs or styles), only the "Bonus" cartridges (shipped with a keyboard) contain more, and the "Let's Play Keyboard" series even had at least up to 24 songs, which shows that it was all determined by marketing and not a technical limitation. Like with DOS, items on cartridges have 8 character file names (shown on LCD, can contain small letters despite most are capital-only). The first cartridge series apparently came in all different label colours while laters were always violet (these are rarer - like because they already competed with diskette keyboards and thus sold poorly). The physical cartridge size roughly resembles those of Sega Megadrive.

    Unless mentioned otherwise, I do not own original package and booklet that came with these.

    MC-301YE: "Dance & Techno"

    1. Cotton Eye Joe
    2. Welcome To Tomorrow
    3. Happy Nation
    4. Saturday Night
    5. Everybody
    6. Happy People

    MC-302YE: "90's Pop 1"

    1. Thinking' About You
    2. Hope Of Deliverance
    3. River Of Dreams
    4. Volare
    5. Would I Lie To You
    6. Someday

    MC-303YE: "Ballads 1"

    1. I Swear
    2. Everything I Do
    3. Without You
    4. Wind Of Change
    5. Jessie
    6. Waltzing Mathilda

    MC-304YE: "60's Oldies"

    1. Popcorn
    2. Are You Lonesome Tonight
    3. The Sound Of Silence
    4. Ay No Digaz
    5. Yellow River
    6. I'd Love You T Want Me

    MC-305YE: "Schlager 1"

    1. Weine nicht kleine Eva
    2. Junge mit der Mundharmonika
    3. Mit 66 Jahren
    4. Aber Dich gibts nur einmal
    5. Monja
    6. Buenos Dias, Argentina
    I bought this with original package; the sheet music booklet mentions in German that the series "Magic Keyboard Special" for Yamaha Music Cartridge was made in cooperation with Melodie Der Welt and Yamaha Europa GmbH - special arrangements by Eddie Schlepper.

    MC-306YE: "Volksmusik Standards 1"

    1. Amboß Polka
    2. Das Kufstein Lied
    3. Schwarzbraun ist die Haselnuss
    4. Tiroler Holzhackerbua'm
    5. La Pastorella
    6. Zillertaler Hochzeitsmarsch
    I bought this with original package and booklet (dto.).

    MC-307YE: "Stimmung 1"

    1. Ich kauf m. lieber einen Tirolerhut
    2. Rucki Zucki
    3. Mann am Klavier
    4. Ich hab Dein Knie gesehn...
    5. Humba Tätärä
    6. Fahr mich in die Ferne
    I bought this with original package and booklet (dto.).

    MC-308YE: "Märsche & Walzerhits 1"

    1. Alte Kameraden
    2. An der schönen blauen Donau
    3. Hochzeitsmarsch
    4. Schneewalzer
    5. Stars And Stripes
    6. Kaiser-Walzer
    I bought this with original package and booklet (dto.).

    MC-309YE: "Country & Western 1"

    1. Bonanza
    2. San Antonio Rose
    3. Banks Of Ohio
    4. Yellow Rose Of Texas
    5. Es hängt ein Pferdehalfter...
    6. Oh Susanna

    MC-310YE: "Weihnachtslieder 1"

    1. Oh du fröhliche
    2. Leise rieselt der Schnee
    3. Jingle Bells
    4. Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht
    5. Laßt uns froh und munter sein
    6. Ihr Kinderlein kommet

    MC-311YE: "80's Oldies"

    1. Mull of Kintyre
    2. To All The Girls I've Loved Before
    3. Flashdance
    4. You Sexy Thing
    5. Axel F
    6. Ebony & Ivory

    MC-312YE: "Märsche & Walzerhits 2"

    1. Hoch Heidecksburg
    2. Finkenwalzer
    3. Radetzky Marsch
    4. Donauwellen
    5. Marsch aus Carmen
    6. Kuckuckswalzer
    I bought this with original package; the sheet music booklet mentions in German that the series "Magic Keyboard Special" for Yamaha Music Cartridge was made in cooperation with Melodie Der Welt and Yamaha Europa GmbH - special arrangements by Eddie Schlepper. But some of the songs are arranged quite poorly. At least on PSR-230 e.g. "Carmen" plays partly in wrong key and some stray trumpets sound like when they don't belong there.

    MC-313YE: "Latin Songs 1"

    1. La Golondrina
    2. Guantanamera
    3. La Cucaracha
    4. Cielito Lindo
    5. El Choclo
    6. Mexican Hat Dance
    I bought this with original package; the sheet music booklet mentions in German that the series "Magic Keyboard Special" for Yamaha Music Cartridge was made in cooperation with Melodie Der Welt and Yamaha Europa GmbH - special arrangements by Eddie Schlepper.

    MC-314YE: "Classics 1"

    1. Die Forelle
    2. Barcarole
    3. Ave Maria
    4. Minuett
    5. Türkischer Marsch
    6. Träumerei
    I bought this with original package and booklet (dto.).

    MC-315YE: "Swing 1"

    1. Icecream
    2. Down By The Riverside
    3. When The Saints (?)
    4. Sunny Side Of The Street
    5. Hey Ba Ba Re Bop
    6. Bye Bye Blues
    I bought this with original package and booklet (dto.).

    EMS MC001: "The Beatles - Greatest Hits 1"

    1. Day Tripper
    2. Let It Be
    3. Penny Lane
    4. Lady Madonna
    5. The Fool On The Hill
    6. All My Loving
    (OM23908, with violet label)

    EMS MC002: "The Beatles - Greatest Hits 2"

    1. Hey Jude
    2. Norwegian Wood
    3. With A Little Help From My Friend
    4. Michelle
    5. Eleanor Rigby
    6. Hello Goodby
    (OM23909, with violet label) I bought this with booklet AM 931623 (OM23909), which is ©1995 by Wise Publications. Book & Pack Design by 4i Limited, London. Printed in the United Kingdom by Caligraving Limited, Thetford, Norfolk. Exclusive distributors: Yamaha Musicsoft Europe Limited, London, England.

    EMS MC010: "Abba - Greatest Hits"

    1. Dancing Queen
    2. The Winner Takes It All
    3. Mamma Mia
    4. Super Trouper
    5. Fernando
    6. Waterloo
    (with violet label)

    EMS MC011: "Genesis - Greatest Hits"

    1. Follow You Follow Me
    2. I Can't Dance
    3. In Too Deep
    4. Invisible Touch
    5. Land Of Confusion
    6. Tonight Tonight Tonight
    (OM 23918, with violet label) I bought this with booklet AM 931711 (OM 23918, ©1995 with text like EMS MC002).

    EMS MC201: "Let's Play Keyboard - STARTER"

    This cartridge even contains 35 songs (some shorter than average). The songs on LCD have only numbers written like "LPK01-##".

    song list on the book (seen on eBay):

    1. Amazing Grace
    2. Brown Girl In The Ring
    3. Bye Bye Love
    4. Catch A Falling Star
    5. Early Morning Keyboard Blues
    6. Every Breath You Take
    7. Guantanamera
    8. Hello, Goodbye
    9. I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing
    10. Let's Dance
    11. Mull Of Kintyre
    12. One Moment In Time
    13. Rock Around The Clock
    14. Sailing
    15. Sunny
    16. This Ole House
    17. Top Of The World
    (OM23949 with violet label)

    EMS MC203: "Let's Play Keyboard - MASTER"

    This cartridge contains 24 songs (some shorter than average). By lack of songbook song names were identified by me (LCD shows only 8 character abbreviations), so some may be wrong.
    1. 01MOONLI = Moonlighting
    2. 02THREE1 = [melancholic piano + flute piece]
    3. 03THREE2 = [dto., teaching the accompaniment track]
    4. 04IDEAS1 = [funk rock piece]
    5. 05GETBAK = ["Get Back to Arizona"?]
    6. 06CANDLE = Candle in the Wind
    7. 07CANTSM = [resembles "Last Christmas"]
    8. 08FIGURE = [funky walking synth bass pattern]
    9. 09ISAWHE = [funky boogie piece]
    10. 10_76TRM = [a German(?) march]
    11. 11BELIEV = [jazz waltz?]
    12. 12IDEAS2 = [funk rock with hammond sound]
    13. 13HOUSE = House of the Rising Sun
    14. 14HELLO = [melancholic rock ballad]
    15. 15SOMETH = [melancholic rock ballad]
    16. 16SYMPHO = [classic piece]
    17. 17BIGSPE = Big Spender
    18. 18IDEAS3 = [funky hammond piece]
    19. 19SUMMER = Summertime
    20. 20ELEANO = Eleanor Rigby (by The Beatles)
    21. 21BRIDGE = Bridge Over Troubled Water
    22. 22IDEAS4 = [happy bossanova with vibraphone improvisation]
    23. 23WHEELS = [known bossanova piece]
    24. 24LADYIN = Lady in White
    (with violet label)

    "Bonus" (PSR-230)

      Songs
    1. Edelweis
    2. San_Fran [swing, not "If You're Going to San Francisco"]
    3. Old Folks = Old Folks at Home
    4. Kentucky
    5. Sailing = I am Sailing (Rod Stewart)
    6. Ballade = Ballade Pour Adeline
    7. Lond'Air = Londonderry Air
    8. StLucia = Santa Lucia
    9. MyBonnie = My Bonnie is Over the Ocean
    10. WithoutU = Living Without You (Keith Shields?)
      Styles
    1. HardRock
    2. SpdMetal = Speed Metal
    3. DancePty = Dance Party
    4. FusnBld = Fusion Ballad
    5. Ragtime
    This cartridge ©1996 has a pink label (indicating contents "SONG", "STYLE", "REGIST", JASRAC number T-620004) and apparently was shipped with Yamaha PSR-230. Likely another variant (on PSR-230 box photo seen on eBay) had the same label design without JASRAC number.

    "Bonus" (PSR-320, PSR-A3)

      Songs
    1. YESTERDY = Yesterday (The Beatles)
    2. A-TRAIN = Take The A Train (Duke Ellington)
    3. ALLSHE_W = All That She Wants (Ace Of Base)
    4. ORGKBLD = Organ Rock Ballad
    5. SYBOOGIE = Synth Boogie
    6. GPSYJAZZ = Gypsie Jazz
    7. SWNGWLTZ = Swing Waltz
    8. J_SAMBA = Jazz Samba
      Styles
    1. ORGKBLD = Organ Rock Ballad
    2. SYBOOGIE = Synth Boogie
    3. PARTYPOP = Party Pop
    4. GPSYJAZZ = Gypsie Jazz
    5. SWNGWLTZ = Swing Waltz
    6. UPTPJAZZ = Uptempo Jazz
    7. FUSNSHFL = Fusion Shuffle
    8. J_SAMBA = Jazz Samba
    This cartridge (©1995 Yamaha Corporation, with blue label indicating contents "SONG", "STYLE", "REGIST", no JASRAC number) was shipped with Yamaha PSR-320 and PSR-A3 (contents names identified by PSR-A3 box photo seen on eBay). It may be the same like with PSR-620.

    "Bonus" (PSR-330)

      Songs
    1. St_Life = Street Life
    2. JamesBnd = James Bond theme
    3. Showtime [complex piano jazz]
    4. Stars
    5. Ragtime
    6. Carousel [orchestrion march]
    7. WilliamT = Wilhelm Tell
    This cartridge (©1997 Yamaha Corporation, with blue label indicating contents "SONG", JASRAC number "T-9730078") was apparently shipped with Yamaha PSR-330 (claimed on eBay).

    The Bonus cartridges from other keyboards had different copyright date and label colour; their contents likely differs.

    "Bonus" (PSR-530)

      Songs
    1. 530XG [fusion, synth rock, samba with steel drums - all with applause]
    2. Always [piano]
    3. Dance ['Space Harrier' style disco pop]
    4. BigBand [boogie]
    5. Bossa [bluesie jazz]
    6. Blues
    7. C_Gate [tekkno]
    8. DrumSolo [tekkno-like]
    9. SaagAloo [oriental fusion]
    10. China [chinese march]
    This cartridge (©1997 Yamaha Corporation, with brown label indicating contents "SONG") was shipped with Yamaha PSR-530. This is the only known cartridge with "XG" logo and notice "for PSR-530 only". Despite it does run on my PSR-230 and sounds quite well, by lack of a PSR-530 I can not estimate whether certain preset sounds (e.g. drumkits) or synth effects are wrong or absent; likely XG stands for an extended sound set that the other keyboards don't have.

    The Bonus cartridges from other keyboards had different copyright date and label colour; their contents likely differs.
     
    The following Music Cartridges are listed in booklets of my originally packaged German carts:

    MC-301YE: "Dance & Techno"

    MC-302YE: "90's Pop 1"

    MC-303YE: "Ballads 1"

    MC-304YE: "60's Oldies"

    MC-305YE: "Schlager 1"

    MC-306YE: "Volksmusik Standards 1"

    MC-307YE: "Stimmung 1"

    MC-308YE: "Märsche & Walzerhits 1"

    MC-309YE: "Country & Western 1"

    MC-310YE: "Weihnachtslieder 1"

    MC-311YE: "80's Oldies"

    MC-312YE: "Märsche & Walzerhits 2"

    MC-313YE: "Latin Songs 1"

    MC-314YE: "Classics 1"

    MC-315YE: "Swing 1"

    The following additional Music Cartridge series is shown in an advertisement on the back of my booklets "The Beatles - Greatest Hits 2" and "Genesis - Greatest Hits" of 1995. They depict only tiny thumbnail photos without external text, so additional info was added from eBay, e-mails or websites. From the rest I tried hard to extract song names from the grainy photos (may be wrong). Likely all these cartridges had a violet label.

    SONG

    EMS MC001: "The Beatles - Greatest Hits 1"

    EMS MC002: "The Beatles - Greatest Hits 2"

    EMS MC003: "The Beatles - Greatest Hits 3"

    1. All You Need Is Love
    2. The Long And Winding Road
    3. In My Life
    4. And I Love Her
    5. Ob-La-Di
    6. I Feel Fine

    ?: "Phil Collins - Greatest Hits"

    1. Another Day In Paradise
    2. Don't Lose That Number
    3. Against All Odds
    4. In The Air Tonight
    5. One More Night
    6. Sussudio

    ?: "The Police - Greatest Hits"

    1. Roxanne
    2. Don't Stand So Close To Me
    3. Every Breath You Take
    4. Walking On The Moon
    5. Message In A Bottle
    6. Can't Stand Losing You

    EMS MC006: "Eric Clapton - Greatest Hits"

    1. Wonderful Tonight
    2. Strange Brew
    3. Layla
    4. Sunshine Of Your Love
    5. White Room
    6. Let It Grow

    EMS MC007: "60's Pop"

    1. Good Vibrations
    2. Mr. Tambourine Man (Excerpt)
    3. Massachusetts
    4. Glad All Over
    5. All I Have To Do Is Dream
    6. Keep On Running

    EMS MC008: "70's Pop"

    • YMCA
    • Tie A Yellow Ribbon
    • Tragedy
    • If You Leave Me Now
    • I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing
    • Imagine
    (OM 23915, with green label?, Seen on eBay.)

    EMS MC009: "80's Pop"

    1. When The Going Gets Tough
    2. One Moment In Time
    3. Crockett's Theme
    4. You Win Again
    5. Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This
    6. Hello
    (OM 23916, with grey label?, Seen on eBay. booklet AM 931690?)

    EMS MC010: "Abba - Greatest Hits"

    EMS MC011: "Genesis - Greatest Hits"

    EMS MC012: "Sting - Greatest Hits"

    1. An Englishman In New York
    2. Fragile
    3. Fields Of Gold
    4. If I Ever Lose My Faith In You
    5. Moon Over Bourbon Street
    6. If You Love Somebody

    ?: "Songs Of Broadway"

    1. What I Did For Love
    2. Don't Cry For Me Argentina
    3. Somewhere
    4. I Dreamed A Dream
    5. I Know Him So Well
    6. Summertime

    ?: "Golden Oldies"

    1. Something Stupid
    2. Unchained Melody
    3. Strangers In The Night
    4. Green Green Gras Of Home
    5. Telstar [?]
    6. Rock Around The Clock
     (with violet label)

    STYLE

    The following were styles-only cartridges without songs. Also a German language advertisement sheet on a blurred eBay photo promises 10 style cartridges with each 6 accompaniments. Others were on eBay photos.

    EMS MC101: "Latin Pop" (Style)

    (Also seen on blurred ad photo.)
    1. Conga
    2. Cumbia
    3. Mambo
    4. Merengue
    5. Sevillana
    6. Spanish Rumba [?]

    EMS MC102: "Traditional Dance" (Style)

    (OM 23940, with violet label. Seen on blurred ad photo and eBay.)
    1. Charleston
    2. March
    3. Party Pop
    4. Polka
    5. Quickstep
    6. Wiener Waltz

    EMS MC103: "Dancefloor" (Style)

    1. Dub
    2. Funk House
    3. Garage
    4. Progressive House
    5. Rave
    6. Traditional House
    (OM 23941, with green or violet label. Seen on eBay.)

    EMS MC104: "Soul" (Style)

    (Also seen on blurred ad photo and eBay.)
    1. 60s Ballad
    2. Soul Ballad
    3. 70s Disco
    4. Philly Sound
    5. Rhythm & Blues 1
    6. Rhythm & Blues 2
    (with violet label)

    EMS MC105: "Classical & Folk" (Style)

    (OM 23943, with violet label. Seen on eBay.) 
    1. Baroque
    2. Flamenco
    3. Italo Pop
    4. Kasatschok
    5. Tarantella
    6. Venetian
    (with violet label)

    EMS MC106: "60's Pop" (Style)

    (OM 23944, with violet label. Seen on eBay.) 

    EMS MC107: "Jazz" (Style)

    (Also seen on eBay photo)
    1. 5/4
    2. Basie
    3. Miller
    4. Modern Jazz Quartet
    5. Stride
    6. Swing
    (OM 23945?, with violet label)

    EMS MC109: "Rock & Roll" (Style)

    (OM 23947, with violet label. Seen on eBay.) 

    EMS MC111: "Dancefloor II" (Style)

    (OM 24196, with violet label. Seen on eBay.)

    EMS MC112: "70s Disco" (Style)

    (OM 24195, with violet label. Seen on eBay.) 

    EMS MC113: "Pop Ballads" (Style)

    1. Acoustic
    2. American
    3. Electro
    4. Guitar
    5. Midtempo
    6. MOR
     (OM 24194, with violet label. Seen on eBay.)

    EMS MC114: "80s Groove" (Style)

    1. 80s Dance
    2. Electro
    3. New Motown
    4. RoboBop
    5. Romance
    6. Synth Pop
    (OM24153?, with violet label)

    ?: "60s Pop" (Style)

    1. 60s Ballad [?]
    2. 8 Beat Light [?]
    3. Beat [?]
    4. Pop Bossanova
    5. Shuffle
    6. Twist [?]

    EMS MC108: "Country & Western" (Style)

    (Also seen on eBay.)
    1. Cajun
    2. Cool Country
    3. Country Lite
    4. Country Rock
    5. Country Shuffle
    6. Country Waltz

    ?: "Rock'n'Roll" (Style)

    (Also seen on eBay.)
    1. 8 Beat
    2. Ballad
    3. Be Boppa
    4. Boogie
    5. Fast Shuffle
    6. Slow Shuffle

    EMS MC1##?: "Latin Ballroom" (Style)

    (Also seen on eBay photo.)
    1. Bolero
    2. Guajira
    3. Paso Doble
    4. Salsa
    5. Son
    6. Tangos Flamencos

    SELF TUITUION

    These were cartridges with training lessons (violet label). They are most desirable to find, because they contain many more than 6 songs (up to 35?).

    EMS MC201: "Let's Play Keyboard - STARTER"

    EMS MC202: "Let's Play Keyboard - PROGRESS"

    EMS MC203: "Let's Play Keyboard - MASTER"


    The following additional Music Cartridges were mentioned on eBay, e-mails or websites:

    ?: "Bonus" 

    The PSR-420, PSR-520 and PSR-620 Bonus cartridges had a blue label (indicating contents "SONG", "STYLE", "REGIST", no JASRAC number). PSR-620 is "©1995 Yamaha Corporation".

    EMS MC015: "90s Pop"

    (OM 24176, with violet label)

    EMS MC018: "Songs for Christmas"

    (OM 24174, with violet label)

    EMS MC020: "Play The Classics"

    (OM 24190, with violet label)

    ?:" Jazzy!"

    1. Memphis Blues
    2. Prelude To A Kiss
    3. That Ole Devil Called Love
    4. When Sunny Gets Blue
    5. Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby
    6. I'm Beginning To See The Light
    (with violet label)

    ?: "Unplugged" (Styles)

    1. 3/4 or 6/8
    2. Brit Pop
    3. Choppy
    4. Country
    5. Latino
    6. Slow
    (with violet label)
     

     removal of these screws voids warranty...    
    WarrantyVoid
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