SK-51 is Fingerlab's all-in-one emulation of the Casio SK-1 and SK-5 — an 8-bit lo-fi keyboard from the 80s with sampling features and onboard drum machine, available for iPhone, iPad & Mac.
Called the "poor man's sampler" in its time, this iconic Casio keyboard was used by Fatboy Slim, Portishead, Autechre and Nine Inch Nails — and now it fits in your pocket.
At Fingerlab, some of us composed our first songs with it as kids in the eighties. We wanted to bring back that unique feeling, so we built SK-51: a faithful recreation of the Casio SK-1 and VL-Tone, recorded note by note at professional audio quality (16bit / 44.1kHz).
SK-51 is a universal purchase — one buy covers iPhone, iPad & Mac.
Sample your voice, fire up the drum machine, play a chord — and you've got a track.
Free version includes:
• 3 instruments (Flute, Piano, Trumpet)
• 14 drum kits & 6 drum pads
• 4 sampling slots
• 3 demo drum patterns
• Full Mixer
• AUv3 Audio Unit
• Full MIDI & MIDI Mapping support
• AudioBus & Inter-App Audio (iOS)
• Ableton Link support
Full Version (IAP) includes:
• 19 instruments (Brass Ensemble, Vibraphone, Chorus and more)
• 21 demo drum patterns
• 5 FX: Tube Amp, Phaser, Delay, Reverb & Compressor
• Live Recording
Questions or feedback? We'd love to hear from you: contact@fingerlab.net
Stay tuned!
The Fingerlab Team
First of all I wanted to say that I own all the Fingerlab apps. I love them and the way that they are pretty much all different and useful in a large sea of music making applications, very cool and this is no different but...... Why is it that we cannot use the sampler and pads to be triggered and sequenced by midi? Seems like it would be an easy enough thing to implement? Maybe I’m wrong but if we could use those sampled sound sets, user created, it’d be freaking so great. That would make this thing so much more useable in my opinion. Maybe it’s because you guys are trying to make this SK as similar to the original piece of hardware? I don’t know but I would easily add one more star and would be thinking if I could, add a hundred more stars to the review. One way or another this little guy is fun and adds a very cool low bittish, purposely crappy dimension to some of my tracks. Love it but please kind devs make those pads midi accessible!
Pretty useful
Poofmom
As a GarageBand user, I like to use some synth apps for more synths. Just plugins and Audio Unit Extensions in general. I get everything free I can and I’ve found some hidden gems. The only way I found this was because I looked at Fingerlab. I use Mynth and Flynth a lot, and they’re nice. I like the Random button on Mynth. But I wanna talk about the SK-51, after all, I’m reviewing it. I only got it a day ago, but I’m already enjoying the experience. However, the only thing I don’t like about the Fingerlab apps is the paywalls. That’s the only thing keeping the SK-51 from being 5 stats. It’s also nice for GarageBand. In my opinion, it’s better and easier to use than the Sampler. They both have things exclusive to them, but I still stand by what I said.With that being said, SK-51 is a 4-star app. I would recommend.
Midi for desktop stopped working [Intel/Ventura 13.4]
.volcano
Flynth & Mynth work fine. It's pretty straight forward to connect, idk what the problem could be though. Other than that, from what I remember, this app was a lot of fun for the price. All fingerlab stuff is great price, and really quick to pick up and just get some inspiration. UI is classic and simple, also resizable. There's not too many bells or whistles, but tbh...just messin around it's not necessary. Hope there's an update soon.
Suggestions From A Musician to Improve This Great App
waterthief
This app is great, simply for allowing us to enjoy the features of the original Casio Sampling Keyboard without having to shell out the cash for an original hardware version. My suggestions for improving this app: 1) Allow the sample to play at the same speed regardless of pitch.2) Allow the ability to choose different attack envelopes for the type of sound the user is trying to achieve (especially pads).3) place more of the yellow trigger pads, like on the SK-5. 4) figure out a way to prevent the samples from clicking when they start over in “loop” mode.5)figure out a way to allow sounds to sustain.Otherwise, this is an app with a great future! Worth your time/ money.
This minor update adds support for the iPhone Air.
Stay tuned!
Fingerlab Team
Version 4.2.3
The developer, Fingerlab, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
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Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More