Creatoy 4207 (keyboard) (monophonic squarewave toy keyboard with great POKEY rhythm)

This red toy keyboard from 1990 (embossed case date) has a handle and blue, semicircular speaker, but there is no name on it. It plays 8 fantastic, grainy POKEY-style rhythms. Main voice is plain squarewave, but well playable.

In Germany it was also released as GoodPlay - Melodie-Orgel (seen on eBay).

main features:

modifications:

notes:

The monophonic main voice is made from plain squarewave. The 'organ' has slow attack but no sustain. The 'piano' has a simple decay envelope that is truncated after 3 seconds when key is not held (envelope does not change). The keyboard has no matrix and permits very fast play; holding multiple keys sounds the newest note.

Most interesting is that with empty batteries at full volume rhythm and main voice start to distort and modulate each other. Particularly in 'piano' mode the envelope capacitor produces a strange tekkno growl.

The rhythms are made from only 2 blip percussion sounds. The 'boom' (sort of conga) is a distorted analogue squarewave (sounds like the heartbeat signal in the medical unit of the first "Star Trek" TV series), while the 'cha' (sort of snare?) is made from shift register feedback noise and goes "deng!" like banging on a metal spring or piece of sheet metal. Both are impulsive and have their own nicely unique style. This may be a predecessor of the Hing Hon EK-001 percussion engine.
 

hardware details

The Creatoy 4207 keyboard is build around the main voice CPU HT3250 (unlabelled 40 pin COB) and rhythm CPU "3080" (15 pin COB, HT3080), those do not communicate with each other. Downloaded datasheets reveal that both were made by Holtek.
The rhythm/amp PCB is labelled "CREATOY 4207" (so I consider this the model number), the keys PCB (with melody CPU) is "4207K".

When I found the instrument on a flea market, 2 rhythm buttons of silicone were torn off and some silicone contacts of the keyboard didn't conduct anymore. Though I bought for about 2 EUR a "pocket databank" calculator with many silicone rubber keys to transplant the contacts from its mat to the defective keyboard. =>It is now playable again.
I haven't done other modifications yet, although the 2 independent resistor controlled clock circuits and capacitor controlled envelopes are well suited for modification.

rhythm keyboard matrix

This keyboard matrix of the rhythm CPU is based on the "Holtek HT3080"datasheet example schematics.
 
R1
R2
R3
 
rhythm
CPU pin
in 1
in 2
in 3
in / out
 
R.
march
R.
disco
R.
on/off 
out 1
C1
R.
beguin
R.
tango
tempo
+
out 2
C2
R.
swing
R.
waltz
 
out 3
C3
R.
4-beat
R.
rhumba
tempo
-
out 4
C4

The input lines are active-low, i.e. react on GND. Any functions can be triggered by a non- locking switch in series to a diode from one "in" to one "out" pin.

important: Because pinouts differ among IC variants, I also have marked the keyboard matrix pins by their "C" ("columns" = out pins) and "R" ("rows" = in pins) numbers. These are IC pin names, not capacitors and resistors!

pinout HT3080, HT3081, 3080

The CMOS LSI "Holtek HT3080" (24 pin DIL or COB with 23 die pads) is a rhythm generator  with unique sounding blip percussion that was used in toy keyboards like Creatoy 4207. The "HT3081" is a variant with different rhythm set.

It contains 8 preset rhythms with 16 step tempo control. The rhythms are made from only 2 blip percussion sounds with capacitor envelope. The 'boom' is a plain squarewave drum, and 'cha' is made from shift register feedback noise (sounds "deng!"). Both can sound simultaneously. Rhythm patterns have 12 or 16 steps. The keyboard matrix has 4 outputs and 3 inputs. Additionally the chip supports a 3*3 led matrix out for light effects (each led from a 'C' to an 'R' pin with optional serial resistor), those likely can be used for other things.

This pinout is based on the datasheet of Holtek HT3080/HT3081 "8 Demo Rhythm Generator" of 1996-06-25.

caution: The pinout of the COB module "3080" (15 pins) in the actual Creatoy keyboard differs and was rather concluded by me from photos than actually measured (since it has no unused pins), so it may be wrong.
 
DIL
pin		 "3080"
pin		 die pad name purpose
1 1 22 VDD supply voltage +2.4..5V
2 2 23 CHA-OUT "cha" audio out
3 3 1 CHA-ENV "cha" envelope (1uF parallel 43k to VDD)
    2 TEST2 test pin
4     NC -
5     NC -
6 4 3 VSS ground 0V
7   4 RA led matrix row out
8   5 RB led matrix row out
9   6 RC led matrix row out
10   7 CA led matrix common out
11   8 CB led matrix common out
12   9 CC led matrix common out
13 5 10 C1 keyboard matrix out
14 6 11 C2 keyboard matrix out
15 7 12 C3 keyboard matrix out
16 8 13 C4 keyboard matrix out
17 9 14 R1 keyboard matrix in
18 10 15 R2 keyboard matrix in
19 11 16 R3 keyboard matrix in
20 12 17 OSC1 oscillator in (300k against OSC2)
21 13 18 OSC2 oscillator out
22 14 19 BOOM-ENV "boom" envelope (1uF parallel 100k to VDD)
23 15 20 BOOM-OUT "boom" audio out
24   21 TEST1 test pin

The rhythm set of HT3080 is {march, beguine, swing, 4-beat, disco, tango, waltz, rhumba}; that of HT3081 is {march, rock, rhumba, swing, tango, 16-beat, ballad, waltz}.

pinout HT3250, HT3250B

The CMOS LSI "Holtek HT3250" (40 pin DIL or COB) is a simple monophonic squarewave toy keyboard CPU with 15 demos. The "HT3250B" is a variant with vibrato and step play.

It supports only 25 keys and 2 preset sounds {piano, organ} (selected by locking switch) made from plain squarewave with capacitor envelope. By lack of a keyboard matrix it permits nicely fast play and supports independent attack and decay control and so is not as useless as it looks like.

This pinout (with component values) is based on the datasheet of Holtek HT3250 "25 Key Piano/Organ with 15 Melodies" of 1996-06-28. The Creatoy keyboard COB has its 40 pins in the same order.
 
DIL pin die pad name purpose
1 5 /KEY4 note key in
2 6 /KEY5 note key in
3 7 /KEY6 note key in
4 8 /KEY7 note key in
5 9 /KEY8 note key in
6 10 /KEY9 note key in
7 11 /KEY10 note key in
8 12 /KEY11 note key in
9 13 /KEY12 note key in
10 14 /KEY13 note key in
11 15 /KEY14 note key in
12 16 /KEY15 note key in
13 17 /KEY16 note key in
14 18 /KEY17 note key in
15 19 /KEY18 note key in
16 20 /KEY19 note key in
17 21 /KEY20 note key in
18 22 /KEY21 note key in
19 23 /KEY22 note key in
20 24 /KEY23 note key in
DIL pin die pad name purpose
21 25 /KEY24 note key in
22 26 /KEY25 note key in
23 27 T2 test pin (I/O)
24 28 T4 test pin (I/O)
25 29 MODE play /demo switch in | HT3250B: lo=step play, hi=demo, open=play 
26 30 TEST|ENVIB test pin (in) | HT3250B: vibrato toggle in
27 31 P/O piano /organ switch in
28 32 VDD supply voltage +2.4..5V
29 33 DENV|VIBOUT organ attack envelope  (10k to PENV)  | HT3250B: vibrato out (1M to OSC2)
30 34 CENV organ release envelope (10k to PENV)
31 35 PENV piano envelope (4.7uF parallel 100k to VDD)
32 36 OUT audio out
33 37 T1 test pin (I/O)
34 38 T3 test pin (I/O)
35 39 OSC2 oscillator out
36 40 OSC1 oscillator in 125kHz (resistor 180k to OSC2) | HT3250B: 180kHz (resistor 91k)
37 1 VSS ground 0V
38 2 /KEY1 note key in
39 3 /KEY2 note key in
40 4 /KEY3 note key in
 

In "melody" mode the white keys start each a short monophonic demo in 'piano' sound without rhythm. Because the rhythm CPU does not communicate with the main CPU, rhythm can be manually started, but will run out of sync and ignore what the demos do. I identified them through the Holtek HT3250 datasheet.

The demos are:

  1. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
  2. Mary Had a Little Lamb
  3. Happy Birthday
  4. Row, Row, Row your Boat
  5. London Bridge Is Falling Down
  6. Thumb Kin (="Brother John")
  7. My Darling Clementine
  8. Swanee River (="Old Folks at Home")
  9. OH! Susanna
  10. My Bonnie (is Over the Ocean)
  11. This Old Man
  12. Billy Boy
  13. Eensy Weensy Spider (="Itsy Bitsy Spider")
  14. Cradle Song (="Guten Abend, Gute Nacht")
  15. I'm so Happy [theme from "Grobda" arcade game]
Likely a white oval variant of this keyboard was released as StarMate Palette (same rhythm names, decal showing a paintbrush, seen on eBay). A similar one was the Musical Elephant Keyboard (only 4 rhythms, seen on YouTube). Another variant was the poorly working toy keytar Intersound - Guitar Star - Rhythm Guitar MT-7112.
 
 removal of these screws voids warranty...    
WarrantyVoid
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