The real story behind the mysterious ‘sleng teng’ riddim. By James Trew— , Looking at the Casio Casiotone MT40, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was an unremarkable keyboard. You may even have owned one just like it. Launched in 1981, the cream machine came with 37 keys, 22 different instrument sounds, six onboard rhythms and a dedicated mini bass keyboard. It cost around $150 or, adjusting for inflation, about $400 if it were on sale today. Beneath that beige plastic, however, the MT40 hid a secret. A “rock” preset that, once discovered, would reverberate in popular music for the next 30 years. The preset would become one of reggae’s most famous “riddims,” inspire many imitations and force the genre into the digital age. The story of the “sleng teng” riddim (as it is … Read entire article »