Casio CZ

[Robmobius]

I tried the Demo... It' has got a great low end and pitch envelopes are very smooth indeedy. I'll probably pick it up...

[V0RT3X]

I can only imagine that this probably screams beautifully when run through a good distortion system.

[Robmobius]

I can only imagine that this probably screams beautifully when run through a good distortion system.

Mmmm... Definitely.

I've been using the SSL Saturater quite a bit recently. it's simple but gives a good old thump to drums and bass.

[Niklashe]

I bought the VirtualCZ Plug-in as soon as it was released! Been waiting for something like this for a long time since I have owned a CZ-1000 since the 80s. Now when I have had time to compare them I can only say that it sounds fine indeed, some sounds are very similar to the original, especially the plucked sounds, brass and string ensemble sounds. So it is a fine start, almost fantastic, but there are still some room for improvements:)

On my CZ-1000, the envelopes are more snappy, faster and you can get some some hard hitting transients. Also the ring modulator needs some attention. There is a roughness in the original thats not quite there yet in the emulation, but its close. Also the sound is a tiny bit thinner which makes for example the violin and the trumpet (from the presets) sound a bit thin and lacks the fullness of the original. The CZ-1000 is fantastic at creating rough, hard synth bases, with some kind of surging bottom that the emulation is lacking, but it still has the right character so I have full faith it will get there in the future.

Still, as I said, some sounds really sounds amazingly convincing.

Nice work, looking forward on how it will develop:)

[V0RT3X]

I can only imagine that this probably screams beautifully when run through a good distortion system.

Mmmm... Definitely.

I've been using the SSL Saturater quite a bit recently. it's simple but gives a good old thump to drums and bass.

Nice I demoed the SSL Duende stuff back when I was using the codemeter protection for my then copy of Reason.

It was nice, i really liked the Channel Strip and Bus Compressor, but I ended up going dongleless. I might have to pick them up in the future.

[ftech]

I tried the Demo... It' has got a great low end and pitch envelopes are very smooth indeedy. I'll probably pick it up...

I demoed and did pick it up!
Sounds wonderful and I was helped in my decision by a little discount for EARekon customers

[breakmixer]

I tried the Demo... It' has got a great low end and pitch envelopes are very smooth indeedy. I'll probably pick it up...

I demoed and did pick it up!
Sounds wonderful and I was helped in my decision by a little discount for EARekon customers

I'm equally happy with my purchase, I A/B'd it using the CZ-101 patches uploaded in this thread, most patches sound identical, some maybe didn't translate as well, but the basic tone is bang on - I may offload my CZ-101 now I have this, was impressed from the off...

[DuX]

Nice that someone finally thought of emulating this absolutely unique synth. It took them a long time to figure it out. I used to own a CZ-1000. I called it "the thing that makes most awkward sounds". Kinda. And that at the time of Commodores and Ataris and Amigas.

[hibrasil]

if anyone is on twitter and knows some good tracks featuring the CZ i'd love to hear about them

https://twitter.com/olilarkin/status/516143425528545280

[BlackWinny]

if anyone is on twitter and knows some good tracks featuring the CZ i'd love to hear about them

https://twitter.com/olilarkin/status/516143425528545280

A famous example: the track 5 of the Jarre's album "Rendez-vous" (the studio version) used these synths:

• Musician Jean-Michel Jarre: Roland JX-8P, Fairlight CMI II, E-mu Emulator II, Geiss Matrisequencer 250, SCI Prophet 5, Casio CZ-5000, ARP-2600
• Musician Michel Geiss: ARP-2600, Geiss Matrisequencer 250
• Musician David Jarre: Korg Baby personnal keyboard

[dumbledog]

Don't think I saw it posted above but the Casio Sound Data Book is available here if you're interested in dialing yourself up some presets. I'm working through it now and finding it pretty instructive.

[beely]

Don't think I saw it posted above but the Casio Sound Data Book is available here if you're interested in dialing yourself up some presets. I'm working through it now and finding it pretty instructive.

Yep - though if you just want the sounds, they are all available in sysex format, as they are all Casio presets (and probably all in the package Oli posted for VCZ above) - but yeah, working through some of the programming in these gets you a fair way into some useful programming features, particularly with the envelopes...

[beely]

It's also worth noting that the CZ range are actually some of the best selling synthesisers ever - most people are fairly aware that the M1, and DX7 take the top prizes for best selling synths with in the ballpark 250,000 and 180,000 units sold, but the CZ-101 alone sold 80,000+ which was pretty amazing...

Back in the day there really wasn't anything that came close for the price of the CZ-101 that was digital, polyphonic, programmable, had MIDI, and was multitimbral... Has anyone ever seen pics of the original "Cosmo Synthesiser", Tomita's prototype PD computer/synthesizer that the CZ range derives from..?

[dumbledog]

I think there's a couple patches in the book that are unique to it, but not all. Jazz Organ in particular doesn't seem to be one of the presets (though IMO the CZ-1 organs are better anyway).

[bftucker]

Back in the day there really wasn't anything that came close for the price of the CZ-101 that was digital, polyphonic, programmable, had MIDI, and was multitimbral... Has anyone ever seen pics of the original "Cosmo Synthesiser", Tomita's prototype PD computer/synthesizer that the CZ range derives from..?

From http://www.isaotomita.net/technology.html



Tomita in 1992, with the Casio Cosmo numeric keyboard on his lap,
a Fairlight CMI series 1 screen to the right, and a rare Korg MS-50
[68k JPEG] on top of a Synclavier II screen behind him.

There you go.