KVR Audio

beely · Post by **beely** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 12:21 am

Also, I prefer a slightly more contrasty GUI, as I find it a little bit washed out for my preferences.

Just had a quick mod of the demo:-

(I keep tinkering a bit with the highlight colours in a non-destructive way, so they may change...)

Hope Oli doesn't mind me posting this...

BlackWinny · Post by **BlackWinny** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 12:44 am

beely wrote:Also, I prefer a slightly more contrasty GUI, as I find it a little bit washed out for my preferences.

Just had a quick mod of the demo:-

(I keep tinkering a bit with the highlight colours in a non-destructive way, so they may change...)

Hope Oli doesn't mind me posting this...

In fact I would add that even with that picture we have many difficult to see at a glance where exactly are the buttons (at what level in the curse) on the sliders.

The same for the rotating knobs. It's difficult to see at a glance their exact positions in their curses.

All that needs much more contrast, yes.

beely · Post by **beely** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 12:56 am

BlackWinny wrote:In fact I would add that even with that picture we have many difficult to see at a glance where exactly are the buttons (at what level in the curse) on the sliders.

The same for the rotating knobs. It's difficult to see at a glance their exact positions in their curses.

I agree that the whole envelope UI is... not my preferred solution, bot visually and in terms of usability (although to be fair I need to spend some time with it and get used to it a bit more before making judgements). I was just having a look at toning the visual clutter down a bit here, as least reducing the contrast of the slider position markings...

Coupled with Casio's rate/level system, so you instinctively want to rotate the rate knob *left* to bring the rate down (faster, envelope moves left) but of course it's backwards, as a faster rate (to the right) speeds up (shortens) the envelope display. On the actual synths, it's less of a problem because you have no visual envelope anyway, you have to visualise it in your head, but with knobs it just feels (at least initially) a bit weird to use. Probably something you'll get used to.

I would have preferred instead some nice big modern graphic envelopes a la Curve/Serum etc (this can be challenging due to the complexity of the CZ's 8-stage envelopes but it's not an insurmountable problem).

Maybe for future versions somewhere down the road...

dumbledog · Post by **dumbledog** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 1:10 am

Has anyone been able to successfully register the AU on a Mac? The standalone app doesn't allow pasting (just beeps at me and there's no Edit menu), and pasting when it's an instrument in Logic does nothing.

hibrasil · Post by **hibrasil** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 1:19 am

hey... sorry to hear you are having trouble registering it. Please let me know the email you registered with and i'll sort it out asap later today ( contact at olilarkin.co.uk ) . got to have a sleep first though!

edit -> just to check you installed the full version not the demo version? they're different builds. Also you paste by clicking in the box. Some hosts block Apple-V, hence the click to paste. Hope that helps.

dumbledog · Post by **dumbledog** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 2:31 am

hibrasil wrote:just to check you installed the full version not the demo version?

That's probably it. Too used to the "demo is just the full version that hasn't been registered yet" paradigm I guess. Unfortunately PluginBoutique only lets me download at 25KB/s so it'll be a while before I can try it out. Thanks much and sorry for the trouble!

Andywanders · Post by **Andywanders** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 6:41 am

Numanoid wrote:
Andywanders wrote:Yeah sure
So sysex not working ?

Hope Massey can share some of the patches 808 used
808 STATE: EQUIPMENT
...
Casio CZ1000 Casio MIDI Guitar Casio MIDI Horn

http://www.808state.com/various/intervi ... ticle.html

My eyes-roll was directed at Plugin Boutique's marketing - definitely not at the synth.

I had an endorsement deal with Casio back in the 80s and used all their 'pro' synths - CZ1, VZ1 & FZ samplers. They were a great company to deal with and I felt sad when they stopped producing pro synths. I remember Dave Clancey from Casio, London, telling me they had a hard time getting the pro musicians to take them seriously. Shortly thereafter, they dropped the pro keyboards line. Shame.

I haven't tried Oli's recreation yet, but the demos do sound bloody good and I am tempted. Unfortunately I find myself strapped for cash right now and with a family to take care of and christmas around the corner, new plugins are gonna have to wait.

@ Oli: Congrtulations on the new release and the best of luck to you.

Cheers, Andy

BlackWinny · Post by **BlackWinny** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:18 pm

Some useful resources to investigate and make a huge collection of CZ sysex:

Other files less useful are in the tree itself:

http://www.synthzone.com/midi/casio/

Now, a list of websites related to the CZ series:

http://www.synthzone.com/casio.htm

And few months ago I had uploaded a zip file containing the manuals of the CZ series synths (they all contain chapters with patches) and several manuals to learn how to use in depth the Phase Distortion synthesis and how to create awesome patches using all the tips and tricks possible provided by the CZ synths. I had uploaded it here:

Casio Phase Distortion Manuals and books to program patches.zip (94.39 Mb)

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:49 pm

Have Plugin Botique been so overwhelmed with interest in VirtualCZ, that their server has conked?

I get a page not found error when I try to get in there now

beely · Post by **beely** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:51 pm

Yeah, their site is down currently...

BlackWinny · Post by **BlackWinny** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 5:18 pm

It's the cost of the celebrity

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 5:26 pm

I wonder if this will get ported as a Rack Extension?

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 5:32 pm

There is PX7 at the mo'

https://shop.propellerheads.se/product/ ... nthesizer/

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 5:35 pm

Numanoid wrote:There is PX7 at the mo'

https://shop.propellerheads.se/product/ ... nthesizer/

I was just listening to the PX7 demos lol.

PX7 is a Phase modulation synthesizer not a Phase distortion synth which is sort of what makes the CZ series so famous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_distortion_synthesis

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 5:36 pm

V0RT3X wrote:I was just listening to this, but this is a Phase modulation synthesizer not a Phase distortion synth which is sort of what makes the CZ series so famous.

I was just thinking that it is the closest thing on the Reason platform so far?