Casio RZ-1 The sweetest 8 bit sampler and drum machine
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- The Casio RZ-1 drum machine from the mid 80s was soon forgotten, but today I revive it and take a look at the very smooth internal groove, its 8 bit sampling capability and how it sounds together with some synths.
If you're interested in the midi sysex capability and some of the sounds I use in the tutorial, check out this site:
r-massive.cella...
The 80’s were too advanced for us
Amazing! Loved the Jx 8p sounds! I just got the Super JX 10 a week ago, and I absolutely love it!!! It sounds soooooooo phat and has some of those good old sounding 80’s patches!!
Thanks Alexander! The SUper JX is great, I used one for many years live, Too big for me now, but the 8P will suffice. It's only the pad sound that is the 8P in the video though.
As I'm Japanese, I had one unit just after Casio released it in 80s. That sampling function was amazing to not rich teanager because their competitor were very expensive. Some weak point of this machine is Kick Drum sound (not good), No pitch changeable intruments, very short sampling time of cymbal and open hi hat. Thank you for making this video. It reminds me of my teanager hood..
Thanks! :)
I used to have a Casio RZ-1 too, I agree the kick is not that good, but if I remember correctly, there is a knob on the back that is like a filter and this can improve the kick sound :-)
There's nothing to complain about the kick drum. It was, what it was. Distinctive Casio. It was the same drum sounds on my CZ-230S that I had in 1986. It's a tight kick and you can always use a different machine for a different kick.
@@CGWS2011 if this was the only drum machine I could afford I’d also complain about the kick drum, specially when all peers be using an 808!
@@dxtrs_mnpltr If you want to sound like everyone else, no problem. Get the 808. You can also do it differently like Schlammpeitziger for example. As Casio as it can get. ua-cam.com/video/vxYt4xzxsXA/v-deo.html
I bought mine new in the 80’s and still have it! I Pretty much mastered it, programming well over 100 progressive songs. Listen to one of the early songs I programmed, the Link is below, it tells all! I played everything except for flute played by my incredible band mate Arnold Austria.
By the way, the tambourine is one of the samples I put in it. All the other drum sounds are stock in the RZ-1. And yes I know L/R outs are swapped. 😬
cdn.bandmix.com/bandmix_us/media/103/103212/557733.mp3
(Using Superconductor on an Atari 1040ST, DX7 & S50, Fender Strat, flute)
When you transfer a song from the RZ-1 to your DAW, “Don’t forget to set the RZ-1 to be clocked from your DAW!!!!” I painstakingly programmed “3rd Empression” by ELP and forgot to do that! The song took more than 99 patterns, near 300, so I had to uploaded it in 3 big chunks, loosing the original timing because I forgot to turn off the master clock. 😡 (I did that once)
(I played 3rd Emp for years in bands, only reason I programmed it.)
this is rad
Its very Lindrum-ish sounding to me, most drum machines were in the mid 80s I guess. I wonder if they actually sampled the Linndrum (or LM1)?
They didn't have to. All the Linn drum sounds, in binary form, were out in the open. Anyone could use them if they wanted. And they did too. All of them.
I totally forgot I had one of these bought new in the late '80s. Nice!
Just grabbed on of these for $40. Excited to learn it.
I wanted one of these so bad! LOL! I battled a dude back in like 86 on my little TR 505. I hated the 505 until that day when I heard it coming through the 4 foot bass cabs with 15” Cerwin Vega’s reverberating in a YMCA gym. Still kinda want one of these. LOL
the synth at the end sound like every my bloody valentine song
Sampling at that fidelity is super cool. Fizzy and crunchy - sounds ace!
Another great upload Espen.
Thanks Alex! Crunch is good :P
Espen Kraft Had a go on a Linn LM-1 the other day. Crunch to the max! Love that sound.
Great machine!
I picked one of these up in the late 90's for about $50. Everything worked great. Had no idea what was in my possession and traded it of for an sr16. Should've kept it 😝. Live and learn.
@Oleh Hults It sounds like you have the right idea for what you're looking for. The Casio is more of a quirky 80's piece you later regret selling for $50. More fun, collectable, and lo-fi. But for studio-type 80's drum sounds, the Alesis has the edge (even without the RZ-1's bit of sampling capability).
It's pretty close to the Yamaha RX8 actually, with its individual outputs and faders.
fyi, custom firmware for rz1 that allows the metronome to be switched off and also allows pattern change while playing. i will try this in my rz-1 soon.
r-massive.cellarseer.com/casio-rz-1-custom-firmware/
At one point back then, Casio seemed to have some musicians helping design their products.
I see you finally got the RZ-1. :) I think it's definitely one of the most underappreciated drum machines.
It's a great machine.
I remember when they were brand new. Great deal for the price (as nearly everything else from the brand), but unfortunately most people wouldn't take them seriously just because they had the word CASIO on them.
Yeah. So unfair as the CZ-series of synths are still awesome and I also loved the samplers Casio produced in the 80s.
Shame, as Casio did make some VERY capable synths - I preferred the PD synthesis on Casio than the FM method as favoured by Yamaha.
@@parasiteunit PD synthesis was severely underrated.
Prince Paul recorded all of De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising with one of these
Casio started and the cosby show started many careers
So all the drum sounds on 3 feet high and rising was done with this drum machine ?
@@Bigjuggs64 the sampled loops were initially demoed on it, Paul and de la took it to the studio and eventually layered over
"We made the whole of 3 Feet High and Rising for $13,000, using just a Casio RZ-1 drum machine/sampler and another gadget called an Eventide harmonizer, which allowed us to match songs that had totally different pitches-we could put Daryl Hall's voice over a Sly & the Family Stone record. It was amazing." - Prince Paul
I still have this drum machine and I use it. ;-)
It's good to hear the RZ-1 again. It's been well over 30 years since I owned my RZ-1 along with a Casio CZ5000, which had the 8-track onboard sequencer. It was 8-note polyphonic but I had some fun with it. I wrote about 10 songs with both but I had a difficult time getting the RZ-1 to sync to my synths. I've long been planning to properly re-do the songs that I composed on it and want to keep the sounds as close to authentic as possible. Not sure if I want to look for a used RZ-1 online and then just find synth sounds that are close to what I was using before or go another route. Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated. Again, great work. I love watching your videos and subscribed to your channel.
Thanks! What's your best bet is hard for me to advice on, it depends on budget, if you want old stuff, new or a combi. So much to choose from.
Sampling 8:28
パラアウトして、イコライザーで中域を足すと｢たぶん幸宏さんが叩いたオリジナルの音｣なんだろうなぁ……なんて思いながら、今でも現役で使ってます。
Para-out and add the midrange with the equalizer, "Maybe the original hit by Yukihiro-san.
I wonder what it is "sound" ...
While thinking, I'm still active
I'm using it.
These are the same drum sounds found on the rhythm section of my Casio CZ230S
By the way, I really liked the chord progressions and the basslines in your demo! Everything was great!
This was used to make 3 feet high and rising I think.
Try and get your hands on a Korg DDD-1 if you haven’t already, it’s an amazing machine and has lots of really amazing features
Yes, the DDD-1 is great.
Your channel is easily becoming one of my favorites. I love the reviews. I love watching how you build a song with hardware. And it's all about that glorious 80's synth sound. Bravo.
I appreciate it Daniel! I have no plans to stop either.. :) Thanks!
That's music to our ears Espen! xoxo
I agree. I enjoy it as well. Keep up the great work. :)
design wise it's a bit like the yamaha rx5 for 'looks', i tried one out at home in the 80's but preferred the rx5
Both great yeah.
Testament to the fact that even with lesser known or loved equipment, you can produce nice sounds!
Exactly! There's so much forgotten gvinrage gear that nakes glorious sounds imo.
Love this! Those 8-bit samples, yum! I just reviewed a bunch of 80s drum machines on my channel and I don't have this one in my collection, so thanks for making this video so I can enjoy it here... cause I am out of space, ha ha.
Cool man! Just checked out your channel and that video in particular (haven't seen through it all though) and see you have the TOM. I'm releasing a video on the TOM this friday, a pretty long one too where I show some of its capabilties, or SOME of its capabilities. It has so much to offer and is easily one of MY favorite drum machines. Check out one of my latest teasers for the Dr.Böhm drum machine from Germany, releaased in 1983, heard on among other Falcos first album.
Anyways, the RZ-1 is a fun thing and those 4 sample pads make all the difference in the world to that imo, so cool sound in it.
Oh yeah, Sequential TOM is such a neat drum machine. The MIDI implementation is outrageous, especially for the time. But the “human” function is so weird, pitch modulations but no swing timing. What were the programmers on? I can’t wait to see your video for it! Exfade is supposed to make me one of his multi-bank cartridges, looking forward to using this soon. kogz234.com/exfade/sci-tom-carts/
Yeah, I have a Exfade cartridge with 4 Eproms inside. Great stuff. I go trough the Human Factor only briefly as neither swing or other "humanize" features is of any real interest to me. I mostly use drum machines to get that, well, machine-like feel to my drums. Otherwise I use my samplers if I want more swing or something. It's a great drum machine though and it can do so much.
Used to have one of these. Sampled some killer saturated 606 sounds. Back then I was low on gear and low on money so I sold it.
I've found one for waaaay cheaper than it goes for but it's still too high considering I now own a synth studio's worth of gear, most of which has only ever been played to test functionality. Including about 20 or so drum machines, manufactured as long ago as 1969 (by Olsen) to a Roland TR8s.
Still, sweet bit if gear, but still can't see me paying over about $100 to $150 and the price gougers out there don't seem to understand what the terms "supply" and "demand" mean.
But, really great song at the end
Cheers!
The drum sounds on the Casio RZ-1 preset were played by the recently deceased Yukihiro Takahashi.
Making your own SysEx kits with custom sounds has been made much more user friendly, and more kits have been added (for those only into plug 'n' play).
zine.r-massive.com/casio-rz-1-midi-sysex/#utilities
And the Casio RZ-1 custom firmware also has OLED support now, if you want to ditch that old display.
zine.r-massive.com/casio-rz-1-custom-firmware/
This Drum machine is fantastic!
Sounds like same drum machine used by Rock Master Scott and the Dynamic 3 for Request Line and The roof is on fire. I saw that drum machine brand new on the showroom floor in 1987 but I didn't get it because it lacked the amount of sampling time I needed or editing functions I desired.
I hear some early prince in that mix.
8 Bit rules !! :-)
The track at the end...veeeeery nice! :-)
Thanks!
Espen, I have noticed in your recordings, that the drums that you record, when the song is ready, have a very nice punch, I remember the Proteus 1XR video, where it seems that the sound is very different from the original with more expressivity and clear... what kind of thing do you use? Mastering, compressor? Plugins? Can you give a tip?
I can't give you 30 years of mixing experience in a one-line reply. ;-)
I offer sound/mixing/producing consultancy as part of my services. Apart from that my advice, tips and tricks are scattered around in my 400 videos. Cheers
for Mac users Sysex Librarian works really well and sends over the sysex data quickly. So far I guess you still need to use the other tools to make a custom patch.
Man I used to have one of these but I sold it 9/10 years back, but I kept my Alesis HR16 though...
I've sold mine on as well, but I keep the HR-16.... ;-)
Wonderful little track at the end. Did this demo ever get a name or release?
Thanks! No, just a little something I made for this. ;-)
Reminds me bit of Turrican, Chris Huelsbeck or what he is called, a true LEGEND for me :)
I have an RZ-1 and I gotta say your video is excellent !!! is by far the best RZ-1 video I have come across in You tube . You have explained everything exactly as it is.!!! Thank you for including the MiDI dump transfer tutorial. after so many years of having my RZ-1 I was not aware I could do that. The RZ-1 is an excellent Drum machine for Techno.
I'm very happy you liked it! :) Thanks :)
Thank you. I was trying to say my point before here, but my english is a bit "flat" :) I try again. My special Thank You for your videos, because, i will never have all those hardware of "music of my life", and, to be honest to myself, maybe don't even need them - i am more technician, very little musician. Point is - your videos are almost like i have all those cool classic gears. Well i can not push anything. But you do that for me and better than me :)))
Thanks Juris! If my videos make you feel you're part of a journey with these old machines I'm very happy! :)
If only i could get my hands on one of these. I want a PCM old skool drum machine added to my rig.
Entertaining! I want to do this so badly
I see this on reverb for $400! The inflated price is possibly due to this excellent video :) Looks incredibly fun, although I can not see any reason to pay more than $150
I have one of these from back in the day. I should plug it in and see if it still works!
I love the sounds...altogether they make good team for your italo song...good dynamic and proportion !!...keep up your good work !!
Thanks Marius! :)
Espen Kraft Always...a pleasure !
I know this is very late in the game, but I'm looking at getting one of these now. I thought the lack of live pattern switching was a buzzkill fot me... but turns out there's a custom firmware EPROM that allows you to change patterns live! Among other mods, however that's the only "non-invasive" one that fits with your original 80s aesthetic. :)
It's true, you can update this now to switch patterns while it's playing. If I still had mine I would get that. ;-)
Thanks for the inspiration working through the process, even if in my case it's just a reminder to dig more into "BeatMaker" on my iPad: Get interesting sounds, trim WAVs, transfer to machine/app, build patterns/"scenes", string them together.
I still need to come to grips with BM3's "scene" feature, rather than just using 4 bars repeated for 3 minutes :-)
Nice retro tune. Gives me kind of a "Ferris Bueller" feel, even if I can't put my finger on why.
Thanks man! I didn't think of Ferris writing the theme, but I love that movie! :)
Awesome video. Can you do an in depth tutorial video on the Roland MC50? I bought one a few months ago and still cant quite figure it out.
Thanks! I have no plans to do more videos on the MC50 than the one I have already, I do show all the basics in that. Check that out. The rest is in the manual. :)
I have this drum machine, I have Korg Dw8000 and Yamaha Tx81z also. ;-)
Great video! Thinking of picking one of these up for myself. Anyone know where to get those awesome samples shown at the end of the video?
Great video Espen! I see an E-MU Sp-12 Turbo in your not to distant future. The sound is fabulous.
Thanks! The SP-12 is way more expensive than it's worth. To me. Since I have the Emaxes I use those for that sound, although it's not quite the same I admit.
Awesome, thanks for another excellent video Espen! I am a total 80s drum machine fanatic - they each had their own unique personality, when it came to their built-in samples - but I had never really given this one the time of day. Nice to see it in depth! As of late I've been REALLY into the sound of Casio's CZ line of synths - am in the process of producing a tune with just CZ sounds, actually - but, again, I never paid much attention to their drum machines/samplers. Thanks again, my friend!
Thank you Ethan! I love drum machines myself and this is one of the forgotten ones that deserves some recognition I think. O look forward to hearing your CZ song! I have great love for Casios 80s lineup and the 101 should reach me soon I hope. I have even more love for their samplers of that era. I just love old samplers and find them much more interesting than synths really.
My pleasure Espen, truly appreciate you bringing this machine to my attention! That is very cool to hear that a CZ-101 may be in your future! (I have been using UVI's great Cameo library, as well as the equally awesome Virtual CZ from Plugin Boutique.) Such a unique sound, that can border on plastic/toy-like, but can also be super funky. I would love to learn more about samplers from the mid-80s forward, it's a world I haven't explored too deeply. Kurzweil's stuff always interested me... In any case, keep on rocking, my friend!!
Thanks buddy! I'll let you know when and if the 101 enters my collection. It has to be the hardware for me of course, as you know :)
Of course! And a very cool, and portable, piece of hardware it appears to be. :-) Take care, my friend!
Great👍👍Thank you for sharing. Greetings Matthias 🎹🎵🎶🎵🎹
Thanks Matthias! :)
OK!Ilike this!
Sounds good! Sampling specs may be limited, but it allows you to get your drum sounds (or other short one shots) nice and crunchy, which is one of the big appeals with something like it. And the MIDI dump stuff is nice, too. Some of the stock sounds aren't bad, either; that kick sounded pretty alright to me
Edit: the coke can sounded cool sampled into the RZ-1, too. As someone into industrial genres, I approve, heh; using found sounds is neat
It's a great little machine. I'm not into industrial at all, but I can see your point in that regard. I should have sampled opening the can using the whole 0.8 to get more of the decay, but YOU can do it! :)
Crazy money now
Был такой в 89-м... ээх молодость лихая
I owned one years ago, I used the sample section to add two kicks and two snares I created myself on a pro 1 as I found the on board sounds a bit boring . Another draw back was the lack of tuning
$635 USD today on eBay. 😳
Really? That's a lot of money. I hope no one pays out that much for one.
@@EspenKraft I'm not sure. Getting interested in drum programmers because of you. I have a RX-15 in my rack but I want more. I have lots of samples. The Yamaha is nice because I can just change the track. It's good for jamming live. 😷🇨🇦
@@EspenKraft I found an old guy selling this with The Korg KR55. He’s asking for a little more than $100 for both. Does that sound like a steal to you?
the stock casio drums sounds sound so bad. they are the same as in the cheap 10$ casio keyboards (SA-10 etc) the 8bits gritty sampler feature is cool though!
I like them, the internal ones. Then again, I like all those old Casios as well. :)
It doesn't sound 8 bit it sounds like a amiga 16 bit cracktro or konami arcade music but it's lit
We all hear things differently :)
Very interesting review, I’m a fan of Casio synths but never really looked at this drum machine. Not long ago could have bought one now I’m regretting I passed it up! (P.s as a speaker of English-English I just kept wishing you’d called it “the R Zed one!:) ha! Thanks Keep up the reviews!
It's a classic american vs english he-he... as a Norwegian I mix and match as I go along. Sorry! :P
ahhh! this chanel is an amazing museum, pure fresh air during pandemia!
Doesn't sound 8 bit to me,but it's really cool.
It is. ;-)
@@EspenKraft 0:02-0:05 are these claps?
I canot whach more because i whant buy more sints 🤗👩🏼🚀
Wish o had never sold mine, didnt even know at the time it was a sampling drum machine..doh!
I have had mine since mid 80s. Didn't know about the sample transfer.
Can any short sample be added? eg from WAV etc or does it need to have come from the RZ-1 in the first place?
Great track btw!
Thanks! If you check out the link in the description you will see that there is a utility that can convert any Wav to the properties for transfer to the RZ-1. Works very well! :)
So wish i kept this and my FZ1..
RETRO AS.
the drums sound just like the ones built into Casio DG midi guitars
I assume Casio recirculated many of the sounds in the mid 80s, though I can't remember the sounds of that series DG midi guitars.
Yeah! Casio CZ 230s has the same drum PCM sounds of the RZ-1, but it's not possible to edit patterns, unfortunately.
Yes, I remember that one. Almost had it here a couple of months ago.
Haha that crash cymbal sounds like solid gold compared to those toms!
Perfection :)
I have one of these I'd be happy to sell, no use for it
Very informative and clear Espen, thanks!
Thanks Andrew! :)
Thanks for the great tutorial! Curious to know:
1. With transferring Wav files, what format are they? 24? 16?
2. Do they become an RZ1 format (8bit crunchy) once transferred into RZ or do they retain the same original sound?
What a great machine to have to be the brain of rhythm for any music! Even layering kicks and snares could be fun on the sampler! Thx again
No, it works like this: you import a MIDI sysex sample dump file from the RZ-1. This you open in an editor (can be Audacity) and you can then edit this file by pasting in another Wav-file you want to use, and delete that you imported first. THEN you must save that new file and it has to be in this format; 20,833 Hz signed 8-bit. And sysexed back to the RZ-1. This is all explained if the files I link to in the description.
It's a very cumbersome process, but then again, Casio never meant for this to be something the consumer should do as it is not mentioned in the manual at all. The sysex dump in/out is totally omitted from the manual.
What are some songs that use RZ-1 machine?
My first favourite!
Hi, can you use the ISLA S2400, to sample the RZ-1 sounds and sell them to me, as WAV files? Thanks for the video!
I don't use the S2400 for sampling. Cheers
Hey Espen, very nice (and informative..) video as always...IDK why, but when i hear about the casio RZ-1, another one drum machine comes to my mind also, the KAWAI R-100. Maybe because they look alike, but i think that it's more because they are very underrated...
I like the track too.(With a D-550 doing the bass, one rare occasion as almost always it's used on pads-strings sounds, and some people say it can't make good basses, which i know it's fault, well anyway...).
Keep it up Espen, the world needs people like you..
Thanks Patrick! The Kawai R-100 is also long forgotten but it's great as well! Not up the the RZ-1 in my opinion, bit still great.
The D-50 is simply excellent on bass, IF you know how to program it, which very few people seem to be, or they don't bother learning it. I've always used it for bass. And many other sounds of course. I always turn of the PCM bits and use it's "analog" waveforms only.
Yeah my friend, (for the D-50), i know, and i also program it on str 1(or 2..). This is where it shines..Kinda the first virtual analogue, before this even exists..
Too bad you can’t change pattern on the fly, otherwise a great drummachine. ✨😍👍
Yes, that's a real bummer!
There's new firmware about to be released which enables this among many other features. For real: forum.vintagesynth.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=103963
Interesting!
Espen Kraft you probably have to test this firmware and see if it works, then make a new video about it ✨😍👍
I'll await the final release confirmed to work before I test this out..
I would really love to have this machine. Great video.
Thanks Warius! :)
In gaikoku (as I m gaijin) sampling was available way before any japanese manufacturers picked it up, except Casio and Yamaha on their toy samplers. Roland, Korg and pro products in Japan were late to the sampling party
Never heard of it before. Nice fun machine.
I have one! Funny guy😄
I had one of these for years. I have to say, I found it absolutely rubbish. The onboard sounds are terrible, they are like the Casio MT 520 home keyboard. The sample memory is so small. You can have about 1.5 seconds as a long sample or about 1/4 a second if you use all 4 sample pads. This isn't even long enough to get a full loop sampled unless its a D&B fill at 170 BPM. You can't tune the sounds or edit the samples (unless you use the awful 'tone' control on the back). The only saving grace is I used the individual outputs as trigger outs into an old Analogue Simmons drum rack which allowed me to sequence it through midi from my DAW. I sold my RZ-1 for about £50 a few years back which I thought was daylight robbery to the guy who bought it. It's rubbish and certainly NOT worth the hundreds of £££ they are fetching today.
The market decides what it's worth, the trur essence of capitalism, but apart from that I find the sounds glorious and the drum machine itself more "alive" than many other drum machines from the era and definitely more fun than mose modern ones. ;-)
@@EspenKraft Fair enough Espen. Each to his own. Mine used to belong to Cathy Dennis, I believe she didn't like it either. Thanks for your channel, I enjoy your videos & love 80's synth pop. All the very best
This song rips!
Hey Espen, if you could recommend one analog synth for that ultimate 80's sound, what would it be?
Sure, that is very easy. If I was to take only one 80s synth with me it would be the Roland JX-8P because for ME that's the ultimate 80s synth for the 80s nostalgia and the sound I most associate with the 80s.
Thank you very much! I'm new to "synthwave" and I'm just learning the basics. After I heard your music, I thought to myself "Oh shit, this guy will know what's good". Thanks!
How about a video on the seiko mr-1000 sequencer.
Yes, I'd like that. I don't have one though.
Do you happen to still have the sounds you used in the video? Sadly the site in the description is long gone.
No.
Ha ha, I still have this in my garage
love that kick & click sound! Nice
Cheers!
Nice machine, great demo , Nice track and playing
Thanks! :)
I would figure there is no velocity on them pads? Still sounds good but very drum machine or robotic. That was the sound of that era. Nice work.
Thanks! The pads themselves has no velocity, but the RZ-1 receives velocity over midi if you want to play the sounds from a keyboard.
Very Awesome Demonstration! Thank You!
I usually use the Roland drum machines. I did try to work with a Yamaha RX5 drum machine once, but I couldn't figure it out. I like the way the 707/727 work, but I prefer the 808 sound. I always dread programming the 808, but I love the sound so that makes up for the hardship. I'm starting to like the Casio RZ-1 sounds. Keep up the great work. I'm always looking forward toward your next video. :) Sam.
Thanks a million Sam! Some gear we connect with and some we don't. I never had a sliver of love for the TR-909 so I sold mine. The drums on was never my thing at the time. The RZ here, soooo much cheaper is actually more useful to me. We're all at a certain place in time when it comes to gear. :)
Yamaha seems to complicate their OS in many of their products yeah.
have u seen the firmware upgrade solves many problems, just got one for cheap! Looking forward to it, they have been selling for 300-500usd on reverb which is crazy
Yes, I know of the upgrade. If I still had mine I'd get it. Cheers.
Sheer poetry...