EMEAPP SONIC TEST DRIVE: CASIO CZ-101 & CZ-1000 Feat. DON SLEPIAN
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- Опубліковано 18 жов 2024
- Tiny bit mighty, we feel that Casio synths often get overlooked. Not at EMEAPP, we have a soft spot for synths such as these. Here we have the Casio CZ-101, the first in a line of classic, affordable instruments for the working musician. The phase distortion engine of this 80s icon is capable of some fantastic tones and we have electronic music pioneer Don Slepian to demonstrate. As an added bonus, Don includes a demo of his personal Casio CZ-1000!
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I still own this wonderful instrument, in perfect conditions, I still play on it ❤
Cz-101 I mean
The CZ-101 was my first hardware synth. My Amiga 1000's soft synths in 1985 were my first synths however. I bought the CZ-101 months later to use as a MIDI controller for the Amiga soft synths which did sampling and more, but was surprised how great the CZ sounds were.
The CZ-101 was an incredible value. The only negative thing was the small mid size keys are terrible. I upgraded to the CZ-1000 the following year for full size keys.
I purchased an EZ-CZ cartridge which gave me memory for 64 more patches. I eventually bought a 2nd cartridge. There were great sysex sound libraries available which I loaded off the Amiga. The CZ's sound engine was great at mimicking expensive analog synths such as the Moog, Oberheim, ARP, Prophet etc, but the CZ's were not only very affordable but much lighter weight, much more reliable and the ability to grab sounds from other sound designers without having to be your own.
I paired my CZ with a Yamaha FB-01 for FM sounds, and eventually got a DX-7 tabletop (TX-7). The CZ's and DX-7 sound nothing alike as the CZ's sound much more like an analog synth. Both were early MIDI keyboards and with the ability to get 3rd party sounds easily from a computer or buying cartridges, and with no tuning issues.
By the 90s, I had a pair of the top CZ-1's and a pair of CZ-1000's. I used them in my bands and had a setup for home and to take to gigs, and a set at rehearsal. I used them as MIDI controllers also.
I mostly used VST's for my sounds now and have CZ VST's which nail the sounds, but I mostly use VST's of the original instrument sounds the CZ's were trying to duplicate. In the 80s & 90s the CZ's were capable of producing many great analog synth patches other far newer keyboards couldn't do as well. RetroSound's UA-cam channel has a series of comparison videos of the CZ's approximating much more expensive famous expensive unreliable analog synths. Until VST's cloned pretty much every analog synth, the CZ's were one of the best ways for a cover band to approximate those sounds without collecting a bunch of expensive antiques and having to keep up with the maintenance.
Nice!!!
Excellent sounds, and presentation by Don Slepian.
Great demo! Thx.
I never could grasp programming a PD or FM synth. That said some people could. I think the video would be better if you also explored some non-factory sounds. I have an old patch librarian with 1000 sounds that runs on a MacSE. I hope someday to port them over to a modern computer.
It's actually from 84, maybe 85 tops depending on time of introduction in different countries, not the late 80s
True
Nice playing but could you balance the sound of instrument / voice? Thank you!