Casio CZ Series Programming (CZ-101, CZ-1, CZ-1000, CZ-3000, CZ-5000)

Published on Dec 3, 2012 SciFiFunk·98 videos

"How to program the Casio CZ-101, CZ-1, CZ-5000 etc. The series starts with a demo where I am changing parameters of a patch in real time. Please like http://www.facebook.com/scififunk for updates.

The Casio CZ series whilst totally digital has many similarities with traditional analogue synthesis. Indeed the Names of the elements may have changed (DCO, CDW, DCA etc) but essentially It correlates to the VCO,VCF,VCA on an analogue series.

The Casio CZ-101. CZ-1 etc uses 8 basic waveforms which can be "phase distorted" i.e. pulled about a bit to make new sounds. Indeed as they have two oscillators AND the ability to stack voices, you can also think of this as an additive/subtractive synthesizer hybrid."

Part 2: "The Casio CZ-1 has after touch, a built in chorus (which works well with brass and strings). You can also use the Line button to apply phasing and other doubled effects.

Portamento and glide are included as part of the synth. Both are very programmable. I discuss the differences in memory between the CZ-101 and CZ-1.

I look at various sound synthesis handbooks from the series (the CZ-101 is the best one with the most colour), plus magazines from the era that review the machines.

Finally I show the performance elements - solo, bend range and vibrato and octave."

Part 3: "I change combinations of waveforms on both DCOs, and how they interact with Line select. Looking at the 8 stage envelopes we see that you get envelopes for each DCO (pitch), DCW (filter) and DCA (amplitude).

The key stages in the envelopes are the sustain and release, everything revolves around them. Note that these envelopes are better than the traditional ADSR envelopes."

Part 4: "A resonance filled sound is achieved by upping the filter on the DCW on wavefroms 6 to 8, and on a square wave upping the filter gives a lovely solo synth sound.

I go on to look at key follow and the effect it has on the sound (over the range of the keyboard). The CZ-1 can name it's sounds, which was pretty good for 1985/86.

Velocity on the CZ-1 applies velocity sensitivity to the keys - the higher the setting the less velocity applied to the keys changes the sound. So a low setting means all your wonderful playing nuances can be captured during a performance."