Casio CZ/ VZ/ FZ - Pro Series

Nate wrote:

"i have never seen a casio vz.  are they similar to the cz series?"

The VZ series was Casio's failed follow-up to the successful CZ series.
However, the failure of these synths wasn't due to inferior quality.  I've
read two different accounts of Casio's withdrawal from the pro synth market.
One claims that the Casio VZs didn't sell well because sample-playback
synths were coming into fashion and the VZ, as a pure synth sounded less
realistic.  Another account claims that the VZs actually sold well for a pro
synth, but Casio was used to sales volume in the consumer mass marketplace,
and were shocked that the fluke ultra-success of the CZ line wasn't
replicated by the VZs.  Casio, according to that account, weren't willing to
waste time on a niche market like pro instruments when they could sell
millions of calculators and toy keyboards instead.

Anyway, there are three VZ models.  The VZ-1, which is a keyboard, and the
VZ-10M and VZ-8M, which are both rack-mounted tone generators.  For more
information on the VZs, here are some links:

http://www.steveandsally.freeserve.co.uk/casio/
http://www.harmony-central.com/Synth/Data/Casio/VZ-1-01.html
http://www.harmony-central.com/Synth/Data/Casio/VZ-10M-01.html
http://www.sonicstate.com/synth/Casio_VZ1.cfm
http://www.sonicstate.com/synth/vz10m.cfm
http://machines.hyperreal.org/manufacturers/Casio/VZ/

Note that Harmony Central and Sonic State also have sections on all of the
CZ synths, if you're interested in more info on them.

Enjoy!

-- jp