Casio CZ/ VZ/ FZ - Pro Series

Q1a: Is it rare? Not particularly.

Q1b: What's it worth? Well, I bought a top-of-the-range CZ-1 for £75 a few years ago from Loot, and that's the same beast minus the step-time sequencer but with velocity and after-touch and a few more goodies. I suspect that anything under £200 is probably worth paying, if you're SURE it's what you want.

Q2: 2 DCOs? Yes and no. Essentially the CZ range share the following architecture. A single DCO produces either one or a combination of two out of six static waveforms (if two are chosen they alternate every cycle). The waveforms can be modified over time using the DCW which broadly simulates the effect of an analogue low-pass filter. Finally the output is fed through a DCA for amplitude modulation. The DCO pitch, DCW waveshape and DCA amplitude each have their own 8-step envelope, and each step has its own rate and final level. Any one step (or none) can be assigned as the sustain phase and the final release (or "end") step can also be assigned.

Now, here's the tricky bit. Each voice of the CZ synth has TWO DCO-DCW-DCA chains, side-by-side. And they can either be different (each having a different sound), the same (with optional detuning) or independent (doubling the effective polyphony of the synth, but thinning the sound). So the CZ-101 is 4-or-8-voice polyphonic, while the CZ-5000 is 8-or-16-voice polyphonic. When using two chains per voice, ring-modulation and noise modulation can also be used. There is a single LFO which can ONLY be applied globally to all DCOs and which only modulates pitch.

Q3: No, it ISN'T an FM synth - and it DOES sound different - but it can do digital and (unlike the Yamahas) analogue-ish sounds and is a good complement or foil for an existing FM setup.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Simon Wotton 
  To: CZsynth@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2003 5:24 PM
  Subject: Re: [CZsynth] Re: CZ-5000, a story and a couple of Qs


  hello!

  i was in town today - saw a CZ5000

  Q1: are they rare and whatsit worth?
  Q2: on first sight looked like 2DCOs - and FM type of synthesis - right??
  Q3: is it a good buy (soundwise) - already have a DX7 and a TX802 and thought the presets were quite similar...???


  thanx in advance


  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


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