Casio CZ/ VZ/ FZ - Pro Series

>I like that it combines FM with Ringmodulation, I dislike that it uses 
>constant
>waves instead of feedback since feedback is better for the "filter type" 
>sweeps...

It's really pretty limited for straight FM- the voice structure is versitile 
enough in theory, but when operator pairs are strictly limited to a 
modulator:carrier ratio of 2:1, it really constricts things.  It works well 
enough for a 2-operator pair ring-modulated with another wave, but it 
doesn't have near the flexibility of FM algorithms.

Also the saw waves are less useful than you'd think with FM- it enables some 
interesting flavors that a DX definately can't do (at least the 
sine-wave-only synths), bright square and saw timbres (even a decent 
approximation of pulsewidth modulation), but mostly when used with FM it 
just sounds harsh and distorted, regardless of frequency ratio- and with no 
filters, the brighter sounds end up being pretty static.

Other things I don't like: while a sound can be very expressive in terms of 
velocity sensitivity and stuff, it's difficult to make it dynamic to the 
point where it dramatically changes the character of the sound (except for 
really radical sounds).  And the basic tonality of it tends to be rather 
sine-wavey with certain types of sounds, it gets fatiguing and sometimes 
different sounds end up not mixing well.  And the envelope attack is 
annoying with longer attacks (it's the wrong shape)- to give a more natural 
feel it needs 2 or 3 stages, which is a pain to program (but I had the same 
problem with the TX7- at least there are enough envelope stages here that 
it's not a problem)

Oh, and the phase of the oscillators resets for every note (unlike the DX7 
which could do it optionally)- so the super thick 8-saw wave stack that 
should be awesome just sounds obnoxious.

Just so it doesn't sound too negative, there are a lot of things that I 
like... the envelopes are great, and if you don't mind spending an hour 
carefully picking values, they can do some REALLY complex things.  And the 
pitch envelope can have a really huge depth that can span the entire audio 
range... keyboard tracking curves enable interesting crossfades, Shepard 
tones, drumkits, etc.


So yeah, it's very powerful and great, but best used with other synths.  Its 
limitations might become too frustrating if you don't also have something 
else to use.