On Jun 13, 2015, at 3:51 AM, Brendan Cooney cooneypiano@yahoo.com [CZsynth] wrote:
Agreed. It seems like the CZ101 is pretty standard in the Balkans and has been for a long time. I believe its popularity is a result of both price and size but also I've read musicians commenting that the portamento is particularly good for the style as well as the ability to program a lot of appealing sounds.
CZ synths can do simple and sharp sounds which can remind folk instruments like clarinet, tarogato, mizra, oboe, shanai...
The ones I've listened to so far are pretty decent. I know Bisari studios sells patches as well for the CZ101 and I've seen the gentleman from Bisari talking up the CZ101 on many chat rooms.In regards to the comment about tuning.. I believe that the microtonal tuning that one hears in these youtube videos is all done with the portamento wheel. It's impressive and looks a little daunting to dive into but I feel like if I want to play this style I should do it the way they do it and not just use an algorithym on a fancier keyboard.
I think the same. Still I can't decipher which Pitch Bend range Amza uses, sometimes he does rather wide bending, but that would mean it would be difficult to get quarter tone deviation...
In some videos he has some box at right side of Korg, with numeric keys (probably) - maybe some remote controller or MIDI Program Change selector, I can't recognize it. I suppose it is not anything like Microtonal box for synthesizers without microtonality...
That being said it appears like players like Amza Tairov typically have a two-keyboard set-up with the CZ on top and a Korg workstation below. Often you see Amza using the Korg as a trigger to play the CZ. Left-hand on the CZ portamento Right hand on the Korg keys.
That's questionable as I think Casio can't produce some of sounds he plays (even with effect processor he uses for it - usually Korg Pandora), and also you can see he uses volume pedal (probably MIDI but I can be wrong, it looks like that massive silver Korg XVP10 pedal which can work also as old fashioned audio pedal) - and Casio CZ101 can't receive CC #7...
So IMHO the sound goes from Korg, and Pitch Bend on CZ is used for Korg sound. The reason can be Amza is used to it, or doesn't like Korg Pitch Bend controller (it's joystick moving from the left to the right, PB Wheel moves from front to back). I'll try to analyze his MIDI connection on videos, I've seen only one MIDI cable between instruments.
Daniel Forro