>> this my first post here, I'm a newbie to the CZ world, picked up a CZ5000 for almost nothing.
(1) Welcome (2) Congrats
>> My question is, what should I do next? I may change the LCD screen to a backlit one in the future, but first I need advice on the batteries.Which are the best? How long they usually last?
(1) I am pretty sure there is a pdf scan of the CZ5000 service manual floating around the internet; not sure if it's here, in the CZ/FZ overflow group, or somewhere else. That might be useful to you. You might want to compare that with the CZ-1 service manual (also around on the internet somewhere). The CZ-1 has a lighted LCD.
(2) The CZ-5000 uses 3 AA batteries. I am not sure how long they will last to preserve the user patches. In my experience with other things, rechargeable AA batteries continuously lose power (and aren't 1.5 v to begin with) and would probably not work well in the CZ-5000. (Just a guess.) I am also guessing that long-lasting alkaline might last longer than old-fashioned heavy-duty batteries, but you'd have to run some comparative tests.
>>Does the machine sends a signal (I guess not) when they need to be changed?
(1) To the best on my knowledge, unless you were to build a low-power circuit, no.
(2) You know it's time to change your batteries when you power up and your user patches are gone or are scrambled. You can get some really wild patches because the user memory (in my experience) gets filled with parameters that you just can't duplicate from the panel (nor would you want to in most cases).
>>Is there a way to permanently change the main MIDI channel to another number?
(1) Hey, this is from 1985; consider yourself lucky that it has (a) 8-note (2 line) polyphony / 16-note (1 line) polyphony from the keyboard (i.e., not via midi), (b) multi-timbral capability, and (c) a crude, but usable real-time/step-mode sequencer.
(2) Probably not "out of the box," but you might be able to build a circuit to do this, if for some reason you didn't want to do it manually.
Out of curiosity, did you ever make softsynths?
Finally, I have to offer a caveat--all of the above is my own opinion, freely offered to a person who I believe has asked some good questions relevant to a recent acquisition. I have answered to the best of my ability in hopes that it would be helpful to that individial. I am not really interested in arguing semantics (e.g., how what was called polyphony for many years has in recent years been called paraphony--i.e., not really polyphony, but something short of "true" polyphony--by some), the philosophy of using the CZ-5000 v. the CZ-1 (e.g., how the sounds of the CZ-1 are different, superior, inferior to, etc. the CZ-5000), various other side issues (e.g., why I brought up the two previous examples when the questioner didn't ask about them), etc.
As one member of this forum recently pointed out, anyone can post anything here [as long as it's OK by the Yahoo's ToS and the group's owner doesn't have an objection]. That being said, I would encourage anyone who has experiences with the CZ-5000 that differ from my experiences to write them up as your experiences without referring to what I reported as my experiences.
Anyhow, Atilla, I hope this is helpful.
Steve
(1) Welcome (2) Congrats
>> My question is, what should I do next? I may change the LCD screen to a backlit one in the future, but first I need advice on the batteries.Which are the best? How long they usually last?
(1) I am pretty sure there is a pdf scan of the CZ5000 service manual floating around the internet; not sure if it's here, in the CZ/FZ overflow group, or somewhere else. That might be useful to you. You might want to compare that with the CZ-1 service manual (also around on the internet somewhere). The CZ-1 has a lighted LCD.
(2) The CZ-5000 uses 3 AA batteries. I am not sure how long they will last to preserve the user patches. In my experience with other things, rechargeable AA batteries continuously lose power (and aren't 1.5 v to begin with) and would probably not work well in the CZ-5000. (Just a guess.) I am also guessing that long-lasting alkaline might last longer than old-fashioned heavy-duty batteries, but you'd have to run some comparative tests.
>>Does the machine sends a signal (I guess not) when they need to be changed?
(1) To the best on my knowledge, unless you were to build a low-power circuit, no.
(2) You know it's time to change your batteries when you power up and your user patches are gone or are scrambled. You can get some really wild patches because the user memory (in my experience) gets filled with parameters that you just can't duplicate from the panel (nor would you want to in most cases).
>>Is there a way to permanently change the main MIDI channel to another number?
(1) Hey, this is from 1985; consider yourself lucky that it has (a) 8-note (2 line) polyphony / 16-note (1 line) polyphony from the keyboard (i.e., not via midi), (b) multi-timbral capability, and (c) a crude, but usable real-time/step-mode sequencer.
(2) Probably not "out of the box," but you might be able to build a circuit to do this, if for some reason you didn't want to do it manually.
Out of curiosity, did you ever make softsynths?
Finally, I have to offer a caveat--all of the above is my own opinion, freely offered to a person who I believe has asked some good questions relevant to a recent acquisition. I have answered to the best of my ability in hopes that it would be helpful to that individial. I am not really interested in arguing semantics (e.g., how what was called polyphony for many years has in recent years been called paraphony--i.e., not really polyphony, but something short of "true" polyphony--by some), the philosophy of using the CZ-5000 v. the CZ-1 (e.g., how the sounds of the CZ-1 are different, superior, inferior to, etc. the CZ-5000), various other side issues (e.g., why I brought up the two previous examples when the questioner didn't ask about them), etc.
As one member of this forum recently pointed out, anyone can post anything here [as long as it's OK by the Yahoo's ToS and the group's owner doesn't have an objection]. That being said, I would encourage anyone who has experiences with the CZ-5000 that differ from my experiences to write them up as your experiences without referring to what I reported as my experiences.
Anyhow, Atilla, I hope this is helpful.
Steve