Casio CZ/ VZ/ FZ - Pro Series

Hello everyone, my name is Austin and I hail from DeKalb, a bit beyond
the west suburbs of Chicago, IL.  I unexpectedly won an auction for a
Casio CZ-1 on eBay not too long ago, and it arrived about a week back.
 Sadly, I've been busy with a lot of things and haven't had a solid
chance to sit down and just play with it.  

It seems to be in good working --and cosmetic-- condition but I have
no idea how to check all it's functions, as it had no included manual.
I've been searching the internet pretty hard, but all I've been able
to turn up is the German version, and judging from another synth
manual I looked at, if I try to online-translate a german version, not
only would it be labor-intensive, but probably most confusing.  I'm
looking to do this on the cheap... I have seen an eBay offer for a
manual and patches for around $20, but I'm a bit dubious. It's
probably worth it down the road (anybody else try one of these
software packages?) but for the moment I just want to get a basic
handle on it and play around with at least some idea of what I'm
doing. This seems to be the most active CZ-related yahoo group, but I
didn't see the CZ-1 manual in the files.  I figure someone here must
have one or know where to download one... I would even gladly convert
a hard-copy to .pdf for everyone to use if someone were bold enough to
loan one to me. 

A little bit more about me: I'm pretty new to the synth world... A
friend of mine had a broken down Kawai SX-210 which he gave to me, and
after about 3 years, I found someone local who would service it for a
 reasonable fee.  It works beautifully now, save for a couple of the
LEDs in the display, but the sound is grand.  I think the CZ-1 will
compliment it nicely, as I'm sure the sounds are going to be rather
different.  

Note: For anybody purely interested in the CZ-1 and nothing else, skip
to the end now.

My musical history has been somewhat checkered... I started on cello
in grade and middle school, but disliked it because I didn't
understand how music was put together.  Either the teacher never
really taught us anything about it beyond scales or what they did
teach beyond that didn't sink in. I didn't much care for what we were
given to play, nor did I gain any better understanding (as far as I
could tell) for how to make something of my own by playing it.  I
think my attitude would be different now, but I think I lacked the
basic spring-board of some music theory to really appreciate what I
was doing.  

Jump ahead about 7 years. I picked up an autoharp at a garage sale, as
I was immediately fascinated at its mechanics and got it for a steal.
 That sat around for about a year until I learned how to tune it
correctly and service it (there's a lot to it). In the meantime, I
took a music theory class in college and got a little bit better of an
understanding of music.  I added a different chord-bar case to it and
electrified it. What is great about the autoharp is that it is a
pretty easy interface for a dufus like me, it has some unique
capabilities and sounds great through some effects pedals. It's
allowed me to create some music I'm proud of. After this I discovered
circuit bending (which greatly appeals to my drive to build and tinker
with things) and I've finished about 3 projects.  One of these
projects I plan to develop into something very cool, but that will
take some time.  In this time I got the SX-210 fixed, and just
recently received the CZ-1, so that brings me up until now, more or less. 

It's definitely a hobby for me, I'm not serious musician as yet, but
I've always been a bit of a collector of things that fascinate me.  I
think my ultimate goal is to get a nice little studio set up to
facilitate a lot of home-recording.  I have many friends who are very
musical, but not necessarily well-versed in recording, which is where
I think I will shine eventually.  Hopefully that will also result in
me getting a little bit better at playing what I own.  I'm also hoping
space limitations will keep me to the pretty nice orchestra I've
assembled thus far and to rely more on collaboration for additional
sounds.

So, more than you EVER wanted to know.  That said, any word about  the
English manual and/or the software packages availabe on eBay for the
CZ-1?     

--Austin

You will get the English manual on my CASIOLOGIE Site:

http://casiologie.pro.tc

or

http://www.casio-manuals.net


Both links will lead you to the same page.


If it's helpful and you like it.....drop a message in my guestbook

Thanks

Joerg