Casio CZ/ VZ/ FZ - Pro Series

From: owltrucker <owltrucker@...>
Subject: [CZsynth] Distortion on Clean Sounds
To: CZsynth@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, 26 September, 2009, 12:43 AM


  



Hello everyone, this is my first post.

I recently bought a very nice and full functioning CZ-3000 through Craigslist and so far I'm having a blast with it. I've always had Casiotones around but have been until recently unaware that Casio made "real" synthesizers. 

Anyway, I've noticed that on the clean-sounding presets (Elec Piano, Vibraphone, Fairy Tale, etc.) there is a low level distortion, or background fuzz, as if the signal is clipping or overdriving. This happens at lower volumes as well. It's not that loud but it definitely is noticeable. At first I wondered if it was just my machine then it occurred to me that the distortion may be a product of Casio's phase distortion synthesis.

Over at Synthmania, the same distortion can be heard on the aforementioned presets:

http://www.synthman ia.com/cz- 1000.htm

This leads me to believe that maybe the synth just has a bit of noise on cleaner, clearer patches, an inevitable byproduct of PD. Or maybe the CZ-1000 at Synthmania also suffers a common issue.

Any information would be much appreciated! 

Thanks,
Parker

















      

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

>
> I might suggest the following - just possibly the power supply you are using has not enough current available - as well to check that the power consumption and the power available from the transformer are compatible - I have a CZ100 and CZ101 and 230s - I cannot say that I notice background noise unless I am using the wrong output socket and mismatched impedance on audio inputs at low volume levels from the CZ - I cannot say I have noticed such an issue when using headphones.
>  
> LEE
> 
> --- On Sat, 26/9/09, owltrucker <owltrucker@...> wrote:
> 
> 
> From: owltrucker <owltrucker@...>
> Subject: [CZsynth] Distortion on Clean Sounds
> To: CZsynth@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Saturday, 26 September, 2009, 12:43 AM
> 
> 
>   
> 
> 
> 
> Hello everyone, this is my first post.
> 
> I recently bought a very nice and full functioning CZ-3000 through Craigslist and so far I'm having a blast with it. I've always had Casiotones around but have been until recently unaware that Casio made "real" synthesizers. 
> 
> Anyway, I've noticed that on the clean-sounding presets (Elec Piano, Vibraphone, Fairy Tale, etc.) there is a low level distortion, or background fuzz, as if the signal is clipping or overdriving. This happens at lower volumes as well. It's not that loud but it definitely is noticeable. At first I wondered if it was just my machine then it occurred to me that the distortion may be a product of Casio's phase distortion synthesis.
> 
> Over at Synthmania, the same distortion can be heard on the aforementioned presets:
> 
> http://www.synthman ia.com/cz- 1000.htm
> 
> This leads me to believe that maybe the synth just has a bit of noise on cleaner, clearer patches, an inevitable byproduct of PD. Or maybe the CZ-1000 at Synthmania also suffers a common issue.
> 
> Any information would be much appreciated! 
> 
> Thanks,
> Parker
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>       
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

From: owltrucker <owltrucker@...>
Subject: [CZsynth] Re: Distortion on Clean Sounds
To: CZsynth@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, 2 October, 2009, 10:07 PM


  



Thanks for the info. My CZ-3000 has a standard 3-prong AC cord that plugs directly into it so I don't think it's a transformer issue. 

The sound is more of a crackling, as when the level is too high somewhere in the signal chain. It's something I can live with and I understand that 80s digital synths are prone to be a little noisy.

--- In CZsynth@yahoogroups .com, Lee Borrell <templarser@ ...> wrote:
>
> I might suggest the following - just possibly the power supply you are using has not enough current available - as well to check that the power consumption and the power available from the transformer are compatible - I have a CZ100 and CZ101 and 230s - I cannot say that I notice background noise unless I am using the wrong output socket and mismatched impedance on audio inputs at low volume levels from the CZ - I cannot say I have noticed such an issue when using headphones.
>  
> LEE
> 
> --- On Sat, 26/9/09, owltrucker <owltrucker@ ...> wrote:
> 
> 
> From: owltrucker <owltrucker@ ...>
> Subject: [CZsynth] Distortion on Clean Sounds
> To: CZsynth@yahoogroups .com
> Date: Saturday, 26 September, 2009, 12:43 AM
> 
> 
>   
> 
> 
> 
> Hello everyone, this is my first post.
> 
> I recently bought a very nice and full functioning CZ-3000 through Craigslist and so far I'm having a blast with it. I've always had Casiotones around but have been until recently unaware that Casio made "real" synthesizers. 
> 
> Anyway, I've noticed that on the clean-sounding presets (Elec Piano, Vibraphone, Fairy Tale, etc.) there is a low level distortion, or background fuzz, as if the signal is clipping or overdriving. This happens at lower volumes as well. It's not that loud but it definitely is noticeable. At first I wondered if it was just my machine then it occurred to me that the distortion may be a product of Casio's phase distortion synthesis.
> 
> Over at Synthmania, the same distortion can be heard on the aforementioned presets:
> 
> http://www.synthman ia.com/cz- 1000.htm
> 
> This leads me to believe that maybe the synth just has a bit of noise on cleaner, clearer patches, an inevitable byproduct of PD. Or maybe the CZ-1000 at Synthmania also suffers a common issue.
> 
> Any information would be much appreciated! 
> 
> Thanks,
> Parker
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

















      

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

>
> Hello everyone, this is my first post.
> 
> I recently bought a very nice and full functioning CZ-3000 through Craigslist and so far I'm having a blast with it.  I've always had Casiotones around but have been until recently unaware that Casio made "real" synthesizers.  
> 
> Anyway, I've noticed that on the clean-sounding presets (Elec Piano, Vibraphone, Fairy Tale, etc.) there is a low level distortion, or background fuzz, as if the signal is clipping or overdriving.  This happens at lower volumes as well.  It's not that loud but it definitely is noticeable.  At first I wondered if it was just my machine then it occurred to me that the distortion may be a product of Casio's phase distortion synthesis.
> 
> Over at Synthmania, the same distortion can be heard on the aforementioned presets:
> 
> http://www.synthmania.com/cz-1000.htm
> 
> This leads me to believe that maybe the synth just has a bit of noise on cleaner, clearer patches, an inevitable byproduct of PD.  Or maybe the CZ-1000 at Synthmania also suffers a common issue.
> 
> Any information would be much appreciated!  
> 
> Thanks,
> Parker
>

>
> It's the DAC offset. Look in any of the CZ service manuals. Can be done by ear, no need for a meter. But there's quite a bit of dismantling involved to get at it.
> 
> --- In CZsynth@yahoogroups.com, "owltrucker" <owltrucker@> wrote:
> >
> > Hello everyone, this is my first post.
> > 
> > I recently bought a very nice and full functioning CZ-3000 through Craigslist and so far I'm having a blast with it.  I've always had Casiotones around but have been until recently unaware that Casio made "real" synthesizers.  
> > 
> > Anyway, I've noticed that on the clean-sounding presets (Elec Piano, Vibraphone, Fairy Tale, etc.) there is a low level distortion, or background fuzz, as if the signal is clipping or overdriving.  This happens at lower volumes as well.  It's not that loud but it definitely is noticeable.  At first I wondered if it was just my machine then it occurred to me that the distortion may be a product of Casio's phase distortion synthesis.
> > 
> > Over at Synthmania, the same distortion can be heard on the aforementioned presets:
> > 
> > http://www.synthmania.com/cz-1000.htm
> > 
> > This leads me to believe that maybe the synth just has a bit of noise on cleaner, clearer patches, an inevitable byproduct of PD.  Or maybe the CZ-1000 at Synthmania also suffers a common issue.
> > 
> > Any information would be much appreciated!  
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > Parker
> >
>