Casio CZ/ VZ/ FZ - Pro Series

Hi Rob,

I am currently using midi ox as a librarian among other things. I have used this to transfer sounds from the 101/1000 to the 230s. Not having had hold of the cz1 i cannot say whether it would help, but midiox is useful for other reasons,worth a look.

Phase distortion is a matter of altering the phase angle of a waveform. Basically casio came up with doing something other than fm,presumably because yamaha had the patent.
Whilst a similar technique the sound is warmer than the dx instruments and with 8 envelope stages casio invented a clever and versatile synth engine!

Have fun.

Lee

Sent from my iPhone

On 6 Feb 2014, at 23:36, <rsrb1972@...> wrote:

> Just thought I'd send an initial greeting message to this group.
> 
> I recently purchased a CZ-1 and am delighted with it and looking forward to getting to grips with it as a synth. Am still trying to get my head round the MIDI implementation, but am loving the keyboard and its programmability (even if I don't totally understand what phase distortion is! The manual and most explanations seem to go a little vague at the key moment!). I purchased the synth because I'd always coveted a CZ synth once I heard the CZ-101 was used for the bassline in Fallout's The Morning After (a very influential early house track if you don't know it) and I desperately needed a MIDI controller. For not much more than a new controller, I could have a classic synth too so it was an easy decision!
> 
> Am using it with Logic on a PC. Would like to save individual patches to the DAW as I do/have done with other synths, but this doesn't seem possible in such an easy way to/from Logic and none of the librarian programs I've tried so far are stable, so will keep looking. Next will try SoundDiver on the PC, and/or a program or two on the Atari STeem emulator.
> 
> I also have pdf copies of two Casio CZ books, Gartman and Schlesinger so they will be my next bedtime reading after the manual. That's all for now!
> 
> Rob (in SE England)
> 
>

On 15 Feb, 2014, at 9:15 AM, Lee wrote:

>
> Phase distortion is a matter of altering the phase angle of a  
> waveform.

Not exactly. They change the speed of reading the wavetable which has  
the result in changing the shape of waveform.

> Basically casio came up with doing something other than  
> fm,presumably because yamaha had the patent.

Not exactly. Basically, on the level of oscillator, it's the same as  
Yamaha, which in fact uses also phase modulation. They just called it  
FM, but it's also phase modulation - PM. Casio just used different  
term and didn't use principle of algorithm in CZ series (just ring  
modulation between two "lines"). This came later with VZ (and similar)  
which has iPD synthesis where 4 lines can interact.

> Whilst a similar technique the sound is warmer than the dx instruments

I don't think, DX/TX can sound enough warm, it depends just on the  
programming.

> and with 8 envelope stages casio invented a clever and versatile  
> synth engine!

Absolutely, that was great idea.

Concerning PD synthesis, Casio published some additional books except  
Owner's manuals - Sound Synthesis Summary for different models, and  
there's also a book "An Insider's Guide to CZ Synthesizers", to find  
elsewhere on internet...

Daniel Forro

This explanation is wrong because there's nothing as "phase angle of  
waveform". We can talk about phase of the waveform, or in the case of  
PM/PD instruments about the "phase angle of READING of the sine or  
cosine waveform from ROM".

It is this reading angle phase which is changed (= distorted), and has  
influence on the waveshape. Not the phase of the waveform itself.  
Human ears are quite insensitive to phase shifted signal, that can't  
be used for sound synthesis.

This is exact definition of Phase Distortion, or Phase Modulation.

So there's a big difference between this, and for example effect of  
comb filtering in phaser or flanger, where delayed signal (phase  
shifted) is mixed with the original signal.

Daniel Forro

On 15 Feb, 2014, at 9:15 AM, Lee wrote:
>
> Phase distortion is a matter of altering the phase angle of a  
> waveform.

thank you
thats a good discovery !

charlie


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Daniel Forró" <dan.for@...>
To: <CZsynth@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2014 12:47 AM
Subject: Re: [CZsynth] New CZ-1 user saying hello


I've just found some mistakes in the table in chapter "Effective Use
of the Detune Function". Proper values for different harmonics should
be:

Line 5 +1 07 01 3rd harmonics
Line 7 +2 03 52 5th
Line 8 +2 07 01 6th
Line 9 +2 09 42 7th
Line 11 +3 02 02 9th
Line 12 +3 03 52 10th
Line 13 +3 05 31 11th
Line 14 +3 07 01 12th
Line 15 +3 08 25 13th
Line 16 +3 09 42 14th
Line 17 +3 10 53 15th

Even so it's just approximation as resolution of Fine Detune is 1.66
Cent.

Daniel Forro

On 15 Feb, 2014, at 9:38 AM, Daniel Forró wrote:

> Concerning PD synthesis, Casio published some additional books
> except Owner's manuals - Sound Synthesis Summary for different models

Thanks, Daniel, and welcome to our new friend here! I would tell him not to worry too much, since I could create REALLY good patches starting from zero, not even opening the manual! The sound is sweeter than the one from the DX series, maybe a little "plastic" but sometimes really analog-ish and fat! I should maybe consider applying an equalizer or a valve processor ( a cheap one maybe would be enough.... ) to warm the sound. But really, I love it definitively, too bad I lost my patches because my memory battery is over.... Harpsichord a-la " For Your Love ", Farfisas, Vox, Moog-ish sounds.... Too bad... Go on and experiment, Pal!!!





Il Mercoledì 19 Febbraio 2014 19:16, "smw-mail@..." <smw-mail@...> ha scritto:
 
  
Gee whiz; I just had the new Yahoo! User Interface send a detailed message into oblivion.  Anyhow:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CZsynth/files/Using%20Midi-Ox%20with%20Your%20Casio%20CZ/

If that doesn't work, navigate to Files > Using Midi-Ox with Your CZ.

Once you have midi-ox working, take a look at the Dump Request and Dump Send screen shots. If you use Midi-Ox, you will need to tweak the patch (sysex dump) you get from the CZ before you can send it to the CZ from your DAW (or from Midi-Ox):

(1) Change the Dump Request command byte to a Dump Send command byte.
(2) Insert a CZ storage destination. 

In the screen shot, you can see how I used the Sound Area (temporary sound memory) so as not to overwrite the patches you recall by either pressing the patch buttons or sending a program change midi command. 

Hope this helps.

Steve