Casio CZ/ VZ/ FZ - Pro Series

Hi, Oliver, welcome on board.


On 14 Oct, 2014, at 6:42 AM, oliver.mentel@... [CZsynth] wrote:

> Hi there, my name is Oliver.
>
> I was just lucky enough to stumble over a 1985 CZ-5000 at my local  
> music shop the other day and couldn't resist myself from not getting  
> my hands on it.
>
For sure you will not regret.
> I'm pretty certain, that this may have been on of my best buys for  
> the last few years!
>
Depending on the price - which was probably good - I would think the  
same.

> I'm pretty new to this whole exciting world of synthesizers,  
> especially to the CZ-5000, but I'd really like to learn more about it.
> Here's where I'd like some help or perhaps some further guidance  
> from you my fellow friends.
>
> First of all, I'd like to hook the cz-5000 to my computer, but I'm  
> not sure what kind of MIDI controller would do the job for me?  
> (Again, I'm really new to all of this, so I'm already sorry for  
> those whom I which am possibly boring the hell out of by now)
>
You need MIDI interface between your computer and world of MIDI. Which  
one it depends on your OS and hardware, probably you can get some USB/ 
MIDI interface, instal driver if necessary and then your computer can  
communicate with MIDI instruments - receive and transmit MIDI data.
> Secondly, I saw that there were a wide range of "patches" available  
> for the CZ range, but I'm not sure how I can bring these on to my  
> CZ-5000?
>
It depends on their format. Some are in text format, or graphics, such  
patch sheets you have to set manually directly on the instrument, and  
then save patch one by one to the internal memory. It's lot of work...
Better to use SysEx bulk dumps. You need some software for sending  
MIDI files (extension MID, some patches can be in this format) and for  
receiving/sending SysEx files (extension SYX). It can be special  
application just for receiving and sending such data, or sequencer, or  
librarian/bankloader application, or CZ editor. Which one? It depends  
again on your OS.

You should know that there were some difficulties with SysEx  
communication but I suppose it was solved. Check some previous threads  
on this forum...
> And finally, as I bought the CZ-5000 without any RA-3 cartridge I  
> was thinking if this would bring me any difficulties for what I'd  
> like to use the synthesiser for?
>
Forget about the cartridge, it will not add more sounds like  
cartridges on other instruments (Yamaha, Roland, Korg...), it can be  
used just for saving internal memory data and loading them back.  
There's no direct access to sound bank saved on the cartridge.
Same function (that means saving internal memory data and loading them  
back) you can do with computer.
> Thanks for reading so far
>
> Have a good one
>
> Cheers
>
> Oli
>
Alles Gute!

MfG

Daniel Forro

Lack of a cartridge diminishes the number of sounds capable if being stored on board. This is not a problem if you use midi sysx to backup files to a pc.

I use 

http://www.midiox.com/

To do this. As i recall the cz s have no ability to give up their 
memory contents on the unit and must be sent sysx codes to eject them.

Details of communicating with the cz are at

Http://templarseries.atspace.com/cz.html 

Along with pdf manuals and other sysx tips.

Lee

Sent from my iPhone

On 13 Oct 2014, at 22:42, "oliver.mentel@... [CZsynth]" <CZsynth@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

> Hi there, my name is Oliver. 
> 
> I was just lucky enough to stumble over a 1985 CZ-5000 at my local music shop the other day and couldn't resist myself from not getting my hands on it. 
> 
> I'm pretty certain, that this may have been on of my best buys for the last few years! 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm pretty new to this whole exciting world of synthesizers, especially to the CZ-5000, but I'd really like to learn more about it. 
> 
> 
> 
> Here's where I'd like some help or perhaps some further guidance from you my fellow friends. 
> 
> 
> 
> First of all, I'd like to hook the cz-5000 to my computer, but I'm not sure what kind of MIDI controller would do the job for me? (Again, I'm really new to all of this, so I'm already sorry for those whom I which am possibly boring the hell out of by now)
> 
> 
> 
> Secondly, I saw that there were a wide range of "patches" available for the CZ range, but I'm not sure how I can bring these on to my CZ-5000? 
> 
> 
> 
> And finally, as I bought the CZ-5000 without any RA-3 cartridge I was thinking if this would bring me any difficulties for what I'd like to use the synthesiser for? 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for reading so far
> 
> 
> 
> Have a good one
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Oli
> 
>

Are you sure about it?

AFAIK cartridge on CZ can't expand a number of directly accessible  
sounds. It serves only for saving data from internal RAM.

Of course after saving internal data to cartridge we can load other  
data from the other cartridge, or fill the memory by sending SysEx  
file. When we want to return data saved on the cartridge, it's  
possible but internal data are erased by this.

VZ is different, sound programs on its RAM card are directly  
accessible, so card expands total number of sounds.

Daniel Forro

On 19 Oct, 2014, at 7:38 AM, Lee templarser@... [CZsynth] wrote:

>
>
> Lack of a cartridge diminishes the number of sounds capable if being  
> stored on board.
>