Casio CZ/ VZ/ FZ - Pro Series

That is, studio APARTMENT musician! Heh, heh

Howdy partners, 

I'm Dave, I'm new here, and I'm not from Texas. But I must say I am a 
durn good musician and I'm lookin' to come out with guns blazin' and 
make some rootin' tootin' good music with this here Casio CZ-1! But I 
need some help. Money is very tight right now and I don't have lots 
of money to lay out for fancy-schmancy equipment. So can any of you 
MIDI geeks out there help me find stuff that's low-low-low priced, or 
even free? 

I write, play keys, and sing. Just so you know, here's what I have 
already and am already using to make extremely primitive, pre-MIDI 
but decent-sounding music.

* CZ-1
* Zoom effects unit
* AIWA outboard EQ
* Tascam 404MKII analog 4-track
* Windows Pentium III, 127 MB RAM, CD burner, running Windows ME; GS 
Wavetable SW synth card "With Roland sound sample digital samples"
* Radio Shack dynamic mic

As you can see, except for the computer, I'm still in about 1988 as 
far as technology is concerned, and I will be there for awhile until 
I get a good job and get my credit straightened out. BUt I have 
discovered that between tweaking the CZ-1 and effects unit, I can 
make a somewhat convincing snare (a little distortion and the right 
type of reverb can make for a very realistic snare sound), piano, 
distorted guitar and even hi-hats and crash cymbals. I need a good 
acoustic guitar patch, tho. 

So what I'm looking for is first freeware, next extremely inexpensive 
software, for Windows. 

* Sequencer
* Multitrack recording/mixing/editing application
* Drum machine application? 

Also, how good is a CZ-1 as a MIDI controller? 

Any and all help will be greatly, and gratefully, appreciated. 


*****P*E*A*C*E**L*O*V*E**&**B*L*E*S*S*I*N*G*S***** 

David H 


BEST-KEPT SECRET in nutrition--used by Olympic athletes, NFL players, 
fitness trainers and doctors 
http://www.reliv.com/us/inside/productstable.html

hi dave,

> * Sequencer
> * Multitrack recording/mixing/editing application
> * Drum machine application?
>
> Also, how good is a CZ-1 as a MIDI controller?

there is a lot of freeware around.

JAZZ is a freeware sequencer that does quite a lot of things, even audio!
go here: http://www.jazzware.com/. maybe it's sufficient for your
recording etc tasks, too.

if not - i use audacity, which does quite many things as well, and it's
free:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

drums? i suppose jazz has a drum editor to fool around with, and every
decent gm card has drum sounds. but there should virtual drum machines
to be found for free on the next.

however, i guess jazz is all you need - syncing two programs running on the
same pc CAN be tricky!

last not least, i use a cz-1 as master keyboard, and if you can cope with
the keys, no problem. split zones and layering and so is a question of
software (JAZZ) today.

hope to have helped

hellmuth



visit my page at http://www.matucana.de
tricky!

>So what I'm looking for is first freeware, next extremely inexpensive
>software, for Windows.
>
>* Sequencer
>* Multitrack recording/mixing/editing application
>* Drum machine application?

A tracker and a wave editor would work fairly well I think.  I don't know 
much about trackers but I've heard ModPlug (http://www.modplug.com) isn't 
bad, and I think GoldWave is a free .wav editor..

With those you can make a bunch of samples of the CZ-1 and sequence them and 
that sort of thing.  I don't know how well you'll be able to multitrack with 
that, maybe you could record the computer's output to the 4-track and then 
sing over it or something.  I don't know if you'll be able to use the built 
in soundcard midi sounds with it...

>Also, how good is a CZ-1 as a MIDI controller?

Not bad, better than the rest of the CZ series.

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Hey, thanks for the advice, guys! (Any additional advice for this 
ignoramus would still be greatly appreciated)

Now, I'm a total newbie as far as MIDI is concerned. I've got the 
cables and that's about it. I also know, or my computer tells me, 
that I've got this Roland wavetable sound card. Can anyone help me 
with the following:

* Of course, I know I need to plug in the keyboard to the sound card. 
BUt there's no MIDI port on the sound card. Is there some sort of 
adaptor you need? 

* And then when I'm hooked up, then what? How do I access these 
groovy sounds? Do I have to run an application of some kind? 

* How would I hook up the sound card sounds so that I could then 
record them in Jazz?

* And since I want to bounce tracks from the Tascam to the computer 
and back, what kind of cables, connectors, etc. would I use to hook 
up a 1/8" output from my computer to the 1/4" input on my 4-track?


Thanks again, guys! 


*****P*E*A*C*E**L*O*V*E**&**B*L*E*S*S*I*N*G*S***** 
David H 


BEST-KEPT SECRET in nutrition & skincare--used by Olympic athletes, 
NFL players, fitness trainers, doctors & cosmeticians 
http://www.reliv.com/us/inside/successtable.html

Your joystick port is actually a midi port. You could get a "joystick port 
to midi" adapter, but I tried that and couldn't get that to work. I now use 
a USB midi adapter (one in one out) and it works great.


>From: "discodave1974" <discodave1974@...>
>Reply-To: CZsynth@yahoogroups.com
>To: CZsynth@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [CZsynth] Re: studio musician needs help
>Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 21:00:17 -0000
>
>Hey, thanks for the advice, guys! (Any additional advice for this
>ignoramus would still be greatly appreciated)
>
>Now, I'm a total newbie as far as MIDI is concerned. I've got the
>cables and that's about it. I also know, or my computer tells me,
>that I've got this Roland wavetable sound card. Can anyone help me
>with the following:
>
>* Of course, I know I need to plug in the keyboard to the sound card.
>BUt there's no MIDI port on the sound card. Is there some sort of
>adaptor you need?
>
>* And then when I'm hooked up, then what? How do I access these
>groovy sounds? Do I have to run an application of some kind?
>
>* How would I hook up the sound card sounds so that I could then
>record them in Jazz?
>
>* And since I want to bounce tracks from the Tascam to the computer
>and back, what kind of cables, connectors, etc. would I use to hook
>up a 1/8" output from my computer to the 1/4" input on my 4-track?
>
>
>Thanks again, guys!
>
>
>*****P*E*A*C*E**L*O*V*E**&**B*L*E*S*S*I*N*G*S*****
>David H
>
>
>BEST-KEPT SECRET in nutrition & skincare--used by Olympic athletes,
>NFL players, fitness trainers, doctors & cosmeticians
>http://www.reliv.com/us/inside/successtable.html
>
>




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hi dave,

questions, questions...

> * Of course, I know I need to plug in the keyboard to the sound card. 
> BUt there's no MIDI port on the sound card. Is there some sort of 
> adaptor you need? 

yes. creative supplied one with my soundblaster live, and it works.

> * And then when I'm hooked up, then what? How do I access these 
> groovy sounds? Do I have to run an application of some kind? 

yes, any, eg jazz.

> * How would I hook up the sound card sounds so that I could then 
> record them in Jazz?

select "gm bank" or the like, access a channel, select a sound, and start
playing.

> * And since I want to bounce tracks from the Tascam to the computer 
> and back, what kind of cables, connectors, etc. would I use to hook 
> up a 1/8" output from my computer to the 1/4" input on my 4-track?

hmmm, for flexibility, that would require a mixer. i have a fostex 2016
that works quite well... behringer is reported to have excellent quality
for low prices... connect the (hopefully stereo) line out to the tascam
line in in vice versa.

hellmuth

> JAZZ is a freeware sequencer that does quite a lot
> of things, even audio!


Does anybody know if there are any midi secquecners
out there for Macs that are any good?

Nate

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> Does anybody know if there are any midi secquecners
> out there for Macs that are any good?


Logic Audio.

--- In CZsynth@y..., "john w." <spookytrees@y...> wrote:

> Does anybody know if there are any midi secquecners
> out there for Macs that are any good?
> 
> Nate
> 
Hi try

http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/mac/MIDI_SEQUENCERS/
for a sample of MIDI-Sequenzers for Mac. Some are free/ 
shareware or demos.

The 2 Giants out there:
www.steinberg.net
www.emagic.de/english/news/index.html

both came up with really good toolz, try both, its up to you which 
software will fit best 4 U.

I recommend Cubasis VST 2.0 for Mac - 48 Audio/ 64 Midi tracks, 
sound modules & drum machine..., it's cheap, easy and you can 
upgrade at any time. 
price from 49 - 69 US$ (or 37 - 60 EUR).

emagics micrologic AV has unlimited MIDI-tracks but 16 Audio 
only. p: 99 EUR.

BUT emagic was sold to apple in 7/02 with a big bang, lets see if 
OSX 10.5 will feature some add-ons fro the Sequenzers ;-)