Casio CZ-1

Polyphony: 16 voices;
Oscillators: 2 per voice (DCO, DCW, DCA);
Keyboard: 61 keys with velocity and aftertouch;
Memory: 64 preset, 64 user patches, 64 patch external cartridge;
Effects: Chorus;
Control: MIDI;
Date: 1986

It's got balls. It's got grit. It can beat a Yamaha DX-7 at its own game and emulate all the cheesyness of a commodore 64. "Oh but it's a Casio!". If that's how you think then sit the fuck down because you don't know what you're talking about.

The CZ-1 is the king of the Casio CZ synthesizers. The flagship of a very powerful series of professional instruments from a company best known for their digital watches and chord organs. Until 1988 Casio had a line of professional grade instruments that knocked the socks off of the competition. For example, the FZ-1 digital sampling synthesizer couldn't be touched by anything in it's price range and to this date you cannot find a sampler with the powerful looping and envelope functions this machine had.

The CZ series synthesizers used a unique form of synthesis called Phase Distortion Synthesis (PD). The PD synthesis has this super funky vibe to it. Some waveforms get gritty at certain settings but sometimes this is just what you want. I've gotten some very interesting distorted guitar tones by using waves 6-8 in 1+1 mode with ring modulation. I love synths that can be programmed into overdrive. For a synth with no VCF it can be very colorful. A huge range of tones can be had by messing with the waves types and the wave envelope. Velocity can also be used for wave envelope level which allows you to create sounds with spectral dynamics. This is particularly good for clav and bass sounds where you want a very complicated sharp attack when played hard. The overall range of sounds is amazing once you get into tweaking the synth engine. It is suprisingly powerful. I've created some seriously brutal basses, giant synth leads that would make the biggest analog fanatic sit up in his seat. Conversly, you can create quite a variety of sweet digital sounds. This machine simply rocks for bells and metallic percussion. It does nice organs and pads but it's hard to get a convincing string sound. When you cross over to the dark-side it's simply a blast. Grinding, distorted, discordant sounds and wacked-out pitch sweeps are childsplay.

I love all the 8 segment envelope generators. All of Casio's Pro instruments had them and they are the bomb. It's too bad other synth manufacturers didn't follow Casio's lead here. Casio did some very ground-breaking things with their pro synthesizers that you cannot find anywhere else. It is possible that the lawsuit against them by Yamaha forced them to drop the Pro music market but I suppose we'll never really know. I think Casio should get off their collective asses and start remanufacturing all their old gear. It's about time the synth industry had some good ideas again.

Midi mods and an examination of the PD engine
A short movie demonstrating the CZ-1