Full Tracks, Extended Jams, Sample Packs: www.patreon.com/audiopilz Support the channel regardless of what your G.A.S. tells you to buy: EU: www.thomann.de/de/index.html?offid=1&affid=3105 US: link.perfectcircuit.com/t/v1/8-12626-261103-9759
Just sold my CZ-1 I feel the more crunch 101 and 1000 sound better. I have a 1000 but it needs to be repaired....meh I would rather just wait for a clone or Casio to remake it.
How do you get so many memes in your videos? Do you use an algorithm or something? Otherwise it seems like it would take hours of editing to do that manually.
WOW! Never in a million years did I think my little hobby project CZ/PL 88 would make it onto Bad Gear! Thanks for the shoutout, and I'm glad you found it useful! Love the episode!
dude, the CZ PL mini 88 is amazing!! whenever i show it to people, i always start with, “not sure how they were able to pull this off, but the guy who designed this must be a genius”. brought new life to my CZ-1, CZ-101, and reface DX!!
At the first glance, this episode of Bad Gear is ticking all the "pause - meme - pause - meme - pause - missed it, wait 2 seconds and rewind 5 - pause - ah yes good meme" boxes
@@airwindows Yeah, I had to stop and rewind quite a bit. But, there is always the option to replay at half speed. Or just do the RED Bull stuff. He is an Austrian.
A CZ 5000 was my second synth. What you miss about that eight stage envelope generator is the ability to prank other musicians. After the usual ADSR, I added a decay-attack-decay tail to it. The fellow came in, played it a bit, enjoyed the patch, and then suddenly, BLIP-BLOOP-BLIPPETY-BLIP as the envelopes completed. "What?? Did I break it? I only played it!" The hardest part was holding a straight face after I he stopped playing.
The 8 stage envelopes were actually easy to use, since you didn't have to use all stages. Only when needed you had to use all stages, but mosttimes 2 were enough.
@@doordedeur I just sold my Waldorf Microwave. Those multi stage envelope were inscrutable and never did what you expected of them. 😀 The CZ ones seems better.
@@nhand42 it’s one of those things that absolutely baffled me that they didn’t keep developing that line, today’s market would love an expanded PD system I’m sure of it. Jack it up to about 100 waves and add a 3rd pair of oscs and it would be absolutely amazing
@@theorize999 It's probably because Casio is mostly known for their low-end, almost toy-ish entry-level stuff, so when they do make something a bit more upmarket people tend to look the other way. Heck, until watching this I didn't even know Casio made anything that sounded this good. It's the same reason why Toyota originally started Lexus to sell their upscale luxury models outside of Japan. People tend to automatically assume quality based on brand name. The average person doesn't want a Toyota badge on their six figure full size luxury sedan because they think it makes it look cheap. Same thing with synths - in the synth world, the average person sees "Casio" and thinks "I mashed those keys as a kid, there's no way it's good for anything other than that".
You just gave my life new direction and meaning! (Ok maybe that is a bit of a exaggerated stretch) But a modern take on phase distortion seems like a good "my first Teensy" project. Thanks for the inspiration.
Hey I put together 200+ intros from this magnific show. Sorry for the spam, but just thought it needed to be done and might be of interest, big ups Florian!
The CZ series looked really cool and had a really nice alternative synth architecture, but plastic cabinets and terrible keybeds were apparently just too much of the Casio brand. 🤷♂️ I had a friend with a CZ-5000 a year or two before I got my D-50, but with the internal sequencer and so forth, my friend was still able to do all kinds of incredibly cool things that I had to get a bunch of outboard gear to do! So… I guess I won? 😂
Behringer is actually working on a clone. The question is, if they can get it right: The CZs can a play sounds, that cannot be programmed on them - they have some secret waveforms and modes only accessible via sysex.
The Zorro of the DAWless world. The Avenger of the Synth universe. The MythBuster synthfluencer. As always, killer review, timeless memes and on point delivery. We collectively live for these moments. Long live Bad Gear. All Hail @AudioPliz
I love Arturia's CZ V which is the plugin version of the Casio CZ-1 and CZ-101 and it fixes a lot of the issues people have with the actual hardware and upgrades it immensely. To me the CZ series is a nostalgia machine and can be a cool little tool you can throw into any song IMO
It was my first synth. Idk if someone already mentioned this in the comments, but it has a 4 voice multitimbral mode. So I used to use an Alesis MMT-8 to control it, including changing patches, with four different voices simultaneously. Lots of power for cheap!
Got a CZ1000, best toy synth ever. Perfect marriage of cheese and fat, yet well rounded, grittyness. Definitely well primed for cloning with an updated, improved front end. Also hear there's some good plugin versions of these about, though not taken the time to properly compare as of yet.
Ha! Brilliant video as usual; a perverse side effect… being an on-going education into these older synth designs and approaches. So worth it.😊 and excellent jam at 6:30 and beyond!
I bought my first synth 1985, the Casio CZ5000 at Mels Closet off Vaness and Santa Monica. I really liked it because it rivaled the DX7 but a lot cheaper. I think I bought it for $400. Multi Timbrel, 8 track sequencer with looping. Great learning experience. But, whenever I'd show up at an audtion, because it was a Casio, they would say, " sounds like a toy" and the name Casio wouldn't look right on stage lol. Also I love the VZ 1.
Funny l got my first synth in 2022, a great shape CZ5000 paid $37 for it. Was a guitarist who got arthritis and switched to keybds. Now have DX7 II and D-550.
Sweet, glad you did a video on the CZ101 (or Cheezy 101). I actually really love this little synth, and while it isn't great to program, it's engine is capable of some pretty awesome sounds, especially for its price. It would be sweet if Casio made a modern version of this, perhaps with a few knobs or sliders. I would definitely buy one!
This was first synth! I bought it secondhand and ran it through an old Digitech RP-200. Unfortunately the motherboard burned out a few years after I got it but at least I got to use it on some of my earlier tracks.
Spectacular jam with the car animation. I am starting to study your composing techniques now, I can learn a bit. It's the 3rd level sequencing and fill-in riffs I've never worked out a method for.
YES!!! I love the CZ101. When I was in my late teens I started a band with a mate and got my cousin into it on keyboard. I remember zipping around the city with him and my mate in my mates car looking for a good synth. For the money he had the CZ101 was the best thing we could find. He kept that thing for years and at the tie we thought it sounded great. I would love to get one of these but they are pricey in good condition and for what they are. Great vid as always. If Mario Mathy has one it can't be bad!
I have a CZ-230s which is the 101 without the onboard sound editing. Good thing the sysex can load and dump patches. To0 bad several of the cheap keys have broken.
@@DesignedbyWill2084 the earlier mt models have separate keys like the cz-101 but later models like the mt-520, 220, 205, 207 etc (usually the models with the superdrums or sound stick trigger inputs) will have identical moulded keysets as the cz-230s
Casio makes great instruments! The CZ line, and Phase Distortion, was developed from a prototype made for TOMITA, called the "Cosmo Synthesizer". It was a tall rack-mount case full of modules. Tomita used the Cosmo Synth during his live performances. What a cool legacy for this classic synth.
I've listened to two interviews, one in German, the other in English. As a fan of the channel let me provide some feedback points nobody ever asked for :D - The idea of 'Rad Gear' at the first glance is ticking all the boxes, however Bad Gear is a brand now. You can review all gear under Bad Gear. With _every_ _gear_ it is true that someone's good gear is another one's bad gear. Also TH-cam is inundated with videos either praising gear like every one of them were the next holy grail or just straight up b***ing about them, typically with the youtuber doing a stupid face in the thumbnail with text like "TRASH!". I love Bad Gear because of it's more or less impartial and balanced review style. Can't wait to see the Access Virus, or an OG Jupiter-8 to be featured on Bad Gear. - I always thought Florian's mother tongue is English with an Austrian accent. The German language interview destroyed that world of mine T_T. The Weaver Beats interview restored it. - Whatever direction it goes I wish the channel all the best, I tend to look forward to Friday afternoons, and not for the reasons most people do ;) The production quality of these videos don't get enough credit - the immense amount of meme edits and the actual good, quality music being made with 'bad gear'. Unlike the other gear review 'gods' who are very thorough in their introduction of the features but the demonstrations are just usually random beeps and boops and never actual music that would inspire. I hope the quality will remain!
I love CZs. Have 2 CZ101's and a CZ1000, one was given to my friend by a member of Styx back in the 80's and passed on to me in '95. They are so easy to dial in nice basic sounds.
I thinks the VZ lost the plot with PD synthesis. With the VZ Casio tried to emulate FM operators and such, whereas the CZ-series was based on the layout of analog synthesizers. The Roland D-50 came out in the same year as the VZ-1, so the VZ-1 never got a chance to sell.
@@doordedeur see i came here to say i'm much more interested in something developed from the VZs. the CZs are pretty cool historically and especially had a place for people like me who couldn't afford hardly anything in the 90s. but i wouldn't go out of my way for them or a hardware clone today--i think even free i'd have a hard time justifying the occupied space (especially any of the non-101 models!).
I got the Hohner HS-2/e, which is a clone, of sorts. Well, actually, it's the exact same thing, but with a different brand, and it's silver. Managed to snatch it at a good price, because not many people know it about. It's in excellent condition, except for the LCD backlight. I have a replacement for that, but because it's entirely possibly to permanently damage your LCD (there's a TH-cam video where this happens), I'm very reluctant to do this.
The Bowen Solaris was updated some time ago to add Phase Distortion to the OSC modes so there is an option out there already for those with the budget to afford one.
As someone who uses the CZ-1 and VZ-1 (and the CZ/PL 88) for everything, I'm biased, but I think these were some of your best-sounding jams. I can't wait for the HZ, FZ, and VZ episodes.
FINALLY! The king of 80s cheap synths makes it to Bad Gear! My brother bought one of these in the 80s around the same time I bought my first digital synth (a DX100). Personally, I think he had the cooler synth - what it lacked in polyphony it made up for it by being an inexpensive way to have multitimbrality. Sadly he didn't have it long, selling it and buying a DX27. Years later he would buy one of Casio's home keyboards and is now using it to arrange Church music on his Mac with Garageband. The CZs were pretty ubiquitous in the 80s - very cheap and cheerful. There was even an article in Electronic Musician about how to build a small portable MIDI studio in a toolbox using a CZ101 and a small hardware sequencer. For those jonesing for Phase Distortion synth goodness for your DAW, Plugin Boutique's homegrown VirtualCZ should be your go-to. As well as emulating the CZ family of synths in one virtual instrument, it also can load any CZ sysex file for added fun. It might make for a great followup video pitting an actual CZ against VirtualCZ and compare between the two.
I have CZ-101 and CZ-5000 and I love them. They don't look like that but they can produce so complex sounds! 8 step envelope on oscillator when most synths have no osc env at all? There's total 6 of these complex envelopes, your sounds can evolve for months! Ok, that's probably exaggerated, but for much longer than usual ADSR synth. LFO is limited to vibrato, true, but square wave with 12 semitones makes nice 80's bass and you need just one finger! There's so many things about this synth that it never ceases to amaze me what it has to offer. People can praise it all day long and it still would be underrated by most.
The CZ-101 fucks. My buddy who owned every synth ever built kept his CZ-101 running because it could just be thrown in there and do the good work. Casio was like Panasonic. They always made cheap stuff, but it was never junk.
My Casio MT240 is one of the best sounding keyboards I've ever owned. I got one out of the garbage once. Scooped one up for 10 bucks at a thrift store. Now a pawn shop in the next town over has one in the box for 150 bucks. Tempting. Not to mention my SK1 that I got at Goodwill for 4 bucks when Goodwill was still a thrift store and not a price gouging ebay seller. Anyway yeah, old Casios have a special place in my heart. I'm gonna be on the lookout for one of these.
I owned the CZ-1 and it was my go to stage board, even if just as my main controller of midi. No this is when I had Moogs, sequentials, oberhiems, Korg, Roland, and ensoniqs. I actually opted for the CZ-1 over the DX7. It was a great synth, super underrated. Should have kept it.
A brilliant instrument from the era when having complex envelopes instead of crappy ADSRs was still a thing. Programming is easy if you'll spend an afternoon reading the manual and learn to explore the thing. Still making new and exceptional sounds thirty-nine years later.
To best of my knowledge there are no HW synth that can meet/beat CZ series with envelopes. Some Vst's have similar/better but it just not the same thing. Of course things like UI and MIDI could be better these says, but compared to other synths of it era (like Dx7) CZ was breeze to make sounds.
@@DIYTAO I've got a CZ101 and the envelopes are great but I did used to own a GEM S2 and it had seven stage looping envelopes. Fantastic for moving, evolving pads.
I normally struggle with some of the overtones with PD synthesis, but that wasn’t the case in this video! I don’t know if you just always do a high-cut that handled it, but thank you. I always liked the timbres these produced _except_ for those ultra squeaky harmonics from the aforementioned sample rate changes. Which isn’t a problem in final tracks but certainly is when playing live!
I was in a 90s electronic duo that cranked out about 30 tracks with this synth, a Korg M1, and a rack sampler (mostly for drums loops from the classic Xstatic Goldmine sample library)
@@BatteryCoverMissing there are a few bits and pieces floating around YT Search terms like Lovecraft Florida Techno Titles include: Oxygen, Cheshire Cat, Drop Out also look for the name Robert Intile (Cheshire Cat was our most popular song, we used to close most of our sets with it) Robert Intile was the main songwriter. We played like 150 live sets from 92-96, but we have almost no recordings to show for it, lol. I don't think it ever occured to us that we'd want to hear our shows again. It seems like every time I try to link to something in the comments, it disappears, so search terms might work better
if you connect it to a software editor that gives you simultaneous visual access to all the envelopes, it becomes a totally different synth. amazing for minutes-long-evolving semi-atonal stuff, and the envelopes are polyphonic, so pressing a new key while holding down others starts off a whole new sound event. a version of the cz with a proper interface for the envelopes would be a lot of fun!
Has anybody done a mod that creates four separate outputs rather than the single output? My recollection is that the synth could be driven by a sequencer to produce four channel multi-timberality, but it’s summed to a single output
You're right that there's a 4 track multi timbral mode, but it's not possible to split the sounds apart, even with heavy modding. The sounds are all created in a single processor, even in multi-timbral mode, and go onto a single digital analogue converter; there aren't 4 different DCOs that you could tap to get the separate sounds.
I am 90% sure the CZ or Cosmo branding was a reference ro the old yamaha CS synths. Sure rhey were going after the DX7 as well, but this synth engine is so much easier to get a good sound out of.
CZ-1000 was one of my first. Mine had something wrong with it where the patch settings would go outside of their normal range. Made for some really cool glitch sounds.
For those who want a perhaps more accessible taste of phase distortion, the free Digits softsynth is great, as is the CAIN CZ custom oscillator for the Korg *logue synth family.
The Casio CZ series is such an peculiar array of beasts. Found in so many songs from the '80s. Yet we always just give credit to Yamaha. I actually tend to prefer the darker, more growly sound.
I wouldn't say it's anywhere near the best synth, but it's the one I love the most, because it's the one that started it all for me and my band Plasmingo. I don't have a real one any more, but a plug-in version is present in many our songs in some capacity.
My first synth as a teen, CZ 1000. When we moved my parents sold it without my knowledge. Got to my new home and no Casio. Almost 4 decades later my resentment lingers 🤬
dude I had no idea this cz/pl88 thing existed, pre ordered mine immediately for my cz-1. I bought it to replicate songs from an 80's synthpop/punk band from Chile called los prisioneros, and always wanted to extend its palette. Thank you my Austrian friend.
I really like phase distortion. If anyone is interested, there are a few Eurorack modules using it. Warpcore and ALM Cizzle spring to mind, if you want to try it, Warpcore is available for free as a VCV module and it's a cracking VCO! Cizzle is also out for VCV, not free but pretty cheap compared to real synths or most commercial emulations. Cheers!
Great video as always. The PD engine is capable of a lot more than many realise, and it’s pretty trivial to master (despite the UI). It can spit out pretty horrific industrial D&B bass patches with ease and can do a decent job of acid.
Casio Chaos theory did a side by side between the CZ101 and CZ1 - they sounded pretty identical and the minor differences could well just be the variation between components in any two identical models, especially after nearly forty years.
Damn! You did it. ❤ I think I suggested this a few or more years ago. I still have the CZ101 I bought when I was 15. VirtualCZ is the best thing that happened in the last 20 years (in these particular circumstances, no warranty implied). NICE
In one swoop I found a CZ1000 and CZ1 for a few hundred bucks each (the big one was so cheap I couldn't not buy it) and while I don't play them as much as I should, they do have a really warm sound, and reward tinkering around. But JFC even if the midi implementation was workable (the early ones don't even respond to MIDI velocity...), the resistance to real time modifications is surreal.
I've been saying for decades that Casio could make a huge comeback by rebooting their classic beloved keyboards. I'd love a new version of the VL-1 with patch points built in for circuit bending noise.
Some fancy producer needs to let you into their studio to do Bad Gear episodes on vintage units of the Prophet-5, CS-80, Minimoog, and OB-X. Then we can finally come full circle
One of the first good synths I ever owned. I found a bunch of patches and used midi quest to dump a bunch of great sounds into it. I thought I was Vangelis after doing that. Mine had an optional cigarette burn on it!
I'm kind of surprised the CZ-101 hadn't appeared on here before now. I have the CZ-1000, it trades the 101's mini keys for full size ones and but the rest of the buttons are membrane switches. Fun little synth, the envelopes are surprisingly complex!
I've had mine for 30-ish years now. For big sine subbasses, it really does the job. Pads...yep. But the neat thing is that it's a small device with big power; once you wrap your brain around PD Synthesis, this thing can wail. DO get a memory cart, though. Also, EMW Synthesizers out of Brazil made (and might still make) an ingenious little box specifically for churning out quasi-random CheeZy patches...very useful for spitting out patch data that can be tweaked into major wins. Definitely easier than cooking up CZ patches from scratch. The wild thing, though, is Isao Tomita's participation in it. Tomita worked with the CZ precursor, the COSMOS, which was a large rack-mounted affair intended as a development system. This didn't stop him from loading it into a suspended glass pyramid at an Ars Electronica Linz show in the early 1980s for a legendary live set.
I found one of these on the sidewalk after someone had apparently cleaned out their studio. I loved the sounds but could never figure out which buttons were still actually working and which ones were broken.... Very similar to a cz-5000 a friend gave me that had been completely painted over as a prop in a movie. Great sounds but impossible to program. Passed both of them on during my own synth purges.
Yeah I get that feeling too, like he's come in the middle of the night and ransacked my studio, like some kind of reverse Santa Claus That takes your toys but gives you a proof of life video. Still, I have a few toys he hasn't touched yet, though that list is getting shorter and truth be told if I was in Europe I would gladly loan him those pieces of gear just so he could do his magic with it.
@@AudioPilz Oh but it is. And you just rocked the CZ in a way that shamed me. Satoshi & Makoto with a hard driving beat! Well done! And yes, my dream is to change parameters without the stutter!
My first "not a total toy" synth ever was "arranger-like" Casio CT 670. It had so many cool features for a kid in 1988. And while it is probably a joke now, it did have a few really strong digital goodies in it. Then, enter CZ. What a monster! Just listen to that bass in your intro track. I had both DX7 and this and CZ230. I still prefer 230 in some aspects. I think OG Reese bass was made on CZ range.
PD is actually a limited form of FM - simplified and very easy to manipulate! The CZ-101 sounded great (and still does) - just needs a decent reverb and it sounds electro warm and almost analogue. Handy trick with the CZ - if you unplug/plug in the power cable really quickly - it'll sometimes glitch the settings - writing random values into the patches that you normally can't write (UI band aid e.t.c) - u can get some CRAZY sounds!
@@saulcross9690 No I'm not "thinking of phase modulation". Having written PD and FM DSP in the past - both are very very similar. PD remaps the linear phase into whatever you want, FM modulates the phase into whatever you want with another OSC. Hence the reason I said it's a limited form of PD,
@@zardozjones seriously from a point of view of signal theory, not the same or particularly similar, but I love that you feel strongly enough to argue about it. I would certainly agree with you if you were talking about the VZ series interactive phase distortion which did use a modulator and carrier, but with PD it is a single digital oscillator and the distortion uses functions that change how the wave is read across its cycle, no modulator required and nothing to do with changing the frequency of the oscillator at audio rates or otherwise.
@@saulcross9690 They both change the phase signal directly and are *extremely* similar - they do this because change in phase = frequency e.t.c.. The fact that one syncs its Phase changes across the wave form cycle is irrelevant. FM should have been called Phase modulation since that's *exactly* what is does. So there you have it - PD is in fact a form of FM, and FM is a naive and clumsy and hard to use form of PD.
@@zardozjones it really isn’t. True FM is one oscillator (modulator) altering the frequency of another (carrier) and this is actually how fm works in analogue signals. Analogous to FM in digital signals is phase modulation (the phase of one oscillator is modulated by the output of another). Phase distortion is not phase modulation, it simply uses a maths function/algorithm to change the way in which a digital waveform is scanned/read through a single cycle, but the period of that cycle is nit changed and it is not operated on in the frequency domain. Phase and frequency are not the same things; a sine wave at nHz frequency is the same as a cosine wave at nHz frequency with a phase shift of 90 degrees or a quarter of a cycle if you prefer, so the sine and cosine have different phases, but the frequency is nHz for both; therefore phase and frequency are not the same thing at all. There may be similarities in implementation when you code a PD and a PM synth, but the application and the results are very different. That said, I won’t argue with you any further as I am certain that it is a waste of both my time and yours.
You can have my CZ101... when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. No other hardware can do what the CZ series does and no software has the same weighty sound. If I was ever deprived of mine I wouldn't hesitate to buy another. It might seem like a good idea to buy a back-up but I don't want to make the old girl jealous.
Full Tracks, Extended Jams, Sample Packs:
www.patreon.com/audiopilz
Support the channel regardless of what your G.A.S. tells you to buy:
EU: www.thomann.de/de/index.html?offid=1&affid=3105
US: link.perfectcircuit.com/t/v1/8-12626-261103-9759
Thank youvfor weaving and epic episode, Mr. Mushroom (playing veryvend of Super Mario theme on CZ101).
What about the whole Korg Kaoss line? are they too bad to even be featured on this show? Or not even considered real instruments?
Just sold my CZ-1 I feel the more crunch 101 and 1000 sound better. I have a 1000 but it needs to be repaired....meh I would rather just wait for a clone or Casio to remake it.
@InvisibleAcropolis Fully, cannot be too much of an effort, even Casio could make them as a toy.
How do you get so many memes in your videos? Do you use an algorithm or something? Otherwise it seems like it would take hours of editing to do that manually.
WOW! Never in a million years did I think my little hobby project CZ/PL 88 would make it onto Bad Gear! Thanks for the shoutout, and I'm glad you found it useful! Love the episode!
Wow, such a great unit. Thank you so much for bringing it to the world!!!
Your "little hobby project" is such an essential piece for me; I was thrilled to see it in this episode. Thanks for your work!
Same here! Much appreciated. The arpeggiator is good to use on other synths, it has patches for the DX7 and more. It’s a great piece to own.
Nothing is safe from him
dude, the CZ PL mini 88 is amazing!! whenever i show it to people, i always start with, “not sure how they were able to pull this off, but the guy who designed this must be a genius”. brought new life to my CZ-1, CZ-101, and reface DX!!
Within a day of you posting this my CZ-101 that’s been sitting on reverb for a month sold. Thanks Florian!
😔😔😔
At the first glance, this episode of Bad Gear is ticking all the "pause - meme - pause - meme - pause - missed it, wait 2 seconds and rewind 5 - pause - ah yes good meme" boxes
I can't read any of them, they're too fast :)
@@airwindows Yeah, I had to stop and rewind quite a bit. But, there is always the option to replay at half speed. Or just do the RED Bull stuff.
He is an Austrian.
I watch them all twice.
@@greganderson3096 as you should!
😀😀😀
A CZ 5000 was my second synth. What you miss about that eight stage envelope generator is the ability to prank other musicians. After the usual ADSR, I added a decay-attack-decay tail to it. The fellow came in, played it a bit, enjoyed the patch, and then suddenly, BLIP-BLOOP-BLIPPETY-BLIP as the envelopes completed. "What?? Did I break it? I only played it!" The hardest part was holding a straight face after I he stopped playing.
Nice technique😂😂😂
The 8 stage envelopes were actually easy to use, since you didn't have to use all stages. Only when needed you had to use all stages, but mosttimes 2 were enough.
Lol 😂
@@doordedeur I just sold my Waldorf Microwave. Those multi stage envelope were inscrutable and never did what you expected of them. 😀 The CZ ones seems better.
“This synth was given to me by my father! Who is Gabe Newell! I’m gonna need some compensation, bub.”
I love Casio so much. Not pretentious. Not exclusive. The everyman synth.
True that!
@@nhand42 it’s one of those things that absolutely baffled me that they didn’t keep developing that line, today’s market would love an expanded PD system I’m sure of it. Jack it up to about 100 waves and add a 3rd pair of oscs and it would be absolutely amazing
Especially the VL-1 :)
@@theorize999
It's probably because Casio is mostly known for their low-end, almost toy-ish entry-level stuff, so when they do make something a bit more upmarket people tend to look the other way. Heck, until watching this I didn't even know Casio made anything that sounded this good.
It's the same reason why Toyota originally started Lexus to sell their upscale luxury models outside of Japan. People tend to automatically assume quality based on brand name. The average person doesn't want a Toyota badge on their six figure full size luxury sedan because they think it makes it look cheap. Same thing with synths - in the synth world, the average person sees "Casio" and thinks "I mashed those keys as a kid, there's no way it's good for anything other than that".
The Burzum synth!!!!!
It's actually THE instrument for dungeon synth stuff. 👍
You just gave my life new direction and meaning! (Ok maybe that is a bit of a exaggerated stretch) But a modern take on phase distortion seems like a good "my first Teensy" project. Thanks for the inspiration.
Always a pleasure, happy to hear that!
I had a CZ1000 as a kid. The sound of the oscillators are forever engraved in my memory.
Hey I put together 200+ intros from this magnific show. Sorry for the spam, but just thought it needed to be done and might be of interest, big ups Florian!
Classic!!!
Yes...the CZ-101 finally made the list! I love my little CZ. I keep wishing Casio would bring it back.
Nice!!! Agreed!!!
The CZ series looked really cool and had a really nice alternative synth architecture, but plastic cabinets and terrible keybeds were apparently just too much of the Casio brand. 🤷♂️ I had a friend with a CZ-5000 a year or two before I got my D-50, but with the internal sequencer and so forth, my friend was still able to do all kinds of incredibly cool things that I had to get a bunch of outboard gear to do!
So… I guess I won? 😂
Behringer is actually working on a clone.
The question is, if they can get it right: The CZs can a play sounds, that cannot be programmed
on them - they have some secret waveforms and modes only accessible via sysex.
@@fatimaerdogan8193 where can I find these secret waveforms? I edit my cz5000 with sysex all the time but haven't heard of those.
Details are on the sperlunking website @@eddfromearth
The Zorro of the DAWless world. The Avenger of the Synth universe. The MythBuster synthfluencer.
As always, killer review, timeless memes and on point delivery.
We collectively live for these moments.
Long live Bad Gear. All Hail @AudioPliz
❤️❤️❤️Thank you so much!!!❤️❤️❤️
Synthfluencer.... genius
I love Arturia's CZ V which is the plugin version of the Casio CZ-1 and CZ-101 and it fixes a lot of the issues people have with the actual hardware and upgrades it immensely.
To me the CZ series is a nostalgia machine and can be a cool little tool you can throw into any song IMO
It was my first synth. Idk if someone already mentioned this in the comments, but it has a 4 voice multitimbral mode. So I used to use an Alesis MMT-8 to control it, including changing patches, with four different voices simultaneously. Lots of power for cheap!
MMT-8 was my first (and only) hardware sequencer! Got replaced with Cubase 2.0 on Atari after a few years.
I concur, The multi channel mode on the cz is awesome
Got a CZ1000, best toy synth ever. Perfect marriage of cheese and fat, yet well rounded, grittyness. Definitely well primed for cloning with an updated, improved front end. Also hear there's some good plugin versions of these about, though not taken the time to properly compare as of yet.
These are some of my favorite old synths. Love the sound of phase distortion synths.
These and the poly-800 made a nice pair.
Ha! Brilliant video as usual; a perverse side effect… being an on-going education into these older synth designs and approaches. So worth it.😊 and excellent jam at 6:30 and beyond!
Thank you!!!
I bought my first synth 1985, the Casio CZ5000 at Mels Closet off Vaness and
Santa Monica. I really liked it because it rivaled the DX7 but a lot cheaper. I think I bought it for $400. Multi Timbrel, 8 track sequencer with looping. Great learning experience. But, whenever I'd show up at an audtion, because it was a Casio, they would say, " sounds like a toy" and the name Casio wouldn't look right on stage lol. Also I love the VZ 1.
Funny l got my first synth in 2022, a great shape CZ5000 paid $37 for it. Was a guitarist who got arthritis and switched to keybds. Now have DX7 II and D-550.
Maybe put some duct tape on it;)
My very first synthesizer! Happy memories...
Sweet, glad you did a video on the CZ101 (or Cheezy 101). I actually really love this little synth, and while it isn't great to program, it's engine is capable of some pretty awesome sounds, especially for its price. It would be sweet if Casio made a modern version of this, perhaps with a few knobs or sliders. I would definitely buy one!
This was first synth! I bought it secondhand and ran it through an old Digitech RP-200.
Unfortunately the motherboard burned out a few years after I got it but at least I got to use it on some of my earlier tracks.
These Casio phase distortion synths are a big part of the sound of Carbon Based Lifeforms :) there's genres in which this flavor works super well…
Hey Chris, big fan of your work here! I didn't know that about Carbon Based Lifeforms but it definitely figures. Cheers!
Thank you for making such incredible software and for making it affordable! You are truly a gifted and kind person, wish you the best.
Spectacular jam with the car animation. I am starting to study your composing techniques now, I can learn a bit. It's the 3rd level sequencing and fill-in riffs I've never worked out a method for.
Thank you! In all honesty there’s little method to the madness
I acquired myself a CZ synth yesterday and today Florian hits me with this video. What are the odds.
Wow!!!
YES!!! I love the CZ101. When I was in my late teens I started a band with a mate and got my cousin into it on keyboard. I remember zipping around the city with him and my mate in my mates car looking for a good synth. For the money he had the CZ101 was the best thing we could find. He kept that thing for years and at the tie we thought it sounded great.
I would love to get one of these but they are pricey in good condition and for what they are.
Great vid as always. If Mario Mathy has one it can't be bad!
Thank you so much!!!
I have a CZ-230s which is the 101 without the onboard sound editing. Good thing the sysex can load and dump patches. To0 bad several of the cheap keys have broken.
Just swap the keys out from a really cheap casiotone like a mt-205 or mt-220 etc
@@DesignedbyWill2084 the earlier mt models have separate keys like the cz-101 but later models like the mt-520, 220, 205, 207 etc (usually the models with the superdrums or sound stick trigger inputs) will have identical moulded keysets as the cz-230s
Nice!!!
Casio makes great instruments! The CZ line, and Phase Distortion, was developed from a prototype made for TOMITA, called the "Cosmo Synthesizer". It was a tall rack-mount case full of modules. Tomita used the Cosmo Synth during his live performances. What a cool legacy for this classic synth.
Wow, thank you for the heads up!
I've listened to two interviews, one in German, the other in English. As a fan of the channel let me provide some feedback points nobody ever asked for :D
- The idea of 'Rad Gear' at the first glance is ticking all the boxes, however Bad Gear is a brand now. You can review all gear under Bad Gear. With _every_ _gear_ it is true that someone's good gear is another one's bad gear. Also TH-cam is inundated with videos either praising gear like every one of them were the next holy grail or just straight up b***ing about them, typically with the youtuber doing a stupid face in the thumbnail with text like "TRASH!". I love Bad Gear because of it's more or less impartial and balanced review style. Can't wait to see the Access Virus, or an OG Jupiter-8 to be featured on Bad Gear.
- I always thought Florian's mother tongue is English with an Austrian accent. The German language interview destroyed that world of mine T_T. The Weaver Beats interview restored it.
- Whatever direction it goes I wish the channel all the best, I tend to look forward to Friday afternoons, and not for the reasons most people do ;) The production quality of these videos don't get enough credit - the immense amount of meme edits and the actual good, quality music being made with 'bad gear'. Unlike the other gear review 'gods' who are very thorough in their introduction of the features but the demonstrations are just usually random beeps and boops and never actual music that would inspire. I hope the quality will remain!
Great input, thank you so much!!!
I love CZs. Have 2 CZ101's and a CZ1000, one was given to my friend by a member of Styx back in the 80's and passed on to me in '95. They are so easy to dial in nice basic sounds.
"Not so authentic pseudo acoustic patches" are the best patches.
True that!
Loretta is such a great tune. Also your car anime song was legitimately awesome, great work again!
"Is it time for phase distortion to make a comeback?" Yes. My VZ-10M is shaking in excitement.
Yeah!!!
I thinks the VZ lost the plot with PD synthesis. With the VZ Casio tried to emulate FM operators and such, whereas the CZ-series was based on the layout of analog synthesizers. The Roland D-50 came out in the same year as the VZ-1, so the VZ-1 never got a chance to sell.
@@doordedeur see i came here to say i'm much more interested in something developed from the VZs. the CZs are pretty cool historically and especially had a place for people like me who couldn't afford hardly anything in the 90s. but i wouldn't go out of my way for them or a hardware clone today--i think even free i'd have a hard time justifying the occupied space (especially any of the non-101 models!).
@doordedeur Casio developed PDS to mimic FM synthesis without infringing the patents.
I got the Hohner HS-2/e, which is a clone, of sorts. Well, actually, it's the exact same thing, but with a different brand, and it's silver. Managed to snatch it at a good price, because not many people know it about. It's in excellent condition, except for the LCD backlight. I have a replacement for that, but because it's entirely possibly to permanently damage your LCD (there's a TH-cam video where this happens), I'm very reluctant to do this.
Learned to love keys with my casio in the 80s and loved my calculator watch. Casio's awesome!
The Bowen Solaris was updated some time ago to add Phase Distortion to the OSC modes so there is an option out there already for those with the budget to afford one.
First synth I had in the '80s was the CZ3000, Replaced with the flagship CZ1 which often finds its way into my music.
Nice!!!
My brain must be busted because that Envélope Cruz meme made me laugh way too much.
😂😂😂
My first 'real' synth as a kid! Loved it way back then in the 80s when I was 11 years old!
❤️
As someone who uses the CZ-1 and VZ-1 (and the CZ/PL 88) for everything, I'm biased, but I think these were some of your best-sounding jams. I can't wait for the HZ, FZ, and VZ episodes.
The Casio is strong with this one
Any links to your cz compositions?
FYI there is a great freeware Phase Distortion Casio Emulation Out there called Digits. Made by the PD expert over at the Groovy DSP channel
Thanks for the heads up!!!
FINALLY! The king of 80s cheap synths makes it to Bad Gear!
My brother bought one of these in the 80s around the same time I bought my first digital synth (a DX100). Personally, I think he had the cooler synth - what it lacked in polyphony it made up for it by being an inexpensive way to have multitimbrality. Sadly he didn't have it long, selling it and buying a DX27. Years later he would buy one of Casio's home keyboards and is now using it to arrange Church music on his Mac with Garageband.
The CZs were pretty ubiquitous in the 80s - very cheap and cheerful. There was even an article in Electronic Musician about how to build a small portable MIDI studio in a toolbox using a CZ101 and a small hardware sequencer.
For those jonesing for Phase Distortion synth goodness for your DAW, Plugin Boutique's homegrown VirtualCZ should be your go-to. As well as emulating the CZ family of synths in one virtual instrument, it also can load any CZ sysex file for added fun. It might make for a great followup video pitting an actual CZ against VirtualCZ and compare between the two.
Classic!!!
I have CZ-101 and CZ-5000 and I love them. They don't look like that but they can produce so complex sounds! 8 step envelope on oscillator when most synths have no osc env at all? There's total 6 of these complex envelopes, your sounds can evolve for months! Ok, that's probably exaggerated, but for much longer than usual ADSR synth.
LFO is limited to vibrato, true, but square wave with 12 semitones makes nice 80's bass and you need just one finger!
There's so many things about this synth that it never ceases to amaze me what it has to offer. People can praise it all day long and it still would be underrated by most.
Absolutely love the jams on this episode, especially the final jam! And now I want a synth with a tone like the that. 😅
Thank you!!! Maybe try the Arturia plugin
@@AudioPilz I will, thanks!
The CZ-101 fucks. My buddy who owned every synth ever built kept his CZ-101 running because it could just be thrown in there and do the good work.
Casio was like Panasonic. They always made cheap stuff, but it was never junk.
Nice analogy!!!
My Casio MT240 is one of the best sounding keyboards I've ever owned.
I got one out of the garbage once. Scooped one up for 10 bucks at a thrift store.
Now a pawn shop in the next town over has one in the box for 150 bucks. Tempting.
Not to mention my SK1 that I got at Goodwill for 4 bucks when Goodwill was still a thrift store and not a price gouging ebay seller.
Anyway yeah, old Casios have a special place in my heart. I'm gonna be on the lookout for one of these.
I love bad gear because it reveals that even though so many of these synths are cheap or tedious they all have a charm
Thank you so much!!!
I owned the CZ-1 and it was my go to stage board, even if just as my main controller of midi. No this is when I had Moogs, sequentials, oberhiems, Korg, Roland, and ensoniqs. I actually opted for the CZ-1 over the DX7. It was a great synth, super underrated. Should have kept it.
A brilliant instrument from the era when having complex envelopes instead of crappy ADSRs was still a thing. Programming is easy if you'll spend an afternoon reading the manual and learn to explore the thing. Still making new and exceptional sounds thirty-nine years later.
True that!
To best of my knowledge there are no HW synth that can meet/beat CZ series with envelopes. Some Vst's have similar/better but it just not the same thing.
Of course things like UI and MIDI could be better these says, but compared to other synths of it era (like Dx7) CZ was breeze to make sounds.
@@DIYTAO I've got a CZ101 and the envelopes are great but I did used to own a GEM S2 and it had seven stage looping envelopes. Fantastic for moving, evolving pads.
It’s not the size of your envelopes… 😂
@@JonnyMonday Sounds really good, never seen GEM synths myself. Unfortunately those seem to be even rarer than CZs
I normally struggle with some of the overtones with PD synthesis, but that wasn’t the case in this video! I don’t know if you just always do a high-cut that handled it, but thank you. I always liked the timbres these produced _except_ for those ultra squeaky harmonics from the aforementioned sample rate changes. Which isn’t a problem in final tracks but certainly is when playing live!
Some decent preamps usually do the trick in my experience
@@AudioPilz getting a preamp that catches it sounds much simpler! Here I was imagining how to route it into a VCF with a high cutoff.
It was a 90s bargain bucket synth so appears in loads of acid house and rave tracks, underdog classic.
True!!!
I was in a 90s electronic duo that cranked out about 30 tracks with this synth, a Korg M1, and a rack sampler (mostly for drums loops from the classic Xstatic Goldmine sample library)
@@christheghostwriter any links to these tracks?
@@BatteryCoverMissing there are a few bits and pieces floating around YT
Search terms like
Lovecraft Florida Techno
Titles include: Oxygen, Cheshire Cat, Drop Out
also look for the name Robert Intile (Cheshire Cat was our most popular song, we used to close most of our sets with it)
Robert Intile was the main songwriter. We played like 150 live sets from 92-96, but we have almost no recordings to show for it, lol. I don't think it ever occured to us that we'd want to hear our shows again.
It seems like every time I try to link to something in the comments, it disappears, so search terms might work better
if you connect it to a software editor that gives you simultaneous visual access to all the envelopes, it becomes a totally different synth. amazing for minutes-long-evolving semi-atonal stuff, and the envelopes are polyphonic, so pressing a new key while holding down others starts off a whole new sound event. a version of the cz with a proper interface for the envelopes would be a lot of fun!
Thanks for the heads up!!!
Has anybody done a mod that creates four separate outputs rather than the single output? My recollection is that the synth could be driven by a sequencer to produce four channel multi-timberality, but it’s summed to a single output
You're right that there's a 4 track multi timbral mode, but it's not possible to split the sounds apart, even with heavy modding. The sounds are all created in a single processor, even in multi-timbral mode, and go onto a single digital analogue converter; there aren't 4 different DCOs that you could tap to get the separate sounds.
@@DylanPank71 Sad synthesist wants things to be different😢
@@DylanPank71 But appreciating the explanation😉
These jams were absolutely stellar! The synth seems to agree with your skills 😄
Thank you so much!!!
That car-chase music at 7:21 unironically slaps!
totally agree.... lovley
Thank you!!!
I am 90% sure the CZ or Cosmo branding was a reference ro the old yamaha CS synths. Sure rhey were going after the DX7 as well, but this synth engine is so much easier to get a good sound out of.
Sounds about right!
This is my single favourite synth. Something about the brass sounds just tickles all the foxes for me.
Brass is great on that one!
CZ-1000 was one of my first. Mine had something wrong with it where the patch settings would go outside of their normal range. Made for some really cool glitch sounds.
Interesting!
Satoshi & Makoto made me want a CZ-5000, so I would happily pick up a clone.
😀😀😀
For those who want a perhaps more accessible taste of phase distortion, the free Digits softsynth is great, as is the CAIN CZ custom oscillator for the Korg *logue synth family.
Thanks for the heads up!!!
Yeah dude, i miss my casio cz101.
This has inspired me to go find for a VST emulation. Virtual CZ by Oli Larkin looks good, and it seems there's also an Arturia one.
CZ-1000 was my first synth, back in 1995. I love its sound
😀😀😀
I like this synth. You are onto something to poke manufacturers to remake this cool synthetic and make it more tweakable.
Attack on the Clones!...the title alone must've had the Behringer Bros' ring mods raging!
;)
Love my Cee-Zed. Also have a CT-6500, which is a preset only (kind of) version with full size keys and 2 synth engines !
The Casio CZ series is such an peculiar array of beasts. Found in so many songs from the '80s. Yet we always just give credit to Yamaha. I actually tend to prefer the darker, more growly sound.
Agreed!!!
I wouldn't say it's anywhere near the best synth, but it's the one I love the most, because it's the one that started it all for me and my band Plasmingo. I don't have a real one any more, but a plug-in version is present in many our songs in some capacity.
My first synth as a teen, CZ 1000. When we moved my parents sold it without my knowledge. Got to my new home and no Casio. Almost 4 decades later my resentment lingers 🤬
I feel you❤️❤️❤️
That’s theft.
Lack of respect for your capacity to own things.
@@johnpappas6497 oh, this cuts deep. Thieves, entropy, power surges, a misplaced beverage, even misguided trades… but not parents. Not you, parents.
They were trying to save you from a life of GAS
There are two of them for sale on the Guitar Center Web site as of today.
i really love the sound of Casio phase distortion
dude I had no idea this cz/pl88 thing existed, pre ordered mine immediately for my cz-1. I bought it to replicate songs from an 80's synthpop/punk band from Chile called los prisioneros, and always wanted to extend its palette. Thank you my Austrian friend.
Great product! Thanks!!!
@@AudioPilz correction- **my Australian friend!** 😆😆
I really like phase distortion. If anyone is interested, there are a few Eurorack modules using it. Warpcore and ALM Cizzle spring to mind, if you want to try it, Warpcore is available for free as a VCV module and it's a cracking VCO! Cizzle is also out for VCV, not free but pretty cheap compared to real synths or most commercial emulations. Cheers!
One of your best jams yet, amazing.
Thank you so much!!!
I have the CZ1, it's really awesome but programming it is quite an adventure
Agreed!!!
I'm kind of side eying my old cz-230s right now.......might show it some love....
Definitely!!!
Great video as always. The PD engine is capable of a lot more than many realise, and it’s pretty trivial to master (despite the UI). It can spit out pretty horrific industrial D&B bass patches with ease and can do a decent job of acid.
Thank you!!!
Stop raising prices for gear that was never bad, only cheap
New channel: Cheap Gear?
This channel murders the used market. My synth friends winse and panic when we see one of our less talked about gems show up on a Friday. Balls
It’s usually just a little price hike
A very cool piece and the sound expansion module was awesome. Casio, way ahead of the times. Excellent compositions as always!
Thank you!!! Agreed!!!
For some reason i always felt this synth sounds different than bigger CZs
I’d love to hear them side by side
true, it's rawer and I like that. ( the 1000 is identical though )
Casio Chaos theory did a side by side between the CZ101 and CZ1 - they sounded pretty identical and the minor differences could well just be the variation between components in any two identical models, especially after nearly forty years.
Damn! You did it. ❤ I think I suggested this a few or more years ago. I still have the CZ101 I bought when I was 15. VirtualCZ is the best thing that happened in the last 20 years (in these particular circumstances, no warranty implied). NICE
❤️❤️❤️
The Casio tattoo arm meme was great, but I admit it was sooo much fun playing with the SK1 back in the day.
😀😀😀
In one swoop I found a CZ1000 and CZ1 for a few hundred bucks each (the big one was so cheap I couldn't not buy it) and while I don't play them as much as I should, they do have a really warm sound, and reward tinkering around. But JFC even if the midi implementation was workable (the early ones don't even respond to MIDI velocity...), the resistance to real time modifications is surreal.
I've been saying for decades that Casio could make a huge comeback by rebooting their classic beloved keyboards. I'd love a new version of the VL-1 with patch points built in for circuit bending noise.
Agreed!!!
Also the FIZMO! A completely wild sound engine, kinda unmatched to this day.....
Approve! Brilliant episode covering one of the best little Casios ever made! 👍👍👍
Thank you!!!
Some fancy producer needs to let you into their studio to do Bad Gear episodes on vintage units of the Prophet-5, CS-80, Minimoog, and OB-X. Then we can finally come full circle
th-cam.com/video/eC0pVBllVAY/w-d-xo.html
@@AudioPilz oh hell yeah
@@AudioPilz I would buy a cd of yours on Bandcamp. Just saying.
The Arturia VST emulation of it is really good.
And you had the keyboard version of it last week...
👍👍👍
One of the first good synths I ever owned. I found a bunch of patches and used midi quest to dump a bunch of great sounds into it. I thought I was Vangelis after doing that. Mine had an optional cigarette burn on it!
Nice!!!
I'm kind of surprised the CZ-101 hadn't appeared on here before now. I have the CZ-1000, it trades the 101's mini keys for full size ones and but the rest of the buttons are membrane switches. Fun little synth, the envelopes are surprisingly complex!
Agreed on the envs!
I've had mine for 30-ish years now. For big sine subbasses, it really does the job. Pads...yep. But the neat thing is that it's a small device with big power; once you wrap your brain around PD Synthesis, this thing can wail. DO get a memory cart, though.
Also, EMW Synthesizers out of Brazil made (and might still make) an ingenious little box specifically for churning out quasi-random CheeZy patches...very useful for spitting out patch data that can be tweaked into major wins. Definitely easier than cooking up CZ patches from scratch.
The wild thing, though, is Isao Tomita's participation in it. Tomita worked with the CZ precursor, the COSMOS, which was a large rack-mounted affair intended as a development system. This didn't stop him from loading it into a suspended glass pyramid at an Ars Electronica Linz show in the early 1980s for a legendary live set.
Bloody LUV Tomita! Ta for this info. 🎶
Dr. Z here, big CZ101 fan (moreover a PD fan), my first synth alongside the MC202!
Thanks for the heads up!!!
That BTTF Rhodes pun was absolutely amazing
Thank you!!!
I found one of these on the sidewalk after someone had apparently cleaned out their studio. I loved the sounds but could never figure out which buttons were still actually working and which ones were broken.... Very similar to a cz-5000 a friend gave me that had been completely painted over as a prop in a movie. Great sounds but impossible to program. Passed both of them on during my own synth purges.
Nice find!!!
Have you actually burgled my house? Cos you've covered every synth I own........
Nothing personal;)
@@AudioPilz 😆😆😆
Yeah I get that feeling too, like he's come in the middle of the night and ransacked my studio, like some kind of reverse Santa Claus That takes your toys but gives you a proof of life video.
Still, I have a few toys he hasn't touched yet, though that list is getting shorter and truth be told if I was in Europe I would gladly loan him those pieces of gear just so he could do his magic with it.
I'd love to see a modern take on the CZ's PD engine with more waveforms, more polyphony, more envelopes, filters, LFOs, and a much better UI.
Omg if it had variable wave forms, that would be sick!
One of the classic Balkan synths! 😂 Bought my first early 2000s here in Vienna from a Serbian musician with all the typical Sounds & scales.
Wow, nice! Didn't know this one had the scales. The Korg Prophecy is famous for that too
I knew this day would come. And I am here for it. 🎹 😤
Nothing personal;)
@@AudioPilz Oh but it is. And you just rocked the CZ in a way that shamed me. Satoshi & Makoto with a hard driving beat! Well done! And yes, my dream is to change parameters without the stutter!
That last demo song kills! CZ sounds great.
Thank you so much!!!
My first "not a total toy" synth ever was "arranger-like" Casio CT 670. It had so many cool features for a kid in 1988. And while it is probably a joke now, it did have a few really strong digital goodies in it. Then, enter CZ. What a monster! Just listen to that bass in your intro track. I had both DX7 and this and CZ230. I still prefer 230 in some aspects. I think OG Reese bass was made on CZ range.
PD is actually a limited form of FM - simplified and very easy to manipulate! The CZ-101 sounded great (and still does) - just needs a decent reverb and it sounds electro warm and almost analogue. Handy trick with the CZ - if you unplug/plug in the power cable really quickly - it'll sometimes glitch the settings - writing random values into the patches that you normally can't write (UI band aid e.t.c) - u can get some CRAZY sounds!
You’re thinking of phase modulation which I’d how FM is implemented in digital synths. Phase distortion is in no way the same or similar.
@@saulcross9690 No I'm not "thinking of phase modulation". Having written PD and FM DSP in the past - both are very very similar. PD remaps the linear phase into whatever you want, FM modulates the phase into whatever you want with another OSC. Hence the reason I said it's a limited form of PD,
@@zardozjones seriously from a point of view of signal theory, not the same or particularly similar, but I love that you feel strongly enough to argue about it. I would certainly agree with you if you were talking about the VZ series interactive phase distortion which did use a modulator and carrier, but with PD it is a single digital oscillator and the distortion uses functions that change how the wave is read across its cycle, no modulator required and nothing to do with changing the frequency of the oscillator at audio rates or otherwise.
@@saulcross9690 They both change the phase signal directly and are *extremely* similar - they do this because change in phase = frequency e.t.c.. The fact that one syncs its Phase changes across the wave form cycle is irrelevant. FM should have been called Phase modulation since that's *exactly* what is does. So there you have it - PD is in fact a form of FM, and FM is a naive and clumsy and hard to use form of PD.
@@zardozjones it really isn’t. True FM is one oscillator (modulator) altering the frequency of another (carrier) and this is actually how fm works in analogue signals. Analogous to FM in digital signals is phase modulation (the phase of one oscillator is modulated by the output of another). Phase distortion is not phase modulation, it simply uses a maths function/algorithm to change the way in which a digital waveform is scanned/read through a single cycle, but the period of that cycle is nit changed and it is not operated on in the frequency domain. Phase and frequency are not the same things; a sine wave at nHz frequency is the same as a cosine wave at nHz frequency with a phase shift of 90 degrees or a quarter of a cycle if you prefer, so the sine and cosine have different phases, but the frequency is nHz for both; therefore phase and frequency are not the same thing at all. There may be similarities in implementation when you code a PD and a PM synth, but the application and the results are very different. That said, I won’t argue with you any further as I am certain that it is a waste of both my time and yours.
I love my CZ-1. This episode warmed my cold digital heart.
You can have my CZ101... when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. No other hardware can do what the CZ series does and no software has the same weighty sound. If I was ever deprived of mine I wouldn't hesitate to buy another. It might seem like a good idea to buy a back-up but I don't want to make the old girl jealous.
Definitely a classic
great shout out to the lovely zee zee 101! I had one, sold it, regretted terribly, got another one!
😀
I just purchased a CZ101 and CZ1 within the last year. This is my first time owning something featured on Bad Gear. No one is safe, lol.
Welcome to Bad Gear Bingo!!!
This thing sounds awesome!!!