My first sampler. Purchased in new 1988 for more money than I would pay for my first two cars -combined! It weighed just under half a ton and I used to take it gigging. I so wish I'd kept it, but in 1989, I started work in Rose Morris music store and suddenly had access to, well, everything. I was allowed to turn the shop into a studio on Sundays. Shops used to close on Sundays. I sold it to buy a motorbike. I probably had more fun on the motorbike. Thanks for the vid and walk down memory (1MB) lane.
Very similar to my story in 89/90. Sold the FZ10M to get an S1000. And I bought various motorbikes then too! I worked at Thatched Cottage Audio. We had a trade account with Rose Morris.
I used to own a Korg DSS-1. Huge, heavy (18 Kg, about 35 lbs), and the display was inferior to the FZ's, just two-by-sixteen lines of text. But the keyboard itself was superb. Once I got better gear, it was still my favorite controller. Perfect balance, perfect velocity and aftertouch. Still miss it.
The reason it was so heavy, was because it had a concrete slab inside for stability! Also my 1st sampler bought in 1987. The sampler had some nice tricks like Crossfire and loop to fade. Very underrated kit.
Thank you for this video about FZ-1. There is so little serious review about this sampler/sinthesizer. The unit was very good, and at the time nothing similar existed. Casio is pretty much intersting and also very serious company. There were made so many unique products on its way (phase distorsion sound system, first 16 bit sampler, one of the first (programmable) calculator manufacturer alongside to HP and Texas Instruments, first pocket computer with touch screen over the middle of 80`s, first pocket color TV, and so many more), and they are going on that way even these days. Thanks again!
Casio was a very interesting company back in the 80s. Starting with the Casio CZ-101 they went for making professional music gear. Unfortunately they went back to only making consumer oriented products in the early 90s. But what came out of Casio's professional period was very high quality gear that is incredibly underrated and underrepresented in today's reception. I am happy to fill that gap and I am planning to do a big documentary on the history of casio's pro gear. But that will take a while
For the most realistic analog emulation, the oscillators need to be free running so that each note you play starts at different starting locations of the waveform. Or try assigning randomness to the start point of the waveform if possible. Otherwise every note will have the exact same attack and that sounds very digital. Even if you detune the oscillators or apply an LFO to their pitch, it still won’t sound right because the oscillators are all starting at the exact same point for every note you play. Free running oscillators is the key to analog emulation as it creates phasing and attack differences for every note.
@25.40 - Don't forget the FZ-20M rack mount version too. It was pretty much the same as the FZ-10M except for a couple of upgrades. It apparently had better DACs, and it was also equipped with a SCSI connector enabling it to connect with a hard disk drive. Of course, working hard disk drives from the late 80's aren't easy to find (nor likely to even be usable now), BUT, you can use a devices called SCSI2SD that allows you to load in samples via an SD card. You can of course get a USB floppy emulator, but despite these using much newer technology, their speed is bottle necked by the FZ's internal floppy interface BUS. This means that samples loaded in via USB are loaded in no faster than a via standard floppy. SCSI meanwhile is much, much faster and was actually capable of transfer speeds far quicker than the hard drives of the 1980's. Thus with a SCSI2SD unit, samples are loaded and saved lightning fast. One thing to beware of though is that the FZ-20M loaded some of it's functions via the two supplied factory disks, that also included extra tools along with HDD specific functions. Without these disks, you won't be able to utilise these tools, and one feature is the additive synthesis wave function that was built into the OS in the other FZ's. Make sure you get these disks if you acquire an FZ-20M. Great video by the way! Really enjoyed watching and seeing what the FZ can do. I have the FZ-20M and look forward to trying some of your tricks and tips on it :-)
The FZ-1 and FZ-10M do have a computer "External" port (instead of SCSI) that can be used to transfer samples at relatively high speed to the sampler using the proper parallel cable (it can be pretty easily made today) and computer software FZDUMP running under older DOS PC (possibly a Windows XP version, too, called FZDUMP95).
I pretty much bought my FZ-1 because Towa Tei posed with one for a magazine cover, but I don't regret the purchase even though I need a flashlight to use it!
Since the loss of display backlight is a common issue, I think there are a few replacements available for that. Might be worth searcging the internet for
Limitation of all sorts can be a virtue. Limits of musical skill, technical skill, sophistication of equipment all these things have been factors in some great music. Nice video and some good tones were heard!
Your FZ even has a computer out/in under the "C"! That seems to be loaded with all the options, then. Nice! I have one, and LOVE LOVE LOVE the sounds I get with it. The 9 foot grand is AMAZING! I have hundreds of samples for it. In fact, I had three of them, but sold two recently. That was hard to do!
Thank you for this! I bought an FZ-1 some years ago. I would have needed a sampler in the early 90's. Now I don't really need because computers and phones do better sound than Amiga 500. But hardware with analog filters... That is good to have!
Man, nobody talks about this synth. Better look into it now before prices surge. Also I really liked the synth news segment where you said "we are Roland and we are the cool guys". Cracked me up. Peace.
Always great to have another piece of the synth technology/history puzzle put in place for all to enjoy. Your voice is very relaxing as well. I second the above request for a sampling demonstration. Thank you.
Is there any software available for manipulating this sampler but easier? Do you have more videos about this synth? I would love to hear some recorded songs with it. You did great job explaining us how this old sampler function.
i have to stop to watch your videos cause everytime i see it i want that synth! 😁 great trick with the outputs, i also liked the jam much but would personaly use softer distortion. but thats the question of taste. thank you for doing this bro 🙌
When I first heard the super saw in trance and jungle records I always thought of it as the “Jump” synth on steroids 🤓 I have a CZ-5000 and oh how I wish I could assign its mod wheel to one of the filters.... the FZ-1 looks and sounds dope.
What a great compliment! If I wish to reach anything with my videos, then it's inspiring people to take out their vintage gear and giving it the appreciation it deserves! Thanks a lot
Hey, quite a while ago i got myself a really cool Korg Triton synthesizer. and i always kinda put it off thinking it is a synth made for sounds that more often be used in generes i dont produce. AKA. i was not really able to get the sound out of it, that i wanted. Until i started getting deeper into that synthesizer. started to utilize its sameling capabilities and multitimbrality. and i started to get Roland like Supersaws out of it. i started to understand how to generate sound on that synthesizer, and i started to love that synthesizer. the Korg Triton is now pretty much my favorite synthesizer i own. i would love if you would explore that synthesizer too like you did with the FZ-1. I live in Switzerland too, and if you would like i could loan my Triton to you for that video. have a good one and take care
I have this synthesizer at home, it's a neat synth. Except it needs a lot of diskettes to work. Aphex Twin used it, and I think Alberto Balsalm was made with a Casio FZ-1. However, it doesn't include effects like reverb, chorus, flanger, etc. So you have to add your own equipment to do so. Even if it includes a nice delay effect ;D
Roland S-series - you can draw waveforms (and envelopes) with a mouse, or even a graphics tablet, if you can find all the bits needed... didn’t know you could do this with the FZ1 though - pretty cool :)
I briefly owned an FZ-1 and liked it very much, but it was just too incredibly big and heavy to be used as a keyboard for giging. I believe I replaced it with an EPS-M which felt like a serious downgrade in many ways. I loved the FZ-1 but the keyboard was just a freakin TANK! Maybe someday I will purchase an old FZ-10m, after I find a nice VZ-10m to replace my VZ-8m.
It really is a behemoth! Only my massive 88 key nord stage weighs similarly heavy. The FZ-1 is the opposite of what You would expect from Casio. Extremely professional, technically among the best samplers of its time, and of highest quality
@@SynthsandSounds I agree. Casio went through a short period where they produced really pro level gear. I also used to own a VZ-1 and to this day I am very sad that I sold it to a band mate who needed a better stage controller. That was a great keyboard! I really preferred Phaze Distortion over FM. It was capable of more aggressive digital sounds that did not wander into being sonically annoying as quickly. Plus it was sleek, super well built and had a pitch wheel and TWO mod wheels! I am certain that there is an alternate timeline somewhere in which Casio kept refining its pro line and became as big as Roland/Korg/Yamaha! 😀
@@murdockscott I'd love to have a look at a VZ-1 some time, it's another undervalued synth! Very recently, Casio surprised everyone with the CT-S1000V. It's the first really innovative Casio product in a very long time, featuring a vocal synthesis technique which is totally different from anything in the market. Maybe, that alternative timeline of Casio doing innovative gear for a more professional audience will finally have a comeback.
The FZ-1 could be quite easily modded with just a little soldering to expand to 4MB RAM (4 times the factory RAM and twice the RAM of FZ-10M and FZ-20M rack versions). I'd imagine you could similarly mod the racks, too.
Ahhhh I had one of these, weighed an absolute tonne but built like a tank. Had the memory upgrade but eventually the screen faded and became too difficult to use. Loved the filter but its use become minimal so I sold it for about £50 🤦🏻♂️
I read about so many regrets in my comments... On my unit, the Tape deck broke, but i'm gonna upgrade it with a USB drive one day instead of selling it, that's what I've learned from here! It really weighs a ton... Heaviest Casio gear by miles!
did casio make any 12 bit samplers with more than 2 seconds sampling time? they seem to have a more bewildering array of products beyond toy keyboards than I had imagined...
They definitely had some really impressive gear event though it's little known today! Unfortunately they didn't continue making samplers. From what I've quickly researched, the FZ-20M (the higher end of the rackmount version) in theory can be expanded via SCSI with any storage. But the FZ-20M is incredibly rare and the guy who did it seems to have gone though a difficult process (page on german: www.amazona.de/doc-analog-mission-casio-fz-20m-mit-scsi/2/). There's USB drive upgrades for the floppy storage which makes it more accessible, but does not extend the sample length.
hi i have a fz-1 and i have made a modification that allows me to remove some voices from the main output.. i have put a an on/ off switches on the back to remove output 1-4. this saved me hooking up all of individual outputs to a mixer. for example allows me to use stereo samples on 1-2 and have 6 voices on the main output.. if someone is interested shoot me an email
I have an FZ-1, but something doesn't work, I can't get any sound out of it. Everything seems to work fine (sampling, drawing curves, etc), but... no audio output.
Did he mention that both the filter and the amplifier used the same 8-stage envelopes of the Casio CZ synthesizers BUT ALSO had the ability to make sections of the envelope LOOP!!??
Ensoniq is an awesome brand! But since it's an american brand, I feel like they never really took off in Europe. Really you don't find too many Ensoniq keyboards around here unfortunately
It was indeed. I'm a huge but broke fan of the Metal Zone. Aside of the knobs that turn really tight I can't complain about it - I can recommend it as long as you don't intend to stomp on it
@@SynthsandSounds I agree!👍 I actually just purchased one recently myself! to use on my Korg monologue and volca bass, along with a couple of my pocket operators✌
Thanks! While I am somewhat talented at making music and apparently intros, I have no talent for painting. The painting was in the room before I came there
@@SynthsandSounds You can use this utility, you do it over midi. Here is the Mac version in Wine stand-alone app. The original is for Windows 98, it is called FZ_FTU.exe or FZ File Transfer Utility by Andreas Göransson's. drive.google.com/open?id=1Wc227WKqAJDWNFRg6XwPDGaFoRqTJ0EN
Wow amazing. Casio actually made something that sounds good besides the cz series? Reverb professional, ok time to recreate Africa. I also see you have an MMT8, i love mine will never part with it
Welcome to the new world of casio synths. Once you start accepting that Casio was a very serious music instrument company back in the 80s, it opens up a whole new wolrd of affordable vintage gear!
@@dmitrin5493 no, I am a tech. I have repaired FZ-1s before. There is an ASIC in the unit that provides filtering and amplitude modulation in the digital domain.
www.buchty.net/casio/dcf.html "What we basically see here is indeed an IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filter, although by the way described it looks like only the control is truly digital while anything else, i.e. summing, multiplication, and also storing the time-discrete signals is performed in the analog domain using ordinary adders, multipliers, and S&H stages."
FYI: *A*N*A*L*O*G* FILTERS !! ;) "The FZ-1 (unlike Casio's other professional equipment) had a resonant low-pass filter. This filter was a hybrid design, with the same characteristics as an analogue filter and it was one of the FZ series' best features, allowing for dramatic, creative alteration of sounds, in a way not possible on any Akai (Casio's chief competitor) machine until the S3000. The FZ-1 also had an analog amplifier. The filtering and level control were carried out by four Casio MB87186 chips, each of which contain two filters and digitally controlled amplifiers. Some people assume the filters are purely digital, but this is not the case. Close examination of the schematic shows that the filtering is carried out after the digital to analogue conversion and demultiplexing. Both the filter and the amplifier used the same 8-stage envelopes of the Casio CZ synthesizers but had the ability to make sections of the envelope loop. The envelopes on the FZ-1 were also less cryptic to program than those on the CZ synthesizers, because the envelope shape could be adjusted on the LCD display, rather than by text entry alone."
so have you considered to sample that fat 8 layers of mono and make one waveform sample to use , or is too unconventional with the rate vs octave ratio ?
Ha, that's a great idea, I haven't tried it! Though you'd have to take quite a long sample since the unison sound gets great because of the long oscillations created by detuning. It would be an interesting experiment to see how different it sounds when sampeled. If it works out, you can extend your polyphony by a lot!
Of course! How could I forget that the fairlight had similar possibilities already to create waveforms! But I'd still recommend getting an FZ-1 over a Fairlight CMI. Unless you are incredibly wealthy and a electronics engineer at the same time
Sadly there is no way to internally resample the additive wave synth output IIRK. Each voice gets one wave going through it's own filter, amp etc. I can't remember if you can stack an additive wave and a sample up together on a voice but I don't think so, one or the other only.
Not really, it uses digital oscillators if You want so, but an analog filter. I think the novation peak or arturio microfreak are more comparable, so it's more of a hybrid synth
The Fairlight CMI which was way way more expensive had a touchscreen and light pen, where you could draw multiple waveforms and then it could morph between them.
@gridsleep That will probably not happen. I did my best in this one already (yeah it's not a lot), and I will do a video on the FZ-1 where I focus more on sampling and reviewing. Aside of that, I don't want to use the little time that I have for making even more in-depth demos since I guess there are not too many people interested in that. For the same reason, I will not do videos in german. Die deutsche Synthesizer-Community ist leider zu klein, als dass es sich lohnen würde, videos auf Deutsch zu machen (siehe Tuesday Night Machines, Hainbach, etc.). Danke fürs trotzdem gucken und kommentieren!
Mediocre? That depends what you mean by "mediocre". The FZ-1 is known to have a quite unique sounding filter. One that's capable of imparting a very interesting and unique distortion type effect when over driven. This kind of effect was used by Aphex Twin to make the distorted kick sound in his track Isopropholex and probably others. So it's more about what you put into gear than it is about how many features it has. Most people likely couldn't make something as good as Aphex Twin did with an FZ1....even if they had the best, most feature packed gear in the world.
@@Abruzzo333 haha actually that comment was just in response to a comment this reviewer left on one of my videos. The exact same words in fact, which is why I put the winky face at the end. Just wanted to show him how futile critical yet meaningless comments are.
Thanks for this video friend. Hey, what do you think of the Casio VZ-1/VZ-10m? I just won an ebay cution for a VZ-10m for $200 and I'm kind of excited. :) Oh yay, more DX style editing and I still dont really understand DX editing either lol.
![[#2024MAMA] ROSÉ (로제), Bruno Mars - APT. | Mnet 241122 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dgGqD28J6aQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Underrated because of the brand.
My first sampler. Purchased in new 1988 for more money than I would pay for my first two cars -combined! It weighed just under half a ton and I used to take it gigging. I so wish I'd kept it, but in 1989, I started work in Rose Morris music store and suddenly had access to, well, everything. I was allowed to turn the shop into a studio on Sundays. Shops used to close on Sundays. I sold it to buy a motorbike. I probably had more fun on the motorbike. Thanks for the vid and walk down memory (1MB) lane.
Very similar to my story in 89/90. Sold the FZ10M to get an S1000. And I bought various motorbikes then too!
I worked at Thatched Cottage Audio. We had a trade account with Rose Morris.
I used to own a Korg DSS-1. Huge, heavy (18 Kg, about 35 lbs), and the display was inferior to the FZ's, just two-by-sixteen lines of text. But the keyboard itself was superb. Once I got better gear, it was still my favorite controller. Perfect balance, perfect velocity and aftertouch. Still miss it.
The reason it was so heavy, was because it had a concrete slab inside for stability! Also my 1st sampler bought in 1987. The sampler had some nice tricks like Crossfire and loop to fade. Very underrated kit.
1986 korg dss-1 you could draw waveforms also is a mega synth in every way
And thanks for this video.
The inspiration helps.
I've had one for many years that I'm now trying to seriously get back into using.
That's so nice to hear! Thank You and have fun!
Thank you for this video about FZ-1. There is so little serious review about this sampler/sinthesizer. The unit was very good, and at the time nothing similar existed. Casio is pretty much intersting and also very serious company. There were made so many unique products on its way (phase distorsion sound system, first 16 bit sampler, one of the first (programmable) calculator manufacturer alongside to HP and Texas Instruments, first pocket computer with touch screen over the middle of 80`s, first pocket color TV, and so many more), and they are going on that way even these days. Thanks again!
Casio was a very interesting company back in the 80s. Starting with the Casio CZ-101 they went for making professional music gear. Unfortunately they went back to only making consumer oriented products in the early 90s. But what came out of Casio's professional period was very high quality gear that is incredibly underrated and underrepresented in today's reception. I am happy to fill that gap and I am planning to do a big documentary on the history of casio's pro gear. But that will take a while
For the most realistic analog emulation, the oscillators need to be free running so that each note you play starts at different starting locations of the waveform. Or try assigning randomness to the start point of the waveform if possible. Otherwise every note will have the exact same attack and that sounds very digital. Even if you detune the oscillators or apply an LFO to their pitch, it still won’t sound right because the oscillators are all starting at the exact same point for every note you play. Free running oscillators is the key to analog emulation as it creates phasing and attack differences for every note.
Nice sounds!
This is a great overview! I'm really GASing for this!
Great sounds and lines. Super huge and appreciable conclusion.
Good work guy ! 💪
Thanks guy!
That was an amazing class, i'll use it this week in the next track of my videogame music channel.
Very interesting! I love the depth that is added with the layered sounds as well as the stereo panning. Absolutely brilliant usage of the Casio FZ -1.
@25.40 - Don't forget the FZ-20M rack mount version too. It was pretty much the same as the FZ-10M except for a couple of upgrades. It apparently had better DACs, and it was also equipped with a SCSI connector enabling it to connect with a hard disk drive. Of course, working hard disk drives from the late 80's aren't easy to find (nor likely to even be usable now), BUT, you can use a devices called SCSI2SD that allows you to load in samples via an SD card. You can of course get a USB floppy emulator, but despite these using much newer technology, their speed is bottle necked by the FZ's internal floppy interface BUS. This means that samples loaded in via USB are loaded in no faster than a via standard floppy. SCSI meanwhile is much, much faster and was actually capable of transfer speeds far quicker than the hard drives of the 1980's. Thus with a SCSI2SD unit, samples are loaded and saved lightning fast. One thing to beware of though is that the FZ-20M loaded some of it's functions via the two supplied factory disks, that also included extra tools along with HDD specific functions. Without these disks, you won't be able to utilise these tools, and one feature is the additive synthesis wave function that was built into the OS in the other FZ's. Make sure you get these disks if you acquire an FZ-20M.
Great video by the way! Really enjoyed watching and seeing what the FZ can do. I have the FZ-20M and look forward to trying some of your tricks and tips on it :-)
The FZ-1 and FZ-10M do have a computer "External" port (instead of SCSI) that can be used to transfer samples at relatively high speed to the sampler using the proper parallel cable (it can be pretty easily made today) and computer software FZDUMP running under older DOS PC (possibly a Windows XP version, too, called FZDUMP95).
💚I used to have one of those FZ-1s in the early 90s & I never knew any of this.
He ain't just "some Reverb professional", dood makes cool video tutorials thats his job.
Awesome video by the way.
I pretty much bought my FZ-1 because Towa Tei posed with one for a magazine cover, but I don't regret the purchase even though I need a flashlight to use it!
Since the loss of display backlight is a common issue, I think there are a few replacements available for that. Might be worth searcging the internet for
Towa Tei mmmm seemed like a nice boy in Tokyo
That intro is awesome!
Limitation of all sorts can be a virtue. Limits of musical skill, technical skill, sophistication of equipment all these things have been factors in some great music. Nice video and some good tones were heard!
Totally! A bunch of possibilities its kinda boring!
Your FZ even has a computer out/in under the "C"! That seems to be loaded with all the options, then. Nice! I have one, and LOVE LOVE LOVE the sounds I get with it. The 9 foot grand is AMAZING! I have hundreds of samples for it. In fact, I had three of them, but sold two recently. That was hard to do!
This is the synth Kitaro used on its tours on 90s
Thank you for this! I bought an FZ-1 some years ago. I would have needed a sampler in the early 90's. Now I don't really need because computers and phones do better sound than Amiga 500. But hardware with analog filters... That is good to have!
Thanks for this...
The FZ-1 is indeed amazing. I have not seen mulitstage looping in any other sampler.
Subscribed. This is one of those pieces of gear that just doesn't have many videos, reviews, tutorials etc.
Not only do I enjoy this video, content, music, and information in general you seem pretty cool too! Thanks!!!
Man, nobody talks about this synth. Better look into it now before prices surge. Also I really liked the synth news segment where you said "we are Roland and we are the cool guys". Cracked me up. Peace.
I completely understand and agree with your points about ,how you can make an electronic instrument sound awesome even not being the most expensive !
I managed to buy one ! Can you tell the process to double the voice cause I can't make it on my FZ-1?
Some limitations are inspiring!
It always looks like he's still smiling while he is talking, so awesome!
Always great to have another piece of the synth technology/history puzzle put in place for all to enjoy. Your voice is very relaxing as well. I second the above request for a sampling demonstration. Thank you.
Thanks for the compliment! I will do a sampling demo in the future hopefull, if I find time. Make sure to subscribe to stay tuned :)
great video, can you would you share your patches ? I would even give a bit of money because you're a good programmer
Sick tune at the end I was feelin it!
Is there any software available for manipulating this sampler but easier? Do you have more videos about this synth? I would love to hear some recorded songs with it. You did great job explaining us how this old sampler function.
i have to stop to watch your videos cause everytime i see it i want that synth! 😁 great trick with the outputs, i also liked the jam much but would personaly use softer distortion. but thats the question of taste. thank you for doing this bro 🙌
Very enjoyable and informative video on a very strange and intriguing machine.
Best intro ever!!! 😂
I have a fz1 sleeping at the back of the studio! Going to wake it up
Not sure if others have said this, but I believe you can draw waveforms with the DSS-1 sampler synth as well.
I know very little about Casios. The ability to draw waveshapes is pretty rad!
Yes, Casio went all out on that one! It's really an impressive piece of gear that goes mostly under the radar. A perfect niche for me to jump in
That growl from the filter going up at 14:26 sounds so amazing :O
When I first heard the super saw in trance and jungle records I always thought of it as the “Jump” synth on steroids 🤓 I have a CZ-5000 and oh how I wish I could assign its mod wheel to one of the filters.... the FZ-1 looks and sounds dope.
The lack of real-time filter modification on the CZ synths really is enfuriating!
Great video, thank you. Hope you will make a video on the sampling function soon.
Thanks! There will be a "should you buy it?" Video some time in the future where i will focus on the sampler. I used a de-esser this time by the way 🙂
Synths and Sounds 👍. Why the de esser ?
@@johnnydekock many people complained on the harsh S sounds when i speak. Sorry, I thought you were one of them
@@SynthsandSounds wow, no was not me, I love your accent as it was. Take care
Just found your page, amazing information. I seen one near me going cheap so wanted to see what others were doing with it,
Aw thanks for the compliment! Now go for it!
Great video will have to dig out my fz1 and get it working very inspiring thanks
What a great compliment! If I wish to reach anything with my videos, then it's inspiring people to take out their vintage gear and giving it the appreciation it deserves! Thanks a lot
awesome.
Hey, quite a while ago i got myself a really cool Korg Triton synthesizer. and i always kinda put it off thinking it is a synth made for sounds that more often be used in generes i dont produce. AKA. i was not really able to get the sound out of it, that i wanted. Until i started getting deeper into that synthesizer. started to utilize its sameling capabilities and multitimbrality. and i started to get Roland like Supersaws out of it. i started to understand how to generate sound on that synthesizer, and i started to love that synthesizer. the Korg Triton is now pretty much my favorite synthesizer i own. i would love if you would explore that synthesizer too like you did with the FZ-1. I live in Switzerland too, and if you would like i could loan my Triton to you for that video.
have a good one and take care
Just that intro song got me excited!
I have this synthesizer at home, it's a neat synth. Except it needs a lot of diskettes to work. Aphex Twin used it, and I think Alberto Balsalm was made with a Casio FZ-1. However, it doesn't include effects like reverb, chorus, flanger, etc. So you have to add your own equipment to do so.
Even if it includes a nice delay effect ;D
Roland S-series - you can draw waveforms (and envelopes) with a mouse, or even a graphics tablet, if you can find all the bits needed... didn’t know you could do this with the FZ1 though - pretty cool :)
The big difference is a real analog filter on the FZ-1. The combination of analog filters and waveform drawing makes it unique!
@@SynthsandSounds The akai AX-73 filters were also great and you could run akai samples through it
@@SynthsandSounds korg dss1 also ;)
Great Review, Great Humour! :)
The (distortion) pedal at the end was a bit overkill, but nevertheles a REALLY awesome demo of this odd duck.
Appreciate the intro
Ayyy thanks :) It was really fun to do
Great vid. Well done..👍
I briefly owned an FZ-1 and liked it very much, but it was just too incredibly big and heavy to be used as a keyboard for giging. I believe I replaced it with an EPS-M which felt like a serious downgrade in many ways. I loved the FZ-1 but the keyboard was just a freakin TANK! Maybe someday I will purchase an old FZ-10m, after I find a nice VZ-10m to replace my VZ-8m.
It really is a behemoth! Only my massive 88 key nord stage weighs similarly heavy. The FZ-1 is the opposite of what You would expect from Casio. Extremely professional, technically among the best samplers of its time, and of highest quality
@@SynthsandSounds I agree. Casio went through a short period where they produced really pro level gear. I also used to own a VZ-1 and to this day I am very sad that I sold it to a band mate who needed a better stage controller. That was a great keyboard! I really preferred Phaze Distortion over FM. It was capable of more aggressive digital sounds that did not wander into being sonically annoying as quickly. Plus it was sleek, super well built and had a pitch wheel and TWO mod wheels! I am certain that there is an alternate timeline somewhere in which Casio kept refining its pro line and became as big as Roland/Korg/Yamaha! 😀
@@murdockscott I'd love to have a look at a VZ-1 some time, it's another undervalued synth!
Very recently, Casio surprised everyone with the CT-S1000V. It's the first really innovative Casio product in a very long time, featuring a vocal synthesis technique which is totally different from anything in the market. Maybe, that alternative timeline of Casio doing innovative gear for a more professional audience will finally have a comeback.
Beauty.
Genius sense of humor;)
machst Du auch noch mal ein Video über die Sampling-Funktion?
Rack version (both Hohner and Casio) doubles total sampling time (i think it was almost 30sec on 44.1) and you can save over 2 discs.
The FZ-1 could be quite easily modded with just a little soldering to expand to 4MB RAM (4 times the factory RAM and twice the RAM of FZ-10M and FZ-20M rack versions). I'd imagine you could similarly mod the racks, too.
Lovely backlit screen. There's a reason why Richard D. James has a fetish over this beautiful unit.
Ahhhh I had one of these, weighed an absolute tonne but built like a tank. Had the memory upgrade but eventually the screen faded and became too difficult to use. Loved the filter but its use become minimal so I sold it for about £50 🤦🏻♂️
I read about so many regrets in my comments... On my unit, the Tape deck broke, but i'm gonna upgrade it with a USB drive one day instead of selling it, that's what I've learned from here!
It really weighs a ton... Heaviest Casio gear by miles!
Thanks for posting this...
looks just like the display on my deepmind
@12:25 maybe you could resample the dual oscillator and then have the polyphony
@14:38 same idea... resample!
That would have been smart
did casio make any 12 bit samplers with more than 2 seconds sampling time? they seem to have a more bewildering array of products beyond toy keyboards than I had imagined...
They definitely had some really impressive gear event though it's little known today! Unfortunately they didn't continue making samplers.
From what I've quickly researched, the FZ-20M (the higher end of the rackmount version) in theory can be expanded via SCSI with any storage. But the FZ-20M is incredibly rare and the guy who did it seems to have gone though a difficult process (page on german: www.amazona.de/doc-analog-mission-casio-fz-20m-mit-scsi/2/). There's USB drive upgrades for the floppy storage which makes it more accessible, but does not extend the sample length.
hi i have a fz-1 and i have made a modification that allows me to remove some voices from the main output.. i have put a an on/ off switches on the back to remove output 1-4. this saved me hooking up all of individual outputs to a mixer.
for example allows me to use stereo samples on 1-2 and have 6 voices on the main output.. if someone is interested shoot me an email
Amazing
How close to the truth is it that any digital synthesizer or sampler equipped with those voltage-controlled filters can sound as big as an analog one?
I have an FZ-1, but something doesn't work, I can't get any sound out of it. Everything seems to work fine (sampling, drawing curves, etc), but... no audio output.
Open it up and check all the ribbon cables are seated properly.
Did he mention that both the filter and the amplifier used the same 8-stage envelopes of the Casio CZ synthesizers BUT ALSO had the ability to make sections of the envelope LOOP!!??
I didn't mention the envelope being loop-able, I actually never used that feature. But It surely is exciting!
@@SynthsandSounds Good! Then, thanks for Episode 1 (subbed!), and I'm eagerly awaiting Episode 2...
Have you ever tried any Ensoniq keyboards? A lot of them seem right up your alley, they are feature packed but very affordable!
Ensoniq is an awesome brand! But since it's an american brand, I feel like they never really took off in Europe. Really you don't find too many Ensoniq keyboards around here unfortunately
My dream keyboard sampler when I was a teenage. Where did you buy this keynoard? There is very good condition.
👊👊👊
Wow!!
Dig the video!🎹🎧💫😎👌👍 was that Behringer pedal a HM-300?
It was indeed. I'm a huge but broke fan of the Metal Zone. Aside of the knobs that turn really tight I can't complain about it - I can recommend it as long as you don't intend to stomp on it
@@SynthsandSounds I agree!👍 I actually just purchased one recently myself! to use on my Korg monologue and volca bass, along with a couple of my pocket operators✌
@@maxmatson1578 that's a cool setup! Distortion is perfect for punchy leads and behringer always offers great value for money
Wow can I get that jump patch
You are awsome
Thank you so much!
Very interesting, but roland s770 has tvf.
Nice intro. Is that your artwork at :55?
Thanks! While I am somewhat talented at making music and apparently intros, I have no talent for painting. The painting was in the room before I came there
Cool I also have one small video on FZ1 ; )
Can you share your .fzf files for your synth sounds? Great video, thank you for doing this.
I do not have any computer with a floppy disc drive right now, but I'll see if I can manage to get hold of one
@@SynthsandSounds You can use this utility, you do it over midi. Here is the Mac version in Wine stand-alone app. The original is for Windows 98, it is called FZ_FTU.exe or FZ File Transfer Utility by Andreas Göransson's. drive.google.com/open?id=1Wc227WKqAJDWNFRg6XwPDGaFoRqTJ0EN
Wow amazing. Casio actually made something that sounds good besides the cz series? Reverb professional, ok time to recreate Africa. I also see you have an MMT8, i love mine will never part with it
Welcome to the new world of casio synths. Once you start accepting that Casio was a very serious music instrument company back in the 80s, it opens up a whole new wolrd of affordable vintage gear!
FYI. The FZ-1 filters are digital, not analog. Unique sounding, nonetheless.
@@dmitrin5493 no, I am a tech. I have repaired FZ-1s before. There is an ASIC in the unit that provides filtering and amplitude modulation in the digital domain.
www.buchty.net/casio/dcf.html
"What we basically see here is indeed an IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filter, although by the way described it looks like only the control is truly digital while anything else, i.e. summing, multiplication, and also storing the time-discrete signals is performed in the analog domain using ordinary adders, multipliers, and S&H stages."
FYI: *A*N*A*L*O*G* FILTERS !! ;)
"The FZ-1 (unlike Casio's other professional equipment) had a resonant low-pass filter. This filter was a hybrid design, with the same characteristics as an analogue filter and it was one of the FZ series' best features, allowing for dramatic, creative alteration of sounds, in a way not possible on any Akai (Casio's chief competitor) machine until the S3000. The FZ-1 also had an analog amplifier. The filtering and level control were carried out by four Casio MB87186 chips, each of which contain two filters and digitally controlled amplifiers. Some people assume the filters are purely digital, but this is not the case. Close examination of the schematic shows that the filtering is carried out after the digital to analogue conversion and demultiplexing. Both the filter and the amplifier used the same 8-stage envelopes of the Casio CZ synthesizers but had the ability to make sections of the envelope loop. The envelopes on the FZ-1 were also less cryptic to program than those on the CZ synthesizers, because the envelope shape could be adjusted on the LCD display, rather than by text entry alone."
Limiting yourself makes you work diffently finding new interesting directions.
so have you considered to sample that fat 8 layers of mono and make one waveform sample to use , or is too unconventional with the rate vs octave ratio ?
Ha, that's a great idea, I haven't tried it! Though you'd have to take quite a long sample since the unison sound gets great because of the long oscillations created by detuning. It would be an interesting experiment to see how different it sounds when sampeled. If it works out, you can extend your polyphony by a lot!
Does the FZ-1 have the patches included that the Casio CZ series had?
No, not at all. It has a totally different sound engine and cannot exactly replicate the CZ's sounds
Hand Drawn ... Fairlight Synth
Of course! How could I forget that the fairlight had similar possibilities already to create waveforms! But I'd still recommend getting an FZ-1 over a Fairlight CMI. Unless you are incredibly wealthy and a electronics engineer at the same time
Please send me one of your Free Air Guitars ...
All the best people have an old JX-8P hanging around too.
Could you not have resampled the layered detuned voice, thus halving the polyphony usage?!
Sadly there is no way to internally resample the additive wave synth output IIRK. Each voice gets one wave going through it's own filter, amp etc. I can't remember if you can stack an additive wave and a sample up together on a voice but I don't think so, one or the other only.
Is the case made from metal like the Hohner HS 1?
it is, it is incredibly heavy! I think it's just rebranded - same technology, same body, just another color and brand sign.
@@SynthsandSounds Danke für die Antwort 👍
so this is kinda an early virtual analog synth?
Not really, it uses digital oscillators if You want so, but an analog filter. I think the novation peak or arturio microfreak are more comparable, so it's more of a hybrid synth
The Fairlight CMI which was way way more expensive had a touchscreen and light pen, where you could draw multiple waveforms and then it could morph between them.
How about VZ1?
It's a casio synth and presumably a good one, but I don't know it
Good video. Terrible beard. Thank you.
Thank you.
I wouldn't actually describe a jp8 as fat. It's joke ju 106. Alpha juno 1 is fat. Dco.
Mediocre video about a mediocre synth ;)
Sorry for attacking you over in the comments. I just was a bit disappointed and wrote it spontaneously. But as you can see I got a bit more out of it
@gridsleep That will probably not happen. I did my best in this one already (yeah it's not a lot), and I will do a video on the FZ-1 where I focus more on sampling and reviewing.
Aside of that, I don't want to use the little time that I have for making even more in-depth demos since I guess there are not too many people interested in that. For the same reason, I will not do videos in german. Die deutsche Synthesizer-Community ist leider zu klein, als dass es sich lohnen würde, videos auf Deutsch zu machen (siehe Tuesday Night Machines, Hainbach, etc.). Danke fürs trotzdem gucken und kommentieren!
Mediocre? That depends what you mean by "mediocre". The FZ-1 is known to have a quite unique sounding filter. One that's capable of imparting a very interesting and unique distortion type effect when over driven. This kind of effect was used by Aphex Twin to make the distorted kick sound in his track Isopropholex and probably others. So it's more about what you put into gear than it is about how many features it has. Most people likely couldn't make something as good as Aphex Twin did with an FZ1....even if they had the best, most feature packed gear in the world.
@@Abruzzo333 haha actually that comment was just in response to a comment this reviewer left on one of my videos. The exact same words in fact, which is why I put the winky face at the end. Just wanted to show him how futile critical yet meaningless comments are.
The jam was awesome.
Thanks for this video friend. Hey, what do you think of the Casio VZ-1/VZ-10m? I just won an ebay cution for a VZ-10m for $200 and I'm kind of excited. :) Oh yay, more DX style editing and I still dont really understand DX editing either lol.
Congrats on the find! I'd love to know more about the VZ-1, but I never got my hands on one
awesome