Old Gear Review Number 4: Casio CZ-101

With the advent of piles upon piles of small format analog modeling synthesizers (see microKorg, Alesis Micron, Akai Miniak, Korg R3, etc.) I think its about time some appreciation should go to the early 80’s mini digital synths.  These things weren’t just trying to emulate their predecessors, they were trying to create entirely new sounds. I’m talking about the Casio CZ-101 and the Yamaha DX-100.  I had the pleasure of picking up a CZ-101 for $75 on a Craigslist adventure with Miguel a few years ago (actually from the same guy who was selling the Korg Poly 800). If this amazing commercial isn’t enough to sell you on this keyboard, I’ll describe the stuff I loved about it below.

I’ll start off with the awesome features of this guy: 8 note polyphony (4 parts multitimbral!), 8 stage envelopes, built in ring modulation, awesome programable pitch bend wheel, dual patch mode, vibrato, and Casio’s own Phase Distortion synthesis engine.  This thing is not a wanna-be analog synth, it is entirely digital and uses envelopes and other waveforms to modulate (or distort) the phase of a carrier waveform.  If you’re an electrical engineer, like me, you’ll recognize that this is pretty much the same concept as Yamaha’s famous FM (frequency modulation) synthesis.  I’m not entirely sure how Casio got around the Yamaha patents, but I’ll chalk it up to the ridiculous patent system in our country.

So what does this keyboard sound like?  Well, pretty much like a DX7.  It does really great bell-like sounds, organ and rhodes sounds, lush pads, harsh leads, and, best of all, insanely wild effect sounds. This is what I’m talking about…

There is also a version of the CZ-101 with a sequencer and drum machine built in called the CZ-230s, but it doesn’t allow you to edit the patches (although you can dump patches to the CZ-230s via MIDI).

I ended up selling my CZ-101 to purchase the Akai VX600 I have now, but I’m starting to regret it now.  One thing that I disliked about it was that it always sounded very smooth to my ears and not as digital and harsh as my DX7 mkII.  Also, the DX7 was a much more capable synthesizer that could do all of the same sounds of the CZ-101 plus some.  I will say the CZ-101 was TREMENDOUSLY easier to program than a DX7.  I figured it out without the manual on my first try.  Also, I’ve never had a keyboard since the CZ-101 with such a nice pitch bend wheel.  In fact, this guy uses it almost exclusively for that feature…

So, if you’re looking for a nice mini keyboard and you don’t want to sound exactly like every hip-hop / indie rock band with a microkorg, check out the CZ-101.  You definitely won’t be disappointed.  And if you just have to have a vocoder, don’t be a sissy, buy one of these

- Josh