The new sounds: VCZ
You can buy my new collection of patches in the Soundware Shop here. 66 patches specially tweaked for VCZ, culled from my extensive and well worked collection created over a period of 25 years. Showcases both the gentle, ambient and atmospheric qualities of the CZ and its punchy hard hitting bass sound. They are saved in vst3 format so you can use VCZs brilliant vst3 patch browser in any DAW, and move patches between them.
The old sounds: CZ-1
Having received a few requests from CZ users who liked my CZ demos, Here are the top 64 of the 102 patches used to create my “Authentic Casio CZ” Kontakt set. Check out the included OPMEMs where patches are mixed and detuned in various ways. It’s a simple and fun way to make new sounds. For example pick two different bass patches and experiment with the OCTAVE and LEVEL settings. The CZ-1 is made for bass. Another classic trick is to layer the CZ with an analogue (or virtual analogue) synth. That way you get digital bite and analogue depth in your bass. Saved in .syx format so you will need a MIDI sysex app to load them into your CZ-1.
Note that this bank is for the CZ-1 only, it is not directly compatible with other CZ synths.
Some background
As a result of my CZ article I was asked by Oli Larkin to beta test his virtual version. I spent some time tweaking my old patches to take advantage of some of the features of VCZ, in particular the better velocity response and the chorus options. I really preferred Chorus A the Roland Dimension D model, having always had a love/ hate relationship with the Casio chorus.
The two chorus options in VCZ
The CZ envelopes are very flexible and one of its great strengths, but let’s face it, they’re not easy to adjust on the original. With a computer based editor, there was always a short lag and an interruption to the sound while the sysex was sent. Oli’s implementation is much smoother to work with than the original, so some of the patches benefitted from that with tweaks.
Much improved UI for envelopes
He has also implemented a Unison mode which is great sounding. Currently it’s monophonic so I’ve implement it on only a few patches. I can’t wait for the update with polyphonic unison! 🙂
