CZ-101 owner here. After the TB-303, I'm not sure there are many other small form-factor synths that have had such an outside impact on electronic music
From early Chicago House using the "HiString" preset here, and used all OVER loads of electro https://youtu.be/m78Nx3de6wg?si=1Ya5Q3I967xOGUuu
Two Bad Mice "Bomb Scare" with the CZ organ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQVv40_9NSo
then the "Reese Bass" that powered much of jungle and drum and bass after Kevin "Reese" Saunderson, one of the Detroit Pioneers who came up with it for a techno track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjduK8Ip0Ls&t=55s
>A Casio CZ-101 can be seen on one picture of their live performance, positioned on the drum stands in front of Michael Sandison. The Casio CZ-101 is visibly linked to other equipment solely through a MIDI cable, indicating its probable role as a MIDI keyboard within this live setup. Strikingly, the synth's audio output remains unutilized during the performance.
The CZ synths were really underrated, I think because the presets IMHO are a bit rubbish.
I still love them though. Phase distortion can make some really great noises with a bit of coaxing.
I have the bigger CZ-5000 with the built in sequencer I bought used in the 90s and still play. I think it was probably used most famously by Drexciya but the Kevin Saunderson "Reece Bass" sound was everywhere in early jungle.
I like this CZP-1 soft synth. It's pretty nice once you flip the flow from left to right to top to bottom.
Agreed. I was lucky and found both a CZ-1 and a VZ-10m at low cost in the late 90s/early 2000s. I'm happy to see people exploring their synthesis mechanism in a form with a better UI.
Yamaha’s piano presets are perfectly fine for the intended use case. Have a jam with it, sit it in the mix, you’ll see .. of course it’s not going to be their concert grand ..
Disclaimer: I'm an admin there.
https://bocpages.org/wiki/Equipment#CZ-101
I still love them though. Phase distortion can make some really great noises with a bit of coaxing.
I have the bigger CZ-5000 with the built in sequencer I bought used in the 90s and still play. I think it was probably used most famously by Drexciya but the Kevin Saunderson "Reece Bass" sound was everywhere in early jungle.
I like this CZP-1 soft synth. It's pretty nice once you flip the flow from left to right to top to bottom.
https://www.satoshiandmakoto.com/