The Casio CZ sound is coming to Pro Tools thanks to plug-in developer Oli Larkin.
For those with memories of the 1980s the introduction of the Casio CZ series of synths such as the CZ101 and CZ1000 put Casio on the map with their Phase Distortion synthesis.
The Virtual CZ
The Virtual CZ is a plug-in emulation of the original sound and features;
- Recreates the unique synthesis engine of the CZ synths (it models the flagship CZ-1 but does all the other ones too!)
- Works as a SYSEX editor/librarian for all CZ hardware as well as an emulation
- 2 Phase Distortion oscillators per voice(each has 8 wave shapes, which can be different for alternate cycles)
- 6 loop-able envelope generators per voice(switchable between easy-to-use ADSR and powerful 8-Stage MSEG mode)
- Tempo sync-able LFO for vibrato, with 7 shapes
- Ring Modulation and Noise Modulation
- 32 voice polyphonic/mono/legato modes
- Unison and detuning effects
- Stereo panning effects
- Vintage stereo chorus/ensemble effect
- Microtonal tuning support
- Easy to use interface: all key synthesis functions accessible on the front panel
- Import/export presets for all plugin formats & cross-format preset browser
- Includes over 200 high quality presets plus ability to load thousands of CZ patches online
- Available for OSX and Windows in Standalone, VST2, VST3, Audiounit and AAX formats
Sound Examples
Here are a few sound examples of the new CZ plug-in.