Casio CZ-101 Digital Polyphonic Synthesizer Keyboard

Casio, a brand with an image of cheap products, wanted to catch up with the big companies, including Yamaha, which had revolutionised sound with FM synthesizers and dominated the market. Casio's engineers developed what they called phase distortion sound generation, or PD synthesis for short. This was incorporated into the CZ series, which appeared in quick succession from 1985 onwards: CZ-101, CZ-1000, CZ-5000, CZ-1 and CZ-3000. The CZ-101 is the smallest instrument in the series. The series was not a great success and was soon replaced by the VZ and FZ series. The synthesis and sound are similar to FM synthesizers.

The CZ-101 has a keyboard with 49 mini keys, 8 DCOs, 16 ROM sounds and 16 RAM sounds.
Each CZ sound consists of either one or two digital oscillators that can access eight different waveforms. CZ synthesizers do not have a real filter. Similar to FM synthesis, filter-like sound curves can be achieved using the DCW module, but these have little in common with the sound behaviour of analogue filters. Portamento and Gilde are available as effects. An LFO (tri, saw and square) allows modulation of volume and filter. A modulation wheel and aftertouch are used to control the LFO. The signals from the two DCOs are combined in a mixer. A ring modulator and a noise generator come into play for further sound modulation. Of the entire series, only the CZ-1 has velocity sensitivity and aftertouch. (Source: amazona)