Digital done differently.
Modeling done flawlessly.
Casio’s phase distortion synthesis was a relative of FM but simpler to use, achieving patches that sounded both ‘digital’ and ‘analog’ with equal ease.
It became a sonic staple for artists including Eurythmics, Salt-N-Pepa, and Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode, Yaz, Erasure), who famously stacked up eight CZ-101 synths and a sequencer. CZ V gives you more of what the CZ was loved for in every way – and more.
Expertly Engineered
Our DSP crew reverse-engineered the core code of the CZ, then added features to make phase distortion even more compelling today.
Shockingly Flexible
The CZ series is used on all kinds of songs because it produced so many sounds so well. Let CZ V do the same for you.
CZ = EZ
Wringing a ton of sonic range out of just a handful of parameters, CZ V is one of the quickest paths from a sound in your head to sound in your speakers.
Turbocharged
We amped up the CZ with up to 32 voices of polyphony, four FX slots, eight envelopes, and everything but a flux capacitor.
More than just
a phase
The CZ-101 defined a whole new way of creating the sounds keyboardists and producers wanted. This put Casio® on the map as a maker of serious professional synthesizers. CZ V puts phase distortion back on the map with the ultimate version of this groundbreaking synthesis technology.
In the early ’80s, Casio wasn’t about to sit still while the DX7 took over the world. Fortunately, they had a platform to build on — a high-end synth workstation called Cosmo. It’s the direct ancestor of the CZ-101, whose mini keys and $499 price tag put real synthesis in the hands of a new generation of musicians.
Originally designed for Isao Tomita, the Cosmo was Casio’s foray into Synclavier and Fairlight territory. While not a commercial success, this server rack worth of sampler and synth units served as the proving ground for phase distortion (PD), a technique pioneered by Casio engineer Mark Fukuda.
Where FM modulated the frequency of one waveform with another, PD altered the carrier wave’s time domain. By varying the modulation amount, you could go from a sine wave to tones full of rich harmonics. You weren’t confined to sine waves as on the DX family; modulator waves (and thus the waveform you hear) could morph from simple to complex — duplicating analog waves and a lot more.
Released in 1984, the CZ-101 featured two “Lines," each with its own envelopes for pitch, modulation amount, and volume. Using one Line yielded eight voices of polyphony; two cut that to four voices. Some modulations mimicked a resonant filter, which eliminated the need for a costly analog circuit. Importantly, users found the relationship between tweaking this or that control and a given sonic result more intuitive than the multi-operator structure of the DX7.
Follow-up models included the full-sized CZ-1000 (1985); the CZ-3000, which doubled the polyphony; the CZ-5000 with its 8-track sequencer; and the flagship CZ-1 (1986), featuring a velocity- and aftertouch-sensitive keyboard. Then there’s CZ V, which removes all limitations of hardware and proves that phase distortion synthesis itself has no limits either.
A different kind of
of distortion
Phase distortion, like FM, involves one oscillator modulating another.
DCO > DCW > DCA
Each DCO in CZ V lets you select from the 8 original waveforms or draw your own. Some serial combinations of two different waveforms are provided for, resulting in many more possibilities. Each DCO is followed by a corresponding digitally controlled waveshaper (DCW) section, including key follow and an 8-stage envelope generator. This animates the amount of waveshaping from the modulator over time. There’s also an eight-stage envelope for DCO frequency, allowing for pitch-change effects far beyond vibrato, trills and lasers. A digitally controlled amplifier (DCA) with its own eight-stage envelope rounds out a DCO>DCW>DCA signal chain roughly equivalent to that of analog VCO>VCF>VCA.
Between the lines
Like the original, the CZ V has two complete DCO>DCW>DCA signal lines that you can use individually or in parallel. Duplicate settings in each line allows for a fatter sound given the ability to transpose and/or detune them, while separate settings provide for much more complex timbres. You might, for example, shape a hyper-percussive sound in one line and craft a pad in the other to combine into a compound timbre. Other goodies faithful to the original include a dedicated vibrato section, polyphonic portamento, ring modulation and noise modulation.
Simple Synthesis
Ultimately, the beauty of PD compared to the better-known FM is that there are only four primary things that really control the timbre of each CZ line: the DCO’s modulating waveform and the three envelopes. Both PD and FM have made significant and instantly recognizable contributions to music, but the simpler concept of PD can ironically get a lot closer to analog bass, brass, strings and more with a lot less fiddling.
Our DSP team reverse-engineered the code inside the CZ-series and even modeled the DAC outputs, delivering the perfect combination of authentic PD behavior and that crunchy, almost-lo-fi sound of the ‘80s, right in your DAW.
A CZ for
Today
The CZ-101 had an instant and intuitive interface, especially for an early digital synth - yet CZ V is quicker and more performance-oriented in every way.
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01. Eyes Meet Ears
See exactly what’s happening to your sound as you play and the waveforms morph, right in the central display area.
02. Drop the Bass, Tweak the FX
See exactly what’s happening to your sound as you play and the waveforms morph, right in the central display area.
03. Dedicated Vibrato
We’ve upgraded the CZ’s stand-alone vibrato section with more waveforms, tempo sync, and adjustable delay.
04. Guilty Pleasure Generator
What would an ’80s synth be without a classic arpeggiator? Ours features six patterns (including as-played and random) and up to a 4-octave range.
05. Line Up
Choose to hear Line 1, Line 2, both, or Line 1 plus a copy of itself. Then, ring- or noise-modulate them here.
06. Poly or Mono
Toggle into mono mode for thick unison leads on solos, then back to poly for playing chords, with one button.
A CZ for
Tomorrow
Massive synthesis power lurks just beneath the surface in CZ V’s Advanced Panel. We’ve made all of it fun and easy to use.
If this much capability had been packed into hardware, phase distortion might have become the dominant synthesis method in music. Our Advanced interface makes it more intuitive than ever to see just how far PD can go.
The Heart of CZ V
With different target waveforms for the first and second cycle in each Line, creating ear-grabbing harmonic motion is a snap!
Hear it
in action
Could someone do an entire album using just CZ V sounds?
Tropical Serenade
Chunky House
Cinematic
DrumBass Desires
Lost Land
Mouvances
Nostalgia
SlowCore
Trance
Presets
CZ V is surprising because it can sound like an analog synth.
It can sound like a DX. It can sound like a PPG Wave. It can generate evocative pads and choirs. And much more. Check out some select highlights from its built-in library of 500+ presets.
Artist
Corner
Jason O'Bryan
Abbey Road Institute
"CZ V demands your attention, with just a few tweaks to the beautifully crafted presets, unique and endless sonic landscapes began to emerge. Intuitive, emotive and inspirational in equal measure, the CZ V is my new favourite software synthesiser."
Marcus Lambkin
Shit Robot
"The V Collection has so much to offer but the surprise stand out for me could be the Casio CZ-V. The interface is so easy to use and so much fun to play around with that it's very hard to resist. Easily one of my favorites."
Tomás Mulcahy
"I was pleasantly surprised that the real character of the hardware is right there in CZ V! And I think there are four main strengths, in order of importance: The percentage level control on each envelope really opens up the possibilities in a very big way, allowing the CZ V to respond to the player in a much more organic way from modulation. It also makes it much easier to have bright or dark within the patch. Now it’s so easy to tweak the patch so that it sits right in your track. I love it!"
Tomás Mulcahy
"I love the chorus. With one voice it is very much like the hardware CZ, and with two or three voices, it is pretty much the perfect chorus for a synth! When I got the initial specs, it was the looping envelopes that most excited me. I would have killed for this feature on the hardware, back in the day. It took me a while to figure them out, but I did, with relative ease, and they are hugely useful."
Tomás Mulcahy
"I have been using a CZ since 1992, starting with the CZ-5000 and ending up eventually with the CZ-1. Back then it was my only polysynth. With the sequencer it was like an affordable workstation, so I wanted it to make every sound possible. With CZ V it is more of an adventure. This is because it is exactly the same as the old hardware and at the same time is a very up to date synth with all the features we take for granted in software today. So the method was simply to explore and have fun. Several times I started from an initial patch and just explored the new possibilities, especially with the extra Mod Envelopes, the more detailed velocity modulation and the Custom Waveform."
Don Solaris
"The main strength of CZ V in my opinion is definitely the user interface. It is heads and shoulders above other competitive products, making sound design and programming seem like child's play. I have built most of the patches so fast that programming was no longer an issue. In fact the only issue was inspiration - I was able to make sounds almost faster than I could imagine them."
Don Solaris
"When building this soundset I had two goals. First was to try to emulate some of my existing sounds from my beloved CZ-1 (which in the meantime I sold, since CZ V covers it 99%). The second goal was to try and push the software to the limit and see what will come back - whether it will break or continue to impress. Most of the time it was the later, especially when trying the things the CZ-1 never had. The only time i would briefly hang from a cliff was when stacking too many voices in unison which my Mac Mini (late 2012) was no longer able to push. But other than that, I was super happy to participate in this project!"
Paul Schilling
"My approach is to treat the whole thing as an instrument - including the FX, routings, and all the other well-considered additions.First thoroughly understand the core synthesis engine and then expand outward to fully grok the whole thing. Be the synth. From that place I take sometimes an improvisational approach, sometimes a vector "must get a certain sound" approach. Either way, almost always something interesting happens, and such was the case with CZ V."
Thomas Koot
"Just as with analog synths, the rawness and imperfections of early digital synthesizers give them an unmistakable character. Like the original CZ series, the CZ-V provides sounds with real character, it has a vintage feel, but in a completely different way than an analog synthesizer."
Maxime Dangles
"I really loved working on the CZ V, to be honest I never had to work with a phase distortion synthesizer. I would do it more often in the future, it's very powerful, especially with the ability to create its own waveform."
Maxime Dangles
"I never had a CZ synth before so I really discovered it through the process of sound design, thanks to the modulation matrix and additional LFOs, it’s a very powerful way to create sounds. I was really helped by the Arturia added functions that let me go further and faster in the sound exploration. I was not looking for a specific type of sounds, just wiggling knobs until it sounds great."
New Loops
"One of the features in the CZ V that I found really useful was being able to loop the envelopes. This opens up all kinds of possibilities for rhythmic and sequenced sounds. The ring modulation is good fun too and is great for making harmonically rich sounds for example, bells and buzzy leads. For sound design, I usually start with my own initial preset that has the synth set up how I want. This is often different for each synth but with common settings like pitch wheel amounts set to 12 semitones, the mod wheel and after touch set up as modulation sources, and volumes at unity. I find this approach gives me consistency across all my presets."
Clément Bastiat
"The way CZ V handles phase modulation is interesting. It has lots of envelopes so the sounds are alive. It seems simple and efficient at first, but with some clever phase modulation curves, you can really make it sound like an FM synth."
Clément Bastiat
"I sometimes let myself flow while discovering features and let myself be surprised, which usually get me to some exciting sounds I was not expecting. Other times, I have specific sounds in mind and just do what needs to be done"
New Loops
"If I had to pick 3 of my favourite presets from CZ V they would be these: they show a wide range of possibilities for this synth."
New Loops
"I don't tend to start with a sound in mind when making a preset. I like to start with my blank patch and get multiple oscillators working together. Then I will look at the features in the synth and start adding modulation. The key is to experiment with all the different features as these can vary quite a lot between synths and this is where you start to get unique sounds."
Included in
V Collection 11 Pro
This instrument is part of V Collection Pro - a premium suite of software instruments designed for unparalleled sonic exploration.
From authentically modeled keyboards to hybrid synth engines and beautifully captured acoustic sounds, every instrument is enhanced for today’s production workflow - V Collection delivers the greatest keys of all time.
The features
you need
In-App Tutorials
Integrated in-app tutorials guide you through every aspect of the instrument, from individual parameters to tips from our sound designers, so you can focus on the creative stuff. It shouldn't be this easy, but it is!
Gallery
Main Features
Two synthesis lines and independent noise source
All CZ-101/CZ-1000 original parameters
8 original waveform and custom waveform editor
Original CZ SysEx import
CZ, DADSR and Multi-Segments envelopes (syncable and loopable) to control pitch, DCW and amplitude
2 Modulation envelopes
4 assignable macros
Advanced modulation matrix
A Sample and Hold module, 2 LFOs with 6 waveforms, 3 sources combinators and an Arpeggiator
4 FXs slots that can be routed in serie or per synthesis line
A synthesis line state viewer for real-time feedback
Emulation of the original CZ DAC
32 voices of polyphony
Up to 8 voices of unison with unison detune
Over 400 factory presets