The CZ-5000 expands the Casio CZ series further into the professional arena. Based on the CZ-101 and CZ-1000 synths, the CZ-5000 adds many new features while retaining the same sound and programming methods as the latter. The keyboard is expanded to a full 61 note or 5-octave length and is capable of being split for bass and treble sounds. There is a built-in 8 track sequencer which is great for storing ideas or creating patterns and sequences to edit in real-time. And finally the CZ-5000 has an expanded waveform memory for even more sounds and thicker sounds. It's like having two stacked CZ-1000 synths all at once!

Casio's CZ series of phase-distortion digital synths make for a unique sound. After all, there are 8-stage envelopes and 2 oscillators per voice for a thicker tone. Their sound is similar to the Yamaha DX synths but is much easier to program. The CZ-5000 may be at the pinnacle of Casio's synthesizer line, and it is still a great low-cost means of getting into vintage digital synth sounds today. The CZ-5000 is not analog and has no filters. But many still find it useful where strange synth sounds are needed such as industrial and electro types of music. It has been used by The Orb and Jean-Michel Jarre.

David

August 17, 2012 @ 1:11 pm

Rikard: Sounddiver 3 is free and has CZ 5000 editor support I believe
http://www.brothersoft.com/sounddiver-350115.html

Rikard

August 6, 2012 @ 4:50 am

Are there any free or cheap editors (mac os x) for this synth? I found one editor but it cost like 400 dollars or something which is a little too much for my budget.

f. a.

June 13, 2012 @ 2:12 pm

You need to use an editor to really tap into the amazing capabilities of this synth. It is anything but cheezy sounding, though easily achievable by just using the presets. Of all my synth buying and selling over the past 6 years, this one, I just couldn't sell. And I've gotten rid of a Prophet 600, Juno 6, OBMX, Maxikorg, K5000, matrix 1000, to name a few. You need SoundDiver or Midiquest. It just sounds so good!

daturex

April 27, 2012 @ 5:49 am

"hmm..cool track. which is doing the piercing thing on top?" - "the casio." - " [beep] off.." - "no, honestly." - "thats insane man. thought thats the matrix 6 or something...but yeah, more synthetical than the oberheim, but cool." - "holds its own." - "certainly, quite dominant even" - "thats just a preset btw." - "can i borrow it?"

gotta love it. bit like a danelectro guitar, if you know what i mean. competent, but without taking itself too serious. pretty distinctive too. as the chap below me said, think mid80s: big hair, michael j fox, aids, cold war, pink trousers, testarossa, pepsi.

casavettes

April 24, 2012 @ 7:25 am

interesting thing this.

sounds very 1985 with lots of cheese, but also lots of flashiness.
phase distortion synthesis is well accessible, all is visible at "level 1" on the display, no need to learn "level 1,2,3,x"-deep dives. hence learning curve is a quick one. took me approx 2 hours to fully grasp its principles.

soundwise: cheese aside, the ability to combine and mix waveforms, control their development in freely designable 8-stage-env's and actually make it accessible is a stroke of genius. long, complex, grainy sweeps, but also immense leads. keeper.

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