Enter UK software house Quinsoft with their VZ-ED Editor/Librarian. The problem with the VZs isn't the sound, or even the hardware - it's the onboard (firmware) editor. iPD is a unique method of synthesis potentially more powerful than any LA synth (with perhaps the exception of the D50/D70), warmer than FM, and richer in texture than synths such as the Kawai or cheaper Ensoniqs. If you take a very deep breath, ignore the factory presets, and dive deep into the system, you will discover a powerful, expressive, and unusual synthesiser. If the VZs are such lame ducks, why bother writing about them? The answer lies in the sound of the VZ. And, in these days of instant musical gratification, that's a formula for disaster. Consequently, there is a total lack of software for the VZs and, until very recently, a complete dearth of third-party voices. To make matters worse, its MIDI specification is awful. The VZ is crippled by the most infuriating and unusable firmware ever incorporated within a musical instrument.

Trying to find someone who regularly edits their VZ is like searching for the Holy Grail.

Even the sound, which is built up from 'modules' to 'voices' which then become 'operation memories' (patches to you and me) is worth a second, or even a third, listen.Ī great deal of the blame for the VZ's failure must be attached to their operating system. It features a pleasant, velocity- and pressure-sensitive keyboard, 192 patches and 192 combinations on-line at any given time, extensive performance controls, and enormous editing possibilities. Yet the VZ1 is, on the face of it, a useful synthesiser. Something must be seriously wrong with a series of synths for them to fail like the Casios did. In comparison, Korg's flagship M1 was launched at almost the same time as the VZ1 and priced around the £1500 mark. Even in a fashion-orientated industry, prices slashed to that extreme are, well, extreme. In the States, the VZ10M is now selling for $239 ( £120) and the VZ8M for $189 ( £95).

In only two years the asking price for a VZ1 crashed from £1299 to about £350, while the VZ10M dived from £899 to little over £200. Despite a positive MT review in September '88, the VZs died on the streets. Three less fortunate instruments are the Casio VZ1 (keyboard), VZ10M (rackmount), and their less powerful brother, the VZ8M. Some were destined to become classics, others to fade into obscurity. MANY SYNTHS HAVE come and gone over the years.

Casio vz editor