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Name: Steve (EZVZ Webmaster)
E-mail: casio @ sallyandsteve dot com
Friday 8th January 2010 6:18 pm U.K. Time

I think someone did send me a copy of the VZ8 sysex manual some years ago. To be honest, it's not likely that I will ever implement it as it really is a lot of work to do, and I really don't have the time anymore. Also, as I don't have a VZ8 myself there's no incentive. Sorry.

Name: paul
E-mail: pbennett@hol.gr
Saturday 9th January 2010 11:50 am U.K. Time

but could i ask for a little help in how to decipher the sysex string so i can make a vz-8m map for my midi controller....

if you could post a couple a couple of strings for the vz-10/1 with a brief description it would give me a massive head start as those 8ies manuals can be 'just a little' confusing at times!

best regards

paul

Name: Flavio Vit
E-mail: flavio.m.m.vit@gmail.com
Monday 25th January 2010 3:09 pm U.K. Time

Does anybody have a program to load / save patches / banks on VZ-1? I have Midi Quest but no extra pacthes. In the past I used VZPATCH but it is not woring on Vista.

regards! Flavio ViT

Name: Ben
E-mail: froonbazhooley@gmail.com
Thursday 11th February 2010 1:57 pm U.K. Time

Name: Jeff Mead
E-mail: jeff.mead@btinternet.com
Wednesday 3rd March 2010 11:19 pm U.K. Time

Name: sam
E-mail: elfemaus@rocketmail.com
Thursday 18th March 2010 11:41 am U.K. Time

answers will be appreciatet. thanx very much

Name: Steve - EZVZ Webmaster
E-mail: steve@sallyandsteve.dot.com
Friday 19th March 2010 12:13 am U.K. Time

It's been a long while since anyone has asked that one, but yes, there is a battery on the circuit board which keeps the internal RAM alive. I believe it is a lithium battery (ie not rechargeable) so it does eventually die after many years. I seem to recall someone saying that it is soldered to the circuit board, and of a non-standard size, but it should be possible to find an equivalent of the same voltage that would fit with a bit of effort (ie soldering some wires to it). You would need a little bit of skill with a soldering iron, but not difficult for anyone who knows how to do that sort of thing.

Name: SHANE LERCH
E-mail: SLISOK@COMCAST.NET
Monday 22nd March 2010 2:38 pm U.K. Time

Name: Doug Francis
E-mail: doug_francis@bd.com
Friday 26th March 2010 2:48 pm U.K. Time

I have been taking the time to create patch card lists for the rom cards that were commercially available and rarely come up for sale with the card patch lists and if you download the patches you don't get a list anyhow.

The lists are free and available to anyone who becomes a member of the yahoo Casio VZ group and downloads them from the files section. Many of the complete sets of patches from the cards are there as well.

It was my intention to help out the VZ community with these lists and all I ask is that members upload your rom card contents if the card is not already on the groups file page. Hopefully someday all of the rom cards will be on there, I have seen some really rare ones I know are not on there, come on people lets share.

epitaph68 Raleigh, NC

Name: Noel Ford
E-mail: noel@fordcartoon.com
Tuesday 13th April 2010 6:54 pm U.K. Time

Noel

Name: Steve - EZVZ Webmaster
E-mail: steve@sallyandsteve.dot.com
Tuesday 13th April 2010 11:09 pm U.K. Time

Name: Al the Bass
E-mail: Althebass@gmail.com
Sunday 30th May 2010 11:28 pm U.K. Time

Name: xav
E-mail: madvax(@)free.fr
Wednesday 14th July 2010 8:08 am U.K. Time

Name: Steve (EZVZ Webmaster)
E-mail: steve @ sallyandsteve dot com
Wednesday 14th July 2010 10:31 am U.K. Time

I don't like the sound of that. My initial thought was that it was just a wiring problem with the keyboard matrix and that you had just lost one or two of the common connections (ie a simple broken wire or loose connector). The wiring for the keys is arranged in a grid, as shown here: http://www.sallyandsteve.dsl.pipex.com/casio/documentation/service_manual/17_key_matrix.gif

However, looking at that grid, losing one of the Key Common(KC) wires would not cause eight consecutive notes to be lost - eg if you lose KC3 you lose all the C, E, G# notes only. To lose sets of 8 consecutive notes to be lost requires you to lose lots of Key Input (KI) wires - far too many and in too regular an order to be at all likely.

It is possible, I suppose, that all the relevant KI wires could be on the same connector (if there are multiple connectors) and so it could just be a loose connector. Otherwise, I think either there is a fault in the Keyboard Controller chip (uPD910356GF) or there is a problem on the databus between the Keyboard Controller and the CPU (which goes via a buffer). See block diagram: http://www.sallyandsteve.dsl.pipex.com/casio/documentation/service_manual/08_block_diagram.gif

If there was a databus problem I would expect other functions to be affected too though. Looking at that block diagram I might expect you to have problems also with either the menu and other panel keys, with the LED lights, or with the LCD display. If all those work OK, then I suspect your keyboard controller chip is malfuntioning. If there are other faults, then it could be any of several chips on that databus, or the buffer, which has failed on one data line.

If it was me, and you're confident about opening up the machine, I would carefully inspect the wiring/connectors between the keyboard and the main circuit board, then identify the keyboard controller chip and see if it is in a socket (in which case it might be loose). Then check all other connectors and chip sockets. If still no joy, then the Keyboard Controller is probably dead. To be honest, I doubt you would be able to source a replacement. One thing - do all the notes sound if you drive the keyboard from another Midi device? If so, that at least confirms that we're looking in the right area.

Hope that helps.

Name: xav
E-mail: madvax(@)free.fr
Wednesday 14th July 2010 1:28 pm U.K. Time

Name: Steve (EZVZ Webmaster)
E-mail: steve @ sallyandsteve dot com
Wednesday 14th July 2010 4:09 pm U.K. Time

I regret that I have to agree with you. It looks like one of the sound chips has failed - probably the second one labelled "Slave" in the service manual. I can't see anything else that could account for that fault.

If you have a voltmeter it is perhaps worth checking that the chip is receiving a 5V power supply on the correct pins (see http://www.sallyandsteve.dsl.pipex.com/casio/documentation/service_manual/23_music_lsi_pinout.gif ), in case there is a broken track or connection on the circuit board somewhere, but other than that I don't think there is anyhting else you can do.

Name: xav
E-mail: madvax(@)free.fr
Wednesday 14th July 2010 4:59 pm U.K. Time

Name: xav
E-mail: madvax(@)free.fr
Thursday 15th July 2010 9:04 am U.K. Time