Circuit Bent Casio RZ-1 Live Pattern Demo RZ-1 live mic in room Alien Devices Professionally done
Channel: Transelectronic Labs
Date: 2024-01-08

This video is quite simply a demonstration of a "circuit bent" RZ-1 sampling drum machine. It is a gear demo in that it is just me playing the sounds of the machine, and I show you what a live jam on this device looks like. 

The device was professionally circuit, bent by a gentle person, named Alien Devices located in Arizona (I think), and the mods were performed back in 2010.

The way this was recorded was sound was played through a single JBL 6.5 inch monitor with an AKG USG 44 mic. This is just the dry drum machine into the speaker no effects, and you can hear the clock wine of the bends significantly. Nice

Initially, I felt that this clock wine was a detriment, but now I realize it actually adds a nice texture to things and just needs to be taken into account when using the device. The device is an instrument, and it needs to be handled as such.

When I initially received this device I loved it, but I didn't see its potential, until now.

The sound you hear are PCM sounds in the machine itself. No sampled sounds were used in these recordings because the memory was wiped due to a dead battery.

I need to open the device up and change the battery , and once I do, I am going to be recording samples into this that contain vocals and then glitching those out to create some really wild sounds.

The glitches you hear on the internal sounds can be performed on the samples once they are in the machine.

This particular drum machine model, the RZ one was used on some very early and influential, hip-hop albums, namely, 3 feet high and rising by De La Soul. They use the RZ-1 to sample all the records, they used an Eventide harmonizer to pitch up or down individual samples in order to get them in key. Prince Paul was a producer of De La Soul, and a member of the early and influential hip-hop band called the Stetsasonics.

The Eventide harmonizer is another one of those legendary pieces of gear,  and am yet to have one, but I do have an Ensoniq DP4+, which is in some circles called the 'budget Eventide'. At this point a good DP 4+ is worth just as much as an Eventide harmonizer, so there goes that whole 'budget' Eventide theory.

This video clocks in a little over six minutes, total fun, live jam and I hope that you enjoy the sounds and the video.

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