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Casio FZ20M - Image 1

Casio FZ20M

RackmountDigitalPolyphonic

Back in 1987, this rackmount beast brought 16-bit sampling to the masses with a twist—additive synthesis and hand-drawn waveforms that let you craft sounds from scratch, long before most gear caught up.

It's a digital powerhouse with 2MB RAM for up to 29 seconds of sampling at 36kHz (or longer at 18kHz/9kHz rates), 8-voice polyphony, and space for 64 samples across 8 banks. Front-panel goodies include a 96x64 pixel LCD for visual sample editing, numeric keypad, value sliders, mic/line inputs, and headphone out, while the back packs balanced XLR/jack outs (8 individual monophonic + mix), full MIDI In/Out/Thru, and SCSI ports for speedy hard drive loading. Sound shaping shines via a resonant 24dB/oct lowpass filter, poly aftertouch/velocity sensitivity, one LFO, and killer 8-point DCF/DCA envelopes with sustain loops—plus tools like sine-wave additive stacking, sample snapshots for oscillator use, and loop optimizers.

Vintage players still dig its gritty character and deep editing, though the nested menus and low individual output levels take some getting used to, much like its FZ-10M sibling but with that SCSI edge for bigger libraries.

Released

1987

Status

Discontinued

Synthesizer
Format
Rackmount
Type
Sample-based, Additive
Internal Battery
No
Voice
A/D
Digital
Polyphony
Polyphonic
Oscillators
-
Oscillator Type
Sample-based
Voices
8
Filter
Lowpass, 24dB/oct (4-pole), Resonant
Envelopes
8
LFO
1
Effects
No
Expression
Aftertouch
Polyphonic
Velocity
Yes
MPE
No
Additional
-
Software
-
I/O
Audio In
1x line mic (TS/XLR)
Audio Out
1x mix (TS/XLR) + 8x individual (TS/XLR)
Headphone
-
MIDI
In, Out, Thru
MIDI Type
DIN (5-pin)
Ports
Serial, SCSI
Wi-Fi
No
Workflow
Arpeggiator
-
Sequencer
-
Mod Matrix
-
Memory
-
Measurements
Dimensions
482.6mm W x 387mm D x 142.6mm H
Weight
10.9 kg
Last updated Feb 25, 2026