Yamaha CS80

Category: Products / synthesisers / analog synthesisers
Added: 20-Dec-98 | Author: admin
New price: discontinued | S/H price: ??
Company Link: Yamaha UK
Company Link: Yamaha manuals
Company Link: Yamaha dsp factory
Yamaha CS80
The CS80 from Yamaha is the top-end unit in the Yamaha CS analog synth range, and is in effect, like two CS60's glued together, offering 2 oscillators with LFo per voice and 16 note poly 8 notes per 'part'.....8 note polyphonic, and 2 part multi, the CS80 has a weighted 61 note keyboard with aftertouch, and separate velocity plus aftertouch settings for each of its two channels....seperate high & lo pass filters are available as there is one for each of the synths 2 parts.... You also get a ribbon-controller on this to compliment the couple of pitch/modulation levers....
Well.... bit of a beastie & apparently had several bad design faults...... Comments please....
Product Videos
cs-80 history
a small history video about the old yamaha cs-80 synth, made by arturia upon the releaso of the cs-8...
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Category: Products / synthesisers / analog synthesisers
User Comments
Product: Yamaha - CS80
Name: 3 Months With the Dream
Email: Email supplied but hidden
Activity: Professional
Date: 18-Feb-00
Back in 1980 a friend stored his CS80 in my studio for about three months. The CS80 is what Stevie Wonder refered to as the 'dream machine'. I believe it was the most musical synthesizer I've ever come across, taking into account everything - inclyding the wonderful wooden, weighted keys, the amazing more-than-one-octave ribbon controller (the MIDI limit for ribbon controllers), and the signature fat, phase-synched sound. This thing felt like a musical instrument, the same as say, a Yamaha grand piano. And although it is apparently one big headache to maintain (tuning is difficult, and the insides of the thing looki like some Ney York City telephone switching building from the thirties... spaghetti wire. But it sat in one place for the whole time I had it with a stable temperature, and it had been professionally tuned before its arrival, so all I had was a perfectyl operational unit that played like a dream. I've done several things to try to recapture the feeling. I bought a Kurzweil ExpressionMate (their free-standing ribbon controller that's like the one on a the 2500 series) and I'm still trying to get the sound from my anolog modeled Novation Nova. It gets pretty close, and I do believe that if an expert sound programmer were to take on the task, it could be accomplished. If I were just made of moolah, I'd find one and accept the cost of keeping it up. But meanwhile, I'm doing what I can to rebuild the experience with current technology, because playing the thing was a joy.
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Product: Yamaha - CS80
Name: Tom
Email: No email added
Activity: Professional
Date: 30-Jan-04
Sex On Chromium Plated Legs .... And Oh What Legs They Are ... !
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Product: Yamaha - CS80
Name: Kent
Email: Email supplied but hidden
Activity: part-timer
Date: 06-May-04
The Yamaha CS80 is the ultimate players synthesizer. The real trick to this baby is the polyphonic aftertouch, pitch initial and velosity control that the keyboard offers. I myself own the two of these giants that weigh 100kg each and eat 180w an hour. There are alot of people who have said that the CS80 has problems with tuning and this is nealy always due to the keyboard not being calibrated the right way. However the early one's sn 1100 to about 1500 had oscilators that would drift when there was a change in tempreture. But Yamaha finally got the ocsilators right by the sn 1550 up to 1900. The London Synth Centre Ltd restored my 80's and fitted the later oscilators, retolexed the cases and recalibrated them too. When I got them back they were perfect and will only be sold when I die. The sound you get from the 80 is unique, nothing else sounds like it and never will.
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Product: Yamaha - CS80
Name: EFE
Email: Email supplied but hidden
Activity: Hobby-ist
Date: 14-Feb-08
The most creative instrument in the universe. Quite a heavy but stays in tune well (atleast mine, I have two of them..). I just love the polyphonic aftertouch of it.
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Last added comment
Product: Yamaha - CS80
Name: Tom
Email: Email supplied but hidden
Activity: Professional
Date: 11-Dec-08
Wow.. everyone seems to have two of these beauties... myself included ...;^) well... probably the only way to keep one going is to have another. Trouble is, when you get a second - you want to keep that one going as well!! I just fixed a mega after touch fault on one of mine. I can tune them up perfectly in an afternoon. Amazing machines. Now looking for a third.
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'Yamaha CS80'
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Total stars: 25 | Total votes: 5
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