Comments on Yamaha CS-50

 From: metlay@minerva.phyast.pitt.edu (metlay)

Subject: Re: Comments on Yamaha CS-50

Date: 29 Jan 92 20:08:00 GMT

The Yamaha CS series of analog synths ranged from the CS-5, a remarkably 

powerful little one-voice one-VCO synth somewhat like the Korg MS-10 or

the Micromoog, up through the CS-15, CS-20, CS-30 (beloved instrument of

Mark Shreeve, the UK's second greatest electronic musician ever), and up

and up to the CS-80 and the later CS-70M, which was Yamaha's last analog

monster. I may have missed or miswritten a couple of numbers, having 

only worked with a 5 before, but the basic trend, as it was with the CP

electronic pianos and the SK organ/string machines, was that the higher

the number, the greater the power. The CS-30 was a very, VERY capable

instrument, and I would expect the CS-50 to be as good or better, with 

a quite respectable sound. How much does he want for it? 

BTW, it may be rare like Kawai SX240's are rare, but it's not really

RARE <nudge nudge wink wink> like Minimoogs or TR808's are RARE <eh eh>.

--

metlay                           | "Oh no! Oh bummer! Oh heavy heavy HEAVY!"

metlay@minerva.phyast.pitt.edu   |                              (n. planer)

From: rogoff@midas.ICD.Teradyne.COM (David Rogoff)

Subject: Re: Comments on Yamaha CS-50

Date: 31 Jan 92 17:05:04 GMT

Sorry, but you've got the chronology (and technology) wrong:

Around 1975/6 the CS-50,60 & 80 came out.  They all share common

electronics.

CS-50:  4 octave, velocity sensative keyboard, 4 note poly,

1 changable preset (front panel knobs). Seen lately for about $100

CS-60:   5 octave, velocity sensative keyboard, 8 note poly,

        2 changable presets (1 front panel knobs + 1 mini knobs). 

Adds the wonderful pitch-bend ribbon!!!  Originally $2500,

got mine in '81 for $1000, Seen lately for $200 to $400

CS-80:   5 octave, velocity & POLYPHONIC PRESSURE keyboard,

8 note polyphonic, 2 sounds at once (basically 2 CS-60 from

one keyboard- layered/not split), 6 changable presets

(2 front panel knobs + 4 mini knobs).  Comes with wheels

that insert in back for rolling around.   Originally $7000,

got mine in '85 for $1400, Seen lately for $1000 to $1500

All of these are monsters (100-220 lbs).

Around '77/78 the CS-5, 10, 15, 20M & 40M came out.  These were all

Mini-Moogish lead synths ranging from the CS-5 (2 octave, 1 note, no

memory) to the CS-40M (2 note, RAM based programable presets).

The CS-70M (M is for memory) came out in 80/81 to replace the CS-80.

It has very little to do, in the way of sound generation and user

interface, with the CS-80.  It was basically Yamaha's Prophet 5.

Pretty useless- haven't seen one since '82.  Right around this time

the GS-1 & GS-2 came out which lead to the CE-20, DX-1 (nice machine!),

the DX-7 and therefore the end of useful synthesizers from Yamaha.

If anyone wants more info just ask.

David

From: ar698@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Evan Makris)

Subject: Yamaha CS-30...

Date: 1 Feb 92 16:08:04 GMT

The CS-30 ? I have one of them....

It looks impressive and weighs a lot.

The underside is made of wood !!!!

It has a weird quasi-user-hostile interface when it comes

to making sense of the signal path and routing, but, 

eventually you get used to it.

However, there are at least four major drawbacks:

1. It is WAY unstable when it comes to tuning.

   It can start drifting anytime and gets annoying.

2. The cute little sequencer has no CLOCK INPUT (of

   any polarity), just CLOCK OUT....

3. The RESONANCE cannot be set to self-oscillate.

4. The CV INPUT & OUTPUT is of the linear Hz/Volt

   variety, which means I haven't yet   figured a way

   to drive the thing off my MC-8 (or MPU-101 if you

   happen to have one...) 

Peace.

-- 

Evan Makris                         ar698@cleveland.freenet.edu

Boston, Mass.                    makris@northeastern.edu

From: janlappa@kontu.cc.utu.fi (janlappa)

Subject: Yamaha CS40M problem

Date: 3 Feb 92 16:06:30 GMT

I have recently aquired a used Yamaha CS-40M. It's one of the few monosynths

with memories (20 in all) and a versatile beast with rich analogue sounds.

But there's one major problem: once I have stored the pathces into memory

they can't be re-edited when recalled. The knobs work only in panel mode.

Now I wonder if this is done on purpose or is this some malfunction or

misuse by my side. I have no user's or service manual so I can't check

this out. And if Yamaha haven't provided this synth with edit capability

could it be modified to have it?

My experiences of other CS-series synths are following:

CS5/CS15 - Good basic monosynths with singing sound, CS5 perhaps too limited.

CS50/60/80 - Great analogue polys, especially CS80. Plenty of knobs and thick

             sound. Heavy and generate a lot of heat so there are tuning

             stability problems and component aging when older.

CS70M - Electronically quite different, more reliable. Good versatile

        polysynth although it has no useable link to the world outside: no

        MIDI and the sounds can be stored only in magnetic cards. No touch

        response.  

Janne Lappalainen

Turku, Finland

janlappa@kontu.utu.fi                

From: ross-c@DCS.LEEDS.AC.UK (The Brown Bottle)

Subject: CS30 Architecture

Date: 26 Feb 92 09:37:44 GMT

It is a monosynth with basically two independent VCO->VCF->VCA lines. But

there are lots of opportunities for mixing between the lines. There is a

lot of semi-patching ability using input switches. It has FM (no-envelope),

ring modulation, noise input on one of the filters, and processing of

external sounds from mic etc. The FM is a control on ocs 1, RM is a

control on one of the VCA's. It has a sequencer, which is an 8-stage

variable step-speed analogue, I would classify it more as a second,

programmable-step LFO. It has three envelop generators (ADSR) with a lot

of choice how you modulate what with which envelope generators. You

have five virtual envelope generators, but two of these are inverted

versions of the other ones. You can switch the input of the second

filter to be the high-pass of the first filter, giving complex filtering

abilities.

I have had some marvelous sounds out of the FM, but the oscillators (on my

one anyway) do not track evenly. So, my wonderful sound is out of tune

within a few keys. I plan to have a sampler as my major purchase this

year, so maybe I should have the CS30 sent out to me (it's in New Zealand),

as I can sample the sound. A cheaper alternative would be a Korg MS20.

(I've seen them going really cheap, e.g. 80 pounds, anyone know what these

machines are like? Having a patch-cord machine would be dead sexy). What

about a Roland SH-2? One of the local shops claim they're going to be

getting one soon.

Unfortunately the sound is IMHO a bit thin compared to Minimoogs, Monopolys

etc. One of the VCA's has an additional input for the sine wave from

VCO1, which can fatten the sound, but it still doesn't have "IT" (whatever

"IT" is).

Ross-c