[sdiy] CS-60 was:EMS Synthi A

[Dave Magnuson]

At 12:31 PM 8/15/02 -0400, gavin wrote:

>Now over here I've been looking through the Old Crow's Yamaha CS-80
>resource.  I have a CS-60....

<SNIP>

>Anyone worked on these?  and by the
>way does anyone know any method of giving them a MIDI retrofit?
>Thanks to all for any help you can throw this way,
>Gavin
>

Hi Gavin,

I haven't worked on a CS-60 in particular, but you can add simple MIDI
(pitch / gate) to *most* synths by driving the keyboard matrix with a
MIDI->Gate device.  I'm certain I've seen DIY MIDI->Gate projects for many
sizes of keyboards, and there's probably some commerially available units
as well.  You're basically fooling the CS-60 into thinking you're playing
the keys when the notes are actually being driven by MIDI events.  I may do
this on my Polysix 

You can also attach a velocity CV, mod wheel and pitchbend to most synths
if you're a little crafty... not to mention arpeggiator/sequencer sync if
applicable.

If you're looking for full MIDI control of all parameters, then it's a much
more serious endeavour.  Let the list know what you plan to control via
MIDI, and we can offer some links and pointers.  If you need the URL for a
DIY MIDI->Gate project, let me know and I'll try to dig it up for you (and
let me know how many keys are on a CS-60!).  

Dave

Resonant Frequency:
resfreq at hoohahrecords.com
http://www.hoohahrecords.com/resfreq/index.html