Yamaha CS80

Hi Stephen,
Although it is impossible not to agree what you say, I d like to add 
two points:

You can not edit the sound of an acoustic instrument but instead, 
inorder to get your sphesific sound out of it, you customize your 
playing.
So, eventhough some fancy modulations are not present on the CS 
series, the expression possibilites open up many musical possibilites.
I believe that the US and Yamaha approaches are two different 
approaches so synthesizer music. Maybe I am too much addicted to 
responsive synthesiers like the DX7 and the VL1. So, realtime 
expression power means a lot to me.

I try to overcome the lack of autotune by altering the footage on my 
CS80 when the tuning gets unpleasant. Not quite like the MKS-80 or P5 
autotune but it helps up to a degree.


--- In yamahacs80@yahoogroups.com, "Wavecomputer360" 
<wavecomputer360@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Mert,
> 
> > Have you got any idea why the great CS60 was not popular ever? 
With
> > it's monophonic aftertouch, initial velocity, lovely ribbon
> > controller , ring modulator and 8 polyphony, it should at least 
be a
> > tough competitor against the Prophet 5.
> 
> It never was, just because when compared with a P5 the CS60 sounds 
extremely
> thin, and it reveals its appeal on second sight only. With all its
> idiosyncratic terminology on the envelopes, the rather under-
achieving
> filters, and its more "Japanese" sound it had no chance to woo 
potential P5
> buyers who were accustomed to Mini Moogs and ARP Odysseys most of 
the time.
> The P5 came up with that "American" sound which the CS60 just 
couldn´t do.
> And you mustn´t forget that Yamaha had no real reputation for 
building
> synthesisers at that time, people were rather suspicious of 
something called
> "combo synthesiser", especially when their first encounters with
> synthesisers bearing a "Yamaha" tag were the SY-1 or SY-2 (which 
are no bad
> instruments, but a little flimsy when compared with its competitors 
from the
> USofA). Even the GX-1 was passed off as an Electone organ, and this 
type of
> poor marketing coupled with initially not very convincing sounds 
certainly
> added to the fact that Yamaha didn´t have much success with their
> synthesisers *before* they put out the CS80.
> 
> >
> > I have owned a P5 for about 9 years and although it sounds 
interesting
> > and powerful, the rough pitch and modulation wheels, rather poor
> > keyboard and lack of velocity and aftertouch makes the precise
> > controlling of musical expression quite impossible.
> 
> That´s right, but at that time it was exactly what people needed. 
Not to
> forget its biggest selling asset was its programmability. 40 
patches versus
> one on the CS60? Apart from that, people were used to Moog-style 
wheels, and
> like Richard Luebbing once put it "people like Chick Corea were 
used to the
> Moog wheels, so off went the ribbon controller". That´s marketing. 
Read the
> "Vintage Synthesizers" review of the CS80 in Mark Vail´s book, it´s 
indeed
> very enlightening.
> 
> And it's limited
> > polyphony makes the P5 a real looser against the CS60 at 
sustaining
> > sounds. To me the P5 is not as musical compared to the CS60/80
> 
> I would replace "musical" with "organic" and I´d subscribe to your 
view.
> Curtis- or SSM-based synthesisers tend to have a less animated 
sound because
> they are more stable and more "phase-locked" while the CS60 or CS80 
benefit
> enormously from each oscillator card going its own way. Which might 
lead to
> a minor reliability issue or two...
> 
> >
> > The mighty CS80 makes the CS60 look a small limited synthesizer. 
But if
> > we take the CS60 on it's own, it is an incredible synthesizer 
still.
> 
> Definitely. But we should bear in mind that both CS60 *and* CS80 
are pretty
> limited when compared to a Prophet 5 or an Oberheim OB-Xa in terms 
of
> modulation and such. No VCO sync, no PWM through the EGs, no 
Polymodulation,
> no unison mode, no autotune, no RAM memories. The CSs excel at 
expression,
> richness of tone, and performance power but not in timbral variety. 
Like
> Brian Eno once put it, "the CS80 has just six sounds on it, but 
these are
> gorgeous".
> 
> >
> > I am a lucky owner of a CS80. The CS60 is going to be my next 
purchase
> > with it's easier portability for my stage performance.
> 
> Agreed, and the CS60 seems to be less temperamental when it comes 
to tuning
> stability, probably because the internal cooling is more effective 
as there
> are less components installed.
> 
> >
> > BTW, I old my P5 last summer and never miss it.
> 
> I´d miss it, I know that, as they are both like apples and 
oranges :-). One
> can do tricks the other can´t do. And I for one would love to add a 
Rev. 3
> P5 to my setup some day or other. Just like I´d love to add an 
Oberheim Four
> Voice to it someday...
> 
> Stephen.
> 
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> ____________________________________________________________________
> 
> "Ambition makes you look pretty ugly." (Thom Yorke/Radiohead --
 "Paranoid
> Android")
> 
> 
> Now available: "Tektonik" and "Gronland", two new ambient music 
albums by
> Stephen Parsick.
> Each album is limited to 25 copies and will come in a special 
packing and is
> hand-numbered.
> 
> It´s out: "doombient.two -- a declaration of war", the new [´ramp] 
album,
> recorded live in 2003.
> Limited to 100 copies only so get it while you still can.
> 
> For info and audio, please visit the official [´ramp] website at
> www.doombient.com
>