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Thread

CS80 tuning - How good is good enough?

2014-12-12 by pyjamagroove@...

I have been tuning my CS80 again after several minor repairs and adjustments. I was wondering where to stop knowing, that it's good enough.

My CS80 behaves different cold to warm and that is perfectly normal. I tune it warm of course I have managed to tune it that when I turn it on cold - I hear banging of waves on several voices. After a warm-up they slow down and begin sweeping slowly.

Other voices are very stable even cold and they stay that way after.

I hear very slow sweeping that is good enough for me. Is it Ok or should tuned CS80 stay dead stable without barely any sweeping at all between channels (is that even possible)?

Re: [yamahacs80] CS80 tuning - How good is good enough?

2014-12-12 by Daniel Forró

Maybe it is possible, but is it good to tune it so precisely? I think a certain out-of-tune behavior is normal, and even desirable, in the case of polyphonic analog synth, also random changes in tuning.

For the exact tuning we have digital instruments, many of them with microtonal tuning ability, so we can emulate random detuning, and there's even Random Pitch function on some DX models.

Daniel Forro

On 12 Dec, 2014, at 5:54 PM, pyjamagroove@... [yamahacs80] wrote:

I have been tuning my CS80 again after several minor repairs and adjustments. I was wondering where to stop knowing, that it's good enough.
My CS80 behaves different cold to warm and that is perfectly normal. I tune it warm of course I have managed to tune it that when I turn it on cold - I hear banging of waves on several voices. After a warm-up they slow down and begin sweeping slowly.
Other voices are very stable even cold and they stay that way after.
I hear very slow sweeping that is good enough for me. Is it Ok or should tuned CS80 stay dead stable without barely any sweeping at all between channels (is that even possible)?

Re: [yamahacs80] CS80 tuning - How good is good enough?

2014-12-12 by pyjamagroove@...

Sure, that in a analog synth that is desirable, but for phasing effect between the channels we have detune function in the CS80, that is quite touchy so to use it effectively the tune between the channels should be almost perfect. That fact made my wonder is my CS80 in tune by standard therms.

Re: Re: [yamahacs80] CS80 tuning - How good is good enough?

2014-12-12 by laurie

there were different runs of oscillator chips....
I did the upgrade for all 16 chips, sadly, one chip was a dud and I had to revert both chips in the "8th" cards to the original...

the new chips had a diode added to the circuit.. (been over 20 years), and the slope of the tuning to heat is different for each chip type...

the newer set is more stable, and doesn't shift as far with the warm up, I like getting the pitch bang on as far as the Octave calibration goes and if the adjustment is a little touchy and doesnt stabilise in full octaves, I stretch it a little during tuning so the lower octaves are a little flatter than the top octaves... when the lid closes, the CS tends to drift the lower octaves slightly sharp... keep that in mind.

when a string section tunes at the concert hall, the overall string section puposely tune flat and sharp the open strings so the overall section sounds lush...

---- On Fri, 12 Dec 2014 03:31:21 -0600 pyjamagroove@... [yamahacs80] <yamahacs80@yahoogroups.com> wrote ----

Sure, that in a analog synth that is desirable, but for phasing effect between the channels we have detune function in the CS80, that is quite touchy so to use it effectively the tune between the channels should be almost perfect. That fact made my wonder is my CS80 in tune by standard therms.

Re: Re: [yamahacs80] CS80 tuning - How good is good enough?

2014-12-12 by laurie

---- On Fri, 12 Dec 2014 03:31:21 -0600 pyjamagroove@... [yamahacs80] <yamahacs80@yahoogroups.com> wrote ----

Sure, that in a analog synth that is desirable, but for phasing effect between the channels we have detune function in the CS80, that is quite touchy so to use it effectively the tune between the channels should be almost perfect. That fact made my wonder is my CS80 in tune by standard therms.