Yamaha CS80

Hi all.

I'd like everyone to contribute to a list of everything you'd want
added to the CS80 (besides the anti-gravity device). I'm trying to
come up with what I'd want to add and I'm wondering what other people
have added, or thought of adding.

Here's a few:

MIDI
This is a biggie, since it could mean many things:
MIDI in
MIDI out
Notes, pressure, ribbon, program change
Others???

Auto tune
Something like on later Prophet 5, including microtuning.

Digital patch storage
Also like P5, and other late '70s polysynths: scan panel controls,
digitize (fast & high resolution!), save to flash. We could really
go crazy with this and replace the Panel sliders with motorized
faders!

Oscillator Sync between sounds I & II.

Unison modes (like Kent is working on).

Split keyboard / Multitimbral.

Release velocity.

For some of these, especially trying to do several at once, the
keyscanning and modulation distribution boards would basically get
replaced. Lots of work!


Please comment/add your own!

David

Hey David!

You've got big plans already, I see.. ;)

I'd love the ability to route the audio input through the filters --
yummy! Why not make it stereo while you're at it?!?

-Bradley

:: Hi all.
::
:: I'd like everyone to contribute to a list of everything you'd want
:: added to the CS80 (besides the anti-gravity device). I'm trying to
:: come up with what I'd want to add and I'm wondering what
:: other people
:: have added, or thought of adding.

Hi all.

I'd like everyone to contribute to a list of everything you'd want
added to the CS80 (besides the anti-gravity device).  I'm trying to
come up with what I'd want to add and I'm wondering what other people
have added, or thought of adding.

Here's a few:

MIDI
This is a biggie, since it could mean many things:
  MIDI in
  MIDI out
  Notes, pressure, ribbon, program change
  Others???

Auto tune
  Something like on later Prophet 5, including microtuning.

Digital patch storage
  Also like P5, and other late '70s polysynths: scan panel controls,
digitize (fast & high resolution!), save to flash.  We could really
go crazy with this and replace the Panel sliders with motorized
faders!

Oscillator Sync between sounds I & II.

Unison modes (like Kent is working on).

Split keyboard / Multitimbral.

Release velocity.

For some of these, especially trying to do several at once, the
keyscanning and modulation distribution boards would basically get
replaced.  Lots of work!


Please comment/add your own!

David

Here comes my wish list:

Auto Tune, most definitely.

Indicator LEDs on each voice board that show you which is active (if there´s
no auto tune possible and you have to tweak them in tune yourselves).

External stabilized and regulated power supply, built to military standards
(which might solve some temperature-based problems. If not, it makes the
instrument 20 kg lighter... which is a good thing if you´ve moved house as
often as I did in the past).

Less noisy built-in Chorus/Tremolo with an input level / output balance pot
rather than just on/off.

Ventilators (heavy duty computer fans, temperature-controlled).

Lighter enclosure 8)...

I wouldn´t want anything that potentially puts the playability of the CS at
risk (like MIDI which I deeply mistrust anyway, but MIDI and CS80 go
together as well as Chocolate Sauce and Smoked Eel). No, seriously, folks, I
am not one of these snobbish purists who´d say all innovation is bad right
from the start but I think it´s just hard to find anything as immediately
satisfying as far as musicality is concerned as the CS-80. I wouldn´t want
to control it from somewhere else, and I wouldn´t want to use it as a master
keyboard controller, either, as most other synthesizers are not designed to
respond the way a CS80 does. Using it within a setup should always bring out
your musical wit and your musical skills, rather than having its track
perfectly synced to your other stuff.

Stephen.


"Human beings are a disease, the cancer of this planet, you´re a plague. And
we are the cure." (Agent Smith / Matrix)

Visit the official [´ramp] website at www.doombient.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Rogoff" <david@...>
To: <yamahacs80@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2004 12:27 AM
Subject: [yamahacs80] What mods would you want?


> Hi all.
>
> I'd like everyone to contribute to a list of everything you'd want
> added to the CS80 (besides the anti-gravity device). I'm trying to
> come up with what I'd want to add and I'm wondering what other people
> have added, or thought of adding.
>
> Here's a few:
>
> MIDI
> This is a biggie, since it could mean many things:
> MIDI in
> MIDI out
> Notes, pressure, ribbon, program change
> Others???
>
> Auto tune
> Something like on later Prophet 5, including microtuning.
>
> Digital patch storage
> Also like P5, and other late '70s polysynths: scan panel controls,
> digitize (fast & high resolution!), save to flash. We could really
> go crazy with this and replace the Panel sliders with motorized
> faders!
>
> Oscillator Sync between sounds I & II.
>
> Unison modes (like Kent is working on).
>
> Split keyboard / Multitimbral.
>
> Release velocity.
>
> For some of these, especially trying to do several at once, the
> keyscanning and modulation distribution boards would basically get
> replaced. Lots of work!
>
>
> Please comment/add your own!
>
> David
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

Good point, this. What´s the point of having all these beautiful mods when
the instrument becomes unplayable due to some dead custom ICs?

Making the spare parts situation sort of safe is an important factor in the
enjoyment of a CS80...

Stephen

"Human beings are a disease, the cancer of this planet, you´re a plague. And
we are the cure." (Agent Smith / Matrix)

Visit the official [´ramp] website at www.doombient.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "The Old Crow" <oldcrow@...>
To: <yamahacs80@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2004 10:09 AM
Subject: Re: [yamahacs80] What mods would you want?


>
> My biggest mod plans are to replace all the custom chips with equivalent
> discrete circuits. For a voice board, it will be mostly surface-mount
> parts in order to keep the board the same size as the originals. Same
> goes for the KAS board (key assigner), though that one won't have to be
> surface-mount parts.
>
> Auto-tune won't happen unless a key assigner with higher resolution
> DACs is made such that micro-tonal tuning of the pitch CVs can be done.
> That, and a feedback circuit to listen to each channel's oscs, along with
> a "silencer" VCA placed in the audio output circuit so the horrendous
> squawking the machine would make while running a tune algorithm is
> avoided.
>
> I'm going to try and avoid the issue with new VCO circuits that don't
> have tracking issues. ;)
>
> Crow
> /**/
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

My biggest mod plans are to replace all the custom chips with equivalent
discrete circuits. For a voice board, it will be mostly surface-mount
parts in order to keep the board the same size as the originals. Same
goes for the KAS board (key assigner), though that one won't have to be
surface-mount parts.

Auto-tune won't happen unless a key assigner with higher resolution
DACs is made such that micro-tonal tuning of the pitch CVs can be done.
That, and a feedback circuit to listen to each channel's oscs, along with
a "silencer" VCA placed in the audio output circuit so the horrendous
squawking the machine would make while running a tune algorithm is
avoided.

I'm going to try and avoid the issue with new VCO circuits that don't
have tracking issues. ;)

Crow
/**/

----- Original Message -----

From: wavecomputer360

To: yamahacs80@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2004 10:05 AM

Subject: Re: [yamahacs80] What mods would you want?

Good point, this. What´s the point of having all these beautiful mods when
the instrument becomes unplayable due to some dead custom ICs?

Making the spare parts situation sort of safe is an important factor in the
enjoyment of a CS80...

Stephen

"Human beings are a disease, the cancer of this planet, you´re a plague. And
we are the cure." (Agent Smith / Matrix)

Visit the official [´ramp] website at www.doombient.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "The Old Crow" <oldcrow@...>
To: <yamahacs80@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2004 10:09 AM
Subject: Re: [yamahacs80] What mods would you want?


>
>   My biggest mod plans are to replace all the custom chips with equivalent
> discrete circuits.  For a voice board, it will be mostly surface-mount
> parts in order to keep the board the same size as the originals.  Same
> goes for the KAS board (key assigner), though that one won't have to be
> surface-mount parts.
>
>   Auto-tune won't happen unless a key assigner with higher resolution
> DACs is made such that micro-tonal tuning of the pitch CVs can be done.
> That, and a feedback circuit to listen to each channel's oscs, along with
> a "silencer" VCA placed in the audio output circuit so the horrendous
> squawking the machine would make while running a tune algorithm is
> avoided.
>
>   I'm going to try and avoid the issue with new VCO circuits that don't
> have tracking issues. ;)
>
> Crow
> /**/
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>

--- In yamahacs80@yahoogroups.com, "David Rogoff" <david@t...> wrote:

> Hi all.
>
> I'd like everyone to contribute to a list of everything you'd want
> added to the CS80 (besides the anti-gravity device). I'm trying

to

> come up with what I'd want to add and I'm wondering what other

people

> have added, or thought of adding.

Did anyone say channel audio outs? I own a Marion Systems MSR-2
which has 16 audio inputs into dual board 16 voice synth's filters.
I build the cables for the inputs and tested. My dream is to somehow
control the Marion and the CS80 together but that sure would take
alot of work - the Marion is not programmed for this (Tom Oberheim
told me once that it would be tricky getting an external synth with
channel outs to trigger the correct voices). Anyways, I was going to
do this with some TG55's but never got around to it. I think routing
the CS80 into the Marion would be ridiculously cool but I'd find it
way beyond my electronics skill to put all the electronics together
for some kind of triggering. But multi-channel outs of the CS80
would be cool anyway especially with my digital desk. Amibabbling,
seemslikeImbabblingtoomuchcoffeegottastopdrinkinsomcuhsfcovffere.

In a message dated 8/28/04 1:11:42 AM, oldcrow@... writes:

My biggest mod plans are to replace all the custom chips with equivalent
discrete circuits.  For a voice board, it will be mostly surface-mount
parts in order to keep the board the same size as the originals.  Same
goes for the KAS board (key assigner), though that one won't have to be
surface-mount parts.


Crow-

Once you have replaced all the custom chips with equivalent discrete circuits, how much further do you have to go to essentially recreate a Yamaha CS-80? Imagine I have a MIDI keyboard capable of generating polyaftertouch, and perhaps have a Kurzweil Expressionmate handy. I am thinking of a box similar to the Oberheim Expander, hopefully weighing significantly less and with better tuning stability.

-Marshall

btw- Introduction: I owned a CS-80 for about a year after wanting one for decades. Loved the sound, didn't love the maintenance issues. And yes, I do own a Kurzweil MIDIBoard and an ExpressionMate....

It is not that simple: the CS machines are much more than the sound of
their chips. The only way to re-create a CS-80 is to make sure there is
the correct type of weighted keyboard with poly pressure and initial
touch, and all of the performance controls are arranged in the same
fashion around it. Now, this can be built, but I am not a carpenter. :)

I do want to make a sort of 5U rackmount CS-80, that I oddly call the
CSR-80, but without a suitable keyboard/control system to connect to it,
it won't be the same. I might try operating such a rack from the DX-1,
provided I can get it to send poly-pressure data over MIDI.

It is a player<->keyboard communion issue, and it has to be done right
in order to have the same allure as the original CS-80.

Crow
/**/

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 marzzz@... wrote:
>
> Crow-
>
> Once you have replaced all the custom chips with equivalent discrete
> circuits, how much further do you have to go to essentially recreate a
> Yamaha CS-80? Imagine I have a MIDI keyboard capable of generating
> polyaftertouch, and perhaps have a Kurzweil Expressionmate handy. I am
> thinking of a box similar to the Oberheim Expander, hopefully weighing
> significantly less and with better tuning stability.
>
> -Marshall