what accounts for the sound around 4:44. kind of nasally, maybe a thin pulse wave with bandpass filtering, maybe a little bit of ring mod/am? obviously never played a cs80 although i guess i could try the artuira emulation. but does anyone have any idea what that tone is?
Glad to see you got it up and running so well. This is the guy who sold it to you. To be honest, easily one of my biggest regrets of synths I let go, probably because I'll never be able to afford another. Glad it got such a good home though. Hope you keep it forever. They make nothing like this anymore, it will only become more special with time.
Whenever I listen to a CS50 or CS60 it is always a great reminder that more is not always more. In these days when a new synth is derided by the general synth community if it doesn't have *at least* two oscillator's, a self oscillating filter, multiple LFOs (remember the outrage when the Prologue came out?), patch storage (and thus a lot of unnecessary digital circuitry), a load of onboard effects, it makes me miss the days when synths were just simpler and simply sounded Fantastic (especially Yamahas).
awesome synth cs 60nunos of my favorite sounds congratulations great job I'm excited to hear it. I can ask you for help. I am looking for those sounds I have a prophet rev 2 that other accessories should add to get closer to those sounds. I am a great fan of vangelis because it makes the synthesizers breathe to give them a very emotional tone and you have also managed to transmit this, I would appreciate your help Francisco from Chile
Question for you, what is the maintenance cost? Where do you get it maintained at and how long between repairs ? Trying to be realistic, this is my all time favorite instrument as it plays like one. It’s funny because a guitar plays one thing and effects modify that one thing but it does it so well. This does many one things so well. Moderns synths do a lot not very well
dude where do you get an oscilloscope like this one ? I used to have a cs60 - sold it ages ago for only 1500 damn !!! I got a korg dv800 now - its maybe better but only duophonic !!!
ah i used have one of these - i loved it - Amazingly - i did'nt lift the lid for prob a couple of years , like durr just lift it - when i saw the wires it was like a telephone exchange in there - it really is amazing - yep miss that ring mod - surely one of the best made - look forward to behringers remake if it gets done - but you know what ... i still want the original - it has great colours - a bit toy like really , chunky , lots of space between sliders
Thanks for the video! Just curious, but in your video the text graphic shows 3 of 16v 220 uF, however when I removed caps from my power supply, I actually only had 2 of them and the third one was a 16v 22 uF (the solo one behind the far left trip pot). Just curious if you made a typo, or mine was built differently.
I keep seeing people retrofitting the CS line with MIDI, and it makes me a little bit sad. We're talking about a synthesizer with one of the most (if not the most) expressive and responsive keyboards ever made, with the most brilliant implementation to the synths functionality...... and people want to be able to "program" it to play for them. If you own a CS-50, 60, or CS-80, then you owe it to the instrument to learn how to play!
So, now that I've replaced all the electrolytic capacitors, Op amps, CMOS chips and, a few levers, I've done the entire calibration of the instrument and, it's definitely a timely process that involves working on all but two of the PBC's in the instrument which, Of course incorporated the authentic tunning procedure. The tunning procedure actually involves adjusting a lot more than just the M boards. You have to adjust at least 9 different trim pots on the KAS board, 8 on the SH board, a trim pot on the SUB board, a few on each M board and, that's just for the tunning over the entire instrument. I think these CS poly synths are some of the most difficult to calibrate and restore. I should've made a video when I fully calibrated mine but next time I do it, I will surely consider makeing a video of it.
Thank you! It was fun just to play without constrant of recording with a metronome for once. Im glad you found this video because, I really like your channel and I will be back to listen to more of your music videos. You have so many high-quality vids, What's your recording chain?
@@blockthesignal Haha I get it. I find metronomes so annoying for some reason. :D I record everything into my DAW (FL Studio) via a Focusrite Scarlett interface. And the video is captured with a Sony a5100 with a 50mm lens. Thanks for that all that info in the video description box btw! You made that synth sound really good!
I really love vintage Yamaha synths.They are my favorite Synth manufacturer for Analog Poly's and, FM digitals of the 80s that were a massive part of the Pop sound from that area. Pop music today just doesn't have the same feel to it anymore. Like, it lost a lot of the feeling that used to be put into the compositions, back then. Possibly, a small part of the reason modern music lacks what the 80s embodied is many of the newer instruments that have been developed and manufactured over the past 3 dacaceds somehow are missing something? Along with many of the modern production techniques and equipment. I have a Vintage Yamaha TX81z digital FM Synth that I haven't fired up in more than six months that I will make a video of soon because, it's very underrated. Speaking of which, I noticed you had a few videos on your channel of a Korg Volca FM which, I believe is a 4 OP FM synth like my TX81z. It sounds really great and, having the ability to tweak the sound and program patterns really give a very different approached of FM synthesis that I thoroughly enjoyed. I'v really been considering getting a Korg Volca for a few years now to go along with my Korg ER1 which, I use to sequence MIDI note data for my JOMOX Air Base99 which, is a very well engineered German Made rack mounted recreation of the Roland Tr909 with individual balanced outputs for all 10 drum channels that's fully Analog with, hardware E.G. Envelopes and wonderfully gritty 8 bit DAC's for the Hi-hat, Claps and, Rim-shot channels and, all parameters are MIDI controllable and recallable. I'll get around to getting a Volca, at some point not only because the price is a no-brainer but, they sound amazing! Keep up the good work on your channel with all the Videos. You have a good approach with the delivery and, quality of your content.
Thanks, Adam! This was the first time I spent more then a few minutes playing this patch. This time when I switch to it, i had the brilliance and resonance almost all the way up and, it gave it a completely different feel from the way i usually have it set wich is with the brilliance and resonance almost all the way down. That coupled with the slight pitch and VCF aftertouch modulation gave it a very lifelike flute feel yet, ethereal presents that I thoroughly enjoyed. I instantly recognized that Vangelis used this patch and those settings on a lot of his tracks. I know the volume is quite low and the fact that I captured it with my iPhone doesn't give it justice but even recorded like this, you can hear the beautiful tone colors of this vintage instrument.
Thanks! The song surely wouldnt be as good without that synth in it. When I get a chance, I'll make a good recording of me playing this song. The CS60 always surprises me. I can achieve the exact same tone the keyboard player got in that song because he most likely used a single layer of the CS80. I recently got an analog Chorus effect which really thickens up the sound and, gets me even closer to the original CS 80 since it had an analog Chorus built into it.
Nice video. I have a CS -60 which I have owned since the 80s. We have a Facebook page for the CS synths if you would like to join, facebook.com/groups/YamahaCS50CS60/
Brilliant Stephen. We need more videos like this. I posted a link in the Yamaha CS-50/60 users group on FB. There’s quite a few of us there now. It would be great to see you there as well.
Fantastic! The CS line are definitely unrivaled to this day, though I feel that their true, sonic pallet remains vastly unexplored. They can be funky, they can be sterile. They can be bright and twangy, soft or bombastic; and the synthesis structure of even a single oscillator is surprisingly flexible. Vangelis was the CS-80 master, to the rather unfair extreme that the CS line (or at least the 50/60/80) end up only ever owned by players who want to sound like Vangelis! Don't get me wrong, I love Vangelis as any synthesizer enthusiast should, but it's not the *only thing you can play with it!* I'm often shocked to see that the average CS owner doesn't even bother with making their own sounds; choosing instead, to only ever use the LFO and play with the ring modulator, leaving the instrument in preset mode otherwise! Still, it appears that this CS-60 is in the right hands, and I do hope that you show us more of it!
Adam Borseti, Thank you for the kind words! I made sure that this video was more about going through some of the different settings that can be achieved but I was only able to show a very small fraction of the area I was exploring. I’m not much of a preset guy. That’s one of the main reasons I love synthesizers. Because, I can shake the town and characteristics of the sound in almost infinite ways. And, I agree with you about most people using the presets on these instruments and even other instruments. I believe that the synthesizer is one of the most powerful instruments due to the ability to have so much control over the characteristics of the sound. Though, synthesizers were initially created to mimic natural sounds and, most of them can do this with sometimes astonishing accuracy. I feel that the true power of the synthesizer is to create entirely new sounds that have never been heard before. I truly love all instruments but the geek in me hold the synthesizer and an extremely high position over most other instruments due to the creative abilities the instrument lends itself to. When I think of the word synthesizer, I think of the word imagination. The Yamaha CS line of instruments have a very particular sound that is extremely musical in the traditional instrumental sence. The tone of my CS 60 is very close to the town of Airy saxophones or, brassy trombones. And I can get very close to the type of sound that a stringed instrument would produce. Very plucky and organic in the way that the filter and amp and book the loo very plucky and organic in the way that the filter and amp envelopes work in conjunction to the low pass in high pass filter with separate resonance. Yamaha has been making instruments for over 100 years and I believe that they have a record of focusing on creating the best instruments and allowing profits to follow. Instead of the way companies operate today. The Yamaha corporation was able to create their own rules and spend as much money and time on development as they chose. Which allowed them to help create an entire new industry of polyphonic programmable synthesizers. It is true that many artist tend to sound like vangalis and end up doing blade runner type compositions. And you are correct stating that these instruments can go so much more beyond that I think it’s fair to say that most people have only realized small percentage of what these instruments can achieve.
Thank you, synth4ever. I love your channel, by the way! I agree that this line of synths is unrivaled. The CS line is the most expressive and unique that I have ever encountered. My CS60 was completely gone so I studied the scamatics and circuitry for and started by completely rebuilding the power supply which, I recommend any owner have done. These are 40+ years old! Iv already reworked the KAS and SH boards. Next I need to finish replacing all the rest of the capacitors and op amps and a few more cmos chips. These synths are very different then later vintages. Inside these complex beast are So many components that have to be replaced and some IC’s are nonexistent. So, anyone who has one of these, I recommend haveing at least the power supply redone, to start with or, you will blow up the Yamaha chips. Have you had any work done on yours? And, if your having issues, what are they?
Thanks for the insight, yes I need to get a checkup done on my CS60. I bought it from a local musician who kept it in good shape but don't know when or if it was ever serviced. So I'd like to take it in for a checkup. The one issue I am having is sometimes when holding/letting go of a key, it will randomly trigger a bad note that sounds flat, out of tune and down a few octaves. I'm guessing something is wrong with the KAS or one of the voices but it only happens randomly and I can't pinpoint exactly what causes it. EDIT: now that I watch your video, something similar happens at 5:30 -- a bad note... that is what I am talking about. Any insight?
When my CS60 first started acting up, it would play random notes all by itself. I rebuilt the power supply three years ago and it fixed most of my issues. But, I would get some static issues so Then, I replaced all the other electrolytic capacitors in the synthesizer and then I changed all op amps, CMOS chips. I came across some bad wiring and, sliders but one of the most annoying things was the potentiometers on the voice cards randomly changing values that was causing much of the noise issues. It can definitely be tricky sometimes to track down an issue but I would say that your problem isn't any of the electrolytic capacitors, op amps or CMOS chips on the KAS board. But, this is what many people would expect first. In fact, I never had any problem with any of my original CMOS chips. All worked flawlessly. Sometimes things get put on the Internet early on and then people tend to repeat them and believe it which creates a kind of folklure. I'm not saying that early CMOS chips can't be delicate but, I never had any issues with him. I will say though that the transistors on the KAS board could be causing this issue and are suspect. Well, this is only after your power supply has been completely refurbished. Voltages have to be tuned correctly or the instrument cant be expected to behave. I tracked down the correct transistors for the KAS board but I just haven't put them in yet. Also, a suspect for the random bad notes may be in the KEYBED. Not in my case though. The KAS Circuit is pretty complicated but the parts are really old and most have to be replaced. Except the Key coder and key assignor IC's, of course. The fact that we are both seemingly having the same issue tells me that it's most likely not the rare key coder or and assigner causing the issue because all of the other components on that board have aged since the 70s and those particular ICs are high voltage. I had to tackle a lot of problems that I've now fixed before I could even think about tackling the occasional bad note. But, I'd say that my instrument is about 95% restored at this point. But, I only get a bad note very rarely when I'm actually playing and, when my release is set more than halfway or when I'm holding the sustain pedal. Its usually two octaves down so, I'd say it's a good idea to replace every component on the KAS board that we can. I'm still trying to work out what the issue is but as soon as I figure it out, I was surely let you know.
Beautifully organic and emotive. CS50/60/80 are unrivaled even to this day. I myself own a 50 and 60 (both need some TLC) and am amazed at their sonic palette and beautiful sounds, and expressive capabilities. Thanks for the demo and look forward to more.
Synth4Ever, you have such a great channel!!! I’ve seen plenty of your videos and they are professional and sound amazing! You have so many synthesizers that I must admit my jealousy. What’s your favorite synthesizer?
Thank you Stephen, I appreciate the kind words. I do have a bit of a collection right now... it's hard to pick an overall favorite but if it was a polyphonic it would probably be the CS-50/60. I even talk about it as my fave in my synth studio here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vq8zgbl21jY.htmlm2s
synth4ever I was watching that video a few weeks ago and was hoping that you would say something nice about the CS-50. When you did I was like “Yes!!!” fist pump, high five! It’s only been the last few years that the 50 & 60 have been getting the credit they deserve. They were trapped in the shadow of the 80 for ages, but things are changing now.
@@synth4ever Sadly even 50 and 60's are nowdays out of reach for common working man. :) But im happy and having a lot of fun and use for all kinds of music with CS-15D.
