Their Wave and UB-Xa will be a litmus test. If B can't get either the OB-Xa or the PPG Wave at least 99% right, then there is no way in heaven nor hell they are getting a CS-80 right, either.
Vangelis (hard G, btw) recorded at least 4 hours of material for Blade Runner. A lot of it is unreleased, and survives as probably the most bootlegged soundtrack of them all. All the various incarnations of the Blade Runner soundtrack can fill a nonstop playlist for days.
@@fjfrancois Well, they did a decent job with the TR-606 and TB-303 clones. I also have the VC340 and it's a lovely instrument both in sound and build quality. Very, very close to the original Roland instrument. The CS-80 is definitely a mythic beast but it wouldn't be my first choice for my next synth, cloned or otherwise. I'd rather have a Roland SH-5 or SH-7 or an affordable poly-Moog replica.
@@fjfrancois THE Holy Grail.........but as the Knight in that Indiana Jones movie said " Choose wisely ". To Behringer or not to Behringer that is the question....................😁
There's no need. What made the CS what it was, was not the sounds, but the performance capabilities - the ribbon controller, aftertouch, ect. Any modern synth + correct controllers would do the same, and more
@@looneyburgmusic Why would anyone clone the CS-80 as a software instrument if not also for the sound. Yes is was a great performance synth but in my opinion the sound is just wonderful and unique as well. Of course a modern synth can replicate any function with today's technology but the CS-80 has it´s own character. That goes for many analog synthesizers.
Cool. As close as I will get to seeing one in person. It seems so logically laid out. Love the tactile controls...I could almost feel the satisfaction they give ☺. Thanks 👍
The closest I have come to a CS-80 are my SK20 and D-80 which, while very limited in features, are both capable of making some CS-80-style sounds. I think the components inside the SK20 must have come from the same parts trolley in the factory.
I used to go down to Guitar center and they would let me play it for hours when the store was quite. I would set up some jams with multiple synths and they loved it because it would demo the stuff.
This is the best review I have seen of the Legendary Yamaha CS-80 Synthesizer from 1977, many thanks for sharing this :) The sound is phenomenal to be honest especially for it's time, even these days this Synthesizer is still very usable for new sounds of today, just regarding it's life span the CS80 has a limitless one, as if it's timeless.
Thank you for the most detailed CS80 parameter explanations I have ever seen. If this synth were commonly available, I would consider this a CS80 video manual. In the meantime, the rest of us dream of having this in our studio's, and appreciate the attention to detail here :)
You just have to spend time in use, as it's a 1st gen polysynth and thus very idiosyncratic. No 'standard polysynth' nomenclature existed then. e.g. 'Sub-Osc' is the LFO. Output VCA fade-ins do not behave like typical ADSR nor AR/ASR, even though it says 'ADSR'. The initial level and offset parameter in the filter EG is a Yamaha-specific behavior. 'Keyboard Control/Brilliance' is Filter Tracking, yes - but *not* the usual linear/expo as is common on other synths - but instead a bi-polar offset resulting somehow in a circuit so complex that it gets it's own discrete PCB board(!). No velocity....but an aftertouch like no other. That's maybe half of the weirdness. There is a boo-boo or two one could nitpick in this video - such as the upper panel being two _Timbral_ layers, not Voices; the synth is EIGHT-voices and is Bi-Timbral. This is what 'I' and 'II' refer to on the panel text. Flipping a waveform switch in the osc section doesn't 'turn it ON' so much as route each waveform IN to the filter's input mixer vs leaving it out of the signal path.
Worked at Guitar Center when one of the first ones came in. I spent 4 glorious months playing that beast every day until someone finally came in and bought it. This channel put out a detailed video on rebuilding a CS80 (maybe this unit) two years ago. They don't take touring very well. And if you buy one, live close to someone who can keep it working.
"Blade Runner, a movie I´ve never seen" and "until today I´ve never heard his (Vangelis) music from." Man where you´ve been in the last 40 years? Just kidding...;-)) Great video. Thanks again people at Syntaur!
Right? I was telling my wife I could have gotten one for 1000. I remember when a 909 was under a grand. Odds are I would have sold the CS by now anyway. They don't age like wine. I couldn't afford to send it to wine country to be restored. I've had a couple so called end all be all synths like the xpander and a 2600 before you had to sell organs or take out a second mortgage to get them. All of them started to flake in some way and I took good care of them. Virtual analog through good effects can be just as good.
Same bro I saw a used one in a music store in Philly 2002. I told the store owner I would trade him my brand new Mortif 8 for it. He said ok but I chose to keep my motif. Someone probably bought the CS 80 for 1000 bucks. These dudes are frigging out of there midi asking 100,000 these days. I hope behringer is spot on with the ds 80 and they need to do a obx or oberheim 4 or 8 voice. I still would take my omega 8 over any synth ever.
It started with a beautiful tribute to Vangelis and Blade Runner, then a perfect review of this amazing synthesizer. Really well done! Thank you so much for this video and greetings from Sweden!👍✨
I still have my CS-5, it was my first synth. Bought it brand new (on layaway!) in '78. I've had a cover on it so it's in mint condition and still plays great.
My first contact with this synth, on a personal level, was somewhere in the early 90s, when i got a cassette from my father of the Vangelis Best of Album from 1982. I was blown away by the mighty brassy sound and simply could not put it anywhere. Back then Synthesizers were like these huge mysterious things to me that were like pure magic. Then somewhere in early 2003 or so, i got in contact with the freshly released Arturia CS-80V. I tested the demo and started to learn a lot about this instrument. And since then it has really become the holy grail for me. Especially because i know the Arturia software version does not even remotely sound like the original. Somehow THAT was a synth Arturia really could not simulate very well. Even Klaus Schulze, who owned one, felt the same sentiments. But when i realized how hard it was to actually find a real working one… my dreams were crushed quickly. Around the same time i discovered the Vangelis Album "Beaubourg" which is basically a ca 40 Minutes long CS-80 Improv-jam. Musically wise it certainly might not be everyone's cup of tea but it surely shows how much fun he had with this Instrument and it is soooo much fun listening to him exploring that synthesizer. That synthesizer is a sountrack machine if there ever was any. It goes from sweet & light to dark and heavy sooo effortless. Even now over 40 years later this Flagship Synthesizer still leaves giant leaps and is one of the most important snthesizers ever, together with the Minimoog Model D, the Yamaha DX7, the Roland D-50, the Fairlight CMI as well as the EMU Emulator II, Korg Wavestation and of course the Waldorf PPG Wave. Bless the creators of the CS-80.
The sound of Doctor Who in the 1980s! Peter Howell, Paddy Kingsland, Malcolm Clarke, Roger Limb, and Jonathan Gibbs used the CS-80 a lot in Doctor Who's incidental music. The 1980 Doctor Who theme was done mostly on a CS-80.
Thank you for the fantastic video! It's a real treat to see the original in action. I'm very happy that there are companies like Studio Electronics and Black Corporation keeping the spirit of this legend alive.
I've loved these since they first came out. Had a chance to play one a number of times (until I'd get kicked out of the music store!) in the 70s. You folks did an amazing job restoration.
Thank you for this demonstration, Ron. In a couple of different ways, the CS-80 might be construed as a kind of crossroads synthesizer. Its innards were based on those of a larger scale organ/synthesizer hybrid, the GX-1. That keyboard is almost literally the first of its kind, the first time piano touch was directly attached to a synthesizer. I recall one time wanting to discuss it with others online, and people told me how illogical it was for anybody to build a fully-weighted keyboard with only 61 keys. I didn’t think to say that this was the one that led to all the 88-note hammer action piano keyboards that poured forth beginning in the 80s There may never be another CS-80, but I am kind of curious whether polyphonic aftertouch is going to become more frequently implemented in due course and if it will ever again be attached to an instrument that is at least similar to this one. That is one of the reasons why the only sequential circuits model ever was attracted to was the Prophet T8
Wow I found the description of the features riveting! Nicely done. I know a lot more about this synth than ever. I am fascinated at how many adjustments it has and how it is so well laid out. Great video.
Hey Ron - Awesome, great walkthrough. This is probably my favourite synth of all time. I'm waiting for Behringer's long-promised DS-80 - which will probably arrive at the same time as Bladerunner 3! 😀 If you haven't yet seen Bladerunner, maybe you want to catch it but NOT the Director's Cut 😁 Meanwhile I make do with Arturia's excellent software version 👍
Landscape came and performed at my college in South Wales in ?1975. They blew us away! I even had a short one to one tutorial with the trombone player. I still have their EP, Don't gimme no rebop. In those days I think there was just a Rhodes piano, keyboard-wise.
Great video! Thank you so much for sharing and for learning a touch of Blade Runner. I hope your incredible synth collection is well protected against theft and fire, etc.. 😳
To hear the CS80 in epic form, find "the Sea wall" on the Hans Zimmer /Blade Runner 2045 channel. I was watching the movie and when that scene was on , the background was so amazing that I pause dit and went looking for the source!!
Kind of interesting to me that Yamaha hasn’t done a reissue using smaller modern components and an expanded patch memory. Even at Moog One prices the thing would be a major hit…again.
It's sad their GX1 in Hamamatsu is in a non working state. They did reach out on their IdeaScale site a few years ago saying "If we made a new CS-80.. what would you like to see?".. but they tend to operate at fairly glacial speeds. Maybe in 2030..
@@squeebbb Yamaha were asking people what would they want In a CS-80 remake just 3 years ago so maybe they've been making It and they're almost finished... there's hope If they officially went out of their way to ask people that.
yeaaaaaaaaah :-), You should do a "person that has access to a cs 80 reacts to the blade runner soundtrack he has never heard" video, plenty of views there 😀
Mostly because getting original components is impossible, like most vintage poly analogs in that era. Just ask Syntaur how easy it is finding some of those spares.
@@neonether that’s understandable. It seems like they could find ways to re-create the sound and feel using modern hardware where needed or come up with a CS-802 that would add more modern features while preserving the sound, but adding new sonic potential, things like usb midi, digital patch memory, and so on..
@@timdanyo898 I like the idea of adding modern standards. I’m no expert on the cs80, but my thoughts were the same about the P5 for years. Finally before “retiring” Dave Smith announced the rev 4 and I learned about what was involved with recreating that classic. The original filter chips were long gone, but by some turn of fate were able to be remanufactured by the same supplier with almost all original materials, truthfully recreating it. That’s just one example of the journey…CS80 is many times more complex, so it stands to reason it would be that much more unlikely to pull off. I guess there are varying degrees of “reissues”. Though Dave Smith went to careful lengths to make sure people understood the Rev4 wasn’t a “reissue”, but a true prophet 5. With something as iconic as the CS, I can already see the aficionados crucifying Yamaha if they were to cut corners in doing the same. Nobody wants to have the reputation Roland has in trying to bring back the classics!
It isn't economically viable right now. When these things were new they were BLEEDING EDGE tech that nobody else had figured out. So the early adopter had to pay half of what a house costs to get one - and Yamaha KNEW that the buyers market was frothing at the mouth for polysynths. Hundreds of high-roller customers appear instantly in the mid-late '70s. Big studios and bigger acts could budget the money to spend on them, because of the competitive returns that could be recouped quickly-enough in record sales and studio bookings. Those days are long gone, my friends :). Fear not, for life tends to come and go...and where it goes few to none will ever correctly anticipate.
^ Yes, Yamaha hasn't introduced a new analog synth since 1982. They aren't going to re-tool and re-die small runs of proprietary chips just to sell 500-2,000 CS-80 re-issues at a massive loss. It isn't viable like 50 yrs ago when it was bleeding-edge tech nobody else was making. They could charge top dollar for it and the lines formed instantly due to realistically recouping the cost in the recording and studio business of the day.
You should have got Rich Hilton from Chic involved in this project too - aside from Vangelis himself he's probably the world's foremost expert on the Blade Runner soundtrack
This video goes to show that even a CS80 sounds only half as impressive without a huge reverb ambience from a Lexicon 224 or Quantec QRS. Not to mention a Dimension D (to avoid the horrible built-in Chorus/Tremolo section). Let alone properly adjusted controls for Aftertouch and Initial in order to make it suit the player's individual chops.
The reverb is something that is mostly overseen by the synth fan community. In most of the Vangelis tracks, especially in B.R., or the great Odes, there is much reverb used when the CS80 is played (and of course every other intrument...). The raw CS80 sound is rather disappointing if you expect something huge, as it is in most of the videos. Also, V. is a very crafted virtuous player and sound designer and was able to utilize both the Poly-AT and the strip musically and the reverb like it is a part of the synths' sustain. The only affordable hardware synth today that can give you a certain CS80/Vangelis feeling is the Hydrasynth, which has a good reverb onboard and a poly aftertouch keybed. Some people (including me) are buying it only because of that, and I wouldn't (soundwise) exchange it for a real CS80. 😉
I never liked the sound of this synth. I was in love with the Prophet 10 and ARP Quadra and I still think they are the coolest analog synths. I had a PPG 2.2 but it was in the shop more than I was playing it. Currently I have the Sledge and two DW8000's. Both have aftertouch that is usable.
I wish people would still build stuff like this. Quality stuff with love. Not only for the dollars. When I am looking at you demonstrating the controls and you say there excuisit, not overly sensitive and I can feel it putting them in place just right (and now I definitely want one of these machines, 1 of the 2.000 ever build I believe). At 21:38 Gorgio Moroder sound?
Nice! I miss my juno G, nothing compared to that, but I loved it, needs yet another display, but roland won't sell me one, so I bought a juno Ds, hate it!!! is there something similar out there? you guys would know if anyone does, or can I get a display somewhere? I can't find one, sorry to be a pain, but I've looked for years and no luck, enjoying your channel, just found it a while back, look forward to more, thanks, Clive.
Hey Synthaur I’ve got a synth here and don’t know how to use it it’s a Roland S10 sampler would you guys like to have it? I don’t want it I found it working at the Salvation Army so…yeah…lol
