An Ode To The Holy Grail Of Synths, The Yamaha CS-80

This video, via MrFirechild, is an ode to the ‘holy grail of synthesizers’, the Yamaha CS-80.

Here’s what he has to say about the song, Ode to the Holy Grail:

No more sound sources than this CS-80 is used on the track. This CS-80 is also equipped with MIDI. It receives polyphonic aftertouch from the Roland A-80 and responds as if you were playing on the real thing.

The song is called Ode to the Holy Grail and has a romantic but melancholic touch from the middle of Sweden.

I have modified the Roland A-80 , replacing a resistor inside the unit to have it more sensitive and now both velocity and aftertouch is VERY similar to the CS-80 Keyboard. Imagine the possibilities to have the CS-80 midified and programmed from a really great MIDI keyboard – you can edit and quantize if you want to do it. You can overdub sounds with the exact same phrasing!

20 thoughts on “An Ode To The Holy Grail Of Synths, The Yamaha CS-80”

  4. Nice Mediaeval touch there, in keeping with the title.

    Sensitivity is my main issue with my A-80 – I’d be very interested in learning the details of the mod.

  8. I’ve played a real CS-80 and the global experience is all its cracked up to be, in large part because of that sweet keyboard mechanism. Since far more people lust after them than can actually own one (I believe the ultimate run was only 800), that leaves Arturia’s CS-80v or cracking the code on your own. Depending on how far you might want to go hardware-wise, the big “Blade Runner” sounds themselves are not hard to emulate, as they really are detuned sawtooth waves and the like. You can even approximate Yamaha’s filters pretty easily these days. You’ll have to be pretty devoted to get a pitch-bend strip and poly-aftertouch keyboard for going all the way, but the actual sounds can be had with a little reverse-engineering. ‘Pretty Darned Close’ is far better than nothing. Try it out. I’ll bet you wind up with 10 variations you really like.

      1. The number of actual CS-80s is far larger than the number of techs who can still repair them and it’ll cost you your vacation fund to tune one, too! Its not a holy grail, its a Rosetta Stone that helped set up the lexicon we now take for granted. That’s why reproducing the basic experience is a wiser person’s game. There’s no “best” one, especially when its all analog waves. Its how well you play it and what’s downstream that enhances the voice. BTW, this IS a nice demo. Everyone is so wild for the huge pads that the quieter, more elegant side gets missed in the rush. Firechild does well to remind us of its intimate side.

  13. A CS-80 retailed at about $5k. Considering the insane spaghetti of its all-analog innards, I’d be amazed if that went for under $10k today. I also point to maintenance as a real bitch. I once had a very good tech who would not work on gear from two companies whom he said made all but unrepairable crap. He said it made him look inept to return a synth that croaked again a week later. That’s also part of why I’ve hollered about poor modern builds. So while I have CS-80 Luv like anyone else, you should always balance the imagined magic against the underlying requirements. I sure wish someone would make a soft-CS-80 that DIDN’T demand a dongle….

  14. No question about it – this guy is using synths that is flawless.

    Me, myself and I is using the soft ones, but have worked with the real Mc Coy. Please, just don’t come and tell me, or any any anyone that the softsynths are about the same. If you say so, you’ve NEVER worked with the analogue hardware enough to it’s even half-full potential. Anything else is just annoying, FOOLS!

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