This video, via CS Games, takes an audio tour of the massive Yamaha CS-30 – a classic, massive monosynth.Â
The Yamaha CS-30, introduced in 1977, has a basic synth engine, no effects, no memory and no MIDI support.
But what it lacks in features it makes up for with highly-tweakable, knob-filled interface.
If you’ve used the Yamaha CS-30 synthesizer, leave a comment and let us know your thoughts on it!
They don’t make em like that anymore.
Mmmm
Grumpy Ole Git
FYI – your comment got getting flagged for moderation because you’ve be posting using a bunch of different names (moot, moop, Grumpy Ole Git, Huh, etc) from one IP address.
That’s something that’s common with spammers, so doing it increases the likelihood that the spam filter will block your comment or put it into moderation.
Thought so, I use different devices so I’ll stick to the one username etc 😉
Always loved them. Synth with sequencer and loads of knobs. You tell me what there isn’t to like about them?
U.I like that but for a DX7 re release in 2015 please
FM isn’t just as easy and predictable as subtractive synthesis. But a better UI than DX7 is of course trivial, because there is no UI on any DX to speak of. 😉
Glorious!
They are great! Played one extensively in a keyboard store I worked at a few years ago. Always wanted one, makes a lot of crazy noises with that distinct yamaha sound. Recently decided to put the money into a modern modular with similar specs intead of an aging standalone box, but still look them up on eBay from time to time…
Cs-10 and cs-15 are also under rated.
awesome
good lord it’s huge. Never thought much about 2 LPFs together but this sounds pretty dope. Can’t help but thinking this synth could’ve used some more wave shaping abilities as everything here kinda has the same timbre. But the CS-30 ‘s strange envelope and routing options do make interesting things.
I love mine. I ‘ve been hunting for one for years and finally i found one. I love it. It may be big and heavy but its sound is big, too. Added external multi-effects (reverb, delay, chorus,etc) started the built in sequencer and … got lost for hours! Did i say i love it?
Good demo. Of course there is much more that is possible with it, in particular clangorous, bell tones with the cross mod and ring mod. And modulating the lfo with an envelope opens all kinds of possibilities. Did I mention oscillator mod with external audio.? Also, remember it is a true stereo synth with separate left and right paths for the two VCAs.. This thing is just crazy, believe me…
How much did the CS- 30 cost? The ARP Odyssey was the most popular synth at the time, in part because it was relatively cheap. the Octave Cat came out about that time, but it didn’t have the reputation of a quality instrument. In 1978 Korg came out with the MS-20 and made some headway in the market. The MS-20 was smaller than the CS-30 and had patch cords for some great special effects.
I’m the original owner of a CS-15. All CS monosynths (5, 10, 15, 30) all have a great sound, Yamaha’s funky multimode filters and lots of tweakability. I love mine – it was my first synth and it will be the last to go. 🙂
Very nice synth but Moog Sub 37 can do all this and much more.
Oh come on… This is one of the dullest demos ever. Hardly virtuoso playing. Nothing wrong with the synth but a demo should be fun to watch with a little keyboard flair now and then. This is like watching a mop dry.
Jim, As someone who has done a number of similar demos, I can tell you that it’s tricky balancing act when deciding how to showcase a synth. There seems to be a hidden subroutine in the internet hive-mind that generates a handful of comments calling the demo-er an aging prog/fusion dinosaur whenever someone throws in a flurry of 1/16th notes played by hand (as opposed to a bunch of 64th notes played by a sequencer). To me, this was a very effective demo, in that it made me really want one of these synths. “De gustibus non est disputandum”.
A great selection of flying saucer noises.
I think is funny that the demoer keeps turning the filter the same way as EG modulation would do. Not that I have anything against that, but is funny that he seems to forget a thing called modulation, and he does the modulation by hand.
I’m just saying I think it sounds lurvly 😀
The CS-30 is a unique beast. However, I am not interested in it enough to shell out big bucks for a decades old potentially unreliable synth. Nothing this synth does blows me away and makes me want it more than some of the new, reliable analog monophonic synths currently on the market, and unlike the modern analogs, the CS-30 has no MIDI/USB implementation.
Calling Korg and/or Behringer… how about a re-release? Oh wait, Yamaha’s still going . . . . CALLING YAMAHA!!! 🙂