The latest episode Jose’s Vintage Keys is a head-to-head comparison of the XILS-lab The Eighty software synth against the hardware synth that it’s based on, the Yamaha CS-80.
Can A Virtual Instrument Match The Yamaha CS-80?
He describes XILS-lab The Eighty as being ‘damn close’ to the original CS-80. Check out the video, and let us know what you think!
Nails it? So does Arturia CS80V…. 😉
The real one has the edge in total tone, but I think you could create an effects chain for The Eighty that would bring it within a whisper of being indistinguishable. All it needs is some added subtle chaos per voice.
Appreciate people like Jose taking the time to make these comparisons. They do sound very close.
Well, he was contacted to make a comparison video by XILS-lab.
Well,
At times they sound pretty darn close. But mostly the CS-80 sounds better. More punchy, more lively. The plugin can sound a bit muffled, especially obvious towards the end when he plays some chords from a Vangelis song (I forgot the name of it).
But I don’t know if this is down to the settings being copied are not close enough, or if head to head even two CS-80s would sound different from each other
Whilst the brass sounds pretty close, the string 1 on the Xils has a pronounced resonant filter sweep that the CS doesn’t. I’d also say that’s true of the flute too.
There is a richness and presence to the real CS that I don’t hear on the emulation.
Maybe tweaking the oscs to be fractionally more random might be enough to totally nail it.
But it’s definitely in the right ballpark.
cs80 original just has it, the VST doesn’t.
No problem, I’ll just buy a real CS-80. Its no harder than putting a saddle on a killer whale.
I can hear the difference, but its a VST or nothing. I’m liking it just fine. I still say that modern, lengthy effects chains are the best friends a vintage synth has. That’s how you get closer to the legendary sound you hear on albums. If you’d handed a modern DAW to those engineers & producers back then, their heads would have ‘sploded.
yamaha tyros for life
Oh you rebel you!
Hopefully someone will do a shoot-out between the Cherry Audio, Softube and Xils CS80 emulations.