Synthesist Ari Tamminen shared his take on the Yamaha CS01-II, a vintage analog synth from the mid 80’s.
Here’s what he has to say about it:
The CS01-II….was a revised version of the original Yamaha CS01, with a different VCF section with a 24 dB/oct LP filter and a variable setting for the resonance.
The synth also had the option to use a breath controller to control the VCO and/or the VCF, but as I don’t have the breath controller, I left that bit out of this review.
I have been using this synthesizer since new, so I’m pretty familiar with it at least. it was the first real synthesizer I have owned myself and it’s still in active use.
If you’ve used the CS01-II, share your thoughts on it in the comments!
I was obsessed with this synth when it came out, particularly the MKII with its very stylish design. Couldn’t afford one, as I was a school kid, but was fortunate to get a brand new one just a coupe of years back. It had been sat in the store room of a local Yamaha dealer for decades, only to be discovered by a friend when they were closing down. I got it from that friend, who bought 4 or 5 of them new in the box, along with some brand new CS80 spare parts.
A terrific synth, the modern equivalent of which I consider the Arturia Microbrute.
The oscillator is digital…..just so you know. Sounds great though.
and where did you get that knowledge?
Its a DTG (Digital Tone Generator) chip by Yamaha, and this has long been established. A weird labelling choice by Yamaha at the time.
i seem to vaguely remember the marketing for this, and that there was a drum machine and or mixer that were in the same family of products… Does anyone else remember that or is it another example of the Madela Effect? (Updated) It is possible I am confusing it with this http://retrosynthads.blogspot.com/2013/02/yamaha-cs01-ma10-mh10-and-mm10-producer_28.html
I had a chance to pick one up in Chicago for only $60 about 9 years back but really didn’t need another monosynth in that moment
At that price weather you needed it or not was completely irrelevant criterion! 😀
Soporific video, couldn’t go past 2 minutes. Too bad, I was curious about this synth…
Pure Roland Aira colours!