Yamaha CS series / the analogue series
Yamaha CS series / the analogue series (CS= control synthesizer)
Yamaha analogue Trigger: gate pulse in/out 10V negative to GROUND.
btw: there is a „rumour“ around the CS series respond to korg logic Hz/oct. – thats not true. it’s a special exponential characteristics.. you need a special interface to midify it!!.. so: simply play it! there are some special interfaces around .. eg EES in germany did one..
CV in/out: 0,0835 V to 4 V (exponential)
Trigger in: Note off 15 V to 3 V / Note on 0 V to -10 V
Trigger out: Note off 3 V / Note on -7 V
Yamaha Synth overview..
| First Yamaha Synthesizer.. 1974, so it was after Roland (strnage, because Yamaha was the MUCH bigger company.. SY1 and SY2after that the CS (control series) came up..the sy has hpf and lpf multimode filter but is in fact more a preset machine with a little control.. |  click to enlarge SY1 and SY2 |
| Yamaha Monophonic Series: CS5,CS10, CS15, CS30 and CS30L (CS30 without sequencer) all very powerfull especially the CS30 and the smaller CS15 Yamaha CS15 – – click pic to enlarge! quite strange surface on the CS30 (find waveform select in the filter section or select the filter type in the VCA section ;) ..) but the CS30 has at leas lots of features like crossmod,sync, 2 multimode filters (with resonance),analogue sequencer,fast lfos, etc. the CS15 follows the yamaha analogue synth philsophy: 2 „channels“ with extra outputs (same in the CS30 of course) where you can even use 2 separate VCO-VCF-VCA structures.. the LFO is about 50Hz audio speed on both. please click the images of CS5 and CS30 for all parameters. more CS (control synthesizer) synthesizers are: CS40m,CS70, CS80 and the smaller CS60 and CS50 and polyphonic exept the cs40m. CS5 finally is reduced to one of it all: 1 env,1 vco, 1 vcf ,lfo with s/h. |
the CS10 click image of CS-10 to enlarge.. and the smaller cs5  click image of CS-5 to enlarge.. thx for image cs5 by jörg |
| the CS15 has also quite a lot of features but „only“ 2 ENVs (pos/neg at the same time accessible via a switch like the CS30 offers.. ) both have dual VCAs and 2 multimode VCF with resonance (independantly), but the CS-15 has no ring/crossmod but 2 VCOs and the fast lfo..CS15 sounds wanted? still have some on DAT ;).. will follow sooner or later ..the CS10 has only 1 VCO,also 2 ENVs and noise gen (as the the CS15 and 30) and ONE multimode filter (still lpf,hpf,bpf), the |
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| YAMAHA CS30, the flag ship had 3 ENVs (with pos and neg),1 LFO that has (as the cs40m) multiple waveforms for the same LFO!! so you can mod filter 1 with rectangular LFO and VCO by saw LFO waveform but same frequency!! ringmod, crossmod (=fm!) means you can mod VCO1 by VCO2 frequency!! (metallic spectra!), noise gen. very comfortable but most chaotic interface ever done on a synthesizer! why? ever selected filter types in the VCA section? this „feature“ is yamaha UI only ;) so if you come around the strange illogical surface this is a 2 VCF multimode filter (bpf 6dB/oct.,lpf,hpf 12dB/oct.), very fast and slow envs (time x 5 switch!).. so you have 2 ranges.. btw: the lfo can be quite fast.. the cs 30 also lets you choose the sequencer as a mod source for VCO1,2,both,filter1,filter2 – the sequencer can be clocked by the LFO or by an internal clock here’s a nice audio demo it’s the internal sequencer and no FX: cs30_demo.mp3 deutsche info: der YAMAHA CS30 ist ein analoger synthesizer mit 3 Hüllkurven, einem LFO,der für jede modsektion eine eigene wellenform bekommt und dabei in den audiobereich reingeht (schnell!!) , die hüllkurven haben einen 5x mode, so können sie schnell sein oder 5x verlangsamt werden, das macht bei 2 multimodefiltern mit resonanz sicher auch sinn, denn die haben ja nicht nur LPF zu bieten. dazu gibt es einen 8step analogsequencer,der natürlich die VCOs und co steuern kann und die hüllkurven triggern (kann eingestellt werden, ob das stattfinden soll oder nicht pro ENV!! dazu gibt es Ringmodulation und FM/Crossmodulation und beide VCOs gehen von 128″ bis hoch zu 2″ , also eine irre range!! es gibt 2 VCAs, und 2 getrennte outs für zwei signalwege, ext. input ist auch vorhanden. der klang ist sehr besonders, wer den cs80 kennt, hat eine grobe vorstellung, nur geht hier synthesetehcnisch weit mehr als beim CS80!)-übrigens kann der LFO (speed) per Hüllkurve moduliert werden! auch negative modulation der hüllkurven ist möglich bei quasi allen zielen!. |
Yamaha CS-30 – click pic to enlarge!   click pic to enlarge! CS30 OSCs and SEQUENCER in the right.. the ENVs are NOT EQUAL! – there is hardly no other synth from that time with 3 ENVs, SEQUENCER, RINGMOD, FM / XMOD and 2 VCFs with resonance (not self oscillating) more on the CS30, here’s a more deep info |
| the CS-30L is the SAME as the CS30 but no Sequencer. It’s Layout changed a bit but the keyboard is the same 3 and 1/2 octaves one..well, it is almost the same strange logic but it’s a huge source of very interesting sounds since it also has 2 resonant filters, 3 envs and 2 FMable OSCs with ringmod..it is designed like rolands sh3a – in a case, you see the little metal things? here you can attach the cover to take it on the road.. and I must say: yes, it is much easier to transport then..click to enlarge pics.. –> HERE’s the CS30L without Sequencer |
HERE’s the CS30L without Sequencer   |
| the „wooden“ series: cs50, cs60, cs70 , cs80 and cs40m simply have another design.. but there are a lot of similarities.. but more „luxury“ and more heavy ;) means: the cs80 the „classic“ yamaha has some special features like ribbon controllers, polyphony (6 cs60/8 voice/cs80) and the cs80 even poly aftertouch keyboard!!the CS15d is btw. NOT a slightly different CS15! it looks more like the cs40m – 2 ENV (adsr), filter, 100hz lfo (as most yamaha CS series had!!), also „2 channel“ system with some presets.. not bad, right? duophonic or 2 VCOs thats YOUR choice! |
 click image of CS15D to enlarge.. thx for image cs15d by jörg |
| Yamaha CS-80 CS80 synthesizer with ribbon controller and polypressure! internal tech specs CS80special thing: memories! but the cs60 had simply another row of small sliders as a „memory“ to switch beween the 2 sets.. strange idea? right!! this is yamaha! remeber vangelis? thats the CS80’s special smooth sound.. all of them had hpf and lpf mode! both with resonance ..but all of these were really innovative and had quite complex structure.. the best you can understand them as 2 signal path synthesizers in one.. see above (CS30, CS15 features).. but polyphonic.. the smallest was the cs50: simple structure, same for the cs60.. but the cs80 remindet of the mono brothers CS15-30 : 2 VCFs!..anyway it did not reach the complexiy of the CS30, but it had „presets“ and „memorys“ (this was of value those times.. if you could carry the 100kg – cs80 ..) the cs70 finally had real memory!! but it was quite more an expanded cs40m ;) btw: there is also a software emulation of the CS80 by arturia.. |
  –> enlarge CS-80 click the image..  –> enlarge CS80 click the image..   the „memory“ of the CS80: another set of sliders! – click on each pic to enlarge!! |
| Yamaha CS-40mwell known from Front242 and other early electronic groups… the CS-40m the cs40m synthesizer was monophonic and also „wooden side paneled“ (the cs40 was released 1/2 years after the CS50-80/CS15-30 – in 1980) had the same „tricky“ LFO waveform per section as discribed for the CS30: one lfo but another waveform for VCF ,VCO etc.. so this allowed „global tempo sync“, the filter was a multimode filter (12dB : lpf,hpf or 6dB bpf).. the most famous users were Front242 (geography album). and: it had memory!! after saving a sound you could not change it (exept very small changes) but well.. even the eraly prophet 5 had this problem,too ;) anyway it is a remarkable sound, because multimode filters very not that often found on other synthesizers of that time.. so yamaha maybe showed their typical characteristics: lots of possibilies, somewhat unusual surface, special sound.. the CS-40m is quite close to a CS15 with memory but a nice ringmod added or a smaller CS30 with no sequencer less ENVs but memory… anyway it’s a strange way the sound is memorized: once you have saved a sound it will not be able to re-edit it again.. |
  –> enlarge CS40m, click on it!!  <– enlarge CS40m , click on it!!  <– enlarge CS-40m, click on it!! |
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the CS70m came in 1981, 6 voice poly synth with „lots“ of memories (15 per „channel“). but here: the CS01, the smallest.. it’s lfo isn’t that fdast as the CS15’s or CS30 etc.. btw: the design of the CS series was quite close to the organ design of eg. the |
CS70m click to enlarge… pic thanks to plasmatron |
| the Cs1X , Cs2X and CS6X are not analogue, they are rom based synthesizers, the cs6x has also plugins slots for yamahas „plug in hardware“ like VL, AN, Piano etc. and of course a DX module that is exacly a DX7!! | the Cs-1X and Cs-2X are almost yamahas answer to techno of the 90ies and offered ok-filters and standard rompler synths – same look like the an1x which is VA (virtual analogue)… but also offers a nice FM section but cannot be compared to yamahas 4,6 or 6OP FM synthesizers .. |
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YAMAHA CS01 analog synthesizer do NOT confuse the CS series with the „new“ CS1x and cs2x or cs6x, htese are romplers and have a compeletely different structure.. english below!! ein kleiner, batteriebetriebener synthesizer! cs01 der CS01 ist in 2 versionen erhältlich (oder besser war erhältlich): diese version ist die erste, mit einem schalter für resonanz oder keine resonanz, die mk2 version hat dort einen regler. meiner hat den VCA regler links (normal für den bc1 gedacht), sein filter klingt doch nett oder? (soundbeispiel oben). die modifikation ist ansich nur einen widerstand ändern und ein poti etwas trimmen ;) some ideas for modding: lfo speedup (possible) gate on the reso switch (not the standard ENV).. so you can select like on the sh101 invert the env add distortion and use the vca level slider, because it does not have sooo much effect ,so we could sacrifice it for another nice functionality.. and there are still the breathcontrol controls, imo they are cool 2 more controllers.. one used for reso already, but vca could do another thing ;) imo the cs01 could like some „dirt“ generators or suboscs, or subdivision of the speedup LFO? intense the mod amount of the lfo .. imo it is not that much even with modwheel at max! and: maybe change the bender bending down instead?.. nicer for some basses.. maybe something for „crackling“ sounds? PWM subdivision or mod of any kind.. maybe as a nice audio osc.. aaahh, moment: the cs01 has a custom chip, so pwm is not availble for mod, but maybe you can re-use the highspeed lfo as a mixable OSC? nice for clicks n cuts kind of sounds?.. this CS01 is a modified! the resonance is now on VCA bias (left), that normally sets the VCA amount of the breath controller and: able to self-oscillate!! but: I do not really like breath control.. so Thomas of Anyware-Instruments helped me to do this modification ;) it’s just exchanging a resitor and adjusting one trimmer/poti mine is the mk1 version (has a switch for resonance), but mine has a knob for resonance to self oscillate.. I do not like breath controllers much, so this is a much better version for me ;) |
riddle/rätsel solution – it is.. / es ist.. YAMAHA CS01!! mp3: LISTEN / HÖREN!!    some info on the cs01 here soon! / bald mehr.. some short info/kurz info:HERE: CS-01planned mods:
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| Yamaha yc450 organ: nice words used on the yc 450 slider knobs: squawk, astro, birds..!: see those mini sliders? thats another sound set , a clone of those drawbars en miniature.. : a bit like the cs80 „memory panel concept“.. |
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| Yamaha | Yamaha Synth overview.. |
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