YAMAHA CS-80 Synthesizer Demo - Sounds, Patches & Ambient Soundscapes

Published on Mar 25, 2020 synth4ever

"Yamaha CS-80 analog synthesizer demo featuring various sounds, patches and ambient soundscapes on this classic vintage synth. This Yamaha CS80 synth demo features six different patches showcasing the Yamaha CS-80's oscillator PWM, pads, bells, noise, LFO and ring modulation capabilities. Filmed at Rosen Sound (www.rosensound.com) in Burbank, CA with slight reverb added.

A descendant of the legendary Yamaha GX-1, the Yamaha CS-80 is a beautiful analog synthesizer produced by Yamaha from 1977-79 and is most famous for being used by Vangelis on the Blade Runner soundtrack. Weighing in at 220lb, the Yamaha CS-80 is a massive synthesizer in terms of size and weight, and is the top of the line synth in the same family as the Yamaha CS-50 and CS-60.

The Yamaha CS-80 is well-known for being extremely organic and expressive, thanks to its incredible interface which includes plenty of sliders, a ribbon controller and polyphonic aftertouch on the 61-note keyboard, which allows for unparalleled performance flexibility.

The Yamaha CS80 can create lush strings, beautiful leads, powerful pads and strong basses and allows for deep sonic exploration and improvisation. In particular, the Yamaha CS-80's ring modulator is one of the most beautiful sounding and versatile designs ever created, as it features full control over attack and decay time, depth, speed, and modulation.

The Yamaha CS-80 is a bi-timbral, dual channel analog synth featuring 8 polyphonic voices. Both channels feature a complete VCO-VCF-VCA signal path and can be controlled independently. The Yamaha CS80's oscillators provide saw, square, PW and PWM, and sine waveshapes which allows for varied sound shaping.

The Yamaha CS-80 LFO features 5 waveforms including sine, square, sawtooth (up/down), noise and external signal and can go into audio rate for extreme sounds. The LFO can also modulate the VCO, VCF and VCA at different levels simultaneously for nice vibrato, filter modulation or tremolo effects.

The Yamaha CS-80 filter is a thing of beauty and features 2x high-pass and 2x lowpass filters. The filters do not self oscillate but have a lovely tone and quality to them. The Yamaha CS-80 also features independent ADSR envelopes for both the filter and VCA, allowing you to shape the sound over time.

Additional controls include adjustable touch response levels for functions including filter brilliance, vibrato and more. There is also portamento and glissando on board, as well as chorus and tremolo effects.

The Yamaha CS-80 is a beautifully expressive instrument and legendary analog synthesizer, which gives the player full control over their performance. In this demo I tried to showcase some sounds and patches in an ambient style, including pads and experimental improvisation. I hope you enjoy the music from this amazing synthesizer. "