Why Can't We Get A CS-80 VST That Actually Sounds Like a CS-80?

[Obsolete417459]

[Niowiad]

here's THE ONE and ONLY:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/YAMAHA-CS80-co ... Sw9EZcpnSj

24K Wow! I think it was 23K a few days ago?

Better buy it soon

[goldenanalog]

[goldenanalog]

[AnX]

jiminy could

so could Jimmy

https://youtu.be/ZbW1c-3UOHs

[AnX]

Hey what do I know, only been making music for over a decade with a few top 5 billboard hits to my credit carry on.

country, or western?

[BBFG#]

Been playing through some of the Arturia presets the last half hour when I found myself asking,
"I wonder if a real CS-80 could sound like this?"

We tend to forget it goes both ways.

[Aloysius]

swings both ways, he says.

[jens]

Well, you are suffering. From what can always be debated.

[vurt]

so no hits then?
...

[chk071]

Never quite got the argument anyway. I make a hit and that automatically makes me more competent than people who don't?

Man, those shitty plugin and hardware developers... they know nothing, and should rather sample real analogs, rather than modelling them.

Unfortunate for those who need analog modelled filters though. Or who like to tweak a lot.

[Jace-BeOS]

Bands that I followed and am aware of. Of course most of these guys used just about everything.

Alan Parsons
ELO
Paul McCartney & Wings
Kraftwerk

And plenty more. It was one of the monsters of the era. In fact, it was more widely used than the Polymoog.

Some more: http://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/cs80.php

It has been used by Vangelis, Chicago, Jethro Tull, Kraftwerk, Ultravox, Bon Jovi, Simple Minds, Paul McCartney, Michael McDonald, Brian Eno, Toto, Eddie Jobson, Doug Johnson (Loverboy), The Crystal Method, Jean Michel Jarre, Geoffrey Downes (Yes, Asia), Rick Wakeman, Stevie Wonder, Phish, Daft Punk, BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and Tony Banks of Genesis.

ok, now im interested

Yeah, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop is how I first became aware of, and interested in, the Yamaha CS-80. Peter Howell created the second-best Doctor Who theme with one (and I say second-best, despite it being my favorite, because of deference to Delia Derbyshire’s original arrangement). I also really like his Doctor Who story background scoring as well. My nostalgia for the CS-80 is far more based on Doctor Who than on Vangelis.

Poly AT and a ribbon... stuff most hardware has never provided... I still haven’t owned something with this expressiveness potential. Still not happy with the “requires a computer” Roli product, and still not happy with a flat glass screen to emulate MPE controls (on an iPad... though it’s a great tease).

Without the controllers, any emulation would be lacking, even if it reproduced the sound as well as possible.

[gminorcoles]

However, there is something that analog has that digital (still) doesn't.

No there isn't, it is purely in your head. A blind test would prove it in a minute flat. I'd be happy to set one up if you're interested. Sounds that utilise both the oscillators and filters to best effect. You can even supply a few sounds for me to copy (roughly) if you like. I've got a good mix of analogue and digital hardware. I could set it up in a couple of nights.

But in some sparser compositions like that example, the difference is clear to me. And I appreciate it.

Listening to part of this album for the first time, I don't hear anything I couldn't do with any number of freeware VSTi. Honestly, it doesn't sound in any way special to me at all. It is very much a product of it's time, I reckon he'd do it much better today with modern synths, digital or analogue.

Hey what do I know, only been making music for over a decade with a few top 5 billboard hits to my credit carry on.

I'll see your decade and raise you 2.8 more. As for "billboard hits", I'd be ashamed, not boastful about that.

Funny, it was installing and playing the last Syntronik offering that got me to uninstall it and buy Analog Lab. I didn't find Syntronik bad per se , but I didn't find it good either. Arturia is clearly a more usable product for me.

Yeah, I was hugely underwhelmed by Syntronik, especially compared to Analog Lab. You can't hope to emulate something successfully if you don't even have the same controls.

+!

[pdxindy]

However, there is something that analog has that digital (still) doesn't.

No there isn't, it is purely in your head. A blind test would prove it in a minute flat. I'd be happy to set one up if you're interested. Sounds that utilise both the oscillators and filters to best effect. You can even supply a few sounds for me to copy (roughly) if you like. I've got a good mix of analogue and digital hardware. I could set it up in a couple of nights.

For lots of basic sounds, there is no meaningful difference... but when you get into audio-rate modulations, high resonance etc., then yes, there is still an audible difference. Out at the extremes, digital still starts to fall apart, aliases, the really high notes can get squirrelly, have a kind of digital edge that I don't find pleasant. It's not that software developers cannot overcome that, just it takes too much CPU and for most uses it doesn't matter. I happen to like sounds out on the edge.

I don't need your test, I have my own gear and have done my own tests and it is glaringly obvious, not some subtle 'mojo' thing.

[Vortifex]

its only remembered for a couple of sounds from a dull film

Reported.