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

[Cinebient]

I like more demos of this kind where people just tweak and play it in a more pure way.
It def. has a sound which might be unique and hard to recreate with other tools but that does not mean it is a holy grail. But if you really want THIS sound.
So it does sound great but i hear just more interesting and the same kind of organic synth sounds in my software (again...just my taste maybe).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gmqy3A1Q4I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxKVY7nJPJE
...and so on
At least a synth which weight as much as i do....

[anomandaris1]

You seem to assume the real thing will sound better but I'd be surprised if that was the case. The reality is that in 99% of situations, 99% of people wouldn't even know it was a CS80. I wouldn't have a clue what a CS80 sounds like and I've been buying and using synths for going on 40 years.

In your example you are also talking about one synth that costs twice as much as another. That the cheap one is a Roland also makes it likely anyone would notice the difference.

Modern commercial music is all about post processing and layering sounds to make everything sounds "thick"- EQ until there are no harsh resonant frequencies.
I've always hated old Arturia synths, but they are perfectly fine in the final mix after processing with effects.

[Tj Shredder]

The same holds true for the ancient analog monsters. If you listen to old recordings you simply don‘t know what treatment they got...

[zzz00m]

ANCIENT ANALOG MONSTER:

https://youtu.be/P8f-Qb-bwlU

[pdxindy]

When I want to hear the CS80 in all its glory I turn to the Beaubourg album by Vanglis. The reverb here is much more controlled and does not mask the underlying sounds as much as it does in the Synthtopia example:

No VST could do that. It sounds amazing!

This is not a fact but just a meaning. I personally really like the tone and the composition (more important here) but for me most 5 dollar apps could sound even better these days.
At the end we just should use what we think makes us happy.
But maybe a reason i´m so a fan of the P900 sound since i read somewhere it has a lot little randomization f.e. also in the envelopes. You won´t get a perfect psy bass out of it but it feels some kind of most organic and alive while playing and tweaking in realtime i feel with no other synth as much.
A reason i like Moogs Animoog app so much. It has not the most juicy and phat sound but the way you can play it makes it so expressive (same with Model D and Model 15 and some MPE desktop synths like The Legend).
Whatever...seems like another hardware vs. software thing which at the end is just important for the creator and does not matter for any listener (since NO ONE would hear a different at the end between a 10000 dollar hardware, 100 dollar plug-in or 5 dollar app with the right FX and mixing behind it).
In general a lot praise goes to certain instruments while i think it is 99% the artist and nothing else.

What I am referring to has nothing to do with expressive playing... or programmed randomization... or FX... or mixing skill. I'm not arguing hardware vs software in a which is better sense. However, there is something that analog has that digital (still) doesn't.

And of course in lots of music, as quite few people point out, that difference would be completely covered over and lost. But in some sparser compositions like that example, the difference is clear to me. And I appreciate it. I love my softsynths and they can make a vast range of sounds not possible with analog synths and I am still happy to appreciate what analog has. I see no war between them.

[Echoes in the Attic]

I know the Arturia one doesn’t sound too close but the me80 seems like a decent emulation. Diva always seemed to be able to get the raw sound the closest actually however obviously the architecture is nothing the same, you need those parallel resonant hp/lp pairs. I bet a u-he cs80 would be great.

[Sinisterbr]

You know, I think PolyKB III might get you really close to these Blade Runner leads, actually.

[ew]

Aren't GX-1 and CS-80 renown for their performance features, not for their "sound"?
Is there anything special about the sound of Yamaha synthesizers?

That's a really good question. As a CS-60 owner for 30+ years (and having played a couple CS-80s as well), there's three things that stand out for me:

1) The filters. When used as either a plain highpass or lowpass filter (there's a highpass and lowpass filter in series) they sound fairly generic. However, when you combine them, there's some really sweet spots where the instrument comes alive.

2) The ring modulator. Arturia had this right in V1 and V2, but messed it up in V3; with V3, there's too much dry signal even with the depth cranked up. Everything from chorusy sounding things to outer space RM effects are there with a nudge of the finger.

3) The pitch ribbon. Wherever you place your finger becomes the center point. The really cool thing though is that you can do guitar style hammer ons on either side of the center point, and as you slide the finger that's the center point, the trills change pitch with the position of your finger. Obviously, that part can't be imitated with the pitch ribbon on the emulations.

ew

[Aloysius]

unEarthed Sampling - Esper Synth has some very nice Bladder-runner sounds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUkHFBJ3JW8

The patches sound surprisingly 'emotional'.

[SCprogfan]

I have both the Arturia and the ME80, like both of them, but have had more success with the ME80 in getting "that" sound. I have recently wondered why there is at least not a deep Kontakt library based on the CS80. I do mean deeper than the Esper Synth, which is fine for the few samples that it has.

[wagtunes]

FWIW, even though I won't be getting it due to the cost, the Synthi V sounds amazing. If the Arturia CS-80 was as close to the original as the Synthi V is, this thread wouldn't exist.

Arturia is finally doing stuff right.

[V0RT3X]

If i had a CS-80 I would sell it and use the money to buy a bunch of modern analog gear.

It's definitely quirky and has it's own sound but it's not really that great compared to others out there right now.

https://soundcloud.com/sound-recording/ ... intagepark

I'd rather own an Alesis Andromeda.

[jsp1979]

Bladder-runner sounds.

Are those the sounds of the incontinent?

[Aloysius]

[kylie]

Just in case someone would finally nail the CS-80 sound to satisfy your demand for accuracy, what would you come up with, wags? Sound programming to do it justice, I hope, and not only your personal approach to make a Vangelis cover sound closer to your perfect imagination of it...

If it should really happen to be made possible, make sure you beat the hell out of it and get some revolutionary stuff done with it, as it has been done at the time it was at large!