Yamaha CS-01 (click to enlarge)

The CS-01 is a very old but classic analog monosynth from Yamaha. Although originally designed for use by novice musicians or first time synth-buyers, the CS-01 has been recognized by today's electronic musicians as one fat little bass machine with simple controls. In a nutshell, the CS-01 is simple to use and edit but still has some great features for any situation. It's tiny and portable, it has baby-sized keys and it can run on batteries, and there is a built-in amplifier and speaker which is quite fun.

As for sounds and synthesizing, the CS-01 is the perfect monosynth for bubbly and growling bass! It features a very nice 12dB resonant VCF filter. In addition to the oscillators' sine and square type waveforms there is PWM and noise. There are also LFO controls, glissando (like portamento), a typical ADSR envelope generator, pitch & mod wheels and even a breath controller input. A CS-01 mkII (pictured below) was later released by Yamaha soon after the original. It featured an improved 24dB resonant VCF filter with adjustable slider control over resonance instead of switchable on/off resonance as found on the original. The CS-01 mkII is also identifiable by its black case with green letters.

Yamaha CS-01 mkII

The CS-01 may look simple or toy-like but it is still able to create cool little analog bass blips, bass lines and bass bubbles that are just perfect for today's electronic musicians. It has been used by the Dust Brothers, Underworld, OMD, Richard Barbieri and Chick Corea.

28 VISITOR COMMENTS

Howard

April 14, 2012 @ 9:35 am

For me, Jean-Philippe Rykiel is the #1 master of CS-01:
http://youtu.be/USPtkeFh_Gk

Dovinia

February 17, 2012 @ 7:21 am

An analog synth with a digital sound (actually). The "VCO" is a digital counter and the waveforms are extracted from this and output through digital to analog converters. Subtractive synthesis yes, but is it not stretching it a bit far to say this is an all analog synth ?

sergio

January 13, 2012 @ 6:03 pm

Hello, I would like to know who is selling or indicate who sells Yamaha keyboard 01 ii cs?? I would appreciate feedback serginhobelerond@hotmail.com Lisbon, Portugal

scott

November 20, 2011 @ 2:26 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2hpcBVtQwo + some informative dialogue in the comments of this video. i want to mod my res with a seperate pot (without sacrificing breath control) and do vca, and(eventually) midi mods. great little synth!

dave

September 7, 2011 @ 3:28 pm

Here is a dude that playes old Depeche Mode classics only on a CS-01 mk2, drums and all. Sounds great.

http://soundcloud.com/peahix/yamaha-cs01ii-plays-ice

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