The CS01 is a very old but classic analog monosynth from Yamaha. Although originally designed for use by novice musicians or first time synth-buyers, the CS01 has been recognized by today's electronic musicians as one fat little bass machine with simple controls. In a nutshell, the CS01 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 CS01 is the perfect monosynth for bubbly and growling bass! It features a very nice 12dB resonant voltage-controlled 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 CS01 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 CS01 mkII is also identifiable by its black case with green letters.

Yamaha CS01 II

The CS01 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.

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

Andre

July 3, 2011 @ 2:46 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOh6qG4iT48
cs01 with breath controller sounds pretty good to me

halluciphile

May 30, 2011 @ 10:53 am

ive had this since i was a kid... and circuit bent it last night... here are some of the results... http://soundcloud.com/halluciphile/halluciphile-where-he-was I used the CS01 only!!!

Lamster

February 6, 2011 @ 6:30 pm

I've seen people use the word fat to describe the sound of this machine. In the same way Anorexia sufferers say I'm fat. Or roland sh101 owners say that bass is fat. The synth sounds ok for what they cost very usable I bought one to use at a gig because my lead synth had died that morning and one was in the local ads for £15 long time ago. BL***Y good as it happened but would not pay the silly prices being asked these days. if you look on you tube for cardboard synth some guy os modifying one anyway worth a look

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