Vintage Synth Explorer

Yamaha • CS-20m

The CS-20m is another of Yamaha's classic CS-series analog synthesizers of the '70's and '80's. It is a monophonic analog synthesizer with dual-VCOs that use subtractive synthesis to create superb bass, synth, lead, bubbly-squirty and percussive sounds. It has all the essential components of a classic synth: There is a resonant filter with switchable high, band or lowpass filtering with its own ADSR envelope controls. There is an ADSR VCA envelope generator which contains a third oscillator which generates a sine wave to modulate and enhance your sounds. And there is an LFO which can modulate the PWM sweep. Fortunately, the CS-20m features 8 memory locations for patch storage of your favorite or most used sounds.

Stacked up against the other CS-synths, the CS-20m appears to be a very little brother to the CS-70m (a 12-VCO and very flexible beast). The CS-20m offers more memory patches than any other CS-synth (excluding newer CS1x and CS6x models). As for other synths, the CS-20m could be considered Minimoog-like, though it sounds much brighter and thinner than the Mini. If the Minimoog's price is out of your league, the CS-20m is not just a nice alternative but it is quite a classic and solid analog synth! It is used by The Crystal Method.

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Posting Rules: Please keep your comments relevant! Do not post requests for help, do not use for sales, do not post unless you have something interesting to say about this instrument, or we may delete your post.

 

ichor75

Posted 23 days ago

thanks joe! i am going to try the kenton device definitely! and hey, "$200 - $400" as an estimated value? a good joke.

JOE

Posted 48 days ago

it can be controlled through kenton pro solo midi with no probs.great yamaha cs synth. not as dark or sonically deep sounding as the cs 10 but instant ear candy for that bit of inspiration.i love all the yamaha cs synths and this is a good one . recommended.

ichor75

Posted 54 days ago

i love this machine to bits, but does anybody know if there's a PROVEN way to control it via MIDI? Kenton and Synhouse websites are kinda unclear about that.

Jim Mooney

Posted 127 days ago

I aquired one of these when I managed a music store in the early 80's. It was kinda like an OB-1, but better built. Back then all of Yamaha's synths were huge beasts, but they were tanks, too. Anyway, you could really fatten up the sound by mixing the VCO's sine wave into the VCA along with the VCF. This gave real girth to the tone by adding more fundamental. Talk about your fat basses...

Joe

Posted 374 days ago

Brilliant synth, makes such good use of the LFO (as all CS's do), each section being able to have an independent waveform and amount. Its bliss to work with. Not to mention the multi mode filter and great sound.

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