Yamaha CS-5

Yamaha CS-5 Image

The CS-5 may be a lower-end CS series synthesizer from Yamaha but it still has all you need for vintage analog bass and synth effects at a very affordable price! The CS-5 is a single-oscillator monophonic analog synthesizer with classic filter, envelope and modulation controls. It features 37 full-sized keys, a multi-mode 12 dB/Oct resonant filter, an LFO with sample and hold, and an external audio input you can route through the VCF or VCA sections. The CS-5 is a very flexible and modulate-able analog synth that is quite capable of warm analog bass and bubbly synth effects! The absence of patch storage, MIDI and velocity are just reminders that the CS-5 is old - it's Vintage! It's been used by Siouxsie and the Banshees, Depeche Mode, Richard Barbieri and the Sneaker Pimps.

50 Visitor comments
Jed D
August 6, 2011 @ 10:20 am
bought one from Gumtree from a guy that fixes and modifies synths. I paid £150 and i must say I LOVE IT. its so warm and smooth and in great shape.(recently sprayed and modified with blue LED's). I own a Moog little phatty and a Juno 6 and this Cs5 sounds just as good. especially in the low end. IF U FIND ONE OF THESE, BUY IT.
Jason
July 30, 2011 @ 8:42 am
Love the cool siren sounds on this when you turn the portamento up. Al ot of cool stuff to be heard on this just fiddling with the knobs and finding that "spot," which is the joy of analog synths.
alessandro_
May 24, 2011 @ 5:57 pm
bought it today. sounds ok. like multimode filter. resonance is not so wow but sounds are really rounded. not a must have cause its simplicity but nice sounds!
henry
May 5, 2011 @ 10:46 am
@coleJ

if you want warm, round, squelchy, squishy dubstep bass sounds you should get a juno 6 - they're around the same price as these

obviously they're are better synths out there for that kind of sound but the juno 6 is great and polyphonic
ColeJ
November 1, 2010 @ 2:50 pm
Do you think I could get some wicked dub-step bass out of this? everyone says the bass is good, but i can't find of a good demo of like blow my mind bass sounds.
 
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  • Demos & Media
  • YouTube Thumbnail
    Video 1
    - Yamaha CS5 analog monophonic synth

    Manual - Download the original CS-5 Owner's Manual in Adobe PDF format from Yamaha's Japanese site.

  • Specifications
  • Polyphony - Monophonic
  • Oscillators - 1 VCO with pulse or sawtooth waveforms and noise-gen
  • LFO - Yes, with sine, sawtooth, sample and hold
  • Filter - 1 filter: 12dB/oct High pass or Low pass; 6dB/oct band-pass
  • Effects - None
  • Keyboard - 37 keys
  • Memory - None
  • Control - CV / Gate
  • Date Produced - 1978-83
  • Resources & Credits
  • Images from Mark Smith.

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