Vintage Synth Explorer

Yamaha • CS-50

The CS-50 was released just one year before its famous big brothers, the CS-60 and CS-80. The CS-50 looks like a scaled-down version of the monstrous CS-80, and it is! This will benefit those who crave the famous classic Yamaha synth sound without the struggle of lugging around the 215 pound CS-80! The CS-50 weighs in at about 100 pounds. The CS-50 is also just 4-voice polyphonic, and lacks the quality weighted 61-note keyboard of the CS-80. The CS-50 has just a 49-note standard keyboard. It does feature pressure (aftertouch) sensitivity route-able to several destinations, however.

The CS-50's sound is unmistakably related to other classic CS-series synthesizers. At just four voices with one osc. per voice and lacking warm filters (at just 12dB/oct) the CS-50's sound can be thin. There are 13 preset sounds of various instruments and synth sounds but, unfortunately, no on-board memory storage for your edited presets. At its low street price, the CS-50 makes a great way to get your hands on these classic sounds without going broke! It's too bad their tuning is just as unstable as the other CS-series synths. It's housed in a built-in travel-case like the other (big) CS-synths. It's been used by Men Without Hats and Herbie Hancock.

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Ian

Posted 148 days ago

meant to say that it's NOT a fat sounding synth but still amazing in it's own right :) Also these fella's are a little unreliable and parts are a bit of a git to find if any voices go down.

Ian

Posted 148 days ago

Backin 1993 a friend of mine had a CS-50 and I have to admit I used to make fun of it a little as I was too pre-occupied with the "in" analogue synths of the day like TB303 and SH101's etc. Anyway about 5 years ago I came across one myself for £250 in excellent condition so thought for that price I'd have a punt. Well I totally fell for it's superb sound. I LIKE the fact that it's another "FAT" sounding synth and really has a unique sound. Superb for emotional pads and the ring mod is excellent. I sold mine after being told by Kenton that it would cost me about £500+ for a midi retrofit though!

Rainer

Posted 299 days ago

I once plugged an on/off footswitch into my CS-60's "expression" pedal connection, which made the machine to stop producing sound too. It appeared to be a resistor, one of those long, white rectangular ones that look like they're made out of concrete. It's now more than 5 years ago that I fixed that, so unfortunately I forgot where it is exactly. After I replaced that - and only that! - it functioned again! unfortunately the aftertouch is still broken.

Massimiliano Longo

Posted 399 days ago

I love my CS-50,one of my favorite.
plug carefully, only by mixer and/or CV intrerface.
Today the risk to lose old synths is high( and expensive... )
Patrick kill your friend!!!
If the guitar pedal was active ( with battery) a wrong voltage imput could burn some IC. If passive maybe made a short-circuit.
DONT plug any vintage synth IN or OUT with active devices, also pre!
Or experiment with unknow items.
Cheers
Max

Micke

Posted 439 days ago

Also used by Duncan MacKay on Alan Parsons Project's album
"I Robot" (rec. Jan-March 1977).

According to Duncan himself he flew the first CS-80 from Japan into England and Yamaha had lent him a CS-50 to use until it arrived.

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