Yamaha CS-80 emulation

robin746
robin746 Member Posts: 4 Member
edited June 2022 in Building With Reaktor

I am just wondering if anyone has made further progress on some of the unique qualities of the CS-80 / CS-60.

There is one ensemble in the user library, but the CEES80 is over two decades old.


Comments

  • colB
    colB Member Posts: 762 Guru
    edited May 2022

    Some things I've learned about the CS-80:

    A lot of the amazing music it's used on has been played by exceptional musicians who can fully utilise the expressive control it provides... you would need those skills and at least a ribbon controller and a MIDI keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch to emulate.

    The saw wave isn't really a pure saw, it has a little blip at the start... like a very narrow pulsewave section

    I read somewhere that there is a sine wave per voice that can be mixed in that is post filter. I tried this in Reaktor, and it can be very effective and does open up more sound design options. You would need to do a deep dive into the manuals and any other available documentation to get further details.

    Nobody really raves about the filters? I think it's more about the unique oscillators and their configuration, and the expressive control options. then just learn to play like Vangelis. RIP Vangelis.


    Here's a fantastic video that takes a deep dive into how the CS-60 oscillators and voice cards work. Pretty sure they are the same as CS-80 apart from the 80 having two oscs per voice

    https://youtu.be/f0dO7kHlamQ

  • Paule
    Paule Member Posts: 1,328 Expert
    edited May 2022

    Here is one CEES80 saved with R5.9.4 and R6. The one from UL has an ugly gui.


  • colB
    colB Member Posts: 762 Guru

    Doesn't sound good though :(. Maybe just those ancient old Primary oscs and filters...

  • Paule
    Paule Member Posts: 1,328 Expert

    @colB

    Doesn't sound good though :(

    Colin who is „Ma Lord“ the author of CeEs 80?

  • colB
    colB Member Posts: 762 Guru

    I have no idea :)

    Swapping out all the oscillators and filters for modern ones might make a big difference, who knows.

  • robin746
    robin746 Member Posts: 4 Member

    Yeah I guess the incentive to start this thread is Vangelis RIP.

    Definitely true about the ribbon controller being a big draw. (I've used it.) You can't recreate such experiences without hardware. But still I'd hope for something in our library that comes close to the sound.

    Pretty sure the author is "Max Lord" and the entry is a typo.

  • Laureano Lopez
    Laureano Lopez Member Posts: 102 Advisor

    Pretty sure the author is "Max Lord" and the entry is a typo

    or ma is slang for my, which is quite less informative

  • colB
    colB Member Posts: 762 Guru

    I think for the sound, you can get close with many poly synths, it's 95% the patch settings and effects. There are various videos on youtube about how to get Vangelis Bladerunner sounds with other synths, and some are pretty effective.

    One detail I read about is that he used a lot of presets, and wrote iconic music, so when folk hear those presets, they think of that music. Makes the CS-80 sound even 'better', or more special than it is.

    Then there's the orchestration, layering, effects, mixing and mastering...

    I think before trying to get Reaktor sounding like a CS-80, better to get it sounding convincingly like an analogue polysynth. Just that and some good patching with the right external processing would get way closer to authentic Vangelis sounds than copying the CS-80 topology, but using factory components to do so.

    Not suggesting that this is an easy task - exactly the opposite, I've been failing at it for years :)

    Watch that vid I linked to earlier though - lots of very useful details in there!

  • Paule
    Paule Member Posts: 1,328 Expert

    @robin746

    Pretty sure the author is "Max Lord" and the entry is a typo.

    Yes, both 18 years ago.

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