Yamaha "CS-Series Synthesizers" 12-page brochure featuring CS-50, CS-60 and CS-80 synthesizers from 1978.
[PDF version to be provided later once I figure out an alternative to SkyDrive]
Sometimes I just don't feel like writing. And this morning I also didn't feel like going outside to rake the rain-soaked leaves that continued to accumulate at an increasingly fast rate during last night's freakish thunder storm. Instead of trying to stubbornly pull myself in either of these directions, I turned on the coffee maker in the kitchen and then turned on the computer and scanner in the extra bedroom. Time to do some mindless scanning.
This time I managed to blindly pull a Yamaha CS-50/60/80 brochure out of the archive, figuring it would keep me busy for an hour or so. But I soon started spending more time reading through the brochure than actually scanning it. Part of the problem was that I'd never actively researched the differences between these synths, so to have all this information packaged together so elegantly was a quick way to get acquainted with all of them at once.
( Three hours later... )
And.... done. :)
The brochure is divided into four sections:
1. Introduction: "A Fascinating New Way To Create Musical Sounds" - 1 page
2. CS-50 info - 4 pages including that awesome fold-out photo of the synthesizer
3. CS-60 info - 2 page
4. CS-80 info - 3 pages
5. Block diagrams of each synthesizer - 1 page
6. Specifications - 1 page
The odd shape of those first couple of scans is because that first page actually is a fold out - so scan 1 (the cover) and scan 2 (the introduction to the brochure) actually make up the first real page. Scan three is the other side of that long fold-out page which features the giiii-nomous large photo of the CS-50. Scan 4 (the first page of the CS-50 info) sits opposite of scan 3, and then you have the rest of the pages sitting opposite each other as laid out above... hope that all makes sense.
If you don't know much about these three synths, then I would recommend first flipping open the fold-out page to read the "Feature comparison of CS-50, CS-60 and CS-80" chart on that intro page. Then, flip directly to the inside of the last page to see the block diagrams. And finally check out the back cover of the brochure for side-by-side specs. Then go back and read about each synth in their respective sections. Awesome reference info all around.
Enjoy.... while I go out and finally rake leaves. Gah.
4 comments:
Thanks for posting this. I remember drooling over this brochure as a teenager - pre Farrah Fawcett. Now, at age 50, I have Arturia's CS-80V and a General Music S3 keyboard, I can get close to the sound of Yamaha's beast without the price,weight and maintenance. I'm still no closer to being a rock star, though.
FYI - To save your time and your sanity in scanning oddly shaped documents, might I suggest using your digital camera instead? It works for me.
Ohhhh... Thank you so much for these! I've been a fan of the CS-80 since the first time I heard/saw one(around 83' on the Toto album IV, boy that was a long time ago...). Anyway your blog is a fantastic resource for somebody like me, who loves classic synths and lives in Brazil. Much appreciated.
This is awesome - thank you so much. I've always wondered about the other two CS keyboards. I didn't know there was a CS-DX prototype till fairly recently either. Keep up the great work...
Thanks everyone for posting the nice comments - and those of you who sent in emails as well. Appreciate all of them!
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