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I spent almost a year with my Yamaha CS-5 and the longer I had it, the more I played it, the less I liked it. Sure, it's always fun to buy new gear and play with it, especially if it's so straightforward and easy to use like the CS-5, but when it comes to getting useful sounds out of it, the CS-5 isn't so very inspiring anymore.
The CS-5 proved to me that monophonic synths aren't my thing, so I might be rather unfair towards it. Its sound did nothing to convince me otherwise - it is not particularly thin, but quite dull, even when moderately modulated.
I make synthpop music (please write me at sartre@siol.net to hear the CS-5 in action - it did make some tracks) and there's little "real-time convolution and modulation" as Yamaha would call it a good decade later - we'd probably even use the TB-303 the way it was intended to. We therefore need sounds that are relatively static, but still rich and lively. I belive that even a simple oscillator detune would help the CS-5 sound immensely - if it had another oscillator to detune, that is.
The filter on the CS-5 isn't bad, it's just not my thing. It is very versatile though, sporting a switchable lo-pass, band-pass, and hi-pass setting and even a audio input...all this marred by the filter envelope which the CS-5 shares with the VCA.
If you're getting the impression that the CS-5 is a turkey of a synth, it's not. I do, however, recommend that you spend some time with it before buying it if you can. If you're looking for just any monophonic synth, the late 1970's Rolands may be a better choice - if you can afford the purchase and maintenance price, that is. There is one thing about my CS-5 that I really liked: immaculate dependability and excellent build quality, and good "vintage value for money". Please keep in mind that the fact that the CS-5 didn't cut it for me doesn't at all mean that it might not cut it for you.
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