The CS-01 is a very old but classic analog monosynth from Yamaha. Although originally designed for use by novice musicians or first time synth-buyers, the CS-01 has been recognized by today's electronic musicians as one fat little bass machine with simple controls. In a nutshell, the CS-01 is simple to use and edit but still has some great features for any situation. It's tiny and portable, it has baby-sized keys and it can run on batteries, and there is a built-in amplifier and speaker which is quite fun.

Extended information

As for sounds and synthesizing, the CS-01 is the perfect monosynth for bubbly and growling bass! It features a very nice 12dB resonant VCF filter. In addition to the oscillators' sine and square type waveforms there is PWM and noise. There are also LFO controls, glissando (like portamento), a typical ADSR envelope generator, pitch & mod wheels and even a breath controller input. A CS-01 mkII (pictured below) was later released by Yamaha soon after the original. It featured an improved 24dB resonant VCF filter with adjustable slider control over resonance instead of switchable on/off resonance as found on the original. The CS-01 mkII is also identifiable by its black case with green letters.

The CS-01 may look simple or toy-like but it is still able to create cool little analog bass blips, bass lines and bass bubbles that are just perfect for today's electronic musicians.

Technical specifications

Polyphony - Monophonic Oscillators - 1 VCO - triangle / saw / square / pulse / PWM LFO - Sine waveform Filter - 12dB Cutoff / Hi or Lo resonance with ADSR (24dB on mkII) VCA - 1 ADSR envelope gen Keyboard - 32 mini keys Memory - None Control - Breath Controller; CV/Gate via kit from Kenton

Information above is courtesy of www.vintagesynth.com