Yamaha CS-60
A polyphonic synthesizer that promised organ players the moon and delivered a keyboard that could actually play chords.
Overview
Eight voices of polyphony, when most synthesizers could only play one note at a time. The CS-60 belongs to the family of Yamaha polyphonic instruments that also included the CS-80 and CS-50. It was aimed at players coming from the electric organ world - people who expected to hold a chord, not just a melody line.
Eight voices was the headline spec on the CS-60. Polyphonic synthesizers were rare and expensive then, so eight voices was serious capability. Players could hold sustained chords, layer textures, and treat it more like a keyboard than a monophonic lead synth.
Yamaha positioned the CS-60 alongside the CS-50 and CS-80 as one product family. Dealer advertisements from the period list all three together, often calling them "Polysynthesizers" to set them apart from the monophonic synthesizers that dominated the market.
Period retailer listings from the London Synthesiser Centre in early 1979 show the CS-60 alongside the CS-80, CS-50, CS-10, CS-30, and CS-30L, as well as Yamaha's SS30 String Machines and CP-series electric pianos. The CS-60 was part of a full-range demonstration program. Guest demonstrator Dave Bristow presented the complete Yamaha keyboard lineup at events in London and Manchester during December 1978 and March 1979.
Eight-voice polyphony put the CS-60 in rare company. Most synthesizers of the period were monophonic, able to play only one note at a time. The few polyphonic instruments available were expensive and often limited in their programmability.
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