CS 80 - the voice of God

OK, I've committed to selling my CS 80. I've got a lot of extra parts for it, manuals, interested buyers, and so I've been sitting here just testing it out with headphones.

F**k, it really does sound like the most awesome synth ever made. I can't help it. I had (and still have) a lot of amazing synths. They kick butt from here to eternity. But playing the CS 80 and using the poly aftertouch, ribbon, and left hand controller section completely blows away everything else ever made. Ever.

I remember when I was beta testing the Andromeda. The team was putting together the factory patch set and we got an update with the Alaska patch in it. Great patch for the Andromeda. Really showed off what that synth was capable of doing. I remember at the time powering up the CS 80 and recreating the same patch there. No comparison. The CS 80 was the man in the room full of boys. Even now with just headphones, the presence of the thing is overwhelming.

So, now there's the dilemma - $five figure price$ for the synth+parts, or the great sound?

I ran across this conundrum years ago - at the time, the decision was to sell off a bunch of synths and buy a Moog modular. I decided I'd rather have the diversity. Same situation here -- I could sell off a couple big guys (Chroma and Synthex and maybe the PPG 2.3) and keep the CS 80....

just rambling. I forgot how amazing this thing sounds and it reinforced the first rule of selling gear -- don't listen to it. If you do, you'll want to keep it.

I say keep the CS-80. If you need money, sell something else that's easier to retrieve in the future.

Foolish to do otherwise unless you lost both your hands in Anbar province. Then again, the US Mil might retrofit you with the first ever keyboard friendly prosthetics, in which case you'll be sad you sold the CS-80.

I would suppose the answer depends a great deal on how badly you need/want the money, and what you'd do with it if you sold the synth.

The other way of looking at it is that the CS-80 is a time-limited machine full of proprietary parts that are becoming impossible to replace, and you may want to sell it while it is still worth something. I owned a CS-80 about 5 years ago, I loved it but it was extremely difficult to tune, and even though it had just come back from (famous northern CA synth tech) things were already going wrong with it. I sold it to someone locally who has the EE degree to keep it going....I am now into modern analog!

Intriguing story. Just remember that once you have sold it, you'll have a very very hard time ever getting another one if you wanted it again.

Yep. Even if you get someone very competent (like a Kent Spong type figure) to carefully mod it and make it more stable, its one of those synths that's almost guaranteed to need some sort of work done with every year of ownership, and the cost is definitely rising with time. So, if you look at it a different way, it's another way of slimming down your setup since you'll have to sell off a piece of gear every year to help keep it running. They don't make 'em like the CS-80 any more, but some of that (the general operating reliability) maybe isn't such a bad thing.

Does your gear fetish outweigh the potential value of a $five figure price$ considering the global economy is in the worst state its seen since the Great Depression?

Honestly, folks blowing huge money on vintage gear right now are really blind to what's happening. This ain't the dot com bust, folks. This is serious business.

Serious business.

Srz. Bznz.

I'm very sad to hear the news.

It's called "weathering the storm", OK? :poke:

Man... imagine shipping that thing. It would probably cost as much as a Little Phatty to get it packed up and safe.

The potential buyer would be picking it up.

Maintenance doesn't scare me. I have an old large mixing console, Ampex ATR-102 and MM-1200 tape machines and other vintage gear. Regular maintenance goes a long way to keeping things running smoothly.

Don - I hear you. It's not a done deal yet.

(still pondering things in the cold, wet, rainy light of Monday morning)

It's worth that much? Sell, while it's still worth something. It's not a guitar; it will become worthless.

My main keyboard in the early 80

better keep it cause when you want it back the guy who has it WONT sell it to you...

i adjusted the original sticker price for inflation once, sometime in the last year. it came out to around 24K, IIRC.

then, consider that NO manufacturer on earth would ever put the sheer man-hours into manufacturing a cs80-caliber synth ever again, i think this ups the value from that.

i PERSONALLY wouldnt sell mine unless i was in DIRE financial straights, i.e. medical bills. i'd keep it if you arent in a foreclosure situation.

plus, when you have extra voice cards? man, keep it. crazy to consider selling. crazy crazy crazy. money comes and goes. think of it from a sheer investment standpoint; they jumped about 5k or so in value in the LAST 12 MONTHS.

Is this the synth for an atheist, though?

Roy Bittan used one of those. There is a December 1986 Keyboard article where he talks about it. I have a scan if anyone wants it.

If any synth could make someone a believer, this would be it.

Not in an angelic choir/all is well way, but more in an Old Testament sound and fury way.

keep it.

You don't need the money that badly.

If I had it Id be scare to touch it, that means even play it... at that value id be really soft with the sliders and everything I think I couldnt manage to have one, I know Id have major GAS looking at it only.....

I agree with DLP: it will become worthless as at one point it will not be serviceable anymore and just become a 100kg piece of junk..

Memories, nothing more!

Keep it only if you play it. If you keep it just for worship, well, be ready to throw it in the trash one of these days...

From a musical point of view, the only guy I have recently heard using CS-80 is Frederick Rousseau (well.. Vangelis's assistant since years )

http://frederick-rousseau.viabloga.com/

But appart from him and Vangelis, not much...

I am personnaly waiting for an up to date poly aftertouch controller much more than for a modern CS-80 rendition.. I just hope the new Rhodes will keep its promise on that point...

V

Wow - tough call, and only you can make the decision but...

1. If you don't sell it: may I come over and jam with you? I've never had the chance to play one

2. If you sell it: may I come over and sample it before it goes?

Good luck with the choice...

Noooooo.... don't sell it...

noooooooo...

-

The problem is reliability ...

Seems like CS-80 is rapidly becoming

I appreciate all the public opinion into what essentially comes down to a personal decision. (of course, I asked for it, but still, I appreciate the thought that's gone into a lot of the replies)

Paulo - the window is small, but we might be able to work in your request. Unfortunately, I can't throw this one in the car and haul it to your place like I did the Wave.

PM me with your free times over the next couple weeks.

I made that hard choice when I sold off the PPG 1003 Sonic Carrier, the EMS VCS 3, the Syrinx reissue (serial #1 of 6), the Steiner Parker Synthacon, the Gleeman Clear, the EML prototype, etc, etc.

When I decide I'm done with a synth, I'm usually done (with the weird exception of the MKS-80 and the urge to collect Jupiter-8's...)

It's very difficult to articulate why one synth works for you and another doesn't.