Having owned both a CS-80 and the CS-80V software, I agree with others here who say the software doesn't even come close (I prefer U-He Zebra2; can't try the ME-80 because I am on Mac).

Also, having owned a CS-80, you pretty much need a degree in Electrical Engineering to keep it running. Even though I bought one (2003) just recently refurbished, there were all sorts of problems and it was an absolute bitch to tune. I even considered flying in a "well-known CS-80 expert" to stay at my place and work on my CS-80 (it was cheaper than shipping the unit to him, plus I am in a warm-weather place that he would have enjoyed visiting during the winter!).

Seems your best bet would be investing heavily with getting it upgraded in the UK, or like me be glad you owned it and then swear off of fragile vintage synths!

No!

You don't want to go with CS-80. Because there are no many technicians alive that know CS-80 that good. And even those who know, don't like to work with something that has several miles of wires in it. And each time something goes wrong, you need to ship that boat anchor to technician and back. Unless you go full refurb which will cost you A LOT of money for CS-80. And i mean a lot of money.

Unless you are a technician. Then it's another story.

I prefer to buy synths that are broken for less and then have them refurbished by a decent tech, its a better way to do it in my experience...
How much are you paying for it?

(not my video)

Well I saw one today momentarily for spare parts on Matrix Synth for 2500...According to Patrick the one he saw still works.

I know a guy locally that could handle the job, he's an expert in electronics for the air force, used to deal with more complex stuff than the CS80 and loves to fix synths, I completely trust him for the job, if I happen to find one, that is.

...

Buy a boat

... or unless you live within travelling distance of Surrey, UK.

these guys are completely nuts. They ask 18K Euros (still the same issues) for a broken CS-80. I'm outta here.

Offer them fiddy bux

2b

Hi!

I'm from Brazil and I have a Yamaha CS80 for around 7 years. In those 7 years it’s been through repair and now I have no sound out of it. The CS80 powers normally, but no sound… Only low noise (if I switch on the chorus, i can hear it affecting this noise)

Brazil is a crazy country and we don’t have enough technicians to repair it… So, I’m wondering if you can help me in any way. I’ve already changed death master VCA (chip Ig00159) and nothing… Do you have any ideais?

I have the possibility to change for a Arp 2600. Should I?

Thanks In advance!!!

No. Don't trade. Fix the CS80!

that's a bad trade

All of them are complete garbage compared to a real cs-80.

@ patrickdafunk .
Well to me it sounds like $2000-3000 worth of repair so if you know a tech who can do it and the synth is around $12.000 it is worth it.

I have to tell you, like most people on here, that ultimately it may not be worth your time and money.

Here's why: I recently had a CS40M which I was flipping, which is still a very complicated machine with the same kind of point-to-point wiring as the CS80, that needed repair to one of the voice boards. Finding anyone qualified to work on it these days is as hard as people say, and I was lucky enough that my usual tech here in LA ( who has decades of experience with some real top-tier talent) had done some work on the CS series before and was willing to take it on. Although he was successful with all the work on it and it was a top-notch job, when I first brought it in he was somewhat trepidatious about it, and told me that they usually don't do the big CS's any more because of an experience they had with a CS80 that needed a fair bit of work.

Apparently, these days it's almost impossible to source certain parts for it, and the amount of hours needed to actually implement the repairs was a loss monetarily for them, even though they agreed up front to charge more than usual due to the complexity of the job. If you've ever opened it up and looked inside, and have a point of reference to compare it with another synthesizer, you'll understand what I mean; it's just a jungle in there, and unless you know exactly what you're doing it's really easy to make problems worse.

Honestly, I would take Firechilds' estimate as being on the conservative side, depending on the repairs needed.

Caveat Emptor!

Oh boy... Things in Brazil are f... up. There's only three tech guys good enough to repair it, but they are busy for a looong time. Buy synth parts is a pain (Brazilian Customs are there worst)...

No way out...

Thanks a lot!

I've played both, and this is patently untrue. Both are good, just subtly different. If anything, they should both be glad that most of us don't know about Arminator, which is freeware. It's a little different from all of them, but hey, it's good enough to do those old Blade Runner textures.

Honestly, I'd recommend Deckard's Dream as a stand-in, or your ultimate purchase. It's new and the build is much simpler.

well if you recommend deckard's dream you pay for it and then send it onto me.

I'm in the analog synth buy and sell business, I would only do the deal if the asking price was between 4/6k. You need to keep that price low because you're going to need to get that synt fully refurbished, that job would be another 5k. In the end 10/11k for a fully functional cs80 that I would sample and play the sh$t out of and then flip for a profit.
Be careful when buying: stay away from totally dead units unless they are giving it away. To be successful in my business you need a good...and fairly price tech, someone you have a personal relationship with that's not going to rip you off. Good luck.

And build it! 600+ caps!

I have an alternative idea. You pay for it and have it shipped to me for evaluation and send you some demos. If we consider it insufficiently CS-80, I'll refund your money.

I spent around a month rebuilding my cs70m power supply. With so few units out there, there is almost no one to ask when things break. I think I could handle basic troubleshooting on a CS80 now but it would be an amazing pain to deal with over all the other cs models.

I'm lucky - I have no problem looking at my CS80's... the first of which I bought and worked on back in 1986.

The schematics make sense to me and you get used to the different sections and what they do. The service manual calibration procedures could be explained a lot better and sometimes it's a bit trial and error and hit and miss but, up until now, I have always managed to sort any issues.

And tuning it is also quite easy - albeit time consuming. I can trim the tuning now in an afternoon having built an LED 'voice identification' card which I can plug in to my CS80's and also my CS60.

I'm electronically trained so like I said, I'm lucky. But I can totally understand someone with little or no electronics background being intimidated.

If you don't understand it - find a tech who does...!

A non-working (with no way of getting it to work) CS80 for a working Arp 2600 is not necessarily a bad trade. The CS80 sits there unused. Sure, it looks good and I consider it cool to have in your gear list and it has lots of potential but if it don't work and you can't get it fixed, what is it really worth to you? If the 2600 works, maybe has been serviced recently, then maybe it's worth it to you to dump the CS80.

It looks like someone found a way to tune it faster... :

Well, actually, probably not. If you take into account the fact he had to design and build it, then interface it into the synth, which looks like it's heavily modified. Probably was 'out of action' for a long time too... weigh all that up and maybe my way is quicker after all...!

Of course I meant only once the upgrade is done it takes much less time, as you well understood, but yes it is also very cool to be able to open the panel and have the know-how like you to tune and calibrate it. Problem is most musicians don't have this ability...

Indeed - and I keep having to remind myself just how lucky I am in that respect..!

astounding!! must have been a lot of cash to hook that up