| Dates: | 1979-1982 |
| Price: | £799 GBP $999 US |
| Measurements: | W:754mm, D:332.5mm, H:174mm |
| Polyphony: | Monophonic |
| Timbrality: | 2 part [1] |
| Oscillator: | 2 (Pulse, Saw Down, Sine, Square, White Noise) |
| Lfo: | 1 (triangle, saw and S&H waveforms)[2] |
| Synthesis Type: | Analog[3] Subtractive |
| Filter: | 2 (12dB Slope (2-pole), Band Pass, High Pass, Low Pass, Resonance) |
| Attenuator: | 2 (ADSR) |
| Memory: | None |
| Fx: | None |
| Keyboard: | 37 keys[4] |
| Left Control: | Pitch bend |
| Ext Control: | CV/gate |
The Yamaha CS-15 is a monophonic analog synthesizer produced by Yamaha from 1979 to 1982.[5]
In the CS series, the CS-5, CS-10, CS-30 and CS-30L were similar in sound, structure and design. The CS-5 and CS-10 had a single oscillator and one multimode filter, whereas the CS-15, CS-30 and CS-30L each had two oscillators that could be routed in various ways through two multimode filters.[6]
It features two voltage-controlled oscillators, two 12 dB/Oct multi-mode Voltage-controlled filter (Low-Pass, High-Pass or Band-Pass), two ADSR envelopes and a Low-Frequency Oscillator. It also features a White noise and an external-in for processing other sounds.
The CS-15 offers a great flexibility with various routing possibilities to the filters and envelopes. You can, for example, rout VCO 1 to both VCFs and the VCFs to any of the envelopes positive or negative voltage.
It's actually a duophonic / bitimbral synthesizer but you have to connect it two separate CV/Gate controls (Hz/V like Korg synthesizers not V/Oct) to play the extra voice.
The CS-15 was used by several bands in the early 1980s. The Human League made prominent use of the instrument on their album Dare.[7] Marillion used a CS-15 on their first full-length album, Script for a Jester's Tear.[8] Boyd Jarvis, a producer and early pioneer of house music, started out with a CS-15 as his first synthesizer.[9] [10]