Yamaha CS-01 II

It's about as easy as a synthesizer without presets can be. Small, very portable unit with sections for VCO, VCF, and VCA controls. You set the basic parameters on each--waveforms, frequency cutoff and Q, ADSR. If you know anything about synthesizers, it's easy, and if you don't, the controls are few enough so you can pick it up by trial and error.

Mono synth, so you'll only get one note. Unlike more modern synths, you can't save patches, so you have to write them down or have an excellent memory. I never use MIDI, but I don't think it has it. Mini keys.

Somewhat limited palette, but it's about as good a mono synth as you can get in this size. I like it for bass sounds, and the pulse-width modulation also gives a good phase-shifter kind of tone. Triangle wave is pure and flute-like, but not very loud, and disappears in lower octaves. You can also mix in noise.

I've had it for 20 years, and the only problem was when I didn't play it for a while and the batteries leaked. It also survived the leakage from when my small son left a rotting pumpkin on top of the case.

I've had it for 20 years, and it seems to find a way onto just about every recording project I do, even though I'm mainly a bass & guitar player. Limited, but lovable.

Wow,
This one is easy and compact.

for a little compact mono synth
youll expect noyhing compare to what you will get
from this monster synth.
It feature a great screaming self osc VCF.
It is by far greater than the TB 303 and has more bells.

I did the Kenton CV/Gate upgrade a year ago ( a little pricy ).
Now it plays my Midi notes and also respond to the
dynamic changes via the VCF in.
you can connect a yamaha Breath control and
affect the level or VCF !
total awsome 5 osc shapes and Noise.
It takes about 3 minutes of work to get
a good recording tone every time.
It is so cool that I would NEVER EVER sell it !

So far no problems

Yamaha are the greatest in support.

If you can find one in great shape - BUY IT !!!
than, spend some money on the Kenton Upgrade
( that is if they still have it )
and you will have a little devil in your hand.
You can get mellow to harsh screaming sounds.
It is up in my most usable "Jupiter-8 and Minimoog" list.

just great- it was my first synth, got it for my eleventh or twelveth birthday. I saw it at a local store in the window and back by that time you were told that with a synthesizer you could create or recreate any sound in the world. figured out pretty soon that this was not the case, but it's so simple, it really taught me all the synth-basics which was good for every other synth i got later on.

monophonic, no velocity, no effects, no gimmicks, no midi -
just basic synth features as VCO,VCF,LFO,ADSR...
important is, to get the markII series. the first on had only two settings for resonance. it is just the best to make these sweeps.
one negative thing: pitch bend goes only up, not down!

sounds so cool, a little toy-like, if you want to. but has phat bass sounds, and squeaky synth-lines or sweep effects. used it for progressive rock playing moog-taurus like basses, or smooth melody lines.

no problems ever... from 1984(or so) till now. it's like a good friend and your little baby in one!

never needed it! thankful to yamaha for making it!

i always keep an eye on it, but if it was stolen i'd definetely look for a new one, which is not necessary at the moment, because my neighbor just gave me hers as a present. she got it at the same time, but is not playng an instrument. so i now have two little baby synth to take care of.
if you see one, buy it. it's always a fun thing to bring on a show. you can make spontaneous noises and people get curious about it.
try to get it with the cool silver carrying case!
I JUST LOVE IT!