Yamaha CS2x

as a beginning synth user, i think the ease of use is pitched nicely, there are some good exercises you can work through in the silver book that teach you how to get the most out of manipulating the sounds, which is especially good with the realtime controls, the main reason i bought this synth as i couldn't find any other synths with knobs in this price range

the keyboards a bit squidgy but it still feels quite expressive, lots of built in effects, but it's really how you use them that counts, though you can make some really mad sounds just from playing around, nice arpegiattor (40 rythyms) which transmits as midi. i use it with cubasis, i wouldn't have wanted to pay more for a synth with a built in sequencer, i think it's much easier to use a computer so you can see what your doing

nice piano, i've reprogrammed it to sound less bright, and some great organ sounds particularly the wurlitzer. im not interested in synths that try to replicate acoustic instruments, id rather use the real things, and some "wicked" sounding versatile analogue instruments, nice pads but too much dubious brass and sfx, though you can manipulate the crap sounds to make them more interesting. not to sure about the range on the basses, i havent heard it yet through decent speakers. the onboard effects are sufficient and after a while you get an idea of what would sound good on what, velocity responsive but no aftertouch

allright, you can pull the knobs off, which is why i've used araldite to reinforce them. Admittedly i shouldn't have had to but there not going to come off now, and anyone else who complains about the knobs should do the same. i'd depend on it at gigs

n/a

if it were stolen then i might do more research into the world of samplers before replacing it, but it's good because apparently you can use the knobs to control other devices such as the roland jv's. i also looked at the roland rs5 and the korg x5d ? which were roughly in the same price bracket. the roland had a nicer keyboard action, but it and the korg were more expensive and they didnt have as much realtime control. even though some people think it's pant's i am constantly enjoying playing it and inventing new sounds consequently it's very inspiring. i wish the arpeggiator had more styles though and i wish it had some kind of vocoder but it's sample based and not modular ( i think ).i'd recommend it though i still think it's quite expensive for what it is. i like it more than the other instruments i played on in the same price range though part of me wishes i'd waited a few months, saved up and bought a korg karma, though i was impatient to buy a synth at the time. As a beginner it suits my needs and it is inspiring and most importantly fun to play.

My first venture into proper synths so I was expecting it to be easy........and it wasnt. It took me months to get off the presets (which are quite good though!) and the whole "layered" synthesis idea i still cant be bothered with. Menus are confusing

Oh, and the 2 manuals........... what language is that? Egyption hyroglryphs?

Polyphony excellent, but you would expect it to be since its only 1-part multitimbral in performance mode. It claims to be "16 part multitimbral" but this is only talking about its midi-playback capabilities. Some usefull arps in there but no choice to program your own patterns. No sampling either, or expandability. No tweaking of wave-forms or anything either......

Some very nice sounds, but they all sound like cheap rip-offs off pro sounds and not the real thing. Its "layered" synthesis system should work in theory, but it never gets u the results u want. Has some nice pads, a few good leads and some nice arp sounds. Preset Bank 2 is a total write-off and I never knew how i did it but i managed to bring up a 3rd bank of presets from somewhere containing some good sounds...........no idea where they came from, outer space?

Most of the leads are really really really dated and this synth would have been great for sounds up to about 98/99 when sounds started advancing in the trance scene. Lets not pretent it aint a dance keyboard....

The filters and stuff are ok but not as powerfull as the ones on Roland synths. Midi is a nightmare apart from general syncing so that is a creative hindrence.

Its got some good souns but not much scope for new ones. See what I did with it at www.mp3.com/hardfaze

Build quality is really low, im scared of using some of the parameter knobs incase they fall off. They make dodgy noises after a while, become really lose and move about in their sockets. The keyboard itself feals ok, better than roland etc. The apparently "ingenious" menu system just is complicated, tacky and puts you off using its advanced feutures.

I would never ever ever use it live, its build quality is too bad.

Never reported any of my problems...

Nice sounds but cant use it live. No sequencer and only one-part multitimbral. Its got a built in 16-part midi synth........lol why did they even bother? Ok arps and filters but all the advanced features are too hard to tweak once u have pasted the basic control knobs.

But you'd be pushed to get something better for the money it is now (much cheaper than what i paid).

I have come across two owner's manuals...one called the owner's manual and one called the silver book...both are about as helpful as a broken leg if you are new to synths

no sequencer and the midi is not easy to figure out either...not much on expansion capability either...

the drums are pretty much a joke...this synth is ok if you are looking for your standard dance sounds...leads and pads are the strong point in my opinion

i would never use this at a gig without backup unless i had a deathwish...NEVER

when i heard i got free support for a couple of years i was excited and have been dissapointed ever since...but they did call back so im not gonna give them a 1

paid five hundred...feel like i got shorted about two hundred...in fact if i were to sell it it would be for around three hundred...the owner's manual was extremely dissapointing once i finally got a hold of one...been playing a couple of years now i also own a roland mc303 and a roland tb303 this keyboard actually goes pretty good w/ the mc303 but i would not advise attempting to make professional music w/ only this to help you...also got a copy of cubase but i still cant figure out why the midi is not going through...mentions something in the 'silver book' but that seems to be written in a language i cannot understand...midi is definately what i hate the most about this thing since it is much more difficult than it needs to be

The sounds on this thing are great. If you're looking for dance sounds, as I was when I bought it. But it falls over big time on the Midi front. Try as I might to wade through the manual that made as much sense as Hyroglyphs, I could not work out how to get the 'layered' sounds into Cubase? So I get in an expert in Midi, he couldn't work it out? Then I got a computer music expert, he couldn't work it out either. In the end I had to settle with sampling them into another machine. Bitterly dissapointing, when the sounds on this thing are so fab.
Editing is so easy its untrue, with the real-time editors. A joy to play with.
But I'm only giving it 3 because of the Midi nightmare it creates.

It has tons of effects. A sweet arppegiator and as mentioned wonderful realtime editors. There isn't any expansion capability though.
No on board sequencor, but lots of knobs to play with.
Its not a touch sensative keyboard, but who needs touch when you want to 'stab'!?

The piano and brass sounds are shockingly bad. We're talking late 80's Childrens TV show bad. But the dance patches are fantastic and if you use the 'scene' buttons as well, you can instantly change the filters without any effort at all.
The onboard effects are very good, although effects such as distortion and overdrive almost halve the gain for a lot of sounds.
Volicity and aftertouch are eaisly manipulated with the the real time dials.
If you want dance sounds and cool arp's - this is the one...but 'Caveat Emptor'. Let the buyer beware!

You can't bang this thing around. I pulled one of the knobs rather gently and it flew off. So I wouldn't want to gig with it really. Strictly studio use.

But keyboard wise its as sound as a pound.

Tried to use Yamaha support to explain how I get the layers to play via Midi. Didn't understand the explanation and I don't think the helpdesk really understood the query?
But they were very friendly about it.

If it were lost or stolen - I'd claim on my insurance and buy some decent sample CD's instead!
It promised so much, sounded fantastic and delivered so little. The most ambivalant synth I ever bought. I love the sounds so much and hate the fact I can't put them into my PC!!!
What's up with that!?
I also own a Quasimidi 309 and I'm in the process of getting a Triton Studio. So in all honesty this thing will be redundant when that arrives. It will be like waving goodbye to your Great Aunt after a vist - You're sad to see it go; but secretly relived its gone.
I've created some killer stuff on it, so its been a useful 'note pad'. But with no sequencer on board, it's sadley lacking.
Yamaha, its one thing creating a 'beginners' synth, but its a whole different matter extorting cash out of people in the name of 'fashion'. At least give them something they can work with.
Take my advice guys. Start with any of the Roland MC-xOx packages or even something like my beloved 309 and add proper professional instruments to your set-up as you progress.
If you have to have the fantastic sounds from this thing, then get a sampler and borrow a CS2X from some poor victim who bought one and sample the sounds.
But I implore you, after you've done this and just because you've saved yourself a few hundred pounds/ dollars, please don't look too smug when you hand it back to your friend. He has feelings to you know.
In conclusion and in the words of the Great Yellow Bald One - "Mmm...CS2X...D'OH!"

this synth is very easy to use you can throw the manual in the garbadge can cause you wont even need it! by the way the presets sound great.

the synth is 64 polyphony it also has many nice effects. the expansionabilty is not so great but i dont need it. the midi part works for me. a sequencer is not on board.

This synth has the best sounds ever!!!! the piano's are great, the guitars, basses etc. are outstanding but the lead sounds..... AMAZING, i can't believe it!!! They sound f*cking great, DAMN!!! Or as we hollanders would say: kapot moeilijk (hahahahaha). If you like 80's rock, progressive rock, or normal rock, you've got to buy this synth. If you like dream theater, than you'll notice that it's a lot of fun playing along with songs as pull me under or metropolis pt. 1. That's because the synth leads and analog leads are very realistic and the pith bend wheel works great.

it feels a little light cheapy, but that doesn't matter, and i'd sure use it on a gig.

didn't need it

i love the pitch bend and the modulation wheel i work with it al the time. i wish it had some more knobs and wheels for more bending and modulating. but 8 knobs and 2 wheels is enough and for this price it is the best synthesizer in the world.

This is definetely a beginner's keyboard, and for good reason. It's simple to understand after playing around for a few days, and really easy to find all its limitations. The 8 knobs and editing matrix are clear and well laid-out. The manual explains anything you can't figure out in quick snippits, but just messing around will tell you more than the manual ever would. Plus, there are several software editors available that make editing and patch storing a breeze.

-64 voice polyphony
-Flimsy 61-keys
-3 built-in effect sections (reverb, chorus, variation)
-Not expandable
-MIDI IN/OUT/THRU, Velocity, no Aftertouch
-No onboard sequencer
-AWM Sound Modeling technology
-Around 1000 patches in 50 banks
-Arpeggiator with 40 types

The sounds on this are, well, about what you'd expect from the price range. There's a nice sampling of regular acoustic instruments, as well as many more electronic sounds. The pianos are, on a whole, quite useable. Same goes for strings and acoustic bass. The brass and wind section is shameful, you'll certainly need some other source for those. But acoustic isn't what this instrument was made for.

Yamaha built the CS2x with dance/electronic music in mind, and thus the real strong point is in the electronic sounds. There is a massive variety of these, both in the GM/XG soundset, and in the Material Voices for Performances. With a little hunting and some tweaking, you can probably find a synth sound suitable for what you need.

The only reason I won't give this keyboard a 10 for reliability is that it's a $600 keyboard, and thus the case, keys, and knobs are made with that in mind. Nothing's a solid or tight as you would find on a Triton or Motif, but nothing's falling apart, either. It's rather solid, doesn't fail, and boots in no time.

I only had to contact Yamaha once, and they were quite helpful, and quick in responding by email. Full points.

Were this keyboard to go away, I probably would not buy it. There are so many other options out there with vintage analog sounds, a ROMpler isn't really what I want for my synthesizer needs. It's a good solution for a beginning keyboardist, and great to learn on, but it's not pro-quality, and you'll constantly be running into its limits in terms of sonic variety.

I've only been playing for a year, and this is the only keyboard I own. I really like that it covers many different kinds of instruments and that it was rather inexpensive. I dislike the fact that it's limited and almost bland at times. Before buying it, I compared the Yamaha CS2x to the Roland RS-5. Hands down, the CS2x won out. The Roland is much more dedicated to bread and butter acoustic sounds, rather than bread and butter synthesizer sounds.

It's definetely a good beginners keyboard, as such it's been great for me. I would say if you're looking for an inexpensive way to get started making music with a keyboard, and you're into electronic music more than rock, it would be a great deal at $500-$600. For the same price, the Roland RS-5 would suit you much better if you were looking for acoustic sounds.

Very easy to use. With things on the front panal you avoid a lot of the sub-menus & sub-sub-menu hassle on most other mfg's synths. I also have an Alesis QS6.1 and its harder to program. Not useing software, doing it the hands on way with the synth itself. LOL. Manual is good.

Good sequencer. 40 types, each can be adjusted for tempo & note timing resolution. You can either have apeggiator across the whole brd or just lower third. Hold function lets you release keys with it continueing to play untill you tell it to stop.

Loves the performance set. Many great voices. Also useful for starting to create new versions for user sets 1 & 2. Noted a few peeps said it didnt play enough deep bass. Which surprises me. Cause you can shift the keyboard up to 3 octaves down! Lol. Perhaps they wheren't useing voices suited to bass sounds? Is great synth for trance, ambient, techno, rave, new age, etc. You can do 4 way layers & splits. Nice keyboard action, velocity sensitive.

Seems well made. Lightweight which is nice. Good plastics are as good as metal etc. Its the space age! Lol. I gig with it and play at home. Generally use 2 synths plus sampler & drum-n-bass machine for my rig. Treat your gear with respect and the CS2x will hold up as well as any well taken care of guitar.

Hasnt dealt with the mfg.

Would replace it if lost or stolen. Would deliver serious grief to anyone who stole any of my gear. Loves the 8 controll knobs. Would have preferred built in power supply rather then external adapter. Is inspiring to creating music.

This synth is easy even for beginners like me. All the knobs, buttons are laid out clearly and logically.
The display is large and basically pleasant to work with.

64 notes polyphony. Soft keyboard action, just nice when you want to play your own appregiated pattern.
Built in effects are not that easy to edit on the synth, but with "cs2x tuned'em up" program. All the layers of obstables are gone.
No expansion is available. But the features will be enough to produce quality tracks.

This is a very good Dance/Trance/Techno keyboard.
Sounds pleasing and good quality overall. The leads and basses are the best. You will find them very familiar on commercial tracks.
There is no aftertouch but the response is good enough in the feel factor.

Except of some midi data drop outs occasionally when there are too many channels playing, otherwise is a very reliable keyboard.

No problems at all.

I wont buy it again if lost.
Because there are always better and cheaper synths with better and more up to date sounds.

The presets are what sold me on this synth, at least the Performance ones. They have a variety of pretty cool sounds. I've found though that after a while they got old, and its time to start programming my own for sure. The manual is pretty weak actually, I've found it to be pretty useless to me since I fairly new to synths and programming them. But there are a number of websites out there, and its a total must to use the software utilities that others have written such as the Layer Manager, and Tune It up.

But Overall its a pretty good synth to use, although its never going to be an all in one synth, and most of the things are pretty self explanatory.

64 Note Polyphony. The keys feel good, it plays nice. But I have a major complaint about the effects, which makes it not a good solution as your only synth. The effects can only be used on the performance voice in performance mode, and in Multi mode all you get is the XG voices (no Material voices that make up the performance voice in performance mode), but effects on all 16 channels. I think the CS6x can do effects on all channels. I found that limitation to be very frustrating to me since I do all my work in Cakewalk. But in terms of that one performance voice, it works great, and you get a lot of great stuff for that one voice. If its going to be lead synth then great! if you want to use it as your only synth, you'll run into this brick wall.

No expansion really.

Midi is great, I use it with Cakewalk pretty flawlessly, and it handles pressure no problem, and is working pretty well for me. I did run into a problem with the other channels sounding when i transmitted data to my other synths in my studio, but I think I finally found a way to stop those channels from receiveing data. I had to go to Yamaha help to get it done though.

THis is a Dance Keyboard, no lies. The sounds are very clearly aimed at the Techno, Trance, etc crowd. The "real Instruments" suck as real instruments, but I didn't buy it for that, if I want real insturment sounds I'd buy the instrument. The Onboard effects limitation is annoying as previously stated though.

Drums: almost non existent. Too quiet, I had to buy a Drum Machine to get the punch I wanted from this machine.

Pads: Its got some great pads in there, great spacy trippy sounds that really work.

Piano: quiet and weak

Lead: some awesome lead performance voices

Bass: again some killer low bass performance voices

I rate it lower because of the drum sounds being so crappy.

So far so good.

Just once, and recently but they were helpful and solved my problem. I didn't have a bad excperience.

I am iffy about it right now after having it for about a year, but I think its been a good synth for me overall. Its got some frustrating limitations, but its a good controller synth to drive my other gear (Korg EA-1 for analog bass sounds, Kawai K1m for killer pads and strings, and Alesis SR-16 for drums) and it has some great Lead and Bass performance voices. I would not expect this synth to be the be all end all of your studio, but its got some good things about it that make it worth keeping.

this board is simple to use. patches can ce editted directly on the front knobs which are very descent filters. effects can be tweaked a little in side the board but are not spectacular at all. the manual is great for somethings, but there has been some questions i could not find at all. iv'e had this board for almost 2 years.

the polyphony is great, 64 note. ive never had a problem with dropped notes when im playing back via midi. sometimes problems with realtime effects though. got to take you time. no expansion , no sequencer.

heres the deal. alot of the sounds are horrible. ugly. i like soulful
and funky sounds. but there are alot of sounds that are beautiful. pads, basses, leads, organs. drums are a little to crisp for me. but after i sample them in my sp 12 they're pretty delicious. only able to play one performance preset sucks, i just sample sequenced phrases and it works out fine. i always find room for it on every track. if you get this synth you will for sure need an old analog board for accompaniment. i recomend an akai ax 60, juno 106 or 60. dont get me wrong this board has tons of diversity, but you know. its digital...and sounds like it. i like alot of the old piano and wurlitzer sounding presets this thing has. after filter and effects it can really sound relistic. most va or analog boards cant do this at all, so its nice to have around.

i dont gig with my key board but i would. it seems pretty durable. what bugs in my set up, and if some one can help please do, is that the cs2x always responds to other midi data coming in. im always hearing those damn pianos following the rhythm of the drums or something. so know i cant use midi ch 5-16 in my set up. ive tried tons of different things and its the same.

never dealt with them.

i wouldnt buy another one. im debating on selling it in fact. it was my first board and i didnt know much. im happy with it but im looking for something with more multi timbral, sweeter sounds, and i dont need all these full size keyboards lying around. its all about rack mounts or desk tops. if you need straight up sounds, it cool. if i sold this id need a nice roland or a proteus 2000. if your starting from scratch, this is seriously what id do ( depending on your flavor)
1. a fender rhodes( mark 2 or something) 2. either a waldorf micro q or the q or an access virus a or b. depends on cash flow in either situation. with those your getting alot of multi timbral plus hot sounds.and 3. like i mentioned earlier, a synth with some realistic sounds on it, or forget it, and pick up a real analog synth to be on the safe side.