Behringer hype-train suggests a Yamaha CS-80 clone

Yamaha’s R&D recently reached out to users about possibly remaking the Yamaha CS-80, but will Behringer beat them to it?

Yamaha recently sent out a series of emails to members of their synth forum, posing the question of whether they would like to see a remake of the legendary Yamaha CS-80. While we are still unsure the exact details, I’m quite certain the answer was a resounding “yes”.

As if this news isn’t exciting enough, a few days ago teasers started surfacing on Behringer’s Facebook page hinting at their possibly being a Behringer clone of the Yamaha CS-80 too. We probably all know by now that Behringer enjoys teasing their upcoming products in cryptic Facebook posts – and this looks no different.

Firstly, Behringer posted some pictures of a classic Yamaha CS-80 that their research team had just acquired. The next post was a photograph of the back of the synth, it shows the label which reads “PATENT PENDING”, alongside the caption “I’ve been thinking about this…” and signed off by Uli, owner of Behringer / Music Tribe.

A Yamaha CS-80 clone is not an easy undertaking…

The original Yamaha CS-80 weighed in at around 100 kg due to the amount and sheer size of the components inside. It’s a fully analog eight-voice polyphonic synthesizer, capable of layering multiple patches or sounds simultaneously. It was a technological revolution for its time and quickly became popular for film score composers due to its wide sonic palette and inherently huge sound.

It’s most likely going to take a while for Behringer’s R&D to piece apart and remake the complex powerhouse that is the Yamaha CS-80, and I’m guessing it is not going to fit into their USD $299 series of classic synth remakes.

There’s already a remake of the CS-80 called “Deckard’s Dream” (named after the protagonist in Blade Runner, which featured the original Yamaha CS-80 extensively) by Black Corporation. It’s not cheap though, you’re looking at USD $3749 (Around R55k excl. duties).

Check out the teaser posts on Behringer’s Facebook page here.

For more information on the Deckard’s Dream, check out the Black Corporation website here.