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Arturia CS80V CS 80 Emulator VSTi (Macintosh and Windows)

Stunningly authentic modeling of the classic Yamaha CS80 supersynth.

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Overall User Ratings

Overall:: 9 out of 10
Features:: 9 out of 10
Quality:: 8 out of 10
Value:: 10 out of 10
I Want It:: 10 out of 10
Sound:: 10 out of 10
Ease of Use:: 0 out of 10
Support:: 8 out of 10

"Tremendous sound and great value"

Overall:: 9 out of 10
Features:: 9 out of 10
Quality:: 9 out of 10
Value:: 10 out of 10
I Want It:: 9 out of 10
Sound:: 9 out of 10
Support:: 8 out of 10

Submitted: 12/24/2004

zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.

Feature:
Everything the CSV80 has and more with plug and play convinience.

Quality:
I've been running multiple instance for hours a day for weeks and never found a glitch in the software. One minor hitch with the documentation: the manual is fat and full of info but there must have been some changes to the patch names since it was printed as names and paths have changed and you'll have to do some hunting to find what you're looking for in the tutorial docs. I couldn't find an updated manual online. If you're tri-lingual you're in luck as the standard book is presented in English, French and Japanese.

Value:
1/20th the price of a nuts and bolts CSV80 and way easier to lug around. There's no excuse not to buy this one (you hackers know what I'm talking about). Please support the guys who made this so they can continue making great products for us.

Desirability:
It's an ugly digital clone but that's due to the fact it's a digital replica of the original with all it's green and red sliders. She may not be pretty but she's got a great personality and she's got it where it counts - THE SOUND

Sound:
The CS80V churns out great analog sound, fat, lush and crystal clear; from rich, bottomless basses to blistering, soaring leads, frenetic ARPs and complex EFX this is a great VST to add to your sound pallet.

Support:
Good downloads available from the web site for extra patches but no additional info on the synth or programming and I have to take points off for no downloadable manual.

Overall:
The CS80V is a great synth if you want the classic analogue sounds, more powerful than the Minimoog V and Prophet 53 and easier to tweak out than the Moog Modular V (all, also good VST synths). If you only want or can afford one this is a great choice. I have Triton Studio, Virus KC and Andromeda A6 and the CS80V gives me sounds I can't get with any of them. I'm constantly searching for great tones and the SC80V is all about great sound. Highly recommended.

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"CS-80v is hands-down the best sounding 'analog' VSTi going right now.."

Overall:: 9 out of 10
Features:: 9 out of 10
Quality:: 7 out of 10
Value:: 10 out of 10
I Want It:: 10 out of 10
Sound:: 10 out of 10

User: a customer from pongthrob.com

Submitted: 4/25/2004

Style of Music: whatever the project requires...

Location: Ottawa, Canada

Feature:
The Multi-mode and matrix-mod sections are great enhancements to the original...and don't detract from the feel of the original if you don't wish to use them.

Quality:
My only genuine complaint about the product is nothing terribly new to software... a few little buggy things that could use some working out.. and in fairness, Arturia seem decent in their support for fixes/upgrades. I give a '7' because bugs are still bugs...

Value:
This thing sounds so good I use it almost exclusively right now in projects. I have an MS-20 and MS-50 combo but am preferring my CS-80v at the moment. When you consider what you get for the price of say, a casio keyboard this thing is in my opinion hands down the best value on the synth market today. If your 'puter is strong enough this thing can *easily* fill all of your analog polysynth needs

Desirability:
softsynths just keep getting sexier and sexier... where's it gonna stop???

Sound:
This things sounds damn awesome. I used to play a bit on a CS50 and CS60 (though only once on the original CS80..and that was YEARS ago) Arturia have nailed the 'feel' and sound of the machine.

Support:
No opinion

Overall:
Anything else I get will be supplemental. The CS-80v will be my main analog synth for some time...but then, I was always a sucker for the Vangelis sound... :-)