26 thoughts on “GLT Audio Intros PM-80 Yamaha CS-80 MIDI Controller”

1. I would have serious GAS for this if there was a great CS-80 plugin for iPad.

2. Thanks to the many faders, it could become a generic controler for many synth plugins

3. Why would anyone get a 500 € MIDI controller if you can get a real analog CS-80 for just 75.000 € plus 10.000 € of annual repairs and upkeep?

   1. I have CS-80 bladerunner-like patches on my Expressive E Osmose and it would blow away a real CS-80 or clone any day any time. It’s not the synth that’s important, but the controller that provides the most expressivity. Even basic sine waves on the Haken Audio Continuum sound amazing because you have per finger control of many parameters in many directions at the same time at extreme sensitivity. Like using a wind instrument.

      1. Saying that your CS-80 Osmose patches ‘blow away a real CS-80’ is a big statement.

         Can you share a demo of this? If your statement is at all accurate, I think there would be a market for your patches.

         I personally have an Osmose, but I have been using tweaked presets, instead of building my own from scratch. EaganMatrix is not my type of interface, unfortunately. I am looking forward to the new interfaces that they’ve promised.

         1. I confirm. it really blow away the real CS80 ! Osmose KB and EaganMatrix are far over what the CS80 is capable. it’s multidimentionnal KB is far over a simple PolyAftKB. sure Vangelis would have been an absolute fan of this instrument

            1. Also, Hans Zimmer loves Osmose and used it for multiple movie soundtracks like Dune. They worked directly with expressive e to improve it.

   2. Though there is the Deckard’s Dream at around 4.000 € which gets you most the way there.

      1. Not even close. The real CS-80 heats the whole studio, provides enough surface space for three cats to take naps, and gets your technicians’ kids through college. All Deckard’s Dream does is sound nice. You get what you’re paying for.

   3. Oh, don’t make stuff up. I paid only $60,000 for my CS-80 and it only costs about 5K a year to maintain.

      1. Some people claim they were PAID 50 quids to pick up a CS-80 in the 1990s because folks were happy to get rid of the bulky and heavy dinosaur in their studio without having to haul it to the landfill themselves. Always makes me cry a bit.

4. this surge of custom synth controllers is really a great and necessary development. Twenty years ago we only had a few. Now we have quite a number of them. Including hardware synths with MIDI CC output, like the B wave and the Sequential Fourm.

   1. I have a Dtronics DT-RDX for the Yamaha Reface DX

      Well worth it

5. How much for just the ribbon controller? I’d buy that in a New York minute.

   1. Hydrasynth DLX has got a nice ribbon – and CV/GATE. But it’s attatched to the synth.. However – ribbon controllers are not very hard to make.

   2. This one is on my list at some point.

      https://www.perfectcircuit.com/zorx-eurorack-ribbon-controller-green-demo.html

   3. Both Doepfer and Eowave make good ribbon controllers you can buy amigo.

6. I hope there will be some competition cause i find these niche prices pretty high for now
   tbh

7. It’s a shame this doesn’t have an expansion slot for something like a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 for the purposes of turning this controller into a stand-alone, digital hardware synthesizer.

   1. You could connect it directly to a Zynthian, I suppose.

8. How much is this?

9. Upper echelon toys for the boys. I truly wonder in the vastness of this world how many total people are in the market for this product? Perhaps 15-20? And then I think of the work going into it and it must be a labor of love because they are not getting their money back.

   Even if a hundred people buy it, that’s only $50K. Way more than 50K of man hours went into this thing.

   1. My guess is they sold at least 200 units in the first hour.

   2. Electronics is a hobby for many equipment makers, and just being able to cover your development costs and make a little extra is reward enough on top of the enjoyment of producing a device that looks and works exactly like you want.

      If you check the website you’ll see that this maker has a degree in industrial design and experience working on projects with many large corporate clients. Making MIDI controllers isn’t his day job.

      Some people enjoy soldering, designing products, doing PCB layouts, or writing software for their own projects, just like musicians enjoy sitting around in the dark tapping buttons and turning knobs to produce music that nobody else will ever hear.

      If you want to talk about return on investment, zoom out a bit and ask yourself how many musicians with tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in equipment have ever turned a profit from their music? Probably a single digit percentage.

      It’s a a good thing that there are so many people out there making things who don’t start out with the cynical thoughts about money and profits that you’ve just described.

10. I love this. If I was hot to have that CS-80 experience, this would be key. This thing, an older laptop running yer fave CS-80 emulation, an older keyboard controller and a I/O device could bring that experience within reach for ~$1k.

11. It seems to be a nice thing. I do not need the ribbon-controller, as my keyboard for playing soft CS-80s is my Hydrasynth Deluxe (which also have got CVs etc.. ) But I might actully start programming softsynths again with a thing like that. Programming the latest years have been hw-stuff and Reaktor. I’ll wait and get back to it when it’s on the market and check out the reviews.