Yep, and like you I have no interest in the DX, so this is it for me.
I highly recommend the CP if you come across one. Itās amazing. One of my best gear purchases of all time. The YC doesnāt get as much use by me as I had hoped, but thatās just because Iām more an electric piano person than an organ person. The YC was also the hardest to find used here in Japan because I think a lot of people gig with them, and maybe they were produced in smaller numbers.
I bought a midi splitter so I can play the YC with both my Take 5 and Grandmother keyboards at the same time. It feels very organ like (to me) having the two keyboards, and itās definitely nice having the full-sized keys.
The CS was definitely the most affordable of the Refaces used. If I had held out I might have been able to get it even slightly cheaper, but considering what gear prices are like over here these days it felt like a bargain and a lot of people had it on their watch list.
Itās definitely not ideal having three small midi keyboards sitting under my work desk, as Iām sure my wife will point out when the CS arrives, but I have a sneaking suspicion Iām going to really enjoy it. Like other people in this thread, I really only tend to enjoy synths that are easy to use, so this looks like a winner from that respect and Iāve been blown away by the range of sounds Iāve heard from it. For example, the Twin Peaks Lauraās Theme at 3:04 here is fantastic. I bet it would be great for Tonyās theme from Scarface as well.
Thatās a good demo. Love that Lauraās Theme is in there. The cs sounds better in person than in any demo Iāve seen yet (though the built in speakers leave a bit to be desired as Iām sure you know from owning others in the series). Iāve gigged with it lots of times in a couple of bands and it sounds absolutely amazing through a big pa. Iām sure youāll like it. Va synthesis has come a long way.
Havenāt gigged with the yc yet but Iām sure I will, it seems well suited. Iāve set it up for dual manual use (organist lingo for two keyboards) and itās fun but only being monotimbral you donāt get the full effect. I do find that the yc and cs together used like a dual manual organ gets me there, the only thing missing are the foot pedals but Iām working on a midi bass pedal setup for this (I have way too many parts from old organs so should be easy if I can dedicate some time to the project). I donāt use the b3 setting much even though itās surprisingly good, I really got it for the various combo organ sounds.
I had one, paid around $200. Got rid of it for some stupid reason. Huge regret, I thought the Rhodes bark was remarkably good. And without the weight. Got to get aother one.
The CS came this morning and I had a chance to play it on my lunch break. It sounds really good and is super fun to use! A couple of first impressions are (1) that I find sliders more intuitive than knobs. Itās so easy visualize what you are doing, I love it. And (2), while I wish that they had put a reverb in there and made distortion a different slider, this thing doesnāt sound dry at all, and the onboard effects are nice (I assumed they would be given the quality on the other Reface models).
Also, I use a lot of presets on my Take 5, so I sort of like that this forces you to make all your stuff from scratch. A great tool for learning to quickly dial in sounds I think.
For this price, Iād recommend it as a no-brainer for anyone that wants an easy to use polysynth that doesnāt take up much space. I think Iām going to get a lot of mileage out of this one, and it sounds different enough from my other synths that I think Iāll be reaching for it a lot.
Iāve had the YC for a couple years and love it! I run it through pedals for grindy doom sounds. Just got the CP and couldnāt be happier. They both get used to have one less group on my Maschine+ draining the cpu.
I had totally forgotten that the Yamaha AN1x is the Boards of Canada synth. Gonna need to try for some of these sounds.
PS: Loads of different patches for this thing on the Yamaha SoundMondo site. Iām not sure Iāll connect to the data librarian, but I like that it shows the slider positions. Copying some of those should be a great way to explore the synth. I see the Twin Peaks patch is up there as well.
About 5 years ago i tried to do the Boqurant track on the CS reface. Same reason as i heard the same. It was doable but the patches were always different no matter how hard i tried to keep the sliders the same. Wish it had patch storage.
Iāve had mine since 2016 and Iāve never checked that out. I enjoy the wysiwyg nature of it but Iāll have a look now that you mention it shows fader positions. Always fun to get new ideas. Thanks.
And happy to hear youāre enjoying it!
Also, while I said I probably wouldnāt use the librarian, it actually looks super easy to use, and because Iām so sh*t with drawbars, I think I would be interested in trying it out with my YC as well to be able to quickly get an idea of the sounds I can get from it. Just one cable if you are using your computer.
I didnt use it after trying out a few. Your way better off making your own and will quickly hit sweetspots by accident. Its very quick. Laboring over images and trying to match them isnt much fun.
I have a YC as well, bought one because Iāve wanted to learn to play organ for a long time and it was a cool way to test the water (Iām absolutely not a key / piano player). Excellent little organ, love it so muchā¦ Iāve been playing it everyday for one hour while following beginner course on Pianote. Now, the time has come to āupgradeā to a Yamaha CK61, which is basically a full scale keys reface mostly aimed at organ players. Might keep the reface for solo drone gigs, tho.
A Reface CS used by the keyboardist in this half-impromptu Mac DeMarco live session from a Parisian chicken place. Sounds great in the band context, and has some rad solos, too.
It was the synth that taught me synthesis although I never seem to use it anymore and Iāve been thinking about selling mine.
I think I donāt because I have a certain affection for it.
That was pretty cool. Nice find. I love that the Refaces get so much love from gigging musicians. They sound awesome.
Iām absolutely loving the CS. Itās one of those almost all sweet spots synths. Iāve just been playing it with headphones (which is what I had in mind when I bought it), but eventually will need to run it through my pedalboard. I imagine it is going to blow me away.
Is there a way to change the midi channel recieved on either the YC or CP? Iām having a hard time understanding the manual when itās all four refaces.
is it one of the weird ones where you have to hold a certain key while powering on?
from my reading it looks like only the CS and the DX are capable of adjusting the MIDI channel and they can only go between āchannel 1ā and āoffā. weird that its only on those two
I honestly canāt figure it out. Was hoping Iād be able to switch one of them so I can control both from my Maschine+. I could do it from the Live 2, but I havenāt been playing that since I got the Maschine.
