London, summer 1981: 38-year-old Greek Vangelis (Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, 1943-2022) fires up the Yamaha CS-80 in his studio Nemo and tracks the main theme for Chariots of Fire. A year later - an Academy Award for Best Original Score. The single hits #1 Billboard Hot 100 in April 1982. Six months on, Vangelis sits at the same CS-80 and writes the Blade Runner soundtrack for Ridley Scott. Every subsequent era of science-fiction film would imitate that CS-80 sound - dense, “living”, slow-moving synth pads that cannot be reproduced on any other instrument. The Yamaha CS-80 is the most expensive production synthesizer of the 70s (retail US$6,900, about US$32,000 in 2024 money). Over three years of production (1977-1980) only 2,400 units were made. Today a working machine sells for US$50,000-80,000.
Who Vangelis was
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou was born 29 March 1943 in Agria, Greece. His mother was a homemaker; his father was a veterinary officer. First instrument: piano (from age 4), no teacher, entirely by ear. In 1963, at 20, he moved to Paris; in 1968 to London, where he met Jon Anderson of Yes.
Vangelis bought his first synthesizers in 1973: Moog Modular System 35 (one of the first in Europe). By 1977 his own Nemo Studios on Marble Arch in London housed a Moog Modular, ARP 2600, ARP Pro-Soloist, two Minimoogs. When Yamaha released the CS-80 in October 1977, Vangelis ordered one of the first ten units shipped to Britain. It arrived at Nemo in December 1977.
What the Yamaha CS-80 is
The CS-80 was an 8-voice polyphonic analogue synthesizer with a 61-key keyboard, 22 presets and a unique polyphonic aftertouch keyboard: every key responded to pressure after being pressed, creating expressive vibrato and volume modulations unavailable on any other machine.
- Voices: 8 polyphonic
- Oscillators: 2 per voice (16 VCOs total)
- Filters: 2 (HPF + LPF), 12 dB/oct
- Aftertouch: polyphonic (each key independent)
- Weight: 100 kg
- Chassis: wooden, with slide-out handles for transport
- Price: US$6,900 US, £3,800 UK, ¥1,250,000 Japan
- Production: 1977-1980, 2,400 units total
The CS-80 was Yamaha's last major fully analogue synthesizer before the digital age (DX7 1983). Its sound - dense, warm, with the signature “slow breath” on long notes - cannot be reproduced on any digital synthesizer.
Chariots of Fire - 1981
In December 1980 British producer David Puttnam commissioned Vangelis to score Chariots of Fire - a sports drama about 1924 Olympic runners. Fee: £25,000, deadline 8 weeks.
Vangelis wrote the main theme in one evening at Nemo Studios in January 1981. Recording: entirely on CS-80 plus a Minimoog for the bass line. No orchestra, no guitar. The theme runs 3:34 in the album version, 3:10 as a single.
The film opened 30 March 1981; the theme played in the opening and closing scenes. The soundtrack album hit #1 Billboard 200 in March 1982, the single #1 Billboard Hot 100 in April 1982 (one week). In the UK the theme stopped at #12. Total top-40 duration - 36 weeks.
Vangelis picked up the Oscar personally in Los Angeles in March 1982. It was the first Academy Award for a fully synthesized soundtrack after Giorgio Moroder's Midnight Express (1979).
Blade Runner - 1982
Ridley Scott approached Vangelis about scoring Blade Runner in June 1981, before Chariots of Fire had even been released. Vangelis agreed for £70,000 (nearly three times the first commission, after the first success). Recording: 6 months at Nemo Studios (December 1981 - June 1982).
This soundtrack is pure CS-80. Of the 25 tracks on the album, 23 use CS-80 as the primary instrument. Signature techniques: aftertouch vibrato modulation, dual filters for “air”, slow attacks and releases - everything that makes the CS-80 unique.
“The CS-80 is the only synthesizer that breathes. I press a key and feel the sound respond to my touch - not through velocity but through pressure of the whole hand. It's the closest thing to a piano, but with infinite tonal palette”, - Vangelis in Sound on Sound, 1992.
The Blade Runner soundtrack was released as an official album only in 1994 (12 years after the film) - Warner Bros. and Vangelis couldn't agree on the rights for a long time. Until 1994 there were pirate releases and unauthorised CDs. The 1994 official release sold 2.5 million copies.
Other Vangelis CS-80 soundtracks
- Antarctica (1983) - Japanese documentary, all music on CS-80
- Missing (1982) - Costa-Gavras film
- The Bounty (1984) - with Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins
- 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) - title theme on CS-80, 6 million album copies
- Alexander (2004) - Oliver Stone, the last film where Vangelis actively used the CS-80
Vangelis used the CS-80 on more than 30 commercial recordings between 1978 and 2008. By 2020 he owned three CS-80s: main in Athens, second in London, spare in Madrid. All three were working until his death in 2022.
Why CS-80 is so expensive in 2024
On Reverb.com and specialist auctions a working CS-80 sells for US$50,000-80,000 in 2024. More than a Fairlight CMI Series II, more than a Roland Jupiter-8, comparable to a Moog Modular System. Three reasons:
- Scarcity. Only 2,400 built. In 2024 collectors estimate 350-400 units remain in working condition
- Repair complexity. The CS-80 has 8 independent voice cards, each with its own analogue VCO, VCF, VCA. Repairs require specialists - fewer than 10 exist worldwide
- Absolute uniqueness of sound. Polyphonic aftertouch has not been reproduced in any digital emulation. Arturia CS-80 V ($199 plugin) comes close but pros can hear the difference
Current CS-80 owners include Hans Zimmer (owns two), Jean-Michel Jarre (one), Stevie Wonder (one, since 1978), Tangerine Dream collectively (one). Each machine costs more than a new Tesla Model S.
Vangelis's death and the fate of his gear
Vangelis died on 17 May 2022 in Paris, aged 79, of COVID-19 complications. The day before his death he was still working in his Madrid studio on a new album Juno to Jupiter (posthumously released 2023, #14 UK Classical chart).
His collection of 130+ synthesizers and instruments (estimated value US$4.5M) sits in a trust managed by his sister Claire. The three CS-80s are not yet on sale. The family stated that the instruments will be handed to the Hellenic American Educational Foundation as part of a museum collection.
“Vangelis never sold his instruments. He considered every synthesizer a living being he had worked with for years. To sell one was like selling a friend. After his death we must preserve this legacy”, - Claire Papathanassiou in Ta Nea, 2023.
What the CS-80 gave electronic music
Three things. First, the CS-80 proved a synthesizer could be an expressive instrument - not just a source of electronic sounds but a real “live” instrument with nuance. Second, polyphonic aftertouch as a concept became a standard (though the CS-80 remains the only analogue synthesizer to implement it - current versions are digital). Third, the Vangelis CS-80 soundtracks set the template for sci-fi film music: without that sound there would be no Interstellar, no Stranger Things, no Dune, no Hans Zimmer post-2000.
Related: Roland Jupiter-8, Yamaha DX7, Fairlight CMI. The CS-80 is not the most popular synth of the 80s (that's the DX7), not the best-selling (Jupiter-8), not the most technologically influential (Fairlight). But it is the most beautiful, the most expressive, and possibly the most alive electronic instrument ever built. And Vangelis was its only true master.