If you have to dance to someone’s tune, let it be Vangelis’ and preferably one played on his first Yamaha CS-80. Unfortunately, that chance is now out of the window. The instrument has been marked as sold after being listed for roughly $550,000, potentially making it the most expensive synthesizer ever sold. The CS-80 was offered by an Athens-based seller, and what makes its apparent sale especially remarkable is that the instrument came with no published provenance documents, only the seller’s word, a cigarette burn on its top A key and a price more than four times the previous verified synthesizer auction record. Yet the legendary Yamaha still appears to have found a buyer.
According to EDM, the early prototype came without a serial number. The synthesizer was said to be fully functional and in excellent condition, complete with its original detachable stand and lid. “This is Vangelis’ very first Yamaha CS-80,” wrote the seller, known on Reverb as Synthesizerman, although no documentation was provided to substantiate the instrument’s provenance. “This is the real deal. Early prototype no serial number. It can demolish a whole block of flats. This is the ‘Spiral’ CS-80, historic. Priced accordingly.”
Released in 1977, the Yamaha CS-80 weighs approximately 181 pounds and offers eight-voice polyphony, two independent synthesizer layers, velocity-sensitive keys, polyphonic aftertouch and a ribbon controller. These expressive controls allowed Vangelis to bend, swell and shape individual notes, helping him make electronic music feel unusually human. The CS-80 originally cost about $6,900, while surviving examples can now command over $50,000. This means the Vangelis instrument was listed for nearly 10 times the value of an already highly collectible CS-80, an extraordinary premium resting largely on its alleged history.
According to the seller, Vangelis used this particular instrument while recording his 1977 album Spiral, which marked his first use of the CS-80. The Academy Award-winning composer subsequently put the Yamaha to good use on Opéra Sauvage, Chariots of Fire and the seminal Blade Runner score. The identity of its new owner remains a mystery, but whoever pursued a synthesizer listed for more than half a million dollars is clearly a serious lover of music.
