Aphex Twin fans, take a seat and a deep breath, the original Yamaha CS-5 synthesiser, as featured on the liner notes of ‘Selected Ambient Works Volume II‘, designed by logo designer Paul Nicholson, is up for auction via eBay, priced at an eye watering figure of $15,200.
Produced between 1978-83, the CS-5 is a single-oscillator monophonic analog synthesizer with classic filter, envelope and modulation controls. It features 37 full-sized keys, a multi-mode 12 dB/Oct resonant filter, an LFO with sample and hold, and an external audio input you can route through the VCF or VCA sections.
However this CS-5 is no ordinary synth; in fact this is “the ultimate, holy grail of Aphex Twin memorabilia”. As stated “this CS-5 was previously owned by Richard D. James, who hand-etched the liner notes to Aphex Twin’s seminal “Selected Ambient Works Volume II” on the bottom of it. Those etchings were photographed and used for SAWII’s artwork.”
According to Paul Nicholson “I met Richard in October 1991 and designed his logo and logotype. I also designed the sleeve for Selected Ambient Works II. As such, I can vouch for the fact that it was Richard that etched on the back of the synth.
This scratched lettering was by Richard James, AKA Aphex Twin. It was used as the sleeve notes for the artwork I created for Selected Ambient Works II.
The sepia tone photo that ended up on the sleeve of SAW II was taken by his girlfriend at the time, Sam.
The roll of film was taken to my local Kodak shop on Kilburn High Road and collected by myself along with all the other photos that ended up on that sleeve. That would have been December 1993.”