"Once synthesizers flooded the music industry in the '80s, music production effectively became an arms race of who could use the most cutting-edge sounds to produce a hit first. Conversely, new forms of music could practically be defined by their new sounds. The piano and organ presets were used in 1990s house music, beginning with Madonna's 1990 single "Vogue". The powerful Korg M1 was just the instrument for these times, providing a diverse set of sounds that helped forge diverse genres. When house music first took to the Billboard charts, tracks like “Show Me Love” by Robin S. and “Rhythm is a Dancer,” by Snap! hinged on the sexy, simple tone of the M1's organ preset. Madonna, as always, changed with the times and used the M1 to great success on her hit “Vogue.” Yet, somewhat hilariously, the most well-known example of the M1 doesn't even occur in popular music — the goofy slap bass sound used in the Seinfeld theme song was not played on a bass, but on the M1."

"The Korg Triton, more than embodying the sound of the 2000s, embodies an important style. Sensing the need for an all-in-one production studio, Korg created an instrument that was a synthesizer, a rhythm machine, a sampler and a mixing studio with pristine audio quality, all in one box. The Neptunes beat on Clipse's “Grindin'” is the perfect example of the machine's cool efficiency and powerful ability to groove. Of course, the Triton was less of a trendsetter than a swan song for powerful keyboard instruments, as the '00s also saw the rise of software synthesizers and digital DAWS or recording studios. In turn, the workstation format of the Triton was moot within just a few years."

"The Triton’s main competitor, the Yamaha Motif, makes for a strong case as well, as many of the same producers who championed the Triton utilized both boards extensively."

"[The SH-1000] hosted a set of rocker switches across the front, labelled with instrumentation such as tuba, trumpet and harpsichord, operating in a monophonic capacity. By today’s sonic standards, it was all very limited indeed, but it has gone on to be described as something of a design classic, being particularly popular with the vintage-retro enthusiasts out there."

"In 1973, the Yamaha Corporation decided to enter the fray [synthesizer market], with the incredibly large and organistic stylings of the GX-1. Also described as the dream machine, it became an enormous hit with artists such as Keith Emerson and Stevie Wonder, with Stevie using it as a mainstay of his classic album Songs in the Key of Life."

"Troubled from the start, this cantankerous instrument nevertheless found favour with a number of high-profile users, Rick Wakeman among them."

"[A] main element of any ABBA track is the synth lines, and it was the Polymoog that gave their music that distinct electronic vibe."

"[The Polymoog] was more of a performance tool, thanks to its ability to zone its keyboard with different voices."

"The Moog Minimoog Model D [is] probably the most famous synthesizer of all time. It represents the shift from the cabinet-sized modular synths of the 1960s to the 'all-in-one' portable designs of the 1970s, which offered a keyboard with knobs and sliders in one convenient, self-contained package. Replacing the infinite complexity and patch-cables of modulars with hard-wired switches and sliders, the design of the Minimoog set the standard pattern for the following generation of similarly designed portable analogue synths."

"Tom Oberheim had been working on a module called the Synthesizer Expander Module, or SEM for short. While overtly monophonic, Oberheim placed four of them in a keyboard housing to create the Oberheim 4-voice."

"The concept was slightly different to that of the Moog modular, offering modules that were larger in scale, forming complete voice signal paths. There were four modules, the first two being synth voices, one with a keyboard and one without, while the other two modules comprised a mixer and a sequencer. By today’s standards, it’s a little like happy families, with complete vintage systems demanding exceptional price tags. Once patched altogether, it was a powerful Japanese sound, that formed that backbone for much of the early output from bands such as the Human League. You could even finish the system off with a stereo pair of speakers, designed to provide an all-in-one solution."

"The biggest problem with the developing technologies of the 70s, was that the costs involved could be prohibitively expensive for many to enjoy the wonders of true synthesis. Many keyboard players from this era found themselves to be reliant on the legendary Fender Rhodes electric piano which, apart from offering a different sound colour to a traditional piano, also offered amplification options and true polyphony. The same could not be said for synthesizers, even the really expensive ones, that might only offer a handful of notes. Hence, some manufacturers responded by producing a type of keyboard which would be described as a String Machine."

"By association with ARP, the Solina String Ensemble was one of the better known [string synthesizers], offering pad and string-like tones, which could also operate with virtually unlimited polyphony. Many of these machines have gone on to acquire classic status, with many bands and producers using them in a contemporary setting."

"Offering organ-style divide-down polyphony and just eight presets, the Polymoog was an early attempt to create a polyphonic synth. It was certainly powerful, and capable of creating beautifully lush sounds, but became known for its difficult interface and poor reliability record."

"Thanks to the Minimoog, electronic music was pulled down from its lofty academic perch and allowed to run free among the uncouth and unruly, and thank goodness for that. Maybe we should thank Bill Hemsath, the Moog employee who spent his lunch hours in the attic, kludging together the first Minimoog from bits and bobs from Moog's massive modular systems. He just wanted a portable instrument he could take home."

"I wanted to do an album with the sounds of the '50s, the sounds of the '60s, of the '70s, and then have a sound of the future. And I said, "Wait a second. I know the synthesizer. Why don't I use the synthesizer which is the sound of the future?""

"Synthesizers are the bedrock of modern electronic music. The relation of the sounds they make to the music of the day is something that's always fascinated me: could certain genres have happened without the specific sounds of a specific synth to drive them? Would some styles we have today never exist, or would other ways to create the effects, moods and vibes have been discovered? It's an unanswerable question, but what can be said is there are a number of influential synths that have played an absolutely fundamental role in modern music and some genres even depend 100% on one particular model of synth."

"Rather than limit the options with a written-in-stone signal path as Moog did, the 2600 presented a fully patchable instrument in a fairly compact package. Offering three oscillators, noise, filter, ring mod and reverb, the 2600's fixed signal path could be defeated by patching cables into just about any point in the instrument's architecture. This meant that it was as complex as you needed it to be. Respectably complex patches could be created without plugging in a single cable, but once you chose to do so, the sky was the limit. We've heard 2600s producing everything from pseudo sequences to full on drum beats, complete with swing."

"In 1977, we caught the first glimpse of a film franchise which is still very much in progress today. Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope was the first of the franchise to make it to celluloid, thanks to director George Lucas. The actors were accompanied by two ‘droids’; C3PO was upright and humanistic, while R2D2 was short and had a voice that was a generated series of bleeps and slides from an ARP 2600."

"PPG was the vision of one man, Wolfgang Palm. It was his contention that the limitations of analogue oscillators could be circumvented with the use of short, digital waveforms stored in a linear 'wavetable'. His vision came to fruition as the PPG Wave. [...] The PPG's legacy can be felt even today. German synth wizards Waldorf continue to mine Palm's wavetable technology, having produced a long line of wavetable instruments starting with the Microwave in 1990. It even produced a virtual version of the PPG nearly a decade ago and the company's current Blofeld and Largo instruments are jam-packed with wavetables lifted from the PPG. Palm, meanwhile, has put his name to a range of PPG-branded iOS and plugin synths."

"This big blue marvel combined Palm's digitally stored wavetables with a classic resonant low-pass filter, LFO and a handful of envelope generators. Users could modulate through the wavetables using a variety of mod sources, resulting in a lively, exciting sound quite dissimilar from the analogue synths of the day. Though the PPG contained a few waveforms drawn from sampled instruments, Palm offered no apologies for its distinctly synthetic flavour. The PPG could turn out spiky basses (think Frankie's Relax) and evocative digital atmospheres. PPG owners who bought the associated Waveterm computer could work up their own wavetables and, in the 2.3 version, even do a bit of sampling. The Wave was a lofty dream machine, costing nine grand or more. As such, it was rarely seen outside of the studios of the rich and famous."

"It seems hard to think in terms of 'bargain prices' when describing EMS' diminutive VCS3, and yet when it was released in 1969, it was comparatively affordable. Today, they are among the most valuable vintage synthesizers, bringing in over 7k on the used market. [...] There aren't too many of them around these days, and EMS has, at long last, stopped manufacturing even the small number of specially ordered instruments that kept the company alive for so many decades. If you have one, you don't need us to tell you of its worth. The VCS3 is, quite simply, a marvel."

"The VCS3 (and its later, nearly identical cousin-in-a-suitcase, the Synthi AKS) have a strong presence in music history. From Tangerine Dream to Jean-Michel Jarre to Gong and Hawkwind, just about anyone who made an impact on electronic music in the 1970s used an EMS synth.The VCS3, with its stylish, polished L-shaped enclosure, was so hip that every single member of Pink Floyd claimed to play it on the liner notes of The Dark Side of the Moon, even though the uncredited Synthi AKS was quite clearly used for the most significant electronic bits."

"Looking like it was pulled from the cockpit of a Mongo Rocketship, the VCS3's design is enough to send a synth boffin into paroxysms of pleasure. Big, colour-capped knobs, a push-pin modulation matrix and a military grade joystick give the instrument a certain air of 'laboratory chic'. It virtually begs you to use it to create weird, atonal avant garde music. [...] The VCS3 invites experimentation and its users are happy to oblige. Even veteran synthesists can achieve unexpected results simply by shoving a few pins into the matrix and wiggling the joystick. Just don't expect it to stay in tune. Oscillator stability is not one of the instruments' strong points."

"Apart from being the first synth to offer micro-processor control for patch-memory saving and recall, in 1978 the Prophet-5 was the synth that all musicians wanted. After years of synth-mono-dom, they longed to play chords, and as one session player once told me, it was the only synth you needed! It certainly shook up the late 70s market."

"With its oiled wood side panels and big, tactile buttons, it looked like it cost a fortune and, well, it did."

"Unlike the largely monophonic synths of the late 70s, such as the Minimoog, it had five note polyphony. This meant that more just than basslines and lead solos could be played, extending the musical output of synthesizers to include full chords and other polyphonic accompaniments. Not only did it have a rich five note polyphonic sound, it was the first synthesizer to use integrated circuits to provide fully recallable presets."

"It sounded nothing short of gorgeous, with a rich, full sound that was ideal for thick, nasal brass, deep, droning pads, burly basses and those searing osc-sync leads."

"The Prophet-5 was, in short, exactly what performing musicians were clamouring for and, though it was priced at a whopping four grand, it sold in droves, making Dave Smith's Sequential Circuits an industry leader almost overnight and spawning legions of copycats from every corner of the globe."

"Could it have been any other instrument? The Minimoog is the classic vintage synthesizer and with good reason. Its design is the template that influences synthesizer manufacturers to this day."

"[The Minimoog's] illustrious career in the '70s added otherworldly sounds to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, pseudo-strings on Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” and a mechanical lyricism to Kraftwerk's “Autobahn,” which helped define the sound of the decade."

"Like the OB-X that preceded it, the OB-Xa was available in four-, six- or eight-voice versions and sported a somewhat simplified dual oscillator signal path. The OB-Xa, however, added a 24 dB filter to the OB-X's 12 dB job and, in fact, you could create layered sounds that combined both for a more complex and engaging sound. And what a sound it was."

"There was an awful lot to shout about. Firstly, the Mini adopted a form that made it truly engaging. Its panel and fascia could be propped up at an angle, which invited the user to get creative with sound, with a 37-note keyboard for instant playability. Unlike just about all predecessors, the Minimoog was not modular, or even semi-modular, meaning that patch cables were not required. Users often described its power, which for the first time offered something to keyboard players that could truly compete with the guitarist in the band!"

"Though many instruments are said to be possessed of a special and elusive character, the Minimoog really has it, and then some. The oscillators are rich, and the envelopes are snappy, if simple. Its highs are piercing and crystal clear, and the bass has rightfully become the stuff of legend. It's big, ballsy and its nigh on impossible to make the thing sound bad!"

"What a sound [...] The OB-Xa may be the single phattest sounding instrument we have ever heard. Users who dare to click that Unison button may have to have their teeth re-enamelled. Yeah. It's big. As with all Oberheim instruments of the time, the OB-Xa could be lashed together with a DMX or DX drum machine and a DSX sequencer to form a complete Oberheim 'System'. Such a System in full swing was a sight to behold in those pre-MIDI days, a technological wet dream that was far out of reach of all but the most successful musicians of the day."

"Everything about the CS-80 was big. Physically, it was a massive beast, weighing in at over 200lbs. It has a huge, garish front-panel, festooned with rocker buttons, sliders and the single best ribbon controller ever devised."

"Eight voices of polyphony, aftertouch and distinct ring modulation were among the features [the CS-80 offered]. [...] Quirky and cantankerous, it was possessed of a sort of pseudo-programmability in the form of a trap door that hid most of a miniature front panel and could be set up before your show. If you dared take the thing to a gig, that is."

"[The CS-80 was] hugely unstable, with analogue oscillators that drifted at every opportunity. Too hot? Too cold? Bang out of tune. Too humid? Forget it. Need to move it? Nope. The mere act of tipping it on end to wheel it about on its casters would throw it out of whack. If you were one of the lucky few who had a stable CS-80 (or could afford to hire in for the intimidating calibration process), you would have been able to avail yourself of a device capable of unparalleled expression. The CS-80 felt like a real instrument. It could be made to bend to your mood and will. It responded beautifully to aftertouch. The CS-80 could scream like a banshee, cry plaintively, or tap out a pattern as delicate as rain on a stained glass window."

"It cleverly provided four memories among the presets, accessed via a small panel which, when lifted, exposed all of the synth’s control faders in miniature. There were even rumours of musicians needing to have their floors reinforced to cope. Just ask Vangelis, who of course made the CS-80 one of the central components for his soundtrack to the Ridley Scott film Blade Runner."

"To understand the pull of the Wavestation, you have to take yourself back to 1990. Analogue was dead and FM was on life-support. Sample-playback instruments had taken hold and the biggest sellers of the day were seen as little more than glorified organs, capable of calling up a reasonably convincing sampled ensemble for the Holiday Inn crowd: "Thank you ladies and gents, I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your waitresses". It was into this very environment that Korg dared to release the Wavestation. The product of a US-based team of designers rescued from the now-defunct Sequential Circuits, the Wavestation shared the vector synthesis of Sequential's Prophet-VS. The onboard samples were of a decidedly electronic nature, with none of the usual drum kits, pianos or nylon guitars (for the moment, anyhow). They could be stacked, layered, filtered and processed by a still-impressive selection of effects. Better still, you could crossfade and blend your sounds with the joystick mounted above the pitch and mod wheels. That might have been enough to shake synthesists out of their doldrums, but it was the inclusion of wavesequencing that tipped the scales. The Wavestation gave users the ability to string any of the onboard waveforms together in a row with individual control over pitch, volume, and crossfade time. Using this technology, it was a breeze to fashion sounds that shifted and evolved over time. Complex rhythmic passages could likewise be created. It was, and is, brilliant, though it is seen as being difficult to program. Fortunately, there are software editors available for the thing even to this day, not to mention an utterly convincing virtual incarnation from Korg itself."

"Like the D-50, the JD combined sample-based oscillators with a fairly typical signal path that included a resonant filter, envelope generators and the like. However, the JD-800 offered something not available on any other sample-based synthesizer: a bucket load of sliders. Yep, the JD harkened back to the analogue era, offering scads of real-time control (that, alas, could only be transmitted via SysEx). It was big, impressive and utterly sexy, even if it was made mostly of plastic. More than that, it sounded out-of-this-world. At a time when manufacturers were doing their best to cram as many grainy 8-bit low-rate samples into an instruments' ROM as possible, Roland used only hi-res stuff, resulting in outstanding sound quality."

"The JD-800 was released a decade too soon. The analogue revival was still years off and sales fizzled (at least by D-50 standards). However, Roland knew what it had, and the technology behind the JD-800 would pop up again and again in its best-selling series of rack-mountable MIDI modules."

"Pretty much every self respecting producer, studio and composer had one."

"After over a decade of nothing but analogue, musicians were looking for that Next Big Thing, and a mega-corporation just happened to have been working on exactly that. It was dubbed the DX7 and it shook the entire music world upon its release in 1983. Offering a then-staggering 16 voices of polyphony, a full-sized, velocity and aftertouch capable keyboard, the DX7 was different on the outside as well as under the hood."

"The DX7 excelled at convincing electric piano tones, xylophones, marimbas, organs, brass and many other sounds previously hard to do with analogue. Being brighter and richer in the upper harmonics it immediately became a staple in pop music production providing the 80s with it's first really glossy and shiny synth tones."

"The DX7 was the first mass-produced instrument to make use of FM synthesis, a technique devised by John Chowning at Stanford and licensed by Yamaha."

"Analogue was king... Until the first commercially successful digital synthesizer appeared on the scene – the Yamaha DX7. It used a technology called Frequency Modulation (FM) and it [initially] appeared to solve all of the problems of analogue synthesizers: it stayed in tune where analogue was notoriously unreliable; it had eight notes of affordable polyphony where most analogues were still monophonic; it was 8 note polyphonic whereas truly polyphonic synths were much more expensive and even more unreliable; it had 32 recallable presets where analogue synths rarely had that capability. But most of all, it had a whole new range of sounds that were [nearly] impossible to make using analogue technology."

"The release of the Yamaha DX7 in 1983 would prove a watershed moment for music production, as the affordable, versatile device launched an electronic revolution that we are still very much living today. [...] Its “Tubular Bells” preset was essentially the weapon of choice for scores of new age musicians, used most notably on Enya's debut album. And Brian Eno used the synth all over his '80s work, even playing it on U2's “Where the Streets Have No Name.”"

"ARP 2600s are trading for silly prices these days. Units that were given away for pennies are selling for many thousands of dollars on the used market. [...] The earliest models are hard to repair, thanks to ARPs habit of encasing the circuits in epoxy."