5 of the Most Important Synths Ever Made
Epoch-defining synthesizers from Moog, KORG, Yamaha, and more!
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These are the most important synths ever made, the ones that have influenced countless others and changed the way that we make music.
The Most Important Synths Ever Made
The Most Important Synths
There are a lot of synths. Think about all of the synthesizers that have been released over the decades, from the big Moog modulars and Buchlas of the 1960s, right up until our clone-obsessed current era. Has anyone ever counted all of them? If you have, tell us the number in the comments. But out of all of those, some are undoubtedly more important than others. That’s what we’re here to celebrate today.
What qualifies a synth as important? These are not necessarily the best (although many of them are quite, quite good), but the ones that set the high-water mark for others to follow. Their features and functions have been adopted or downright copied. In fact, the entire synth may have been cloned. Or else they helped usher in new synthesis paradigms, new ways of engaging with the instruments that we love so much.
Here then are five of the most important synths ever made. Which ones did we miss? Let us know in the comments.
The Most Important Synths: Moog Minimoog Model D
Moog’s Minimoog Model D wasn’t the first portable synthesizer, but it was the first one that most musicians wanted to play. It also set the blueprint for how a synthesizer should look. Even today, when we think of a “synthesizer” we’re probably imagining something like a Minimoog, with a few oscillators, a filter, envelopes and LFOs and a VCA, plus some keys to play it on. It may seem pretty standard today, but in the early 1970s, this was ground-breaking stuff, and a very musical distillation of the power of a modular system into a hardwired keyboard instrument.
Moog has reissued the Minimoog many times now (even more if you count the Voyager as a Minimoog, which many do). The latest is the Bob Moog Tribute Edition, which offers the expanded feature set of the modern reissues housed in an elegant oakwood cabinet. It’s limited to 500 units, and $500 will be donated to the Bob Moog Foundation for every sale.
The Geddy Lee model is also still available.
- Moog Minimoog product page
- More about Moog
The Most Important Synths: Sequential Circuits Prophet-5
Synthesizer technology was moving fast in the 1970s. Although largely dominated by monophonic synths, polyphony became a viable thing by the second half of the decade. Then the race was to create a programmable poly with digital patch memory. That hurdle was eventually cleared by Dave Smith and his company, Sequential Circuits, in 1978 with the Prophet-5, a synthesizer that is still very much in demand today.
Along with its five voices of polyphony and microchip-powered memory, the Prophet-5 was also a very, very good-sounding instrument. This led to its adoption by many of the big musicians of the day, becoming the sound of hit records from the late ‘70s on.
That sound continues even now, thanks to the 2020 re-release of the Prophet-5 (and 10-voice edition, Prophet-10). That’s not the end of it, either, as the Prophet circuitry has been repurposed by Sequential into a number of other instruments, starting with the Pro-One in 1981 and leading right up to the company’s most recent, the Fourm.
- Sequential Prophet-5 product page
- More about Sequential
The Most Important Synths: Yamaha DX7
Ah, the Yamaha DX7. The first massively selling synthesizer. The one that ended the hegemony of analog synthesis with FM synthesis and made synthesizers popular for regular keyboard players, too. Yes, it was a pain to program – especially if you’d never owned a synthesizer before – but who cared when the presets were so good? Oh, E.Piano 1, so much to answer for.
Looking back on the DX7 43 years after its release, the instrument’s influence is clear to see. It changed not only the sound of synths but also their look and feel, banishing knobs and sliders from front panels until their reappearance in the late 1990s, thanks to the virtual analog revival. It also helped make synthesizers into what we know them as now: relatively affordable consumer products that require ever more sophisticated upgrades and innovation, just like computers and other electronics.
- More about Yamaha
The Most Important Synths: KORG M1
After the unexpected arrival of the DX7, synth manufacturers went into crisis mode, all vying to create the next big thing. What that was going to be, no one was sure, other than that it had to be digital, the hot word of the ‘80s. With FM patents under Yamaha lock and key, other companies tried various permutations of digital and analog, combining sample-based oscillators with analog filters to varying degrees of market success. Roland had the first hit with the D-50, mixing samples with an early take on virtual analog, but KORG struck gold when it made samples the focus of the synthesis and added drums and a sequencer to create the first workstation, the M1.
Released in 1988, the M1 was a runaway hit, its sounds – especially the organ and piano – finding their way into pop and dance records alike. (That organ won’t die either, now having been discovered by Gen Z dance music producers.) Having drums and a sequencer in the same device meant it was easier than ever to make full songs at home, too, and other companies soon had their own takes on the workstation in stores. They’re still around, too, despite the modern ubiquity of DAWs.
The M1 can’t be cloned thanks to the proprietary nature of its sample sound set, but the spirit of the instrument endures.
- More about KORG
The Most Important Synths: Doepfer A-100
Think about synthesizers in the 21st century, and modular will surely come to mind, specifically Eurorack. Modular had been out of fashion for a few decades when Dieter Döpfer of Doepfer Musikelektronik decided to launch his own format in 1995. Using the 3U standard, what came to be known as Eurorack exploded in popularity in the 2020s thanks to the often experimental nature of the modules made by third-party manufacturers, and their relative affordability compared to systems from companies like Moog and Buchla.
Doepfer started his modular adventure with the A-100 System, for which he has since released hundreds of modules and various system configurations. It’s still a great place to start if you want to explore Eurorack.
- Doepfer A-100 System product page
- More about Doepfer
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