What was your "game-changing" synth?

[brenner13]

Roland JX10 was my first real pro synth, but as some others have mentioned, nearly every synth acquisition (new and used) can open new ways to make music.

 

This might be slightly off topic, but of all the wonderful gear I"ve been fortunate to use, the iPad implemented the biggest game changing 'synth' that has provided the most wonderment to my creative process. Having a good tactile controller system really enhances the experience, all the while there are many instruments that are amazingly expressive on the touchscreen itself. Animoog is a long time fave. Geo Synth is fun. ThumbJam and DrumJam are flippin" amazing apps. Even Bebot is still a blast for me.

 

There are so many vintage synth emulations that really fix my cravings when a song needs some smudge. Moog nails it with their offerings. Arturia has several; iSEM blows my mind every time. Korg...oh my...KORG has gobbs and they are wonderful! ODYSSEi, iM1, and Module Pro are utilized very often. PPG WaveGenerator is very expressive with aftertouch-like modulation by sliding upwards from the keybed on screen, similar to Animoog, but with more assignable modulation destinations. Unfortunately Wolfgang Palm"s amazing apps are no longer available on the App Store.

 

To touch back upon the OP"s topic, Alchemy is probably the ONE iOS synth app that gave me the biggest WOW factor of all time and initially opened up the world of iOS synthesis to me. It is unfortunately another that is no longer available on the App Store and it It only exists on my aging iPad2 from 2012, I"m so pleased to still have it with full-blown Alchemy and all of the add-on libraries; thousands of amazing sounds. Alchemy does still live on with the slimmed-down version inside of GarageBand, and that is still loads of fun.

 

Speaking of GarageBand, this has some amazingly expressive surfaces with its Strings and the World stringed instruments in particular.

 

Other utility apps to enhance my music are AUM and AudioBus which are basically platforms that can host compatible apps into a mixer with faders and inserts and such. There are a ton of multitrack recorders for iOS and I have a bunch of them. My favorite is rather light on features for full blown studio work, but MultiTrack DAW is fast and easy for my little brain to grasp with a modest learning curve. And way off topic here, forScore app houses all of my lyric and lead sheets.

 

Just amazing technology and tools in this platform that I am very thankful for. So again, the iPad as a whole, is certainly the biggest game changer for my musical journey.

[Fleer]

Maybe my game changing moment was when I realized (very late, around 2014) what software can do.

[dacm]

In the summer of 1983, I purchased the Oberheim OB-8 Synthesizer.

 

Later acquisitions in that year and the next, saw me getting the Oberheim DX and Stretch Drum Machine and finally, the Oberheim DSX Polyphonic Sequencer. This was all before Oberheim decided to add MIDI to the synth and drum machine as retrofits. However, the System, as it was called, kept me busy creating. It was a popular setup that was more than likely used in many hit recordings.

 

Eventually, I could create full-blown arrangements that included a Yamaha DX-9, Roland D-50, 360 Systems MIDI Bass, Rhodes 73 Stage EP and Hammond B-3 with a Leslie 122. This was my mid 80's -mid-90's rig.

[Sundown]

Certainly the instrument that advanced my skills the most was the Roland D-20. It was affordable, it was multi-timbral with decent drums, and with the onboard sequencer and disk drive I could piece together music and learn how to write and arrange. I still have it (and use it) and it has a couple of sounds that still fill out a mix well. The keys are very fast and light and if I"m playing a drum part or a fast lead, it"s often the board I use. I hang onto it for sentimental reasons as well (it was my first 'real" instrument), but I also still use it.

 

Having limitations is a good thing and I learned almost all of my programming chops on that instrument. I couldn"t afford to go out and buy the latest thing so I spent my time learning every nook and cranny of the instrument. Most of its sounds are thin and tweezy by today"s standards, but there is a bass I use frequently and the drums serve as a good filler under other sounds. I programmed a lot of sounds on it and there are still one or two that hold up today.

 

There are plenty of instruments I lusted after before and after the Roland D-series, but the instrument that probably knocked me back the most was the Korg M1. Don Muro"s demo tracks (which I heard through a Keyboard magazine soundpage) just floored me. Coupled with Jack Hotop"s programming, I had never heard anything like that. There were no Korg dealers around me but I probably wore out that soundpage. If I experienced the instrument firsthand (as I did years later) I don"t know that I would have been as blown away, but those demos just knocked me sideways. I own the Korg Legacy Collection (now Korg Collection 2) and I still use the M1 heavily and often for sounds that it isn"t known for (like comp synths and synth pads). The addition of resonance on the filter for the KLC edition opens up a lot of options (as does the modulation routing). There is just something about late eighties and early nineties ROMplers that makes them sit well within a track. They have the right amount of 'oomph' and high frequency content without overwhelming an arrangement.

 

Todd

[cjfox]

I'm feeling old after reading the previous comments. My first synth was a Roland Sh3, I couldn't afford a mini moog, but the Roland was good for learning to program sounds, and I got hired for bands by learning effective portamento, filter sweeps and pitch bending while soloing. That stuff is cliche now, but back then not that many players had synths and it got me a lot of gigs. I eventually saved enough to buy a mini moog, and since then have had most of the previously mentioned synths. I remember the Roland stayed in tune better than the moog, I would have to tune the moog during the song to play an upcoming solo! (you could mute the mini, feed the output to the aux in, and watch the overload light pulse until it stopped).

[DrSynth]

Ooof - when you've been it it long enough, the game changes a few times. When I started the game was Minimoogs, Odysseys, Prophets 5's and OBx's.

 

So my first game changer was the Rhodes Chroma for the configurability and touch sensitity. Very shortly thereafter the next 'changer' was the fully loaded Buchla 200 system we had at college. It really expanded the concepts of signal/modulation routing, timbre shaping & performance. Truly opened my eyes about what a syntheziser could do.

 

Then, the DX7 (no explanation needed )

 

Next was the K2000. I don't think VAST gets enough love for what it's capable. In a way the architecture is like a DSP Buchla.

 

Not 'changers' per se, but exquisitely capable refinements advancing the game were the SY99 and FS1r

 

So the next game changer for me was the Yamaha VL1, but unfortunately not many willing to play in the Physical Modeling game with the rise of large memory ROMplers.

 

Honestly, even acknowledging tons of significant refinements and enhancements since those synths, nothing truly game changing for me for a long time, partially because most of the biggest advancements were in soft synths.

 

IMHO the next game change will be enhanced performance expression / controllability. We've started down that path with the rise of the multitude of alternate controllers picking up from the performance dynamics of the Physical Modeling thing. I think timbre spaces are pretty well covered.

 

Really looking forward to the Osmose

 

Manny

[felis]

Oberheim Matrix 6 - bought new when it first came out, kept it for a very long time, and knew it inside out.

 

Yamaha CX5m music computer - first introduction to FM

 

Kawai K5 - first introduction to additive

 

Yamaha EX5r - FDSP, VL, and AN

 

Kurzweil K2600 - VAST

 

Clavia G2 - digital modular

 

Andromeda - not really a game changer, but I thought I'd throw it in since I had it

 

I forget the rest.

[jazzpiano88]

Juno 106.

Augmented my Rhodes Suitcase 73 to be able to cover 70's-80's music.

[vonnor]

MiniMoog.

 

dB

^^^ this ^^^

 

I attended a Hall & Oats concert back in the mid 70's and for one intro the Keyboard player hit this sick low note on the mini and tweaked the filter 'til all the seats in the auditorium started shaking like they were gonna melt.

 

Being a piano player at the time it just made me go, "Holy F****! I need one of those!!"

 

Saved up pennies and bought a used model-D in 1980. Learned that thing inside and out. In '81 I went on the road with a cover band with just that and a Wurly. 1982 I added a CP-70 and a MemoryMoog to the rig. The Minimoog experience helped with the MemoryMoog sound design.

 

 

That common analog methodology is still my wheelhouse.

 

~ vonnor

 

p.s. Funny story: You can kinda see a thing sitting on the right end of the Omni-2. That was a hollowed out 9-volt battery filled with melted lead. We covered Maneater by Hall & Oats and for the high strings drone in the chorus I just used that weight to hold down the B and faded it in and out with a volume pedal.

[Marzzz]

Minimoog

[felis]

I got to use a Minimoog and a Fairlight when I was at the university, but I never owned either, so for me they weren't really game changers.

[CEB]

Just saw a VFX for $250 at a Pawn Shop today.

Drool. The VFX had the best french horns of any keyboard that I have ever played, including Kurzweil.

 

I would caution that the VFX had an extremely high failure rate. When I worked music retail back in its day, I used to joke with the service tech that he should send Ensoniq a Christmas card for providing him so much work.

 

And .... Trying to get parts can be pretty dicey on some Ensoniq stuff.

[Bif_]

Drool. The VFX had the best french horns of any keyboard that I have ever played, including Kurzweil.

 

I had a VFX-SD, and yes, great horns. I especially loved the sax. Very expressive.

[felis]

.....

 

The single most game-changing event that I recall in my musical life was when I realized that instruments and effects could live inside the computer, and not just be controlled by them via midi.

 

Yes - the focus has been on hardware, but softsynths changed the game of tangled up wires, multi power strips, recall, and so many other things.

 

I still have a horrid mess of hardware, but if I absolutely had to, I could just use my Kurzweil PC4 and softsynths.

[1203]

Prophet 10 (Rev4)), christmas 2020. Iconic synth, i love it and can't get my hands away from it!

[Old No7]

For me, I'm sure it was...

 

Keith Emerson's Modular Moog

 

I knew I'd never have one*, but it didn't stop me from wanting one!

 

...* I did get to spend 2 semesters with a similar setup when taking Electronic Music as an elective at UMass back in the day...

 

Old No

[Ed A.]

Yamaha DX7. I bought two of them in 1983 when they were first released. Almost everything* I had before that point was analog, everything I had after that was digital, to this day.

 

* I did have an alphaSyntari in 1981, but I don't consider that the start of my digital synth obsession, since it sucked so bad.

[BRW]

1) In the late 80's, when the DX7 was the "synth du jour"...and then the Korg ROMplers arrived. I couldn't believe you could get a synth to sound like that ("like an orchestra!!") and couldn't wait to get rid of those wonky metallic FM tones.

 

2) The original Yamaha MOTIF (ca. 2001). That thing sounded incredible back then and I spent all my days at music stores playing them. All their upgrades (ES, XS and XF) were almost just as impressive.

 

3) Korg OASYS (2005). Seven engines?! $8000?!

 

4) The soft synth revolution from the early 2000's onwards. Like, Emagic's original EVP73 plugin (which sounds like crap these days).

 

5) Yamaha's MONTAGE. That thing is an incredible instrument. It really does feel almost endless what you can do with it.

[Mike Martin]

Casiotone VL-1 - I can't tell you how much time I spent with it. Got a paper route as a kid to pay for it. Still have it. My first electronic instrument. Still have it.

 

Korg Polysix - I got a deal on this back in 1984. I feel like everything I learned about synthesis started with this instrument. Still have it.

 

Kurzweil K2000 - This keyboard started my career in the music industry. I did so much sampling and programming for it and later the K2500. Kurzweil started hiring me part time to do demos and started distributing my samples. This led to a job with Sonic Foundry, then a short while later a full time job with Kurzweil.

[Theo Verelst]

The DX-7 without any reasonable doubt created a new instrument use for me that would keep me interested and on the sonic edge for years, albeit after a while in the shape of (8 fold split and Dx7II Dacs) a TX802 rack, driven by a Bit one, DW8000 or later a HP3000S (the same as the Rd300 but heavier keyboard and built in speakers). Expressiveness , broad sound palette dynamic sound quality being the game changers. And I started to write quality Atari ST software for it, somewhat commercially.

 

T

[CEB]

I really liked old Casio old PDS synths. I had CZ-1000 and a CZ-1. You could do a lot of stuff that sounded like FM but the architecture was laid out in an understandable subtractive synthesis looking format.

[EricBarker]

I wouldn't say any in particular. I worked into it gradually over my entire lifetime. I had a DX7 as a kid but it was too complicated to really dig deeply into. Had an Alesis QS8 in college, and got my feet wet. Then worked on a Buchla in school, made some cool sounds but was never very musical with it. Honestly, where I REALLY clicked was with Native Instruments Massive, where the interface really made everything come together intuitively. Now I feel I can hop on any synth and get some great tones very quickly. Though now I have a PolyD, and am absolutely loving programming on the fly. It's a bit of a workout, but it just feels great.

 

Locking in analog FM synthesis on the fly is my current goal, but man is it tricky!

[Motif88]

I've been fortunate to had a few...

Oberheim Modular 8 Voice

Korg MKS-20

D-50

Motif 8

I chased the workstation concept for a long time. Software synths, Logic Pro X and an RD-2000 keep me happy these days.

[Bif_]

Interesting reading everyone's responses. Explains why there's so many brands/models/features as it seems no one technology is the clear favorite. Workstations, analog, digital, mono-synths, software, etc. It's all mentioned here and all the brands, too.

 

I hope the thread brought back pleasant memories of those 'WOW' moments with your favorite board. It did for me.

[Franz Schiller]

I also love reading everyone's synth stories. Great stuff.

 

For me, the first significant synth would be my Dad's Roland JX-8P. My Dad played piano and had a passing interesting in synths. I remember being ten or so years old, and going with him to buy it at the music store. He told me all about the analog vs digital debate and the merits of each, which I'm sure he read about in Keyboard magazine.

 

My Dad played the JX-8P for a little while, but I ended up glomming it from him because I thought it so cool (I saved up my allowance and birthday money and bought an ARP Omni, but that's another story) and I also became a devotee of Keyboard magazine into my teens. Looking back, I don't think the JX is the best sounding synth, really. But at the time it captured my imagination.

 

The other significant synth is probably the Kurzweil K2000. I bought one a long time ago; I loved it so much I studied the manual (which is substantial) for months, literally. When I bought it in the aughts, it was already sort of vintage, and it really stirred me creatively, since it was so strange, with a beatiful dark sound (probably the Digitech effects chip). Since I liked it so much, I sold it to buy a Kurz K2661. But it wasn't the same. Sure, that's a great, powerful synth, but oddly, it was too much. It didn't have that dark sound, it had too many things going on, too many sliders, too many features, too many roms, too glossy.

 

So about a year ago, I bought another K2000 off Craigslist. You may recall my thread asking for a little troubleshooting on it. Anyway, it's imperfect, but fantastic. So inspiring.

[Sundown]

Casiotone VL-1 - I can't tell you how much time I spent with it. Got a paper route as a kid to pay for it. Still have it. My first electronic instrument. Still have it.

 

Perhaps the inspiration for the OP-1? They sure look similar...

 

 

[Sundown]

I don't think the JX is the best sounding synth, really. But at the time it captured my imagination.

 

The JX-10 was perhaps the first professional synth I ever heard in person (meaning not on a record). I was in a local music store and one of the employees pulled up a fat, fast sawtooth patch and played an ascending pattern. It was probably about 75-80 dB coming from the monitors and it made my teenage loins quiver.

 

Fun times...

[tucktronix]

I would have to say that there were 3 synths that were life-changers..

 

Roland Alpha Juno-1 - This was my first synth. I remember seeing a used one at The House Of Guitars. One of the patches in it was the Tom Sawyer filter sweep and I wanted to buy it so bad, but I couldn't afford it at the time. Looking through the swap sheet a year or two later, I found one on sale for $350 and snatched it up. This one didn't have the TS filter sweep :-(, but I've created a lot of cool patches with it :-). The story goes that when I first bought it, I thought it was multi-timbral. So I bought a Yamaha QX5 sequencer and laughingly spent countless hours trying to get sounds on separate MIDI tracks.

 

Roland D-5 - I sold both the Alpha-Juno and the Casio CZ-101 to get it. It was multi-timbral, and with myself being heavily into sequencing at the time, I had to have it. Coupled with the QX5, I have done boat loads of sequencing.

 

Wavestation EX - this was a real game-changer for me. I've seen ads on Electronic Musician and had never thought that I would be able to afford one. There is backstory. Around 1994, I had been scouring the swap sheet for any used Wavestations. Needless to say, couldn't find any. One day I found an ad for a Roland JV-80 and thought hmm.. The guy was selling it for $800. Having $800 cash in my pocket from my profit-sharing check, I decided to pay a visit. The presets were to me.. okay. I wanted a pad machine. Cash in hand, I was about to make a purchase when I had casually mentioned that I was looking for a Wavestation. Weird enough, he informs me of a guitar player who is selling his for $800.. w-w-what???!!! So I left him for the Wavestation dude. It was brand new.. in the box.. with ROM card(don't remember which one). Being in my Tangerine Dream phase at the time, I was so enamored with all the ethereal pads and textures. At the time, it was my piano in a blues band, but I later discovered a patch called "Vektor Organ" that sounded pretty authentic when coupled with the "rotary" effect and the vector joystick was used for the "drawbars". Had it for 10 years before it started having issues.. ended up selling it :-(

[Al Coda]

I changed my mind ...

 

Davolisynth

 

This was the 1st one I got my hands on during a jam in a friend´s basement early 70s.

 

A.C.

[Bif_]

I got to use a Minimoog and a Fairlight when I was at the university, but I never owned either, so for me they weren't really game changers.

 

I took a music lab class my first year of college. We had a four track reel-to-reel, an ARP 2600, a Paia Strings and Thingz (that I helped build) and a Hammond/Leslie. I knew nothing about nothing then and relied on patch sheets to set up all the knobs on the 2600. I didn't enjoy all the work to create a sound that didn't sound very real (I later learned that wasn't what the 2600 was supposed to be about).

 

I've watched all the hubbub about Behringer's 2600 as well as Korg's. While I'm sure I could have some fun with one of those, I have zero real interest in it.

 

All that aside, I learned a little bit about multi-track recording in that class.