There are always exceptional products standing out in any industry we look at. This is not much different in the synthesizer industry. Here are a couple of synthesiser that have actually left their mark in history.

ARP Odyssey dates back to 1972. It has to be recalled for their alleged stealing of the basic 4-pole Moog filter design. Unnecessary to say, it became Moogs rival. It did not take long for the ARP engineers to create their individual 2 pole filter. Once this was blended with the duophonic then players had the advantage of a supplementary synth. Once more during the whole concert, it will remain in tune.

One would recall the success of Dave Smith and associates from Sequential Circuits with the Prophet 5. This’s around 1978. There are in the beginning made in their garage and were called the Prophet 10. Theres an overheating problem that soon led them to no other alternative but to cut the voices to half. Its excellent in the way it can be programed, plus the micro-processor controlled key board granted for patch storage. To top this all off was the dcor of the gorgeous Koa wood. Finally it went through three big revisions. They were no longer produced after 1984.

In 1970, the Moog MiniMoog was the inception of the sound synthesizer. It wasnt all that affordable but the booming bass, screeching melodies combined with the SFX keyboard players hands made it a most famous possession. It had a unique foldable lid to a pretty wood case. The problem with it is the fact it didn’t have a dedicated LFO plus it wouldnt stay in tune and it didnt have a patch storage.

The Roland Jupiter during the time period of 1981 is remembered. It had a digital patch storage, splitting and layering across the keyboard and as if that wasnt enough, it also had an arpeggiator. The sound had to be the most favorite feature as Roland made it super beautiful, thanks to the analog signal path. Programing was a breeze with the knob laden interface. It had a hefty price tag when it came to the oscillators and filters.

Lastly, the Yamaha DX-7 must be noted. Its the 1st time that polyphone, an ultimate key-board and a genuinely low-priced price all came together. What was achievable with their DX-7s frequency modulation synthesis was astounding. Not some thing many famous music star wanted to pass up. Programming it’s slightly of a mystery, but the FM synthesis has never caused quite the same stir since that time. It paved the way for other new synthesis types.