Vintage Synths - Roland Korg Moog Sequential Circuits Synthesizers
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Vintage Analog Synthesizers
Classic vintage synths from the 1970s and 1980s are known for their warm and other-worldly sounds created with analog circuitry, rows of buttons and sliders, nests of patch cords, blinking lights and wooden side pannels completing their retro sci fi appearance.
Many modern digital synths attempt to emulate vintage synthesizer sounds with microchip powered digital signal processors, complicated mathematical models and cheap plastic cases but just like the relationship of vinyl to cd, nothing compares to the magic of a real analog synth. Rather then crunching numbers into finite units, analog synths create their sound by shaping electronic waveforms with sold state components like transistors, capacitors and resistors in a continuous signal path.
This lens examines the coolest analog synths, what to look for in buying a vintage analog and the best used synths to watch out for from the most popular analog synthesizer manufacturers such as Roland, Moog and Korg.
Major Manufacturers
The Big 4 of Original Synth Makers
In the early years synthesizers were large expensive beasts created by scientists and hobbyists but as technology and market demand increased companies began to mass produce analog synths that were more accessible for musicians. The first manufacturers to gain widespread distribution were Roland, Korg, Moog and Sequential Circuits. A number of other makers were also producing interesting synths on a smaller scale, there are a number of Russian makes for example. Roland - Godzilla of Vintage Gear

A Japanese firm formed in 1972 specializing in electronic instruments, components and software, Roland continues to be a major innovator and seller of synths and tech musical instruments today.
Below is a list of the cool analog synths to look for from Roland on the vintage market. Excerpted from Wikipedia. Don't just buy any keyboard because it says Roland and looks old, Roland has produced a huge range of gear including digital pianos and organs that are not going to satisfy an analog tweakers needs and desires!
* 1973 - Roland SH-1000: Claimed by Roland to be Japan's first commercial keyboard synthesizer.
* 1973 - Roland RE-201: The renowned 'Space Echo' machine, one of the most popular tape delay-based echo machines ever produced.
* 1973 - Roland SH-3A: Monophonic synthesizer.
* 1975 - Roland System-100: Roland's first attempt at a modular synthesizer.
* 1976 - Roland System-700: Roland's first professional-quality modular synthesizer, the monster picture above!
* 1978 - Roland CR-78: One of the world's first user programmable drum machine.
* 1978 - Roland Jupiter-4: Roland's first self-contained polyphonic synthesizer.
* 1980 - Roland CR-8000
* 1981 - Roland Jupiter-8: This synthesizer put Roland in the forefront of professional synthesizers. A hugely successful 8-voice programmable analog synthesizer.
* 1981 - Roland TR-808: Among the first and most popular programmable drum machines; its distinctive analog sounds, such as its bass tone kick drum have been behind many a bumpin' hip hop track.
* 1982 - Roland Juno-6: Roland's first synthesizer with digitally-controlled oscillators. (Later released was the Juno-60, a similar model but with the addition of patch memory for storing sounds).
* 1982 - Roland TB-303: Defined the "acid" sound for house music.
* 1983 - Roland JX-3P: First Roland synthesizer to support MIDI.
* 1983 - Roland Jupiter-6: Second Roland synthesizer to support MIDI.
* 1983 - Roland SH-101: Monophonic synthesizer designed to be worn hung around the neck with a strap, with an optional modulation attachment that protruded like the neck of a guitar.
* 1984 - Roland TR-909: An extremely popular drum machine during the early 1990s, the sounds of which (particularly the kick drum and Open Hi-Hat) are still essential components of modern electronic dance music. The first Roland drum machine to use analog sound synthesis combined with digital sample playback.
* 1984 - Roland TR-707 and Roland TR-727: The former was used extensively in the early days of house music and in non-Western pop music around the world to the present day. The latter was used extensively in polyrhythmic non-Western pop music to the present day.
* 1984 - Roland Juno-106: A widely used synthesizer with digitally-controlled oscillators. Same synth engine as the Roland Juno-60 but with the addition of MIDI and the ability to transmit button and slider information through SysEx. Still, no MIDI control of volume in real time.
* 1986 - Roland JX-10: One of Roland's last true analog synths.
Remember to stay away from the digital junk Roland released in the 90s with similar names to their classic gear, an MC-303 is no TB-303!
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Roland TR-909 T-Shirts


Roland TR-909 Vintage Drum Machine Shirts
Cool 1980's retro drum machine t-shirts and gifts for DJ's, Producers and Beat Freaks. The Roland TR-909 has provided the thumping foundation to house, electro, techno and many other forms of dance music since it's release in 1984.
Roland Vintage Blogs
Recent Blog Posts
- Experts Face off on Strength of Support For Vertebral Augmentation
- At one month, patients randomized to the kyphoplasty group (n=65) experienced rapid back relief, with an 8.3-point improvement in back function as measured by the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire versus a mean change of 0.1 points in the control ...
- Universal Audio Unveils Apollo High-Resolution Audio Interface with Realtime ...
- The culmination of 10 years of analog and digital development, Apollo delivers the sound, feel, and flow of analog recording with all the conveniences of modern digital equipment, including next-generation Thunderbolt technology.
- Universal Audio Unveils Apollo Audio Interface With Realtime UAD Processing
- Today at Winter NAMM, Universal Audio (UA) announced a brand-new hardware interface product called Apollo which the company considers to be the culmination of 10 years of analog and digital audio development. With Apollo, producers and performers can ...
- Will Adam Lambert join Queen?
- After the album, "Analog Man," was showcased Walsh got up onstage for a mini live set. He was backed by his six-piece solo band. On two songs, Walsh, 64, was joined by "Analog Man's" producer, former Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Travelling ...
Korg Classic Analogs

A highly regarded innovator, Korg has been manufacturing electronic instruments since being founded in Japan in 1962. Korg released its first synth in 1973 - the Mini-Korg, a cute box with some great features and killer Korg filters any MS-20 user will be familiar with.
These notable Korg products from their golden age of analog synths are excerpted from Wikipedia.
* 1973 - Korg Mini-Korg 700
* 1975 - Korg Maxi-Korg 800DV
* 1977 - Korg PS-3100,3200,3300
* 1978 - Korg MS-10/MS-20 - the MS 20 is pictured above, a fun semi-modular with killer filters.
* 1978 - Korg VC-10 Vocoder
* 1979 - Korg m500 Micro Preset
* 1980 - Korg Mono/Poly - my personal facovite, lots of knobs and a unique character.
* 1981 - Korg Polysix
* 1983 - Korg Poly-61: The successor of the Polysix with digitally-controlled analog oscillators; Korg's first "knobless" synthesizer and not as cool because of it.
* 1983 - Korg Poly-800: First fully programmable synthesizer that sold for less than $1000, notable for using digitally-controlled analog oscillators and sharing a single filter for all 8 voices. The PG-800 programmer brings knobs and sliders to this synths lacking interface.
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Korg Synths in Blogs
Recent Updates
- WNAMM12: New Colours For Korg SV-1 Stage Vintage Piano
- Korg's SV-1 Stage Vintage Piano has been updated with two new colour variations. Each colour option is available for both 88-key and 73-key models. Here's Korg's description of the SV-1... Offering an elegant and understated appearance that is ideal ...
- Talkdemonic Wield Self-Destructive Synths and Other Accidental Instruments
- Pretty neat. Is it vintage and messed up or is it supposed to be doing that? Yeah. It was built by Korg in 1978 and it's been made famous by other musicians like Daft Punk. Richard James supposedly passed all his beats through it over the years.
- iPad FingerLabs DM1 2.0 update live now
- 18 classic vintage drum kits , 20 Acoustic kits, and a total of 26 in-house produced electronic kits, all the sounds you'll need to make the most intense gallery of sound you've ever conjured up. This 2.0 update will bring you several new features ...
- WNAMM12: VOX Unveils New Delay Pedal
- Set up for intuitive ease of use, the DelayLab parameters are controlled by five vintage-style knobs. Four footswitches provide access to the presets, and any function can be assigned to an optional expression pedal (such as the Korg EXP-2).
Moog - Synthesizer Visionary

While his early musical business venture involved a rather unique controller - the theremin, Dr. Robert Moog next created the first subtractive synthesizer to utilize a keyboard as a controller in 1964. Moog's garage operation soon became a growing company creating some of the most sought after synthesizers of the era. The popularity synths carrying the Moog name has endured and grown to today where the name is synonymous with vintage gold. Swept up with it's enduring popularity, the company has resurrected some of it's classic machines and expanded upon them while retaining their original analog magic.
Following his successful Theremin ventures, Moog began to create modular synthesizers. In 1971 Moog Music began production of the Minimoog Model D which was among the first widely available, portable and relatively affordable synthesizers. Unlike the modular synthesizer, the Minimoog was specifically designed as a self-contained musical instrument for keyboard players that stayed in tune, was portable and didn't require a tangle of patch cords to create a sound. The revolutionary minimoog was the first to really solidify the synthesizer's popular image as a "keyboard" instrument being used by famous musicians such as Sun Ra, Kraftwerk, Jan Hammer and Rick Wakeman. Selling approximately 13,000 units between 1971 and 1982, the Minimoog became the most popular monophonic synthesizer of the seventies.
It's safe to say that pretty much anything with the Moog name on it is going to sound fat, unlike other companies that sold out to digital, Moog has always remained true. Here is a list of cool Moog Products to watch for.
* Moog modular synthesizer (1963-1980)
* Minimoog (1970-1982)
* Moog Satellite (1974-1979)
* Moog Sonic 6 (1974-1979)
* Micromoog (1975-1979)
* Polymoog (1975-1980)
* Minitmoog (1975-1976)
* Moog Taurus (bass pedals)(1976-1983)
* Multimoog (1978-1981)
* Moog Prodigy (1979-1984)
* Moog Liberation (1980)
* Moog Opus-3 (1980)
* Moog Concertmate MG-1 (1981)
* Moog Rogue (1981)
* Moog Source (1981)
* Memorymoog (1982-1985)
* Moogerfooger (1998-present)
* Minimoog Voyager (2002-present)
* Little Phatty (2006-present)
I have included newer gear in this list as it is still using original analog technology as opposed to the digital emulation popular with other manufacturers today. Accept no substitute!
Vintage Moogs on eBay
Moog Synths in Blogs
- Memorial site declared for victims of landslide
- By Florence Baesa, Nestor P. Burgos Jr. Officials of Guihulngan City yesterday passed a resolution declaring the landslide area in Sitio (sub-village) Moog in Barangay (village) Planas as a memorial site for residents buried there.
- Hospitals, Healthcare Providers to Benefit from New Premier Agreements for ...
- ... have been awarded to Abbott Nutrition of Columbus, Ohio; CORPAK MedSystems Inc. of Buffalo Grove, Ill.; Covidien of Mansfield, Mass.; Kimberly-Clark Global Sales LLC of Roswell, Ga.; and Moog Inc. Medical Devices Group of Salt Lake City, Utah.
- Moog (MOG.A) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.05 EPS
- Moog (MOG.A) announced its earnings results on Friday. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.05. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis.
- Like/dislike: Max Moog, Polar Bear Plunger
- So before Saturday's Plunge in Annapolis, we caught up with Hampden resident Max Moog, plunging for the second time. The 30-year-old financial controller and full-time student at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School, will brave the ...
Sequential Circuits - California Dreamin'

Sequential circuits was founded in the early 70s in California, a small but influential company whos first products were synthesizer sequencers and programmers rather then actual sound generating devices. All that changed in 1978 when Sequential released the ultra bad ass Prophet-5. This was the first affordable, fully programmable polyphonic analog synthesizer, and became very popular in the early 1980s. In combining full microprocessor control with low-cost synthesizer module chips made by Solid State Music and later Curtis Electromusic, Sequential was able to make a relatively low-cost keyboard with five voices of polyphony. This revolutionary principle of combining five similar analog voices with easy editing and programming in one case became then the standard for a polyphonic instrument, making it possible to play real chords on a synth as e.g. on a piano. With the addition of patch storage, the synthesist was able to cycle through many different (up to one-hundred) sounds in a sitting, without having to re-calibrate the instrument for every switch. These were very unexpected developments in the synthesizer industry, especially from a previously unknown company that operated out of a California garage.
Sequential Circuits
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Arp Instruments

ARP Instruments, Inc. was an early electronic music company founded by Alan Robert Pearlman, best known for its line of synthesizers that emerged in the early 1970s. ARP closed its doors in 1981 for financial reasons.
Throughout the 1970s, ARP was the main competitor to Moog Music in the field of musically useful synthesizers. There were two main camps - the Minimoog players and the ARP Odyssey / ARP 2600 players - with most proponents dedicated to their choice, although some players chose to pick and chose between the two for specific effect, as well as many who dabbled with products produced by other manufacturers (in a similar manner to the ongoing PC versus Mac debate). The ARP 2500 was featured in the famous movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The ARP technician sent to install the unit, Phil Dodds, was cast as the musician who plays the alien tones on the synthesizer.
The demise of ARP Instruments, Inc. was brought about by the ill-fated decision to invest a significant amount of money in the development of ARP Avatar - a synthesizer module closely resembling ARP Odyssey, but equipped with a guitar pickup and a pitch to voltage converter. Although an excellent instrument by all accounts, the Avatar failed to sell well and ARP Inc was never able to recoup the R&D costs, which resulted in its bankruptcy.
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Rare Analog Beauties
Analog Synthesizer Books
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Killer on the Dancefloor

Roland TR-909 with pink splatter shirts for men and women.
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Leave your feedback here!

What's your favorite old school synth?
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Edutopia
Jan 30, 2012 @ 6:35 pm | delete
- Great lens, solid collection of information here. Really helped me out.
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bmore
Jan 20, 2012 @ 1:02 pm | delete
- I have a sequential circuit's six track and it is the bomb
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Analogik
Jan 14, 2012 @ 2:41 am | delete
- The old synths are great but unfortunately unaffordable for most people.
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SecondHandJoe
Dec 27, 2011 @ 9:46 am | delete
- How could we have matured into upstanding adults without the synth?! Great lens!
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CruiseReady
Dec 10, 2011 @ 7:14 am | delete
- OMG - I remember... back in the day... in school, there was a group of us absolutely enthralled with the Moog. What a time that was!
Thanks for the memories. :)
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sousababy
Nov 29, 2011 @ 12:42 am | delete
- Wow, haven't seen so many synths since I listened to Emerson, Lake and Palmer (you are probably too young to know this trio). Cool stuff.
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dannystaple
Aug 6, 2011 @ 2:09 pm | delete
- Oh wow - that monstrous keyboard combo above is verging on obscene. I want one like that! Can I suggest the owner get a car like this: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/09/street-blasting-speakermo.html . Okay - perhaps tasteless but fun...
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Timewarp
Nov 29, 2011 @ 1:26 am | delete
- Lol, now that is some serious bass!
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iamhavok
Mar 21, 2011 @ 1:20 am | delete
- The Roland TB-303 brought the whole acid sound to the masses.
Nice lens !!
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AttitudeYeah
Jan 14, 2011 @ 4:35 am | delete
- Korg Wavestation a/d, its sound is so warm and pleasant.
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- Norwegian disco DJ and producer Todd Terje, whose single 'Ragysh' was among our top electronic songs of 2011, has just released 'It's the Arps,' a four-song EP composed entirely of sounds produced by the ARP2600 analog synth. We talked with Terje about ...
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