For those of you who have not seen it, get yourselves to the Sonic State website and have a look at their 20 Best Synths video presentations. You'll love it! These were voted for by the general public.

The top 5 were:-

1. Mini Moog
2. Arp Odessey
3. Prophet 5
4. Dx 7
5. Korg M1

I think that is pretty fair, although I might have put the P5 ahead of the Odessey. It is perhaps surprising that Roland did not make the top 5, although it's JP8, SH101, D50, Juno 60 and early JV module did chart in the top 20, and they were the single most represented manufacturer in the poll.

What do others think?

I think is was pretty fair. And what about the Pro One? And the 303 really should be in there-perhaps over the Mellotron....

Anyways I thoroughly enjoyed it and the humour was actually pretty funny I thought for the most part. No-one has even mentioned that in most forums.....

Woohoo Minimoog. I just bought the Creamware Minimax which Im trying at the moment......

Oh-I notice sonic state use this Minimoog demonstration video that was on YouTube-which I thought was a bit uninspiring actually.....

Oh yeah Les I also just got a Sherman too.....I think your post may have been the final nidge I needed!

Quote themajorblip:

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Oh-I notice sonic state use this Minimoog demonstration video that was on YouTube-which I thought was a bit uninspiring actually.....

Oh yeah Les I also just got a Sherman too.....I think your post may have been the final nidge I needed!

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Good man! You won't regret it! Let us all know how you get on with it.

Bit of a beast, isn't she! The thing I love about it, is that you never quite know how a session is going to go with the Sherman! Some might hate that, but I love the unpredictability of it all. When it goes right, there's nothing to touch the excitement of hitting the playback button and listening to the sonic mayhem you have unleashed! Then, it's all down to cutting, pasting and editing to try to get it all into a cohesive track!

Love it! Do it!

Korg M1??? avina bubble barf my son

Quote TTN:

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Korg M1??? avina bubble barf my son

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Yeah, I did question that at No.5 on the list. I suppose the justification (and remember, these were voted for by the general public) is that the M1 was the first proper workstation, and it genuinely did change the way in which we perceive and use synths.

My biggest surprise is that the JP8 did not feature higher than it did. Outside the top 10!

I think the top 5 was about right....

• The MiniMoog changed everything and its design and voice architecture is still influential today (and it sounds fab... even today)

• The Odyssey was the more capable portable monosynth

• The Prophet 5 was the first polysynth with memories that was copied by everyone else.

• The DX7 was the first affordable digital synth for the masses, was largely responsible for introducing MIDI and sold sh!tloads. It also (rightly or wrongly) introduced parameter access which heralded many other affordable synths.

• The M1 was the first 'workstation' and that legacy lives on. It also sold sh!tloads.

Just a shame the presenter couldn't pronounce 'Mogue' properly!

I'd have rated the VCS3 and Synth A/AKS higher though (but I cut my teeth on those as a teenager back in the 70s so my perspective might be nostalgic) and was surprised the PPG didn't even get a mention ... especially over the Proteus (a sample playback ROMpler and not a 'synth' as such). Surprised as well that the ARP Solina made it to the top 20 given that it's a (very good) one-trick pony.

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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

Quote hollowsun:

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• The M1 was the first 'workstation' and that legacy lives on. It also sold sh!tloads.

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The only thing is, its not really a synthesizer, about a third of the top 20 weren't either.

Quote baward:

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The only thing is, its not really a synthesizer, about a third of the top 20 weren't either.

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In what way wasn't it? It had a very 'traditional' structure of sound source > filter > amp with envs and LFOs to control them. The fact that it uses samples rather than electronically generated waveforms is neither here nor there, neither is the fact that a lot of (most) people used it for 'realistic' piano, strings and other sounds.

I happen to think it wasn't a very good synthesiser but its influence is undeniable IMO and deserves a place even if I might not have voted for it myself.

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Website / Music Lab Machines / Blog

A pretty fair top 5 and it very much depends on the criteria used. For influence and innovation then I would agree but like others have said I would include PPG and also Kurzweil K250. If it was based on sound/character etc then the list might werll be different. As a previous owner of a mint Model D I found it a very limited synth and whilst it sounded great the Roland System 100M got used a lot more. I am surprised that more modular gear did not get included. If we include S&S synths like JV1080 then why not a Nord Modular or NI Reaktor? My favourite synth of all time is, surprise surprise, the Jupiter 4. Very under rated - but featured on many influential albums, Duran Duran, Telekon, Dance, Reproduction. It can do things that the other Jupiters cannot do and has exactly the same oscillator, filter and amp components as the Jupiter 8.