It’s the holiday season and my friend Jay Wires—musician, producer and product specialist over at Tone Tweakers—put together his quintessential list of vintage synths for you all.
If you don’t know Tone Tweakers, they’re dealers of the world’s finest vintage synths and buy, sell, trade and refurbish vintage and pre-owned electronic musical instruments. They pay more attention to detail than you could possibly imagine! Trust me, I know because I used to intern there!
Before we begin, make sure you sign up for the Tone Tweakers' mailing list! It's the best way to find out what’s in stock.
Without further ado...
The quintessential vintage analog monosynth. Don't be fooled by its name - it's pretty big and heavy by today's standards, but a lot smaller than its modular predecessors. A favorite for basses and leads. Used on countless tracks from the 70s and on, Parliament's Flash Light is a fave. Other Minimoog masters include Kraftwerk, Jan Hammer, and David Frank of The System (Sussudio bassline!).
2. ARP 2600
Once I heard it was Vince Clarke's favorite for fart sounds, I knew I had to have one! One of my top 3. Perfect for both musical sounds and sound effects / weirdness. 3 oscillators, patchable, spacey built in spring reverb, and the way things naturally distort when volumes are boosted is magical (and missing from the so called clones I checked out). Goes well with the ARP Sequencer and my Roland System-100m and Aries modular, which was also designed by Dennis Colin!
This solid music machine's a wonderful alternative to the omnipresent Minimoog with its 4 oscillators, patchability, duophonic keyboard, ring mod, sample and hold, multimode filter and huge sound. Has possibly the weakest filter resonance ever, and you'd better replace that original handle before it breaks off while you're carrying it, but is otherwise, it's a gem! Famous users included Foreigner and hardly anyone else, which is why this vintage synth never become as popular as its contemporaries. I'd say it's best for rock, industrial or other tracks that need monstrous sounds that cut through a mix.
Made famous by Jean Michel Jarre and Pink Floyd, this British classic AKA 'The Putney' is perfect for strange noises and ambient tones. Instead of using patch cords like its predecessors, voltages and audio signals are routed through its synth circuitry via pins inserted into its patchbay. A huge part of its charm is how the sound coming from its built in speakers and spring reverb resonates through its vintage wooden cabinet. It also has a distinctive odor once it warms up. I'm looking for an EMS Synthi 100 if anyone's got one - email us!
The Matrix-12 is the keyboard version of the Oberheim Xpander, with twice the polyphony (12 voice). Featuring different filter modes and modulation options that you'd expect from a modular synth really set this apart from other mid 80s synths. Also, 5 LFOs and 5 envelope generators per voice(!), and a multi mode for playing multiple sounds at once. Used all over Erasure albums and NIN Pretty Hate Machine. Sounds very different from its older siblings in the OB series. Brilliant synth.
Originally designed for ARP, but after ARP went under was released by CBS as the Rhodes Chroma. One of the few vintage synths with a wooden piano style keyboard. Oscillator sync, frequency modulation, ring modulation, touch sensitive. Dual filters and nice modulation options. The recent MIDI CC upgrade adds full MIDI CC control, which makes programming much easier. Makes surprisingly good choir and whistle sounds, but it's great for just about everything.
Used by Duran Duran, Tears For Fears, Howard Jones and countless others. This classy piece of 80s music technology was also responsible the lead sound on Harold Faltermeyer's Axel F. 8 voices with 2 oscillators per voice, split and layer capabilites, oscillator sync, cross modulation and colorful plastic buttons. A refined and versatile synth that always delivers.
8. Moog IIIP
One of the first commercially available synths heard on many early electronic music records including Switched on Bach, Donna Summer / Giorgio Moroder I Feel Love, Tomita and more. Moog modular systems were available in various configurations. The IIIP was housed in 3 portable cabinets and featured Moog's early 901 series oscillators which were later replaced by the more stable 921 series, though many users prefer the 901s. Just the sound of a single oscillator patched through a lowpass filter is huge. This system's got TEN oscillators and sounds massive.
9. PPG Wave
I first read about the PPG Wave decades ago, while researching synths used by one of my biggest musical influences, Depeche Mode. It was innovative at the time, replacing analog oscillators with 30 exciting new digital wavetables, each consisting of 64 waveforms. You can select a single waveform, or you can use an envelope or other modulation source to scan through the waveforms to create more interesting evolving sounds. Features the world's worst LFO and cryptic digital interface, but it's still one of my faves! We're currently refurbishing a 360a Wave Computer, the precursor to the Wave 2. At least 2 other techs made a mess of it. Most of our repairs are undoing their sloppy mistakes. Please don't use careless techs on important gear!
10. Korg PS3100
Fully polyphonic, meaning each key has its own synth circuitry, so if you ever wanna play a 48 note chord, this is the synth for you! The triple resonator's great for vocal like sounds and phaser type effects, and amplitude modulation, the global envelope generator and ensemble circuits set this apart from other vintage polysynths. All of these need a full overhaul including the replacement of all capacitors, repair of any leakage, and new card edge connectors, but make sure the tech doing the work knows these well - the tech who worked on the last PS we bought used the wrong connectors, so we have to correct his rookie mistake.
And that's a wrap! For more information please visit our friends at Tone Tweakers. To check out Jay's music please visit this link. Thanks for reading!
Synth History Exclusive.
Conducted by Danz.