Using FM synthesis - a much more complex style of synthesis than the simple oscillator/filter/envelope format of the Minimoog's subtractive process - the DX7's electric piano, bass and string presets would define hits like A-Ha's “Take On Me” and Berlin's “Take My Breath Away.” The release of the Yamaha DX7 in 1983 would prove a watershed moment for music production, as the affordable, versatile device launched an electronic revolution that we are still very much living today. The Prophet 5’s popularity towards the end of the '70s was an omen for the synthesizer's ubiquity in the 1980s. Released in 1978, the first Prophet changed the synthesizer landscape and ushered in the era of the programmable polysynth. RUNNER-UP: Sequential Circuits Prophet 5Ī strong case could be made for the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 as well. The Minimoog is a close runner-up, its illustrious career in the '70s added otherworldly sounds to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, pseudo-strings on Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” and a mechanical lyricism to Kraftwerk's “Autobahn,” which helped define the sound of the decade.
#SONIK SYNTH 2 BELLS MOVIE#
But the instrument took its strongest foothold in R&B, famously wielded by Ray Charles during his performance of “Shake A Tail Feather” in the Blues Brothers movie and by Stevie Wonder all over his mid-'70s classics Innervisions, Talking Book and Songs in the Key of Life. The Rhodes' clean, mellow sound led to its ubiquity in pop, used by yacht rockers like the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan, as well as Vince Guaraldi in his iconic Charlie Brown compositions. The first real champion of the instrument was Miles Davis, who put Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett on the instrument in his early '70s fusion bands, which became massively popular after the release of Bitches Brew. While the Rhodes was initially introduced in the late '60s, made famous by Billy Preston's playing on The Beatles' “Get Back,” it really belonged to the 1970s. The Wurlitzer 200, introduced in 1968, quickly became an essential part of the sound of American R&B and strongly influenced the sounds at the end of the decade. The company's most famous model, the B-3 - often paired with a rotating Leslie speaker - put a white-hot flame under everything from Sly and the Family Stone's “Dance to the Music” to the Allman Brothers Band's “Whipping Post.” RUNNER-UP: Wurlitzer 200 As the organs became more widely available and electric sounds found their way into popular music by way of amplified guitar and bass, Hammonds started showing up all over the place.
#SONIK SYNTH 2 BELLS MANUAL#
Originally marketed to churches as a lower-cost alternative to manual pipe organs, the Hammond electric organ gained its initial popularity in the 1950s and '60s through gospel music and the famed jazz player Jimmy Smith. Here's a look at the synths, songs and artists that have helped define the sound of past, present, and future. By considering the history of these instruments, we can gain a unique perspective on the trajectory of contemporary popular music. The keyboards that dominated their eras shaped not just the music of their time, but the sound of the future. But tracing the keyboard’s wild journey across the decades gives us a lot of insight into phenomena like “the '80s sound.” Their evolution from piano to organ to synthesizer to sampler leaves the former and the latter with less in common than a violin has with a guitar. Granted, it's hard to make the case that the keyboards of today are the same as those from half a century ago. And of all of the instruments integral to defining those eras, the keyboard has done it most consistently over the past 50 years. From Keith Richards's ratty distorted guitar on The Rolling Stones's “Satisfaction” to T-Pain's Auto-Tuned vocals on Lil Wayne's “Lollipop,” music technology has often defined the sound of popular music.
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