What is the sexiest looking synth of all time?

[machinea]

Maybe not the sexiest but I gave my MEK a makeover that is sure to pop up a few tittyboners.

Whoa. How did you have this done? and what was the expense? Looks great.

[Tiger Jackson]

I love the Fizmo.. the two-tone blue/purple, and knobs do it for me.

[operandi-M]

Aluminum Minimoog Voyager

[thefonz003]

There are too many to choose from for me to pick a best-looking ever, but I do think that, overall, Roland has the most consistently good-looking of any individual company. In my opinion, the Jupiter 8, SH-101, TB-303, JX-3P, D50, JD-800, SP-808, V-Synth, and the touch-screen sampler/drum machine combos they make today are all gorgeous. They got kind of boring-looking in the mid-to-late 1990s, but I still think Roland would have more contenders here than any other company.

That said, I'll add a few more that I like the looks of: Arp Odyssey Mk. II; Moog Source; Yamaha DX1 and DX7; Korg 707; Akai AX-80; Kawai K5000; Korg Triton; Novation UltraNova; Moog Minimoog Voyager Aluminum (as posted above); Ensoniq Fizmo; Korg Karma; Korg Kronos; Yamaha Motif XF8. Also the white Akai samplers from the late '80s and early '90s.

[thefonz003]

Also, I'll add to that the Access Virus TI Snow.

[Rick N Boogie]

That re-done MEK back on page 5, and again at the top of page 9, is fantastic. I so badly want to re-do my MEK. Love the synth, hate the blue. More info on how that was done would be splendid.

[monolith]

That re-done MEK back on page 5, and again at the top of page 9, is fantastic. I so badly want to re-do my MEK. Love the synth, hate the blue. More info on how that was done would be splendid.

http://www.styleflip.com/dave-smith-ins ... ker-covers

[ppg_wavecomputer]

[AdamAnt316]

What, no love for the Triadex Muse?!



Gotta love all of those sliders, plus the funky wedge shape with the aluminum(?) and wood, not to mention the kooky bargraph display along the right side which tells you what it's thinking. Coolest of all, though, is the matching Light Show Module, which turns it into a true visual spectacle, as well as an auditory one.

[gmeredith]

Casio PG300 synth guitar!




And also in cool blue:

[xenia625]

Entirely subjectively... white Odyssey, Polivoks, Elka Synthex and sexiest of all the EMS Synthi 100.

[knolan]

[desmond]

Intersting you like the CS-M's so much. My mate had a CS-20M when growing up (as I've mentioned before) and while it was nicely built, it doesn't look that great imo.

My topsexy are DX1, DX5, Matrix-12, Jupiter-8... and others not quite as much, but like Prophet VS, JX-10, Prophet-5...

[knolan]

Love the first 4 on your list - all gorgeous!

I adore the CS40M. Have two of them - they are work horses and I've used them a lot. I'm a big Vangelis fan and he used the CS40M a lot for a few years in the early '80s on some of his seminal works - used a lot on Bladerunner, and features heavily as a lead synth on "See You Later" and "Private Collection" (on "He Is Sailing" and "Horizon").

I fell in love with the look of it on an early Yamaha Combo Instruments Cover. I used to go into the local Yamaha shop in Dublin and look at their CS40M, hopelessly out of my price range as I was just a kid a the time - it was £2400 and I had about £80 quid in the bank. Time passed and I got to know the Yamahah Ireland guys well and then in the mid '90s they were doing a warehouse clear out and told me they had an old Yamaha synth I might be interested in. I called in and they wheeled out THE original show-room CS40M I use to drool over - still in mint condition. Price to me - £250 ! Yep that's just one zero after the 5. She's my baby . My second one I bought 2nd hand from a chap in Scotland about 10 years ago and it didn't disappoint - in near perfect cosmetic condition and perfect mechanically and electronically. Love them !!

In truth, not the strongest sound of all time in the bass end (though respectable) - but - great 'CS' lead synth - exquisite sound design possibilities because you can set the LFO waveform independently for VCO, VCF and VCA, Ring Modulator to die for, pitch envelope routable to Ring Modulator - and simply exquisite performance controls to the left of the keyboard. So while a Minimoog will win hands down in depth of tone, the CS40m is a very nice sounding CS instrument with bucket-loads of performance and sound design capabilities.

[desmond]

It's funny how big a part nostalgia and droolworthy products that were a dream back in the day still hold such an attraction to us, even way beyond their practical use often (there are still plenty of instruments I'd love to own even if they aren't good, or I can do all their sounds already etc).

I still look at the Yamaha 'X" range with some attraction, despite the fact that many of them had "horrible" interfaces (I picked up an RX5 once, and while it was quite interesting, wow did we go through h**l back then to operate them. QX1's were also quite popular, I hear!). It was just this hi-tech, futurist, black/purple/green system that promised so much. I didn't even like the FM sound that much, still don't really, but still find them attractive.

Eve things like Roland MC500s still are quite seductive to me, despite the fact that, well, I use Logic hear, so no problems on the sequencing front.

What was once sexy, seems to stay sexy, even if, by modern standards, some of that stuff is just a bit rubbish now.