Introduction
This museum outlines synthesizer capabilities and architectual relationships in each gallery. The power of this museum is the comparison pages, organized by architecture class (conventional, FM, sampler, etc), but individual synthesizer pages can be accessed via the icons in the left column of each comparison page.
New to synthesizers? This SOS article will shed some light on synthesizer architecture and related acronyms you will find in the museum. Also, see the Moog Foundation Foundation of Synthesis video series and Quick Reference charts.
Our sister store offers full sample banks of some of the instruments found on this site, along with vintage synthesizers and repair.
This museum focuses on objective information, balancing depth and breadth. To balance our information with the subjective side of musician input, please check out these great sites:
We thank Synthony Museum and Sound Doctorin for providing much of the MSRP info.
What's New ...
Museum Move Complete (July 19, 2015)
The redesigned museum has now been migrated back to this site from SynthArk.com.
Future Plans ...
Coming Soon ... (fall 2015)
- Add resource links to the Yamaha Gallery.
- Jen and EDP Galleries are being assembled.
Five Year Plan (2015-2020)
- Add articles:
- Additive synths (Kawai K5/K5000, Synclavier, DSS-1, FZ-1, etc)
- Synclavier
- Prophet VS
- Casio CZ and VZ, once VZ sampling is complete
- FM synths (Yamaha DX, Korg DS-8/707, Elka EK-44), once DS8 sampling is complete
- Roland hybrid synth (Juno, JX, and Super Jupiter lines) article, once our sampling project concludes on the Super Jupiter, Super JX, and Alpha Juno
- Add Galleries:
- European synth (Cavagnolo, CRB Elettronica, Davoli, Elektron, EMS, EDP/OSC, Orla/Bohm, PPG, RSF, General Music, Vermona).
- Companies reaching 25th anniversary (Access, Alesis, Clavia, Novation, Waldorf)
- Organ companies using synth technology (Ace Tone, Yamaha Electone)
- Short run companies (Ace Tone, EML, JVC, Kurzweil, Rhodes, Seiko)
- High-end and obscure synths/samplers (Digital Keyboards, Fairlight, Con Brio).
- Expand Galleries to 1999:
- Arp (Pro-Soloist, Explorer, Little Brother, Solina String Ensemble, Pro/DGX)
- Akai MPC, S2000 and derivatives
- EMU (Ultra Proteus, Carnaval, Orbit, Planet Phatt).
- Ensoniq MR-61, KT-76, ASR-X, E Prime, Fizmo, Halo, ZR-76
- Korg i (1-5, 30, 40M, S40, S35, S50, X300), Prophecy, Trinity (TR Rack), N (264, 364, S5R, 5, 1/R, X5R), Z1, Triton, Electribe, OASYS.
- Add related sound modules as they are acquired and hardware is compared (e.g. Roland SC, MT-32, Yamaha MU).
- Add a physical museum to Square Wave Sound (Salt Lake City, Utah).
Long Range Plan (2020+)
- Expand Galleries (maintaining 25 year historical lag).:
- Emu Proteus 2000 and derivitives.
- Access, Alesis, Novation, Waldorf, Korg, Roland, Yamaha galleries as necessary
- Additive synths (Kawai K5/K5000, Synclavier, DSS-1, FZ-1, etc)
- Synclavier
- Prophet VS
- Casio CZ and VZ, once VZ sampling is complete
- FM synths (Yamaha DX, Korg DS-8/707, Elka EK-44), once DS8 sampling is complete
- Roland hybrid synth (Juno, JX, and Super Jupiter lines) article, once our sampling project concludes on the Super Jupiter, Super JX, and Alpha Juno
- European synth (Cavagnolo, CRB Elettronica, Davoli, Elektron, EMS, EDP/OSC, Orla/Bohm, PPG, RSF, General Music, Vermona).
- Companies reaching 25th anniversary (Access, Alesis, Clavia, Novation, Waldorf)
- Organ companies using synth technology (Ace Tone, Yamaha Electone)
- Short run companies (Ace Tone, EML, JVC, Kurzweil, Rhodes, Seiko)
- High-end and obscure synths/samplers (Digital Keyboards, Fairlight, Con Brio).
- Arp (Pro-Soloist, Explorer, Little Brother, Solina String Ensemble, Pro/DGX)
- Akai MPC, S2000 and derivatives
- EMU (Ultra Proteus, Carnaval, Orbit, Planet Phatt).
- Ensoniq MR-61, KT-76, ASR-X, E Prime, Fizmo, Halo, ZR-76
- Korg i (1-5, 30, 40M, S40, S35, S50, X300), Prophecy, Trinity (TR Rack), N (264, 364, S5R, 5, 1/R, X5R), Z1, Triton, Electribe, OASYS.
- Add related sound modules as they are acquired and hardware is compared (e.g. Roland SC, MT-32, Yamaha MU).
- Expand Galleries (maintaining 25 year historical lag).:
- Emu Proteus 2000 and derivitives.
- Access, Alesis, Novation, Waldorf, Korg, Roland, Yamaha galleries as necessary
FAQ
Q: Can I buy your synth XYZ?
A: Some of our collection is for sale in our sister store (see SynthArk.com).
Q: How can I help?
A: See our Participate page.
Q: Can you fix my synth?
A: While the museum does not repair synths, our sister store SynthArk.com does.
Q: Where do you get the information posted?
A: Unless posted otherwise (see "References" section at the bottom of each page), all data is extracted from the manufacturer manual and/or the sythesizer itself (we have at least one synth from most families posted).
Q: Why doesn't the museum have more recent instruments?
A: We plan to stay about 20 years behind current releases in the spirit of a "museum".
Q: Why doesn't the museum contain EMS, EML, etc.
A: While we plan to add them eventually, we base most of our research on synthesizers from our collection and manuals, which are hard to find for these intruments.
Q: Why is the museum missing modular synthesizers (Moog 55, Roland System-100)?
A: A primary focus of the museum is to compare synthesizer features, which isn't useful with a modular, since they are so customizable.
Q: Why doesn't the museum include pianos (Roland RD-1000), organs, controllers, drum machines, etc?
A: The museum is focused on programmable synthesizers. Although, it does cover other variants, when lineage to a synthesizer family is established or projects permit.
Q: Why doesn't the museum include Russian synths (Aelita, Formanta, Polivoks)
A: Due to relative inaccessibility of the synths and manuals, we do not plan on including them, but information can be found at the Museum of Soviet Synthesizers.
Q: How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A: That depends on many variables, including type of wood, season, health of woodchuck and availability of ice cream.