That gated snare on "In the Air Tonight"? A studio accident. The DX7 that's on every power ballad? $200k worth of Fairlights nobody could afford. Here's the actual gear behind the '80s sound

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[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 3 points 1 week ago

They should probably mention the Casio CZ-1 next to the DX-7. It was a similar sort of digital synth (just barely skirting the Chowning patents on FM synthesis that Yamaha had exclusively licensed with its “phase distortion” synthesis) and used by bands like Depeche Mode.

A few years later, when both RAM and ROM got cheaper, sample-based digital synths like the Roland D-50 and the Korg M1 arrived, and brought a new kind of sheen, as evidenced in not-quite-real string sections, slap-bass and that Italo-house piano sound.