Lexicon Magazine / Section 1 of 7
The Machines
Four instruments, taken one front panel at a time: what generates the sound, what the panel lets you change, and which records the result is audible on. Two of the four were commercial failures on their makers’ own terms, and that turns out to be the interesting part.
4 entries · Drum machines, polysynths and samplers.
Every entry in The Machines
One machine, room or technique each
- 1.1 The TR-808 Roland's 1980 machine sounded nothing like a drum kit, sold badly, was discontinued in three years, and became one of the most consequential instruments ever built precisely because it sounded synthetic.
- 1.2 The Prophet-5 Five polyphonic voices with patch memory, which meant a sound could be recalled rather than rebuilt.
- 1.3 The Linn LM-1 Real sampled drums, expensive, and the reason a lot of early-eighties pop has identical snares.
- 1.4 The DX7 FM synthesis in 1983, hard to program and easy to buy, which is why one preset electric piano is all over the decade.
The other six sections
The whole magazine, one click away