Before the DX7 Broke It All

If you are at all interested in making music based on analog synthesis, be it real or plug-in—and at this point it really doesn't matter (side note: you just have to have something that you really enjoy the feel of), you need to be paying attention to music, specifically between 1978 and the introduction of the DX7, which turned everything on its head (1983). A lot of people have vilified this synthesizer for doing that, but things were probably getting pretty thin and it was time for something else to come in. It's amazing how that happens. As soon as the technology gets stale and the C and D teamers come in, something comes and whops it on its head. For anyone that totally trashes these instruments, I point to Songs from the Big Chair. This was largely a digital album, and it also changed the world. But as I like to say, that's another entry entirely. Between '78 and the DX7, it was when synthesizers rose up and became affordable enough for everybody, you could still paper-route…