Go BIG or go home?
Monster synths aren’t the remit of the 1970’s only. In fact – for those that can afford them, that are as popular as ever.
From KORG’s sell out FULL SIZE recreation of the legendary ARP2600 (which was also available in a medium size.) To the modern room hoggers manufactured by UK company, Analogue Solutions. MONSTER SYNTHS are still in demand 50 years later!
Yamaha CS-80
Achieving a more universal status through the blockbuster film Bladerunner, the CS80 is large enough by comparison to most current synths on offer by manufacturers to feature in this list.
We all know Yamaha is a household name, so big in fact that according to their own synth historian one CS80 was found in NEW condition all by itself previously undiscovered for many years in a room at Yamaha HQ. What a nice find! 👏
If film and synthesisers are your bag – check out my list of The Best Synthesiser Soundtracks as curated by THREE different websites!
Pictured, of course don’t do this fine instrument justice (they never do), but I just had to preserve them here nonetheless.
And now? Well, recent listings for this classic have seen prices fetch upwards of:
31k
Yamaha DX1
See the article If Mercedes Benz made a synthesiser for more on this legend where I take a look at the correlation between luxury and musical instruments.
The Schmidt Eight Voice polyphonic
Price: £20,342.00
The Schmidt synthesizer company named after its founder, German based Stefan Schmidt unleashed this “no compromise” space sucker in 2014. Seeing multiple production runs with the last being in 2022, this synthesizer has become a cornerstone of the modern large analogue synth marketplace.
Featuring over 1,028 single sound presets and 256 multi sound presets before you’ve even started tweaking the vast array of knobs, dials and switches. This desktop leviathan has un-dreamt of musical (or not!) potential for sound creation.
Noisebug.com has a detailed exposition of this modern classic which can be found here: schmidt-8-voice-polyphonic-synthesizer
Analogue Solutions: Colossus-synth AS100
Price: $31-41,000
A synthesiser with the name Colossus is you guessed right larger than my early years daily, the CASIO CT360 ♥️ shown here as a backdrop to Arturia’s Matrixbrute.
The Matrixbrute is hardly a retiring creature itself; measuring 33.8 x 17 x 4.2 inches. So to be dwarfed in comparison shows just how colossus the Analogue Solutions Colossus is!
I recently discovered starskycarr.com for this article, he not only offers detailed samples of all twelve oscillators of the beastly Colossus, but also a host of other synths such as the Axxe, Moog Prodigy and drum samples from the Analogue Solutions Maximus. Go check him out!
The Emerson Moog Modular System
Price: $150,000 (!)
With a price tag as gigantic as the synth itself, this as you can see the most expensive creation here. Again, this chosen image was selected to provide a sense of scale. and indeed it does with what forms two walls of synth goodness!
As if Moog needs any introduction, they made these recreations in 2014 with preorders selling out within weeks.
I hope you enjoyed this baby look at MONSTER SYNTHS. If you like this content please share it on your socials!
Have I missed any out or do you own one? Get in touch or leave a message in my NEW Guestbook!
And, if you liked any of the included images please do give the website a visit because I choose images for the quality of the websites as well as the images themselves.
Reuse this article? Contact for details
Hero image: Reverb.com