The 80s were perhaps the second most influential decade in music history. It was at this time when music underwent a fundamental change. Not only did the composition of music change, but the sounds used to make music changed dramatically as well.

Instead of guitar, drums, piano, and bass being the essential and only instruments used by every band, synthesizers, drum machines, and samplers became common in almost every band.

Easily the most popular of these new tools was the Synthesizer. Synths had been around for a while, but they were massive expensive beasts only used by the most experimental of musicians. Synths eventually became compact and advanced enough to sit on a tabletop in addition to gaining digital controls.

These controls allowed the loading of presets, pre-designed sounds that could be loaded at the push of a button. This allowed musicians to use synths without having to become sound design geniuses.

Preset sounds can be heard in many, many 80s songs such as Van Halen’s Jump. Because these presets were so varied and versatile, they popularized synths in almost every genre.

Towards the late 80s, fully digital synths that used a completely different method became extremely popular in almost every genre. These synths were better suited to creating less “exotic” sounds that fit into pop and rock music better.

This particular synth, the Yamaha DX-7, is one of the best selling synths of all time, with most of it’s sales taking place in the 80s.