Minimoog

The synth that made funk basslines squelch. By putting oscillators, filter and keyboard in one portable box, the Minimoog turned the synthesizer into something a band could take on stage, and over its eleven years on sale it sold around 12,000 units. Its heavy, fat low end is the point. Parliament used it in place of a bass guitar on "Flashlight", Kraftwerk put it on Autobahn and The Man-Machine, and Giorgio Moroder carried it into disco. Prog keyboard players such as Rick Wakeman of Yes took it in the opposite direction, into soaring solo leads. If one monosynth sound defines the 1970s, this is it.