Korg MS-10

The MS-10 is a cool & classic analog synth known for its great bass and percussive sounds. It was released by Korg in 1978 as an entry-level, simple monophonic single-VCO analog synthesizer. With the authentic look of a mini-modular its single VCO is patchable using standard 1/4 inch patch cords to the VCF and VCA. It really is a powerful little mono-synth with plenty of knobs and a compact 32-note keyboard. It is CV/Gate controllable. A very cool feature is its external input to filter which allows you to filter external sound sources! Following the MS-10 came the double-oscillator version, the MS-20. The MS-10 is used by The Orb, SkyLab, the Chemical Brothers, Astral Projection, Autechre, Juan Atkins, Underworld, Sneaker Pimps, Luke Vibert, JunkieXL, and Add N to (X).

Specifications
Polyphony - Monophonic
Oscillators - 1 VCO with mixable white/pink noise generator
LFO - One LFO w/ multiple waveforms
Filter - One lowpass VCF
VCA - ADSR with Hold
Keyboard - 32 keys
Arpeg/Seq - None
Control - CV/GATE
Date Produced - 1978
Est. Value - $200 - $700

Roland JV-80

The JV-80 was an excellent mid-nineties digital synthesizer in its time. It helped lay the foundation for the later JV-1080, JV-2080 and XP-series synths. It featured a full 61-note keyboard and several sliders above the keyboard with assignable parameters for fast hands-on editing. Though its stock sounds are nothing great, it can take any of the SR-JV80 expansion boards for 8MB of great new sounds from any of the Orchestral, Vintage Synths, Techno, etc. sets.

Unfortunately, the JV-80 is no workstation like the XP-synths that followed it. With only 28 voice polyphony and no built-in sequencer, its likely that this won't be your ONLY synth. The JV-90 is basically the same as this, except that it has an excellent 76-note semi-weighted keyboard for a great feel, more memory and sounds. The JV-80 also came in a 1-space rack-mount form as the JV-880. The JV-80 has been used by Eat Static and Vangelis.
Specifications
Polyphony - 28 voices
Oscillators - 4 per voice; Digital 4 MB of ROM sampled sounds
Arpeg/Seq - None
Filter - Digital TVF filters
LFO - 2 LFOs routable to pitch, TVA amps, or TVF filters
Effects - 2 Effects units
Memory - 192 Patches (64 user), 48 Performances (16 user) - expandable via 8mb expansion boards
Keyboard - 61 keys (responds to velocity and aftertouch)
Control - MIDI IN/OUT/THRU (8-parts)
Date Produced - 1992 - 1994
Est. Value - $750