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SIXTY YEARS
OF MACHINES

1964 → 2017 · every year carries its source

1960s

  • 1964Moog modular1

1970s

  • 1970Minimoog1
  • 1974Oberheim SEM2
  • 1978Sequential Prophet-51

1980s

1990s

  • 1995Clavia Nord Lead11
  • 1996Roland JP-800012

2000s

  • 2001Elektron Machinedrum13

2010s

  • 2011Teenage Engineering OP-114
  • 2017Elektron Digitakt13

Sources

Only years confirmed by the maker, a museum or a reference are listed. Machines with a tomato underline open their entry.

  1. Timeline of electronic instruments, Bob Moog FoundationMoog modular 1964; Minimoog 1970; Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 1978 · checked 2026-10-07
  2. Arturia Oberheim SEM V (review, July 2012), Sound On Soundthe Oberheim SEM, introduced in 1974 · checked 2026-10-07
  3. Our History, Roland CorporationFounded in Osaka, 1972; TR-808, 1980 · checked 2026-10-07
  4. TB-303 (Roland Cloud), Roland Corporationreleased 1981 as a bass machine · checked 2026-10-07
  5. Museum, Roger Linn DesignLinnDrum released 1982, sampled sounds; Akai MPC60, a sampling drum machine and MIDI sequencer released in 1988 · checked 2026-10-07
  6. The Dawn of Digital Musical Instruments, Yamaha CorporationDX7 digital synthesizer, 1983 · checked 2026-10-07
  7. The TR-909 Story, Roland Corporationsuccessor to the TR-808, 1983; analog drums with digital hi-hats and cymbals; Roland's first drum machine with MIDI; 16-step sequencer · checked 2026-10-07
  8. JUNO-106 (Roland Cloud), Roland Corporationintroduced 1984 as an affordable polysynth · checked 2026-10-07
  9. 30 Years Of Emu, Sound On SoundDrumulator launched early 1983 (sample replay); SP1200, a sampling drum machine launched at Summer NAMM 1987 · checked 2026-10-07
  10. News, 1 May 2018, KORGin 1988 KORG released the M1 · checked 2026-10-07
  11. Nord Lead (1995–1997), Nord Keyboardsthe first Nord Lead, 1995 · checked 2026-10-07
  12. Listening Guide: Essential Early Trance, Roland Articlesthe JP-8000 synthesizer, released in 1996 · checked 2026-10-07
  13. Legacy Products, ElektronMachinedrum (2001), a drum machine based on drum synthesis methods; Digitakt (2017) · checked 2026-10-07
  14. ten years of OP-1, teenage engineering’11–’21: ten years after unit no. 01 shipped · checked 2026-10-07